Last Day of "Vacation"

These past few days here have been free for us to decide how to fill them, and fill them we have! Today was no different. Today we decided to venture back to Kowloon to see the harbor in daylight and then visit the Temple Street Market.

The Harbor was just as beautiful during the day, and the avenue of stars was much easier to read! I managed to find Jackie Chan's plaque and put my hands in the mold. Plus we visited some tiny Disney merchandise shops on the harbor for the air conditioning but were enamored with the things sold there. Some of it was real Disney pens and rain jackets and things, but they also had a ton of Garfield accessories for you and your phone. Plus, we found a new statue of a golden pig that was super cute!

After that, and some heavy rain that came and went quickly, we took the train to Jordan Station, and visited the market. However, we got there very early and many of the stalls were still setting up, or not even there yet, so we decided to head to dinner to pass a few hours until the market opened. As we walked down the street deciding on where to eat, we had stopped to look at an outside menu when the door of the restaurant opens and a woman says "We have room!" and she nearly pulled us into the building! There was no question of "do we want to eat here?" we just all walked in. It didn't hurt the restaurant that it met all of our criteria: air conditioning, seats and food(not any specific kind of food, because, really, we have no idea what we are eating most of the time anyway, so why try and even think about a type of food). So we sit down in this tiny back room with our large group, and a waitress, the only one who has any hope of understanding our English comes with a hand full of menus saying they were in English and hands them all out (thank goodness too, or this meal would have been way more interesting!). Thank goodness, both for us and the waitress, Amy was with us again to translate, even though most of the ordering was done through pointing to picture and words. What was really great (other than the savory pork neck I had for dinner) was that at the end of the meal we asked if we could split the check(something no one does here, they all just pay a portion-its actually kind of frowned upon to split a check, thank goodness the waitress didn't seem to mind), so our waitress plops herself into the vacant chair with our check and a calculator and starts collecting money, but only some of us have the exact amount, so she start giving us change from what the previous person paid (like I paid for my meal, then some of my money was given back to Amy because she paid too much). The whole thing was an ordeal, but the waitress made it really fun and we were laughing the whole time! Plus, she was a really good sport about it:)Then, as we were still killing time siting in the restaurant, the waitress came to the back room we were in to eat on her break and we sat and talked (well her and Amy talked and Amy translated for us) with the waitress for a good 20 minutes! We talked about her and her kids, why we were here and where we were from, even the fact that it was her 3rd day working after 5 years as a stay at home mom and that she had gambled with Mahjong that morning for only 10 minutes and lost HK$6000 (US$744)and it was no big deal! The whole thing was just so much fun, but what was better was the few moments that I was able to sort of follow the conversation even though it was in Cantonese!            

Even though it has only been 4 days (not that I believe that, because it feels like I have been here and made memories enough for weeks!) I can identify the Cantonese character for Exit, and the hand sign they use to denote six. Plus, I have found that if you listen closely, they have picked up words from when they were under British rule that give clues on to what they are talking about. Then you couple that with the hand gestures they have, and you can almost follow the conversation!

After all that fun, the market was finally open and ready for shopping so we headed over to that. Here's what the market entrance looked like!

Going into this I knew that these are the places to bargain, but it's the first market I went to so I just wanted to look and see what starting prices were. However, the moment you start looking the shop keepers hover, and if you ask to know a price they automatically think you are going into negotiations because you plan to buy, not just look. Often, I just wanted to know a starting price to understand how things were priced, and to get a feel for how markets work price wise, but not everything has a price sticker on it. So if you ask the price and enter the bargaining stage, the only was to get them to stop so you can get away is to give a really low price you know they won't take so they want to end the conversation. It was tiring just trying to get out of the conversation, I can imagine how it will be when I actually want to buy something!

I did buy a souvenir though! Thankfully someone else helped with bargaining, so I'll learn from their example when I want to do it later. What I got are a pair of decorative shot glasses that have the harbor on them, one in gold and one in silver. They are really interesting mementos! However, one thing I will go back and buy is this canvas painting (they say hand made but when three stalls have the exact same picture, color and all, I call BS) of Victoria Harbor at sunset in full color with the famous traditional ship ( I can never remember the name but the one with fan like red sails that I can never get a good picture of). It was just so beautiful and really caught the harbor better than a picture, and the only reason I didn't get it today was because I didn't want to give out the rest of my cash, and not have any in case of emergency. But it will adorn my walls eventually!! Over all, them market was really neat, and I can't wait to check more out and see what they all have to offer.

The biggest surprise of the day was when I got back to my room to find that I finally have a room mate!Her name is Sarah, and she is an exchange student from Singapore. She speaks English as well as any American (it is their main language after all) and she is so nice, and very easy to talk to, so this will definitely make the semester easier!

I'm off to watch movies in the lounge with friends, so talk to you later after my 3 day orientation and school and all the boring stuff that starts now that my 4 day mini vacation is up:(

Victoria Harbor

Victoria Harbor is a beautiful  skyline that resides on Hong Kong Island, facing the Kowloon Peninsula. The two are separated by a channel of ocean water that takes about 5 minutes to cross on the star ferry. It's really like a salt water river.

I don't know if its Saturday evenings, or every evening, or what, but when you sit on the Kowloon side looking at the photo above, they have a light show called Symphony of Lights. On top of many of these buildings are green laser lights, other buildings have lights that run up the sides of them, behind you they have massive spotlights, and together the lights dance to a beautiful mix of orchestra music. What really schocked me was as we waited for the show to start they had live music playing and instead of singing local songs they were singing the Ramones, and Imagine Dragons and all the music that we listen to here. Even with the street performers, more often than not they will be singing some American pop song!

The best place to view the Symphony of Lights if from the Avenue of stars. Its the Hong Kong Version of the Hollywood walk of Fame. Only it has barely anyone that I recognized. The only star plaques that had names I knew were Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee. As you walk down this seaside avenue, there are statues dotted periodically along the way and one of them, rather famous, is this statue of Bruce Lee:

 

and all around it people were taking pictures, just like us, so we weren't too out of place as tourists:)

From there we made our way to the star ferry where for only a few dollar or so in Hong Kong Dollar it will take you across the harbor to Hong Kong Island, the financial district of the area. You may know one bank here, the Bank of China, that was featured in a Batman movie! The Ferry ride offered some really pretty views of both harbors, but with the rocking of the waves, picture were all blurry. Once on the other side, I was very thankful for the native student we had made friends with and had joined us on the journey, because without her we never would have made it any where in that city with out a lot of wondering around! On the island we planned to find a restaurant ( which thanks to Fish, the native student, we did!), as many of us hadn't yet eaten dinner and were starving. The restaurant we wondered upon was great. The food was typical fare, but we managed to be the first in this upstairs lounge, so for a few minutes we had this whole lounge just to the seven of us. We were later joined, but with the air conditioning, the ability to sit for a while, and getting to know the group I went with made the place fantastic!

Thank goodness we headed home when we did though! Our native student told us that even though it was Saturday, the trains close kind of early, so as we made it to the station, the last train of the evening was leaving, so we just made it to get home! We had impeccable timing the whole night really, because as we walked back to the school, we had only a few minutes left of walking when the rain hit (and boy did it hit! I've never gotten so wet in the little time I was in rain), so we were able to find cover quickly:)

I have really had several event filled days so far! I feel like I've shoved a weeks worth of things into only a few days, and man do my feet feel it! Over the last two days I have walked over 30 miles in the muggy, heavy air that is constant here! The best is when you finally get to venture inside and get a blast of delicious, long awaited air conditioning. 

I'm not really sure what today brings. We mentioned heading to the beach, so hopefully my feet can make it. However, I never packed any sun screen and I burn to a nice lobster color very quickly, so I haven't a clue if that is where I want to venture right before I have to go through 3 days of orientation and the start of classes. I'll let you know what the day brings later, so come back and read up!

Views!

I forgot to show you these! During our adventure today tour guide Pedro (BG Pedro showing off his student ambassador skills) we say these views.

 

turns out that where we are in Hong Kong is surrounded by these mountains, all covered in trees and beautiful greenery. As a background to the cityscape it makes for a beautiful view :) And the view is pretty much 360 degrees. Its an incredible sight to see both city and forest!

Hopefully there will be more from my trip to Victoria  Harbor!

Day 1-2

Well adventures were abundant as me and several friends tried to make our way through Hong Kong!

Day 1 started out early, with my last post I said I had been up at 5am, and I never went back to bed. So at around 9, Chris (from BG), Alex (from Canada), Flo ( from France) and Iwent to breakfast and that was a surprise! We all figured the noodle line would be safe, I mean how can you do noodles wrong? However, what we got was way more than noodles. Everything this line had was paired with Congee, a rice soup with beans and bone in pork chunks. and truly, it was blah, there was no distinct flavor and you really couldn't eat the pork because of the bone. Thankfully the dinner later that night and the lunch this afternoon were way better! The roasted duck I had- that was hanging in a window before he pulled it down and chopped it for my meal- was really delicious, even with the bones I was pulling out. And I went through the entire meal, even with the rice, using chop sticks and didn't drop a thing! I was so proud.

Next we ventured our way to the metro station to get ourselves to Ikea. That was a crowded adventure, but between the six of us (and a special thanks to the friend from Michigan Amy who speaks Cantonese) we managed the train and Ikea very well! That was, until we got to the end of the line and my Amex card got declined :/ Thank fully it worked when I ventured back with a bunch of European girls, and Pedro and Izzy from BG, who arrived late yesterday. What was funny was that in this big group of 10, I had already done this trip and knew more than these people, so they all questioned how long I had been there and thought I was lying when I told them only 1 day! I'm amazed at how much you pick up in a single day!

Other than several trips to Ikea, all the BG kids, Alex (from Canada) and Amy (from Michigan) ventured to a mall that was within walking distance to see what was there and pick up school supplies. What really surprises me is that all these malls we went to have grocery stores in them, either in the basement, or just taking up a floor in the mall. So we used this mall to stock up our dorm rooms. I used it both to get comfort food (goldfish are the best) and to experiment!

 from the left are the garlic bread cheetos (I think...) a bag of fry looking chips with a crawfish (crayfish to you crazy northerners) some apple juice looking drink, sparking apple juice in a can (that I'm drinking now and tastes great save for the after taste), and chocolate milk bread (the moistest thing I have ever had, even after several hours out in the open in my room).Its been really exciting trying new things like to food and snacks!

So, now my friends and I are headed to Victoria Harbor for the evening to see a light show and have a good time. Look for those pictures later! Good luck to Greek Life as they recruit this weekend! 

I have arrived

Well, it took a 3 hour car ride to the airport, a 3 hour maintenance delay (at least they caught the problem before we were in the air) and 16 hours on a plane, but I am finally here!

The drive to, and the wait at the airport weren't terrible. I spent a lot of the delay wandering the shops in the terminal or doing word searches in the book I bought during my wandering. What I wasn't prepared for was how sore I would get during the plane ride. I know 16 hours is a long time, but even with the extra leg room I had because I was in the first row of my section, I was fidgety most of the ride. Thank goodness the air line provided entertainment in the form of free tv shows and movies on your own personal screen, because I'm not sure I could have read that entire flight like I planned. I was happily surprised at the listings they had for movies though. Several, like The Fault in our Stars, were very recently out of theaters. It let me catch up on all the movies I missed over summer. When I wasn't watching a movie, I slept, which I don't think was a good idea, especially not towards the end of the trip, seeing how it's 5:15am here and I am wide awake for the day.

After finishing the plane ride, getting through Hong Kong International Airport was surprisingly easy after a few helpful people directed me, and the others on my flight with me, where to go. While making our way though the airport, we noticed a group of cameras around a man. Turns out, the one time I'm in an international airport,  so are a famous pop singer and his new wife! It was crazy to see how in your face these cameras got to the pop star. What was really great was that Hong Kong Baptist University had student ambassadors waiting there to take us back to the school after they collected everyone. The ambassadors and other exchange students I met were all very nice and we have plans to meet together tomorrow (today now) so we can venture our way into the city in search of an Ikea to finish the set up of our rooms.

The rooms we were given, while smaller than the dorms I have had before, are still well sized. Plus, with so little packed, I was done organizing my room in like 15 minutes, so that was great! My roommate hasn't arrived yet, so I'm in the room alone right now, but she will either be an exchange student that arrives in the next few days, or an international student that will be here mid next week, and either option is exciting!

So far, though I am only going on 7 hours in Hong Kong,  everyone has been very kind. From the other exchange students I met at the airport, to the girl I met on the elevator who lives on my floor and helped bring my luggage to my room, and my RA (which they call hall tutors here) who has been very helpful with helping me set up my email and wifi.

Though I'm sure there will be tons to get used to, and situations that won't be as easy as moving in, for day one, everything has been pretty great. I can't wait to see what else this trip has in store for me!

Crunch Time

Well, the time is almost upon me! I have 24 days until I board a plane for 15 hours to reach my destination- Hong Kong. Currently my emotions rotate between crazy excitement (I mean, come on, I'm going to Hong Kong for 4 months), nerves (I mean, come on, I'm going to Hong Kong for 4 months) and the panic of a procrastinator, because I still have so much left to do and way less time than I thought! Thankfully, excitement seems to be the most common emotion, but I am sure that as the days fly by that will change.

Though I still have much planning to do I have managed to complete quite a bit over the course of the summer. I purchased a travel guide book and planned out lots of places (more than I'm sure I'l be able to make it to) to visit during my months there. Most notably on my list are Hong Kong Disney and the largest Buddha statue Temple (not the official name by the way). Plus there are tons of beaches to visit and they all sound beautiful! Adding to the excitement, at some of the beaches they offer lessons for things like paddle boarding and wind surfing, or rent you the equipment for activities like snorkeling! I keep sharing with my parents all my plans and their reaction is always the same- "you are going there to study right?" then they laugh and shake their head and I keep on planning. Planning what to do while I'm there isn't the only thing I've done (though it is what I have devoted most of my time to), I've done a few other things as well. Completing and receiving my visa and passport, reading up about my school and the opportunities I have, learning the taboo actions, you know, all the things that will help me survive while I am abroad!

One of the really interesting things I've enjoyed reading about is my host school! Recently I received verification that I have a room there and will be rooming with, most likely, a native student and I couldn't be more excited for this! I think living with a local will be an immense help with getting to know other people, understanding the culture and making long term international friends. Beyond my living arrangements, the school also host monthly outings to explore the city, a buddy system for the exchange students with native students, and a educational hub for when I need help with homework or classes. Overall, Hong Kong Baptist University is helping make my  transition very easy!

Now all I have left before I go is packing and to learn a little survival Cantonese. Packing won't too hard, I've got my list started and some googling has helped tailor that list to my time abroad. The hard part will be learning a language, but my public library is helping out with that. After acquiring a library card, I can log into this Mango software that is super simple to use and has a zillion languages- even ones that are going extinct! With that software, in only an hour of work, I can greet people and tell them that I am doing well!

As I only have 24 days left, I'm off to kick my butt into gear and jump start my preparations! Talk to you all next time:)