Oddly enough, going to Stanley Beach to watch the Dragon Boats put me in a funny mood. Suddenly, I felt like a super-tourist, which is both good and bad. Being there with all the other foreigners, watching the local shopkeepers selling "I <3 HK" T-shirts and sitting at shop stands labeled "Write name in Chinese: $10" made me feel like some Starbucks-guzzling, fanny-pack-wearing, oh-look-at-that-honey! gawker. It's fun to go to the tourist attractions and see all the cool sights, but in a way it seems like it hinders me in really being able to experience Hong Kong. I want to get a feel for what it's really like to be a local here. What is it like to live in (not just visit) Hong Kong? At least I have 14 months to do that, and then senior year to experience it again. But when everything's said and done, I had a wonderful time, and I thought to myself, "Maybe it's better to appreciate Hong Kong first as a tourist and then as a local. It will start to feel like home soon enough."
I did not, however, expect to see a reminder of home first thing Thursday morning. Read the sign carefully: does this program sound familiar? Hui Yeung Shing is the building where I have morning classes. It's strange to think that while I was having Chinese class, people 3 floors up were interviewing my potential future classmates.
Later that day, I had to go to the library, which meant going to the Central Campus. So here it is, the iconic CUHK picture they put on all their brochures. I believe that building with the school crest is the University Administration Building. It's difficult to see the crest here so I'll try to get a good picture of it at some point. Anyway, the colors are gold and purple, and the crest has a stylized phoenix on it. Apparently, the phoenix represents femininity while the dragon represents masculinity. Who knew?
Thursday also marked the much-welcome end of the "Annual Overhaul," so all the restaurants on campus are open now. There's a place at Ben Frank's called "Sandwich Club," which is equivalent to USC's "Grand Market Place" in Russell House. It's the really big, really cheap eatery with just a little of everything and none of it high-quality. This was my lunch there: Spicy Sliced Pork and Vegetable Noodle Soup. Altogether not bad, but people eat so much pork here. Sheesh. Good thing I like the stuff.
And, yes, I had to make another excursion to the library. Here's the deal with that: if you're going to be in Hong Kong for more than 90 days (and I am), you have to apply for a Hong Kong Smart Identity Card, which is issued to permanent residents. That means that, within 30 days of arrival, you have to go to the Department of Immigration, get your picture taken, apply for a card, and get interviewed by an immigration officer. The whole process is incredibly SLOW, mostly because you have to wait and wait and wait. However, it seems a little-known fact that you can actually make an appointment with these people online. So, of course, I made an appointment at the Fo Tan Immigration Office, which is the closest one to CUHK (one stop on the MTR), but you have to print out the appointment confirmation. Thus began my adventure of learning how to print stuff at the library.
The method for printing stuff here is the most convoluted process imaginable. For one, the computer lab is in the Law Library, which is attached to but not really part of, the University Library. Once you find the little hidden backroom, you need to insert your CU-Link Card into a slot on the keyboard. Then you punch in this weird code and you can use the computer so long as you don't remove your card. But if you want to print something, you have to assign it a release key (just a name for the printer to call it), and choose the printer. I chose the Octo/Squid Printer because I haven't put money on my CU-Link Card yet. Guess what card you use for the Octo/Squid Printer? That's right, the Octopus Card. It does everything. You put it inside this little box where it just slides around if you shake it, and you have to pull down a little lever to lock it inside. Then you tell the printer to print, it does, and then begins the fun of trying to persuade the little box to give your card back. From my observations, this process usually takes about 5 minutes, lots of little-box-shaking, and a fair amount of profanity. Eventually, the lever pops up as if to say "What, you got a problem or something?"
To make a long story short, here's the library:
And then my dinner after all the fun at the library. This is soya chicken rice with vegetables, and my drink is iced lemon water. Chicken here can be a bit of a challenge. The actual meat is good, but I've discovered there are more than just bones to work around: there are bones, hearts, livers, and all other forms of innards. And, yes, those innards are edible. In fact, many of them don't taste bad at all. What's bad is eating around gristle because it's hard to see. The lesson here is don't order chicken if you're in a hurry because you need time to...um...navigate.
OK, moving on to Friday morning. Today I felt great because, hey, I lost 3 pounds from last week. I have just two words for that: Heck. Yes. So I was feeling all empowered, but also still kind of lagging in super-tourist land. People here are nice, but they often don't quite seem to know what to make of you. Many of them don't seem sure whether or not it's all right to talk to you or sit next to you on the bus. I got on the bus at my usual stop this morning, as you can see here:
And, as usual, someone sat next to me when it got really full, but first he asked if it was OK. This is something I have never seen a Hong Kong-er ask another Hong Kong-er. I don't expect to ever blend in here, but I hope that, eventually, I won't give off quite as strong of a "confused American" vibe.
Of course, I say that and then go get this mildly-disturbing breakfast. Fried Egg, Sausage, and Toast with Milk Tea. This is NOT sausage. They gave me real sausage once and I couldn't believe it. Now it's just that weird deli ham. What's sad is I actually just ordered Fried Egg and Toast, but the guy at the serving line always smiles at me and gives me a piece of ham no matter WHAT breakfast I order. So yeah, free ham...and he taught me how to say "milk tea" today in Chinese. To be honest I never figured it would be all words that I know: niu nai cha. Oh, cow milk tea, that makes sense.
For lunch, I had the most disgusting turkey sandwich of my life, which will probably prevent me from ordering anything from the "Western Food Menu" for at least a week. How is it that a sandwich with an ingredient list of wheat bread, smoked turkey, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and pepper failed to mention that the sandwich was 50% mayonnaise? Bleh. Still, I downed that monster because I was short on time. I'm actually proud of myself. Next time I'm in a rush, though, I'm going for a Pastrami & Cheese Toastie.
And then nothing eventful happened until dinner. I've really gotten into the habit of snapping pictures of my food. What can I say? It's fun. This is the amazingly descriptive "Pork Rice." Remarkable, I know.
I went back to "Sandwich Club" for dinner because only a very small portion of the menu is sandwiches. Like I said, this place is cheap and pretty decent...my kind of joint. I had just started eating when I made an unexpected friend.
A tiny old woman--not more than 4 1/2 feet tall--immediately came up to me and asked if she could sit with me. I happily accepted, and we started talking. She said that she had seen me around campus for about 2 weeks and that she wanted to talk to me right away because she thought I was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. She recognized me from afar at the canteen because she recognized my hair.
I was so happy to really sit down and talk to somebody new. She told me that her name is Mei, which means "Beautiful," and I think it's very fitting. She's very petite, 73 years old, and she wears her long white hair up in a turban. I was surprised at how well she spoke English because most of the older people here aren't fluent. Together we ended up speaking a mash-up of English and Mandarin. We talked for an entire hour, and I found out that she works at the canteen. She wanted to know all about me, about IBCE, about learning Mandarin, and (most importantly) could she touch my hair. I told her she could, and she spent a long time asking me about its color and its curls, and telling me how soft it was and how much she liked it. She told me all the gossip about her coworkers--who to avoid and who to get to know better. What not to say to so-and-so, and so on and so forth. Then she told me that she really loves the way I look, how I don't wear make-up or fancy clothes, and how I'm not trying to impress anyone. For some reason I feel like I really needed to hear that from someone today. I've enjoyed Hong Kong so much so far, but there's still a strong sense of transience and of not really belonging here yet. Maybe it's that same "super-tourist" feeling, but today a total stranger came up to me just to tell me that she loves the way I'm simply...me.
We talked and talked for a long time, and I feel like we really connected. I think she feels the same way because she told me to call her "Mei Nai Nai," which means "Grandma Mei." Then she dubbed herself my "Hong Kong Grandma" and told me to make sure to come visit her often. I promised that I would, and I know that I will because, as much as I love my teachers, I think Mai Nai Nai is really something special.
I helped her to clean up my eating area, and I took a picture of the canteen where I know I'll be spending a lot of time.
When I got back to the dorm, I had a sweet treat. This is a Lotus Seed Pastry from Maxim's Bakery just off-campus, and it's just the perfect little indulgence. Those two characters on the front say "Mei Xin," or "Beautiful Heart." The "Mei" is the same as "Mei Nai Nai."
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