Tears of Joy and Hope in my Soul

I"M GOING BACK!!!

well possibly, but it's going to happen. I'll make sure of it!

It all started with an email form my university about a case study. If you don't know what that is, the short version is that you apply to get on the university team, where you get a case, analyze it and then write a 10 page report in 10 days. If that report is well liked then you get to make a formal presentation of it at the International Case Competition Finals. What was amazing about this opportunity is that the International Finals are being held in, you guessed it, HONG KONG!!! So of course I applied to be on the team (and totally mentioned that I had attended the school in Hong Kong hosting the final competition)!!

Right after I hit send on my application, I knew I wasn't adjusting well to life not in Hong Kong (it just isn't as exciting) since I just agreed to spend my summer writing at minimum a 10 page report minus appendices and the exective summary (thats around 15 pages minimum!). All this just for the chance to go back to Hong Kong for 4 days. Definitely not adjusting well. Plus, when I applied, it didn't even cross my mind that this would be such a great learing experience, and how great this will be to talk about in interviews. No, the only thing going through my mind was Hong Kong, Hong Kong, HONG KONG. 

When I actually received the "congratulatioins you are on the team" email, I was in the grocery store parking lot and I actually teared up at the blaze of hope in my soul this opportunity provided. I then proceded to text everyone I knew from my study abroad and brag about my new found hope (they are all extremely jealous by the way).

So now I've started planning my savings in order to afford this inevitable trip (I will do everything I possibly can to make it to the finals, that I promise). Thank goodness for my amazing internship with Hickory Farms this summer so I can use half my paycheck to save! I don't think I can wait until November to go again (because, once again, I WILL BE GOING BACK) but I guess thats better than the alternative of not going at all. Patience was never a virtue of mine though...

Pray for me as my team works on the case! I can't leave this trip up to just hard work (though I'll have plenty of that)!

I Guess It Doesn't End

While I wish I was posting something about how it doesn't end because I get to go back, that is not what I get to say.What I do get to say is that I am continuing my link to Asia here. I jumped on the opportunity to become a BGSU buddy for one of the some 500 exchange students we have (I had no idea we took so many!). I requested a student from China and was graciously paired with Liwen,an MBA student from a province in middle Mainland China. She is here with the College of Business, looking to stay for 2 years to gain an MBA in Applied Statistics, then work for a few years here in the states before returning home. There were so many BGSU students that wanted to help that I was also paired with a BGSU politics major, Ashley.

We have been asked to give at least an hour of our time a week to spend with our buddy, but we will have no trouble with that! We had our first meeting today and we decided to put the bowling in Bowling Green and played 3 games down at Al-Mar Bowling Alley. We were all pretty terrible (in 3 games only one of us broke 100 once). However, it was a ton of fun and we really got to know each other, so it was totally worth the failure at bowling (I did manage a few strikes in some crazy strokes of luck). After our adventure bowling, we ventured over to Panera Bread to have dinner and this was a real treat. Any one who has had it knows, Panera has the best Mac and Cheese, and Liwen has never had Mac and Cheese before (like never, never!). She had also never had a salad she actually liked, so this was the perfect place to go :). Liwen got the half and half (a great deal) with the Mac and Cheese (of course) and the steak and blue cheese salad (I don't like blue cheese and I want to get that salad) and loved every bit of it.

The best part was, that after the delicious meal, we sat and just talked about things, and I was able to learn so much! I was glad to hear that the one child ban placed on citizens living in urban areas in China has been lifted (the population is growing older so they need to counter act that with higher birth rates). Plus, I was extremely surprised to hear that on Weibo (the China version of twitter) if you have too many people retweet or like a post of yours you can get in serious trouble for being too influential.

To round out the night, I drove Liwen home, and (because it is customary to give gifts when people do favors for you like drive) Liwen gave me a small gift. It is a set of 6 bookmarks that clip to the top of the page. The best part is that the look like traditional Chinese figures (like the emperor from mulan) and I absolutely love them!

 I can't wait for our next meeting (there is so much to do with Liwen- like ice skating and trying chipotle for the first time)!

All Things Come to an End

I have never understood the term bittersweet more than I have in this homecoming. I have been home for 3 days now and I both love it and miss HK. 

It is great to be home, with my family and in my own house. I know where everything is, I can get exactly what I want,whether it is at home or in the grocery store or elsewhere. Plus it's great have all of the things I missed that are not in HK.

However, I already miss Hong Kong. I miss the friends I made there that are already scattered across the world.It has been only a few days, but I havce been near constantly messgaing my friends from HK (thank goofness for texting or I don't know what I would do).  I miss the conveneience to get anywhere, with a long list of things to do. I miss the adventure we always managed to find.

No matter where I am, I will always have the numerous, incredible memories from my time there! It was an unforgettable 4 months, and I will use these memories to tie me over until I can go back to the amazing city! For now, hovever, my adventures in Hong Kong have come to and end and I must learn to make the most of my time here. If Hong Kong has taught me one thing, its that there is more to do in your town than you think, you just have to look for it, so I am going to look for it!

Beijing

I am excited to say that Izzy and I were able to make it to Beijing! The trip was eventful, and cold to boot, but no less fun.

It started out with me getting food poisoning or a 24 hour stomach bug or something that had me spending the first day in the hotel room to get better. On the bright side, at least there was heating, English TV (I have never watched so much news in my life, and room service to bring me rice to calm my nausea. On an even brighter side, I was only out for the day, so starting Monday I got to get out and experience Beijing. I couldn't do too much (I wasn't hungry so I fueled my days on a few bites here and there) but I still got to nearly everything Izzy and I wanted to see.

We started our adventures with a tour trip to the Great Wall. The funny part is, is that another person on the tour was from Ohio, so I went all the way to china to meet a guy from my country. The tour started with a stop to a silk factory (it was really just one long sales pitch) and then a stop at the nations premier jade factory (they sculpted and inlaid the jade for the 2008 Beijing Olympic medals). After those stops and lunch, we finally got to the Great Wall. Because it was so windy, we had to take these sliding cars up and down to the wall (it was like a sad amusement park ride) but eventually we made it to the wall. It really is an incredible sight! Nearly every direction you look there are sections of the wall branching out. I wish I had, had more strength so I would have walked more of the wall, but I spent a lot of our time up there being another sight to see (many tourist there come from villages and really haven't seen anyone that isn't of their race, so they were rather intrigued with me). The day really tired me out, so Izzy and I headed back for nap time, before we ventured to a local market for food and fun.

Our third day was just a full. We went out to see the Temple of Heaven, using the Beijing subway for the first time. When we first began planning this trip, we were warned of the absence of English and how hard getting around was, but we really had no problem. The subway had English, many of the market shopkeepers could get a few informative words out, and my charades skills have really improved. The temple of heaven was ornate, full of color and extensive, truly a sight to see!

From there we made our way to Pearl Street market, which is a 6 level indoor market with different themes to each floor. We scored some amazing deals there, from fans to wallets to headphones. I even bought the greatest scarf ever, its like a blanket but scarf sized. 

Then, because that would be our last night in Beijing, we got the famous Beijing Peking Duck! It was delicious, I crave it even now. The restaurant we went to was one of the top 10 best places to go and it was one heck of a place. They were pulling out chairs for us, and pouring my sprite into wine glasses, the whole shebang. Then they brought the whole duck to our table and carved it in front of us

It was so,so, so good! One of the best meals I have had, and a total recommendation. 

Our final day was the day we flew out, but that wasn't until nearly 8 pm, so we spent the morning at Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tienanmen square leads into the Forbidden City, so doing them before we left was a breeze. The entrance to the square was immense and Mao's face was everywhere.

The real show stopper was the Forbidden city. When they say city they mean it! It went on for what seemed like forever. There were temples and homes and large courtyards and everything a civilization would need to live. It was incredible to see it go on and on, and to see the different halls and read about life when people lived there.

that little dark blob on the horizon is more buildings contained in this city

The trip was incredible. Though I wish I could have done it not sick, but it was still worth while. From the markets, to the sights, all of it was exciting and I am so glad I was able to fit it into my trip.

Into the Fire

Finals week is now in full swing and I already can't wait until it is over! The only sad part about it being over is that it means that I have to leave this amazing place! It is depressing that we have to spend our last weeks here in Hong Kong studying our time away and stressing out over grades, but I will take my time as I get it.

Final's here happen rather differently than they do back home. At BG, and many other institutions as I am told by my friends, you go to room and take the test with only your class, or those in the same class as you. I have never had more than a hundred or so people in a room for finals before; well, before I came at least. At HKBU they stick nearly 400 people into a large ballroom with rows and rows of desks. It was like Harry Potter and other movies, evenly placed desks, not one out of place, as hordes of student march to what seems like their death (the feelings about finals seem to be universial,even if the methods are not).

They have the floor plan layed out so that the people next to you are both taking different tests so no cheating is possible. Then, if you arrive more than 30 minuites late you aren't allowed in, and you can't leave the testing room with in that time either. Also, if you are a fast test taker, you need to be done with the test more than 15 minutes before the end, otherwise you aren't allowed to leave until the end. There are so many odd rules!

It was an interesting experience. I prefer the way we do it at BGSU but it was cool to try a different way of testing. I also prefer that finals week is only a single week, instead of drawn out over 2 or even 3 according to my European friends!

Well, I'm off to do more studying, so I'm not so totally lost during my tests. The thought that I get to go experience Beijing in 3 days is what is getting me through these hard days.

It's been a while!

Hey all!

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post! Finals week starts tomorrow, so studying has begun in full swing! I only have 4 tests, and I'm not too worried about most of them, but I am worried about my Finance one, so I'm crossing my fingers and praying for luck!

On a much happier note, Izzy and I will be venturing to Beijing China this weekend to see all of the sights and sounds there! It'll also prepare us for going back home, because Beijing is about the same temp as Wisconsin and Ohio and we get back to Hong Kong only 3 days before we leave for home! I do have to thank the pastor at the church Izzy and I attend, though. Were so worried about the cold, because neither of us had prepared for it when we packed in the summer, so we thought we would have to buy coat and everything. However, out of the kindness of their hearts, the Pastor and his Wife loaned us winter coats, gloves and scarfs so we wouldn't have to pay or freeze! Makes Beijing even more exciting!!

Getting the visa was far less of an ordeal than I expected, the hardest part was getting the picture to turn in with the application! It has to be a formal photo, which neither of us had, so we went to find these photo booths that are stationed in the subway terminals around Hong Kong. So we entered the closest station and asked the service desk where to go, and they directed us to Sha Tin, the opposite direction of where we needed to go, saying it was the only one. We didn't think that was right, but who were we to disagree with a worked and we had to have the picture, so we had little choice. So off we go to Sha Tin's service desk, where they tell us we have to go to the government office outside the MTR(Hong Kong subway system), which doesn't open for more than an hour!So instead we Google the Photo Machine, turns out there is one at our destination station! We were so mad we didn't start with Google. So, finally, we make it to the station, nearly an hour later, and we get our pictures and make our way to the Chinese embassy to get the actual visa, only to learn they had a photo machine in the visa room!!Gah! we were so in awe of the situation, the only thing we could do was laugh! After all of that, it only took about an hour to get in and out, and only 4 days for the visa to be processed. We received the visa Friday, so it official, someone is crazy enough to let us into China!

We've got lots of plans for our 4 days there, and I wish we were able to stay longer and see more! Ill post my adventures when I get back, but I should really stop procrastinating and head back to studying! I do have a test tomorrow.

Dinner and a Show

Well it was more like lunch and a show, but cool either way!

At a mall close to campus, there is a market that sells fruit, meat and food. After lunch at the local mall, we headed over there to pick up some fruit to have in the room for later. As we wondered around the market, we came up to a fish stand.Tanks covered all the flat surfaces, each filled to the brim with different varieties of fish. While the fish in the tanks were alive, they definitely didn't leave the stand that way

As we walked past the stand someone decided that they wanted a fish, so we stopped to see the whole process. I'm sure many would have left, but the whole operation of getting the fish to the customer was so intriguing. To get the fish from the tank, the shop keeper just cornered a fish with a basket and pulled him out. After knocking the fish out, I was amazed at how smoothly she cleaned the fish and gutted it before giving the whole thing, head, scales and all to the customer in a bag. The best part however, was that the second shop keeper noticed that Izzy and I were watching and moved out of the way so we could see better and proceeded to watch us, amused that we were so enthralled with the operation.

It was an odd thing to watch, but so interesting at the same time, and the fact that no one even blinked an eye during the whole thing was just as great. There really isn't any importance to this, I just thought it was cool, so I'll talked to you all later.