So I know that its been over 2 weeks since I last updated. What can I say besides that I'm sorry and a horrible person. I'm starting to get really bad at this whole keeping in touch issue. Somewhere I have weeks old letters that I have been meaning to mail. I'll get to it people, I promise. And the same goes with the pictures, but that one isn't my fault. I can upload about 3 at time before it poops out on me, so there is really nothing that I can do about that. I have some great ones coming! I bet everyone did get a kick out of the monkey story though!

The next weekend after that, I just took off from adventures and got caught up with my homework and such. Prof. Starr wasn't around, since he had to fly back to Florida for the week, so there was no gathering at their house either, which meant no free brownies. I made sure to practice my tai chi and work on some knitting. That week I also had a test in Indian History, which I got an A on by the way, and had to lead a tutorial. Exciting stuff, I know. I was also recruited to take pictures for Lingnan University publications, the kind of stuff they use to promote their university and programs. We had to pose in all sorts of cheesy situations, like pretending to be in lecture, or "hanging out" with a professor. They are going to email me the pictures, so it should be interesting to see what they do with them. Friday the 10th, what I call the Dim Sum Crew- myself, Megan, and her roommate Jess, went out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. (Karen is in the crew too, but she couldn't make it that night) It was so nice to have a proper hamburger, but it made me realize how badly Americans eat. We just have to have everything dripping in grease and fat-its really gross when you think about it. Jess took us shopping the upscale mall, and once again, I didn't even feel rich enough to be walking around there. One day I'll be able to buy something from Louis Vuitton, but it was not that day. A girl can dream though.

Saturday the 11th, Megan and I went to Lamma Island, a tiny 3-mile long island that is about a 30 minute ferry ride from Victoria Harbor. It was a pretty rocky ride over, and the view wasn't that great because of all the pollution haze and the humidity. It was nice to be on a boat though- I love being at/on the ocean. We pulled into the harbor at this very picturesque fishing village (The pictures are currently uploading now), with all sorts of fishing boats in dock. The village was about a 5 minute walk from the ferry dock, and then it was all these cute little restaurants and boutiqes. Rumor is that Lamma Island is one of the big expat hangouts and living spaces. I see why, its beautiful, quiet, and probably very cheap to live there. There was one main path that leads from one village to the other, on the otherside of the island, about a 3 mile walk. Everything here is listed by kilometer, so I'm trying my best to guess distances. After walking through the village and down the path a little, we came to a small beach with a few people on it. I had to go wading and go barefoot in the sand, there was just no way aroud it. The waters wasn't as cold as I expected it to be. There were also some gorgous rock formations, and I spent some time there reading and just soaking things in. Come summer that beach will be packed. The next part of our hike took us up and down, and up again through the hills that dominate most of the islands. A lot of the uphill walks were 45 degress, which is pretty intense. On top one of the hills was a pogoda with a lookout, so we took some pictures there. The weather was just beautiful, in the upper 70s with some humidity, but the higher you go, the less it matters. The sky just wasn't blue, which makes me sad for my pictures, but it was still a lovely day in general. After the secenic vista-stop, it was more up and down to the other side of the island, where we discoverd the Kamakazie Grottos, small gardens, and the outskirts of the other village. The other village consisted of another harbor and one street along side it that was mainly seafood restaurants. They had giant tanks along one wall where you could pick your dinner, and they had some seafood that I never knew exsisted! There was a giant bright blue shrimp looking thing that must have been 4 feet long if you were to lay it out, and it looked to be 2 feet in diameter. I tried to take a picture, but some one ran over to me and started yelling at me in Chinese. Sorry folks. Megan and I wound up playing/reading in the park until the ferry arrived at 7:30. The ferry ride back was beautiful, since it was dark, and we could see the gradual approach of the Hong Kong skyline. It was just lovely.

Sunday was of course spent sleeping in, lounging around, and doing homework, like every Sunday should be. We also went to Prof. Starr's again, and I got to take home some brownies for my roommate. And that was that week for me.

Monkey Assault at 10,000 Buddhas Monastary

Yay for days off! They prove Megan's theory of M=EA, mishap equals excellent adventure. We had Tuesday off this week for Sports Day, so we decided to make a day trip to Sha Tin to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastry up in the hills. Well, everything here is up in the hills, so I guess its a little redundent telling people that places are up in the hills. Its about an hour trip from school via bus, MTR, and the East Rail. Once we got off the East Rail, its about a 10 minute walk to the first part of the complex, Po Fook Hill. At the foot of this hill, there is a little pond filled with koi fish and turtles. There is also a little Thai-Buddhist alter with a statue. There were scarfs tied around the railing, and when I asked Terrence about it, she said that its for making wishes- If anyone has a wish, I can go back for you. There is also another wishing tree that I want to visit soon too. Po Fook Hill is mainly where the Buddhist graves are and one large statue of Buddha. Unfortunatly we didn't know this, so we would up walking all the way to the top. I didn't take any pictures of the gravesites, or anything like that because Terrence had warned me not to. She said that if you take a picture of the dead person's grave, they will follow you around. I just don't want to offend anyone. I did get some nice shots of the view from the top, and looking down at the complex. They had some beautiful waterfalls, so I got some great shots of those. The camera Wende got me takes excellent water pictures-its wonderful. When we got to the top, Megan and I stood around like idiots for a while, wondering where the 10,000 Buddhas were. An older woman, who seemed to pop out of no where told us in very broken English, "No, go down, other side" and tried to shoo us off as best as she could. I guess that she didn't want us up there, or something. So it was back down the hill for us, and then around a government building until we found the very faded sign for the monastary. The path to the entrance looked like a prison. I wondered what kind of monastry we were headed for! It turns out that there is a large amount of preservation work being done to both the sites. The real entrance is much more of what I expected, a small path that winds up the mountain side. The amazing thing about this path is that the whole way up there are these golden statues of what I presume are Chinese gods on both sides. And this was like a half hour walk too. None of the figures were repeated either. It seems that there is a god for everything here. The construction quickly gave way to a beautiful bamboo forests. There were more monkeys here too, jumping around. One of the bamboo shoots crossed above the path, and just as Megan was ducking under it, a monkey crossed over her. It could have sat on her head if it had wanted to. There were also some other monkeys on the path eating a giant fruit that they had taken from a tree. We've been around monkeys before, so I had all my food away and was practicing proper monkey ettiqute when a smaller one starts walking towards me. I thought that he was going to pass me by, so I turned a little to take a picture of one of the statues. Then I felt a tug, and looked down at my leg. The monkey had taken a hold of my pant leg and was tugging at it and squeeking. Now last week one of the exchange girls had gotten bit by a monkey because she refused to give up her sandwhich, and then hit it, (Rather stupid of her, I think), so I was scared. Megan was further up the hill, so I turned my face away and looked in her direction and said, "Megan?" Megan started laughing and pulled out her camera. Just before she could get a picture, the monkey lost interest and walked away. My heart was beating so fast, but I was very happy that I didn't get bitten!

So, once my heart started beating again, we kept going up the hill. I got some great pictures, be sure to check them out. The statues were so cool, and I wish that I knew what their purpose is, or what each one stands for. The temple at the top was a lot smaller than I expected. It consisted of one large building, and a long courtyard with a pogoda at the other end. Along the sides were more figures of Gods under awnings. Inside the main temple is where the 10,000 Buddhas are. The 10,000 Buddhas are various sizes all with a lamp infront of them covering the walls and pillars of the inner temple. It its an amazing site to see. All of them are the same exact pose but with different prayers infront of them. Once I get all the pictures uploaded, you can see for yourself. One of the monks is assigned to count them every night, to make sure that none were stolen. The room is just filled with the golden light from all the lamps, and of course there is the main alter with the three gold Buddhas enclosed. Curiously enough, infront of the center Buddha, there is an enshrined and embalmed body of a priest. I'm not sure why, because the dead are usually cremated in the Buddhist tradition, and never displayed like this. I didn't see any monks though, which disappointed me a little. My favorite thing there, besides the Buddhas was another diety at the end of the courtyard. I'm not sure who it is, but I really liked it because the throne, (I guess that what it is), is all arms and hands reaching out. I like to think that its suppose to represent taking care of everyone and everything in the whole world. I also climbed up inside the pogoda at the end of the courtyard and went all the way to the top. When I came back down, the same monkey that grabbed my pants was sitting on one of the awnings eating something and staring me down. I got a picture of him, and then he threw some of his fruit at me. I guess thats what I get for not giving him food.

Then we walked up to the new upper part of the monastry, which is another walk up a mountain path with more gods on either side of the path. This time, the gods where is full color and more animated then the golden figures. Eventually it all became bodhisvattas statues, which are just beautiful. These were the followers of Buddha and were present at his death. They are believed to be androgenous, and refused to enter Nirvana and instead remained on earth to help/watchover mankind. They look like very comforting people. There were only two other buildings at the upper level, and they both looked like temples going under renovation. I was standing outside one of them, and a worker came up to me gesturing that I take a picture and speaking to me in Chinese. From the gestures I think that it was quitting time and they wanted me to get a picture of the Buddha inside the temple. I did, and then Megan and I headed back down the mountain, since it was almost 6pm. On the walk back down, the monkeys were in the bamboo watching us, but there were no further incidents. Crazy monkeys.

When we stopped for dinner in Mongkok, I had the most wonderful tea, Green Apple Honey. I haven't been able to find it yet, but that is something I am defiantly bringing back with me. The rain started up just as we got back on the bus, so we lucked out. Later that night I also grabbed a late dinner with Shirley and her group at a hot pot place. I tried some really good mushroom-thingys, and took pictures of all the food we had. I spent a good deal of time poking the oysters because I thought that they were more that a little gross-looking. Then we headed back out into the rain. I thought that I was just going to head back home to my hostel but they took my to play mahjohng, and I played until 2:30am. I only one once. For now its back to class and work. I do have some bad news though, it turns out that Jason won't be able to come visit me after all. I'm a little down about it, but I'll see him in May at the very latest. Hopefully new pictures will be up soon!

The Hong Kong Story and Weekly Visit to the Starr's

This weekend was another hot date with my roommate Terrence! She really wanted to do something with me this weekend, so we decided to meet up with her friend Dennis and explore the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Phase One of the grand plan was to meet Dennis at 10:30am in TST, or Tsim Sha Tsui for those of us who don't live here. Too bad we didn't actually leave the university until 10ish, and then we had to stop at Terrence's apartment to drop some things off. I saw her mother again, and also met her grandmother. I love Terrence's apartment. Its right in the heart of the Ladies Market in Mongkok, and its so nice and cozy. Living right above all the hustle and bustle has to be very exciting. I wouldn't mind living there. Her grandmother is very sweet; the only English word she knows is Hello and she kept saying it to me the whole time I was there. And she was beautiful! I think all the women in Terrence's family, Terrence included, are just gorgeous.

After a brief visit at her home, and getting some money from her mother, we ran to the MTR Station and jumped on the train. We got there at 11:15am, and Dennis was merciless in his teasing of Terrence. I should note here that people in Hong Kong are never on time. It can be a little irritating at points, but like everything else you have to get used to it. Local students will walk into class 10 minutes late and think nothing of it. Some will apologize, but being late isn't really a big deal. The museum was only $5HK to get in, which is less than a US dollar, if you want to compare it. Things here are cheap! We decided to explore the permanent exhibit, the "Hong Kong Story", which is Hong Kong history from Precambrian Times up until the Handover in 1997. It was one of the most well-done musems I have ever been in. There was so much information to cover, but the musem was huge and it presented everything really clearly and thoughtfully. I want to go back again. The pictures from it turned out fabolously. A lot of the musem was really interactive, and built so that you were walking down a street during the Japanese Occupation, or through a Punti hut. Such a great museum- I was like a kid in a candy store, espcially when we got to the section about Chinese Opera. I was so excited that Terrence promised to talk me to Cantonese Opera before I left. Several times, in fact. We must have been in the musem for 3 hours.

For lunch, Terrence and I headed back to Mongkok, and Dennis went home to Central. As we were walking to the MTR Station together, we got someone to take a great picture of the 3 of us. Its one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip so far. We said hello to her mother again back in Mongkok and went to a local place for sushi and Japanese noodles. I love salmon sushi- its my favorite. After lunch, Terrence took me to Fa Yuen street, which is another street market where no tourists go. I try to avoid tourists, they make us Westerners look bad- the whole "Ugly American" thing is so true. Its a better market to go to, because there is a greater variety of things, instead of all the knockoffs at the Ladies Market. Its the one place in Hong Kong that I have been able to find yarn and knitting needles. If you walk down the center of the street, you see the main booths, but the more interesting things are between the booths and the actual bulidings. Thats where all the little boutiqes are, and the little curiosities, like an incense shop that I wandered into. It sold items like incense or paper goods for Buddhist worship. Terrence did a little bargaining and I picked up a lovely bracelet for $14HK, which is less than $2US. I helped her pick out a very cute skirt and top. Hong Kongers love to shop! From Fa Yuen street, we headed over to Grand Century Plaza so she could go to a bookstore. In there she got me beginers writing books like they give to kids in kidnergarten, so I can learn to write Chinese. I did a little bit in each book, and I'm afraid that my handwriting is terrible. I can recognize a few characters where ever I go, and thats pretty exciting for me. I'm still pretty illiterate by Chinese standards. She went off to meet her boyfriend and high school classmates for dinner, and I took the bus back to Lingnan. By the time I got home, I was incredibly exhausted. I could feel my leg muscles twitching from the combination of Friday's tai chi chaun class, and the walking I had done. If I keep this up, I'm going to have fantastic legs when I get home! My pants have been getting really loose too. Now I know why all the people here are skinny!

Sunday was another evening at the Starr's. Its really nice to have somewhere to go every Sunday like this. Mrs. Starr and I have the same name, so we always sit next to each other and mess with Prof. Starr when he calls her name. I found a kindred spirit in a girl named Heidi who is from Hong Kong, but was sent to school in Austrialia as a child. We spent an hour talking about the books we've read, and she is going to lend me a couple. The sky was finally clear enough from their balcony to see clear to the airport and to Hong Kong Island at the same time. It was breathtaking.

Tomorrow we have a day off from school for Sports Day. If the weather is nice, I think that I might explore more of Tuen Mun and try to find the temple here. I'm also very excited right now because Jason will be here on Friday! We are going to have so much fun! Crazy adventures are assured to happen. As always, I love and miss everyone very much! Look for new pictures!

For now, there have been no big adventures, except for that of daily life in Hong Kong. I have mastered the transportation system, ordering dim sum, some basic manners, and how to bargin. I've gotten incredibly accustomed to living here by this point, and it really feels like home, instead of some place that I am visiting. I've made tons of friends among local kids, which makes me happy. My classmates have stopped treating me like a non-entity, and realize, "Hey, maybe she can check over my work, and help me out!", which is much better than not being talked to. Even a couple of guys said hi to me today, and that is a sign of real progress. I really want to have the experience of the "real" Hong Kong, and what its like to be a citizen, not a tourist, and so far I feel that I have been sucessful in doing so. Classes are going a lot more smoothly now that I know the routine, and adjusted my clock. My roommate is just as awesome as ever. She and I love to tease each other, and she is taking me out tomorrow to the history musem, and out to lunch. She is going to show me where the locals go and all the little things that tourists never see/do.

I am also taking another class, a Tai Chi Chaun class. Today was the first day for it, and boy was it killer. Mr. Wong, the instructor came up to me when I first entered the room and said "I not teach this class in English. Find a friend to help you" Too bad I didn't know anyone in the class! He made us do all sorts of crazy streches until my muscles started twitching. A girl named Julia befriended me, which was really lucky for me, because I had no idea what he was saying, all I could do was follow the movements. We only learned some basic hand movements though. He also told me that I can't wear jeans. Nevermind the fact that I have another class right before his......Then I had tea with my friend Irene who is also really cute and sweet. She teased me for not calling her the day before and then told me that she missed me. We are going to do something together next week. I also have my first big presentation next week, which I think that is going to be relativly easy, and on Friday Jason comes to visit me! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! We're going to do a ton of hiking/camping. I am so excited to see this kid, I can describe. The closest that I can get to it is that Jason is the Laurel to my Hardy.

And I promise that I will be better about updating things. At least every couple of days should be good, don't you think?

So here is the run-down on what I've ben doing in this past week and a half since I've last updated. I have completly succeded in completly humilating myself infront of several groups of strangers when going to my Statistics class. I thought that I had woken up about 10 minutes before class started, so I was in a huge rush going out the door. I first went into the right building, but the wrong floor. So I put my hand on the doorknob to open it, then realized it wasn't my classroom. Then I went upstairs to the right classroom and just rushed in because I thought that I was late. When I turned around, I was looking at some strange professor, who was most definatly not my professor. I started to argue with him insisting that my class was in this room, and he must be in the wrong place. Then I caught a glimpse of the clock over his shoulder- I was an hour early. My face turned bright red, and I bolted from the room. Later, Christian, an exchange student, told me that he was sitting in that class when I came in. He also said that it was the funniest thing that he has seen in days.......great.......So when I actually got to class I was a little stressed, and tired from a quick nap. I honestly tried my best to stay awake, but I lost that battle. I must have only snoozed for like 5 minutes, but when I woke up, Dr. Law was starting right at me. Then he said, "its time for a break, some of you look like you need a break. For the second time that day, I turned bright red and wanted to run. But then this professor always gets a huge kick out of picking on me. So as soon as that class was over, I was outta there! You could see the dust cloud from where I ran.

Later that week was the AIESEC Cultural Party, which was a ton of fun, so that made up for my horribly embarassing day. AIESEC is an international organziation of students that promotes peace, understanding, and an end to conflict. You know, peace-loving, tree-hugging hippies- my kind of people. They hosted this cultural party so people from different countries could get together and make friends. Helen was my group leader, which was pretty awesome. I adore Helen- she is one of the funniest locals I know. We were split into smaller groups, and I was the only Westerner in my group. I met some locals, and people from the mainland. One of the guys in my group insisted I call him Tiger- I learned later that all the mainland girls are in love with him, but I just don't see it. We had to run around campus in our groups playing teamwork/mind games. Our group came in second, but it was so much fun that it didn't matter. We had a Pun Choi dinner in the canteen after the games. Pun Choi is a huge bowl of food with all types of meat and vegetables in it that everyone shares. Its got everything in it, from chicken to prawns to lotus. I really like Pu Choi dinner, but its hard to find here. There is also some legend behind it, but no one told me. During dinner we had to sit through some presentations a.ka. shameless promoting of AIESEC. They were entertaining. I also got the whole group to sing Happy Birthday to Christine. It was fantastic. After dinner we played one more game which was like an eating/drinking contest. It was fun, but I made myself a little sick because I had to eat half a can of Pringles in a minute. All in all it was a great time. The AIESEC kids have been wonderful to us.

A couple of nights later, a group of exchangers headed out to a karaoke club. The building we went to, 16 floors tall, had a karaoke club on every floor! Asians really love to sing off-pitch to songs they love. We were invited to a members only club by the manager Tim, who wanted to show us that he could "party" with Americans. He sang a couple of songs with us, and had beers with some of the other exchange girls. He taught me a pretty cool fan trick, which I can still do. But after that, the next time I saw him, he was passed out one of the couches, dead drunk. I asked one of our waitresses what happened, and she told me that Tim likes to show-off to foreigners by getting really drunk every time they come in. Manchi, the waitress begged me to take some pictures of him, and email them to her, and I was more than happy to oblige. Who doesn't get a kick out making fun of their boss? We sang a bunch of great songs too, and the other people in the club loved us. We got cheers and standing ovations every time. I think that the highlight of the evening was when all of us got us for "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", complete with some of the girls acting as background dancers. It was so much fun! I think that I might have to go back there, or to at least another karaoke club. Did I mention that the name of the club is the Joy Luck Club!

Another week of classes

So another week of classes has gone by for me, with everything going well. The classes here a little bit easier for me though. Its mainly because everything is taught in English, and for myself, a native speaker, I have a "home-team" advantage. The readings are pretty light and the lectures are really clear. I think that the best lecturer I have is Prof. Sundram for Indian History. He is so excited about everything that he reminds me of my beagle Tucker- always bouncy and ready to go. My other favorite class is Cultural and Historical Writing, mainly because its so small and the subject matter is really interesting. In our tutorial, only half of the class showed up, which means me and one of the guys. And this was the day that we were suppose to have a "class discussion"- that was fun. It turned into just me debating with the professor because the other guy didn't really understand the reading. As much fun as it was, I hope that all the other tutorials for that class will be like that. Its small enough, but I don't want to be the dominate force. Most of the kids here don't talk in class. No one wants to disagree with the professors or try to start a debate. They like having exchange students in classes because they liven things up a little. So this week of classes ended well.

Friday night was the Chinese Latern Festival, which has been described to me as Chinese Valentines Day. Jess and Karen took us to the Tuen Mun Town Park for the celebrations. It wasn't as big as Chinese New Year, but it was still fun. The park is very beautiful with rolling hills and artifical waterfalls. In the waterfalls they had placed all these beautiful laterns of fish, birds, and some bigger ones of people. The biggest ones were of the 4 great beauties of Chinese history. There were also a lot of performances by different troupes. We managed to sit down and watch some Chinese Opera, and then some acrobats, and finally a magic show. The power started to fizzle during the magic show, and by the end of it, the power went off, so everyone headed home. I was hoping to find laterns that we could buy, but no such luck. I t wasn't as exciting as I hoped it to be.

Saturday I went with Megan and her roommate Jess to what I have dubbed "Monkey Mountain" in Sha Tin. Its about an hour trip from school, up in the hills. There are a bunch of nature/hiking trails right on the Kowloon Resvior where wild monkeys roam. And its not like that you might see a monkey in a tree if your lucky. These monkeys are just hanging out in the road, on the fence, swimming in the resvoir, and having a good time. They're a little on the smaller side when it comes to monkeys, and the only noise I heard them make was a kind of huffing noise. They had very wise-looking faces. I took tons of pictures so you can see for yourself. We walked up one hill and they started following us and then lined up on either side of the street. It almost looked like a monkey-style ambush. There was also some monkeys that you could tell have been hurt by people carelessly driving down the road. It made me a little sad to see how dependent the monkeys have become on the humans for food. There were candy wrappers all up and down the road even though they have huge signs that say "DON'T FEED THE MONKEYS!" We went up the side of one mountain, and then down a more offbeat path. Jess started freaking out because we went near some flies. Her big fear is bugs, so she made us turn back. So we walked up another dirt path that was really beautiful. We were right in the middle of a bamboo forest with all these streams running through. There were some monkeys sitting on rocks on the side of the path and they just ignored us as we walked by. I was no less than 5 inches away from a monkey. It was really thrilling. We spent about 4 hours just walking around the park and watching monkeys.

Jess took us home to her apartment in Mongkok so we could have dinner with her parents and meet her family. Her parents were very sweet, and funny. Her dad is a retired doctor and her mother is a nurse. They made a great meal for us, and I told Jess' mom that I would never go home if I could eat her food everyday. Her parents also took us to the local park to play badmintion and learn some tai chi. Oh boy are her parents good! Megan and I were running around the court, sweaty and panting trying to keep up, and they didn't even break a sweat. It was really fun though. Jess' dad is really funny. He also taught us the first 4 steps of the 28 step tai chi. We've been invited to come back every weekend so that we can keep Jess active, or so they said. Jess is skinny and active, I don't see why she needs our help.

Sunday I spent sleeping in, lounging around, and doing my homework for the week. I did one weeks worth of homework for 5 classes in one day- thats how easy things are here. Prof. Starr had another gathering that evening as well. It was much smaller than the last one, only about 15 people. I met some more mainland students, and the English tutors. Our university was on TV for a little bit, so we all watched that together. Mrs. Starr made some Valentines Day cookies for us as well. It was a nice quiet night compared to all the craziness that has been going on. I didn't take as many pictures as I hoped to. This week of classes should be interesting, since it is the first time that I will actually have real work to do.

My roommate is the best basketball player ever!

Its true folks, my lovely roommate Terence is the next Yao Ming, that is, if she wasn't 4 feet tall. Today was the first game of the inter-hostel competition that they have every semester, called the Presidents Cup. Terence was playing for the Hostel E team, also know as the best hostel ever, and so I went to cheer her and my friend Helen on. Loudly, very loudly so that they would be horribly embarassed. I think that I did a pretty good job. Helen made a couple of great baskets even though she claims to be a horrible player. I should have played, I would of had the game in the bag because I'm head and shoulders above all the girls, and a good deal of the guys. My team won 40-8, and I look at it as a good start to the semester. I bought my roommate a pack of cookies as a celebratory gift.

I also got my first letter from home! (Thanks Ms. Paula!) I am also really looking forward to my care package of jelly beans and hot chocolate from Allison. It makes me feel really good to know that people are thinking of me and reading this. I am always thinking of everyone back in the states, so I have to say that I miss everyone and love everyone very much. As much as I love it here, no one compares to my family, friends, and loved ones.

Classes have started back up again, and it makes for a nice change. I'm taking 5 classes right now, but since I don't have a job, I feel like I could take more because I will have so much free time. I am really enjoying all my classes so far. Today was my Cultural and Historical Writing class with my one and only American professor. This class is pretty tiny: just myself, one other girl, and 2 boys. Thats it. This is the smallest class that I have ever been in and I know that I can't slack off. Even the professor said so. What made my day though was that they 2 guys in the class were talking about me and the way that they know they were talking about me is that I kept hearing the English word "exchange". I need to learn Cantonese just so I can know what people are saying about me. It didn't seem like anything bad, but I still want to know what was being said. My history class yesterday was pretty entertaining as well. The professor was really excited to talk about the ancient Indus River Valley civilizations. He thinks that Harappa is the greatest place in the world. He said so verbatim. It was really fun to watch and hear him make cheesy jokes. I love professors who make cheesy jokes, they're the best. Tomorrow is my Statistics class (booooooooooooooooooooooo) and also my Film/Cinema Studies class. The Statistics class is the one where the professor talked about me in Cantonese infront of me, so tomorrow should be interesting. I'm also really excited for my film class, because the professor for that is really fun and makes cheesy jokes. They don't compare to St. Mary's professors though!

I think a hike to monkey mountian might be in store for this weekend. I don't know the real name of the place yet, but its a nature park with monkeys, big monkeys that chase people sometimes. Makes for some exciting pictures!

Other good news: Jason told me that he might be spending his spring break with me. I am really excited for that because I really miss my best friend. I am used to seeing him everyday, so his visit is going to be great!

Interesting cultural thing I learned today as well: Here, the guys are the ones who have the sterotype of spinsterhood and cats attached to them. I was sitting outside of my hostel reading with Helen when she told me about it. Mostly the guys will take care of the cats, and a lot of the guys on campus will just hang out with them and talk to them. Helen leaned over to me and whispered "Most of them are lonely because they don't have girlfriends, so they get cats" Interesting cultural flip flop, don't you think?