Da jia hao (Hello everyone)! It's a good thing I decided to do two days' worth today instead of blogging yesterday because I just felt so awful. Don't worry, I seem to have eluded the plague that was going around here late last week, and I'm fully aware of what is working against me now. I'm not going into detail, but it's something that only those of you who have really lived with me are fully aware of. The good news is that I know the duration of my problem (not long), its frequency (not often), and how to treat it (strong pain killers) so I'm equipped to handle it.
However, yesterday I really had to put up a fight to get out of bed and go to class. The weather was surprisingly decent, but I could hardly sit up or walk to class so, needless to say, I didn't get my daily "green" time that I love so much. Still, I did manage a trek to the library (enabled by the godsend known as the shuttle buses), and went hunting for a new book. I emerged with another Marquez classic: "Chronicle of a Death Foretold." I finished it this morning before class. I think I confused the lady at the library when I came back with the book after only one day. I was able to return it, though, and promptly decided to find yet another book.
There was a large table I hadn't seen before with tons of books on it and a sign that said "Good Reads, by Recommendation of the CU Library." Well, that made things easy. I went over to have a look and see what was recommended to me. Some of the books had really been picked over, but the good news is that the books in Chinese disappear first. There were a lot of books in English, but most people don't pick those up because they're harder, relatively speaking. I knew that today, unlike yesterday, was definitely my day when I saw, on the top of the pile of books in English, Bill O'Reilly's "Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity." Hey, why not? Just for kicks, I checked it out. I'll probably have it read by the end of the week, and I'll make sure to let y'all know my opinion. My forecast, though, is that I'll probably love it.
Anyway, after going to the library, I grabbed lunch at Ben Frank's and discovered the joy of "Chinese Fast Food." I saw this on the menu, and was a little mortified for two reasons: (1) it's fast food, and (2) you don't order specific dishes, there is literally a single menu item called "Chinese Fast Food" and I didn't know what it actually was. Turns out I don't really need to be scared of it. I went to the fast food line with my ticket and a lady scooped a large ball of rice on my plate. Then she held up two fingers and pointed to a large array of side-dishes. I pointed to chicken wings and what I later concluded was veggies marinated in soy sauce. On one side of the rice, she plopped three chicken wings, and on the other side, she dropped a scoop of veggies. Then she held up an unmarked bottle with a mysterious dark liquid and looked at me until I nodded, then she proceeded to drench the whole meal in it. Turns out it was more soy sauce so no harm, no foul. Lastly, she gave me a small bowl of beef broth with onions and carrots and said "Soup of today!" It was actually a pretty good meal, but I think I'll be more adventurous with my choices next time and go for the squid and fried eggplant.
I still had a good chunk of time to kill so I decided to walk some of it off because today the weather was beautiful. I probably spent a good 3 hours outside today just walking around and enjoying the scenery. I decided to share some of it with y'all because I was able to successfully charge my camera battery and I'm really excited about it. So, yeah, here are some of my daily views:
I walk this way going from lunch to afternoon class, but I can't enjoy the view for too long...
...because I'm afraid of falling down this. For some reason, I really hate stairs. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up around them, but it seems like every time I run across a new set I fall down them within a week. I've been acquainted with these stairs for about a month so I'm just waiting for the big fall...and it's gonna hurt. I don't care how many Chinese people laugh at me walking slowly and holding onto the handrail for dear life. The last thing I need is to fall down a slope like that while my knee still hasn't completely healed (I give it one more week).
Anyway, I made it down alive and in one piece, as always. Aside from the precarious steps, I really love the walk from Central Campus to Chung Chi College. Here's some of the sights closer to the Chung Chi end. Just for fun, I started taking pictures of some of the plants I don't see back home. However, after further examination, I've decided that the plane that was supposed to take me to Hong Kong really dropped me off in a secret Cantonese-speaking colony of Florida. Take a look at some of this nature and see if you agree:
OK, there is a lot of bamboo here, but still...Florida has bamboo, right?
At the end of my daily nature walk, I did find a little reminder that Toto and I weren't still in Kansas. The emblem on the left is the emblem for Chung Chi.
I also found the building where we're having class starting Friday. See, we're only using our current building for the month of June. Starting in July, we're using this building here, the Sino Building. That'll be nice since we won't be having class in the Chinese Opera Department like we are now. Let's just say that some things are cool for the first week that really aren't after a month. Those things include paper-thin walls.
So if we're starting to have class in the Sino Building in July, why aren't we going there tomorrow? I thought you might ask that (hence why I wrote it down for you), so here's the answer: no class tomorrow! That's right, it's Hong Kong Independence Day so it's a public holiday. It's like July 4th only 3 days early, and I'm totally fine with that. I do feel, though, that I ought to think of some way to celebrate the USA's Independence Day. Right now, I've simply decided to buy a hot-dog for lunch on Sunday, and maybe spend the afternoon reading "Bold Fresh." I'm open to ideas, people.
OK, moving on. During my "green" time, a.k.a. me wandering aimlessly gaping at birds and flowers like a pot-infused neo-hippie, I took yet another picture at my favorite spot. Are you tired of these yet?
It was actually on my way to check out United College because guess where I'm living for the school year? That's right, United College. You can all be super-jealous. Here's some photos from my little jaunt over there.
Well, I did say it was a little jaunt, and little it was. I made it to United College in no time, even though United is way closer to the rest of campus than Shaw College is. Check out the nifty "United" sign.
Here's some attempts at panoramic shots of the view from United College:
And a look at some of the facilities.
The gardens:
The square:
And, yes, the food. Somehow it looks so much less appetizing in the picture than it did in real life. By the way, that is more soy sauce. I really thought the soy sauce thing was a myth, but it most definitely is not. I eat soy in some shape or form at almost every meal, and probably in most drinks too. Oh Asia, how I love your fermented beans and their curds.
No comments:
Post a Comment