One, there was an email from Dr. Hudgens. He really just reminded us to do some stuff I've already done, and brought up a Carolina-Clemson game nobody watched. Sadly, I don't even know who won...or what sport it was. Yikes.
Second was an email from Han Laoshi. She's quickly becoming very buddy-buddy with me, and I'm loving every minute of it. We've been emailing back and forth in Chinese about fun stuff to do in Hong Kong. She also showed our class a website called openrice.com. Just click the link and you'll see a pretty neat customer-review site for restaurants and such around Hong Kong.
Lastly, I got an email from Yammy Lai about housing for the semester. A few days ago, she sent out an email telling us to fill out a housing application and to be thinking about where we want to live, what kind of roommate stuff to think about, so on and so forth. Anyway, this email was a follow-up to tell us that, just kidding, we'd already been assigned housing (though we still have to fill out the form). We also do NOT get to pick roommates, which I'm OK with, but a lot of people are upset about. We're not rooming with IBCE people, apparently, because they want to "diversify" us. Yammy Lai's words, not mine. Sounds fine to me, but I hope my roommate is a Mandarin speaker and not a Cantonese speaker just so I can get the practice. A little Cantonese wouldn't hurt me, though. Moving on, though, we're all in different colleges on campus. CUHK has 4 colleges: Shaw, New Asia, Chung Chi, and United. We're currently living in Shaw, and nobody wants to live here for the semester. You couldn't find a more isolated spot on campus, not to mention we have the worst dining hall with the worst hours. The good news is that I'm not in Shaw College for the semester. I'm in United College, but the only other people I know of who are with me are Chris and Justin. It sounds like most people are living in Chung Chi, a couple in Shaw, and a couple in New Asia. From what I understand, though, United College has the nicest newest dorms and the best dining hall (they also post calorie-counts for the menu items). Plus, it's the closest college to where I'll be having classes. I guess I got off lucky.
Anyway, so after I checked my email, I went to Sha Tin to find some stuff I've been looking for. Here's what I wanted: (1) a Bible, which I can't believe I forgot to bring, (2) a calendar, (3) colored pencils, (4) a few things to cook. Lauren, Kelso, and Breezy recommended going to YATA, which is a popular Japanese department store over here. I ended up on the 3rd floor, which had a Japanese food court. I took this first photo for Sarah, and she knows very well why:
I didn't eat there, by the way. I'm not too big on MOS Burger, and most everything else at the food court was overpriced or unappetizing. I also wasn't able to find any of the items I wanted at YATA. There is a lot of good stuff, though, so I'm sure I'll go back.
I decided to walk back to New Town Plaza, near the MTR station since there was a mall directory there. On my way, I passed the Cat Store. This one's for Mom and Meme. When I have more time to browse, I'll make sure to stop in and see if there's any good tacky stuff for all of us crazy cat ladies, and cat-ladies-in-training.
At this point, I had been in Sha Tin for an hour and a half and I still couldn't find a bookstore that wasn't for little kids. I eventually asked someone at the Customer Service Counter, and they directed me to a store called "Popular." The place was packed, and it was really only half bookstore. The other half was all craft supplies and such. Firstly, I should say I did not find an acceptable Bible. I really should have foreseen this because all the books were in Chinese. I probably saw a few Bibles, but I could not identify them. So mom, dad, this is the first item I'll ask for you to mail to me. Could you please send me my Bible? It's on the top shelf of the bookcase at my desk. Please just put it aside until I ask for enough stuff to be worth sending. Thank you.
I also was not able to find a calendar. What I did find, though, was a schedule book so I'll be using that. I also think I'll just draw out a weekly calendar for myself on notebook paper so I can jot down my to-do lists. And I was able to find colored pencils so now I can not only decorate my room, but decorate it with colorful pictures. All right!
Before going to the grocery store, I wanted to grab something to eat since it was about 7:30pm. I took the escalator all the way up to the 7th floor where all the signs said the restaurants were. However, I didn't want anything too heavy and the portions looked big with not expensive, but more expensive than I prefer, price-tags. So I headed down to the 1st floor where I knew there were a few more restaurants to choose from. I had to walk back over to New Town Plaza, crossing this little footbridge:
I got to the restaurants there, and decided on a place called Oliver's. I liked the food and the prices there pretty well. I got half a ham & swiss pita sandwich with a caesar side salad, which was tremendously satisfying. I think that every once in a while, when the soy sauce and bbq pork start to get old, I just really need a good grilled sandwich. Craving satisfied.
I stopped by Park 'n' Shop to grab what I needed to make ratatouille, and found everything except the zucchini. Therefore, I also stopped by c!ty'super to find my final veggie and some pretzels I promised to pick up for a friend. I not only found both of the things I was looking for, but I also bought my first corny Hong Kong gift for a family member. Sarah, this item was screaming your name loud and clear. I won't say what it is here since that would ruin the surprise, but I'll show it to mom and dad on skype later. Guys, prepare to be very amused.
Around 9:00pm, I made it back to the dorm and puttered around for a few hours before going to bed.
This morning, I had the intention of sleeping in, but I've decided that is always a futile effort. The sun shines so brightly around 7:00am that half an hour later I can't really force myself to sleep anymore. That's OK, though, because I don't mind being up early. It's actually quiet around here then, which is unusual at any other time of day. I ate my breakfast, checked the weather forecast, so on and so forth. Then I skyped with Divy for a bit, and found out he's at VA Tech doing research this summer. Here's the basic version of our conversation:
Me: What are you doing this summer?
Divy: Researching 10-foot long flying snakes.
Me: Yikes! Where do those things live?
Divy: Hong Kong.
I'm adding that to my list of seemingly-unreasonable reasons not to go outside:
(1) Struck by positive lightning discharge
(2) Hit by broken weather balloons
(3) Attacked by giant flying snakes
The truth is I love being outside, but I'm just glad Murphy's Law hasn't proven true for me. This is why I'm such an optimist: I think of all the worst things that could happen, and they're all so bad they're absurd. Works like a charm.
OK, so I talked with Divy, and then I studied Chinese until lunchtime. I decided to cook my ratatouille. I cut up all my veggies and turned on the fan to blow any steam away from the fire alarm, which I (and everyone else) always do before cooking. I had just finished making my ratatouille, and with no visible smoke (not to mention I turned the fan on and had been cooking for over 20 minutes). The next thing I know, the fire alarm went off. Great. Believe it or not, we haven't had a fire drill here so everyone just went outside. Of course, by everyone, I mean the approximately 7 people who were in the dorm at the time. Seriously, over the summer, no one lives here. Anyway, I'm not sure if the fire alarm went off because of me or not. At the time, I thought it might have, but after thinking about it, it might have just been a coincidence. I mean, I turned the fan on, the window was open, I had been cooking for a long time, and there wasn't any smoke. Whatever, it was some crazy random happenstance.
Once we were cleared to go back inside (about 5 minutes after leaving), I ate some of my ratatouille and watched "Ladyhawke." Christine, you were right about Navarre. He's completely made of awesome. The rest of the movie was OK. Mostly, I couldn't get over the fact that it starred Matthew Broderick, a.k.a. Ferris Bueller. Too distracting for me to take the movie seriously.
Around 3:00pm, Cameron and I went on the wild goose chase for electrical converters. Plan A was to find some in Sha Tin last weekend, which failed. Plan B was to go to the Hong Kong Airport and buy some today. Plan B failed too. It took us 1 1/2 hours and less than HK$5 to get to the Airport Express MTR line. To get on the Airport Express Line, however, cost HK$55. What a rip-off. Anyway, we rode to the airport and many different salespeople told us different places to look. After an hour or so of looking, a guy at Fortress Electronics (equivalent to Best Buy) told us that no stores at the airport carried converters, only adapters. Well, great. I just needed a converter for my camera battery charger so I decided to look at buying a new battery charger that would work here. We found a Sony store, and the guy there started trying to sell me a battery charger exactly like the one I had. After asking him about it, we both concluded that I did not, in fact, need a converter because I could just use the adapter for using my battery charger. Sweet! I didn't know that, but that put an unexpected end to my search for a converter. All in all, that's good for me, but poor Cameron now has to resort to Plan C, which is asking his parents to mail him one.
So...as for mailing stuff, mom and dad, I have a couple small things in mind that I'd like (but don't absolutely need) to have. I'll try to send y'all an address for mailing packages, and in the meantime, mom, let me know what you want for your birthday. I can find just about anything in Hong Kong (except converters) and could send you some neat stuff. I'm on the lookout for gifts so just be thinking about it, OK?
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