Weekend Agenda

Friday - Study, Out after dinner

~210 - 15, 16, 17

~Sosc Paragraph

Saturday - Study, Out after dinner

~210 - 18, 19, 20

Sunday - Study, Sosc166 Dinner

~152 - Program 

4.30

Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm in the library again skipping 210.  Got up early this morning to go to the gym.  Had pay dan jook for lunch which was pretty good.  Nicholas is leaving for singpaore tmrw b/c one of the classes he is taking over here apparently does not get mapped over to smu for his graduation.  He is going back to take the summer session class and then flying back here for final exams.  Hardcore! +oil.

I'm sitting in the library drinking Lucozade hoping it helps my tiredness.  For some reason i couldn't fall asleep last night and the early visit to the gym has combined with it to make me damn sleepy in the afternoon.  I gotta stop skipping class.  Plan for the weekend: Catch the fuck up on 210.  Understand what the fuck is going on.  Start attending 210 next week.  The fuck.  Exams in 20 days. I'm so screwed. 

Shit. 

I gotta program this weekend too.  Shit. 

Shit.

Shit.

Kareoke in HK

Kareoke in HK is certainly an experience you do not want to miss.  The only other time I have done kareoke was in NYC.  Yesterday, we booked a kareoke room in TST for $111hkd a head.  It was at Neway CEO and the room was huge!  Purple sofas and two large flatscreens on each side of the room.  Another flatscreen at the end of the room for a Wii.  Our room had our own private bathroom which was quite nice.  The deal was from 6pm to 5am and included a buffet until 10pm.  The food wasn't spectacular but that wasn't what we were there for.  They had alot of songs including cantonese, mandarin, japanese, and english songs.  It was quite easy for us to keep singing until 2am.  It was a monday night so we decided not to stay until 5am haha.  Took an hour or so to walk back to MK and take the $14hkd mini bus all the way back to ust.  YP and I ended up not sleeping until a good 4am.  It took all the effort in the world to wake up this morning for my 12pm class.  Even though I technically got enough sleep, I feel like I could have kept sleeping until 2pm.  After mgto I headed off to the library to do some 210 revision.  On a roll, I decided to skip class and continue revising.  Afterwards, I headed out to Prince Edward and MK.  Haven't been to Langham Place for a long time so I browsed around there for a while.  Looked at the This is Shitty bracelets but didn't see anything I really liked.   Headed over to Argyle center to buy some socks.  I ended up finding bracelets at the top floor for pretty damn cheap.  $160 for the both.  Had afternoon tea at Maxim which consisted of a hot dog, curry puffs, french fries, some sort of potato salad, a coconut pudding dessert, and a milk tea all for $18hkd.  And of course Prince Edward on the way home.  Picked up a belt and some grey tights. 

I'm home. I'm hungry. I need to study. 

Reality Check.

I went to the gym this morning... ya I'm a little insane... It was followed by a nice meal at G/F with the parents.  Second time having dim sum at G/F and its quite good.  They have this high tea set which includes about eight different samples of dim sum for $26HKD.  The picture isn't from today. Just needed a nice food pic to pretty this space up today =P I haven't been bringing my camera out with me these past few days for some odd reason.  No idea why.  I should charge both batteries and throw it in my bag later tonight.  The conversation during the meal was a little depressing.  It was like a reality check, ya in about 50 days I will be flying back home to work and school.  Everything will be back to normal.  The economy still sucks but my dad brought up an interesting point.  HK is independent from China's rule for fifty years.  But what happens after that?  HK isn't always going to stay like this.  Shanghai has already been delcared as China's financial center.  China has been announced as the fifth largest holder of gold in the world.  They are going to keep climbing that ladder and buying more gold since they want to declare the euro and yen as international currency along with the usd.  HK has changed alot since my parents have grown up and it will change alot in the next ten years too.  News from home... sigh.  

I have to go to Wan Chai next week to get my student visa extended by two days.  My flight home is on the 16th but my student visa ends on the 14th.  So retarded.  I packed some of my clothes away yesterday.  mostly just the sweaters and jackets that I won't be using.  I have no idea how much stuff I am going be bringing back.  I feel like I have bought so much stuff in the past three months.  I think I am going to make use of our alloted six suitcases for the trip back home.  I mean, my stuff barely fit in the suitcase on the way here.  Thank god we had two suitcases filled with gifts... I am going to need to fill those up with all the clothes and random ass shit I have bought.  

Dad's birthday is on Thursday.  I have no idea what to get him or what to do.  Shit. 

I really have no motivation to do any sort of work.  I've been at the library for two hours now.  The only things I have accomplished are watching an episode of The Office, downloading and playing with Picasa, reading through Lab5 for 152 tmrw, and this blog post.  Somehow I have managed to get by for the past 11 weeks with essentially no work.  I am so damn lazy.  Its getting freaking cold in the lib now.  I'll stick it out for a little longer and then go eat. =]

Friday afternoon... in the library.  Its going to be a fun weekend.  I'm officially retardly beyond behind in my two engineering classes.  I have no idea what the hell happened yesterday in 210.  There were suddenly transposes and vector-like things on the board.  It has scared me into spending my Friday afternoon revising in the lib.  Not really sure what happened in 152 this morning.  Basically nobody really showed up to class... maybe because it was a fri morning class... maybe cos of the sub prof.  I thought he was okay on Monday but for some reason I just passed out today in class.  Haven't had that happen for a while.  Alex said I was snoring.  Great.  Had tuna fish sandwich for lunch and then off to Sosc.  Eugene and I have not attended the same lecture for about a month now.  Whenever he skips, I go to class, and vice versa.  

I should try to go to the gym.  Last week I was ridiculous and got up at 7am to go to the gym before my 9:30 class.  It actually worked out quite nicely cos I was wide awake for class  all day.  I should try to go more... Work off that food I have been eating...

Off for some 210!

YP is back. TG. 

We went to Admiralty to pick up our personalized student octopus cards... two and a half months late. Armed with our pictures on our cards, we continued by walking to Central which resulted in me buying a pair of shoes from Cotton On and a shirt.  Took the Star Ferry to TST and then walked up to Yau Ma Tei.  We returned to the delicious place that Shing brought us to the night of his farewell.  Check out the amt of egg in that egg sandwich.  We got dun nai and dun dan which was delicious as usual.  I think the milk one is still better though.  Amazingness.  I love food too much.  After that, made our way back to school and hung out with the elec kiddies.  We walked to the 7/11 to buy some beer and continued our walk around school.  

My Pa Tsau Chou fell out the window sometime yesterday.  I realized it was gone today and stuck my head out the window and saw it five stories down on the brick floor.  It has gone into shock and has permanently closed up.  Gave it alot of water. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. 

Auntie Alice brought me shrimp, scallop, tofu, and sausage today... the most delicious dinner I've had for a while. Damn nice.

Today, I thought my Sosc class was at 1pm.  I walked into the classroom at 12:55 only to realize that it was not my class.  Sosc starts at 1:30... I had walked into some random class... I ended up skipping sosc to study some 210 in Barn C which was cut short when I went to pick up the shrimp and scallops that auntie alice made.  So delicious.  I forgot to take a picture of it and I just finished eating it. damn.  I haven't had shrimp in the longest time! Really hit the spot.  Time to go wash out containers.  I have homework I haven't done yet and it is due tmrw... Great... Only one month left until the semester ends. Its crunch time!

Rainy Day

Short week of only Thursday and Friday classes.  Its almost like we didn't really have class.  Met up with an old CTY friend at Kwun Tong.  We had this curry noodle w/ pork chop and taro err stuff.  I don't know what it was but it was really damn nice.  We watched 禮儀師之奏鳴曲.  It was a very interesting movie.  Showed alot about the Japanese culture of the funeral. I was surprised a

t how much of the Chinese subtitles I could actually read.  I look back on CTY and its amazing how three weeks has such an impact on your life.  I can't believe I keep in touch with so many people I knew for such a short period of time.  Its going to be the same when I go home after this exchange.  Sigh... I don't want that day to come yet.  

Went to Prince Edward and Mong Kok today.  I actually have not been there for over two weeks now so I figured it was about time to pay a visit.  Fa Yuen Gai turned out to be excellent as always.  Had some fresh dan tat on the way over there.  Seriously the best stuff ever.  Bought a bow necklace, two shirts, and some tights that look like jeans.  After combing the area the rain became heavier so I took the footbridge to Mong Kok.  Combed the three floors of clothing and accessories and came out with three tofu phone charms. Yellow, blue, and green . YP is coming back from Taiwan on Monday so I'll let her pick when she gets back.  After that, the rain became even heavier.  The forecast said there would be a shower or two, but seriously, it was just one big heavy rainy day.  Got hungry suddenly and headed down to Maxim for a late afternoon tea set.  Apprently their afternoon tea set ends at 5:30 so I ended up getting curry beef.  Maxim's curry is wayyy better than Cafe de Coral.  It was so delicious I gobbled it up so quickly.  Also got a milk tea in a bowl of ice. =]

Came back to school half soaked like a wet rat and have been watching Futurama and doing Chinese workbook.  Haven't studied for 152 or 210 at all.   Its now 3:15am and I am really into my Chinese workbook so I'll keep at it until I am about to pass out.  Tmrw is dedicated to 152 and hw3 which is due on Monday...

Kowloon City

Last day of spring break was yesterday.  Went around Kowloon City with a friend and ate lots of food.  First stop was the Kowloon Walled city.  The park was really pretty and amazingly huge.  The city itself is very old and there are lots of shorter building estates that are probably less than 20 stories high.  We saw some of these buildings being demolished and newer super high rises being built in their place.  The city is in the process of being transformed.  The reason the buidlings used to be so low is because this is where one of the previous airports use to be.  Now that the airport has been moved and the buildings are old, they can reconstruct the city.  

The park was huge and was absolutely gorgeous.  There was one preserved section that used to be the south gate foundation of the walled city.

 

Here we had the most amazing mango mochi.  It was like fresh mango inside the mochi. So absolutely amazing!!

Delicious dessert! It was uhh hung yun so? with some lotus stuff inside. 

Delicious beef pastry for dinner at at Islam restaurant!

14.4

Yesterday was mom and dad's anniversary.  We went to Little Fat Sheep in Causeway Bay to celebrate.  They have afternoon tea dim sum buffet for $60hkd per person.  Today was the first day that I ate so much that I felt sick afterwards.  

Epic Failure. 

War Games

I was really apprehensive at the start of the day. I got up early and browsed some pictures on facebook of friends going to these and started getting scared haha.  I got panicky as I met up with Todd and took the bus to Sai Kung.  Todd told me it was really really painful, Tony told me I was going to die.  I was terrified.  It was $260HKD for the whole day 10am to 5pm including lunch and rental of clothes, mask, gun, and ammo.  The first stage was in the woods.  I got more mosquito bites than hits.  The first round was us against another team.  The second round was us defending the flag.  The next round was much better because there were no mosquitos.  The area was cleared and there were lots of large crates scattered.  The third area was even better as it had makeshift houses you could go into.  Lunch was "acceptable" according to my scale of food ratings.  I ate most of the rice and potatoes but the splinters chicken bones kept jabbing my mouth.  Onto the next round!  The next area was probably one of the best.  They had us set our guns to single shot.  The place looked like a CS game and they had a fog machine to keep things interesting. I kept getting owned by the guy in the blue shirt on the other team.  Although I did kill quite a few off in this area.  The next stage was with tires and the one after that was massive and similar to the second with lots of crates.  The final area was probably the best because they put real cars in it.  There were makeshift buildings with windows and back doors and of course a fog machine =P.  It was a good day. Definitely want to do that again.

After leaving the Gulf War Area, Todd and I headed back to Sai Kung town center to grab some food.  I had dau fu fa with tong yurn.  I love dau fu fa. Then we walked around, ended up missing our bus and buying some dan ta, hung dau bang, and cream puff.  I love Hong Kong food!!!

I'm going to play war games in 10 minutes... Tony said I was going to die. I'm scared now. I can't find any long sleeved shirts, its going to be 78 today so I don't want to wear a hoodie and die of heatstroke. So I'm wearing my trustworthy Northface jacket.  Its really dirty and needs a wash already but hopefully it will get me through today first =P.

...I went to the gym...

...for the first time of 2009...

The gym at UST is small but nice.  Its still holiday so its not crowded, which I like.  Less people will see me dying on the treadmill and struggling with the weights. =P

Tmrw is war games so I won't go again. Maybe Monday before I head home? We'll see.

I'm getting hungry. Off to eat some food to make up for those calories I just burnt ;)

Cheung Chau

Started the morning off bright and early with a nice filling breakfast at Fairwood at Hang Hau.  Some black pepper steak, toast, eggs, and milk tea. Deeeelicious!  I love breakfast food. Its so so so delicious. 

Met up with Todd at the Tseng Kwan O MTR Station.  Traveled to HK station and met up with Jon and Wilson at Pier 5 for the ferry to Cheung Chau.  The ride there was fun and refreshing.  When we got there we walked around a bit.  The last time I was here it was in 2007 and there was this crazy festival with the buns.  We walked around, played on monkey bars, acted like 4 years olds on the sand...

Walked around some more before renting a bike.  I thought I was going to die while riding in the back.  We ran into an old man who was eating his dinner.  Then we whizzed by an old lady who yelled at us to slow down.  For lunch we had seafood.  I completely forgot to take a picture of my meal... We ate some other random snacks here and there.  One of them being the potato chips on a stick.  Its basically a whole potato that has been sliced into a long spiral, skewered and then deep fried.  Delicious. Seriously. 

Lady making chueng fun!  I've never seen them make it before. Soooo cooool!

Omg I bought shoes... Only $79HKD. So amazing.  I feel like I should have bought another pair! Especially since they had my size hahaha

The guys being silly on the beach. 

Jon was sick for majority of the day and McDonalds was his best friend. Hopefully he is better today... It kinda sucks to have your farewell day and then be dying for half of it.  Don't worry though, we'll make it up another day :)

...its hw time. 

Easter Break is almost here. All that stands between us is one more lecture of Sosc166. I had my community service with Eva yesterday. She invited me to go receive a full body massage and a foot massage at Wan Chai. It was pretty cool and I got to learn alot. Prof Groves also stopped by for about half an hour. It was quite funny watching two ladies give him a massage. Pictures from the phone will be uploaded later. Eva took me to eat afterwards, we had fish jook, white carrot cake, soybean milk and more.

I feel like I have not been very productive these past two weeks after exams. Maybe I can take some time during break to get back into study mode.

I got free milk tea today at the atrium. The magic club had some guy with a contraption on his back that spewed out milk tea. They were promoting the Lipton milk tea packets. Seriously delicious stuff. I might a few boxes before I go back.

Oh, and Taro Pie. I can't begin to start with taro pie. McDonalds is absolutely delicious and I have the Taro pie at least two or three times a week. So unhealthy I know since it is deep fried and probably packed with sugar and fat. But its just so damn nice. Must eat more before I have to go back.

Its more than halfway through my stay here. And everytime the topic of going home comes up, YP and I always talk about how depressed we will be when we have to go home.  How things will never be the same. 

But really, eventually thing will return to normal.  Life will have to go on. We can't stay in UST forever. 

Lets not think about this anymore. Enjoy the time now, don't dread whats to come. 

One of my classmates mentioned this week that he would be happy with a B in one of his classes. I asked him why he didn't want an A. He said that he would be happy with an A in one or two of the classes and the rest don't matter, just pass with a D would be fine with them. These kids are smart and so I couldn't understand why they would be satisfied with just that. They said that it was because they see the kids who have straight A's are always in the library studying, studying while they are eating, and living in the library. They said that they didn't want a life like this. A lower GPA was fine with them for the ability to go have fun. They go out on weekends and do all sorts of fun things. It makes me really sad because even though I am living this lifestyle now, I know that things won't stay like this when I go back home. Even though I don't have straight A's at home, my GPA is decent and I want to keep it there. But the more I think about it, the more scared I am to go home. I mentioned one day to my friends here that I was very unused to going out on the weekends and after classes to walk around and eat and have fun. They looked at me in shock like I was some sort of ghost. Maybe I need to make some significant changes to my lifestyle at home. Because if I have to go back to studying in my room all the time, eating my meals alone, I might go crazy and jump the mushroom. 

Too bad there is no mushroom at home. hahahahaha. 

YP is gone for two weeks T___T. I'm going to be so lonely. Maybe will write in here more often. Break starts on Thursday. Going to watch the new Jackie Chan movie tomorrow with the elec kiddies. 

Gosh I'm going to miss them.

So, I actually just made a shitton of careless errors on my exams. Makes me feel better than if I didn't know anything at all. Lack of homework and laidback lectures doesn't mean I don't need to study. I just need to study a little ;)

My favourite meal of the day has to be breakfast. I've always been a sucker for breakfast foods even at home. Maybe because I grew up having sandwiches for breakfast all the time. Not that it was bad, but just having a peanut butter sandwich everday for all your life doesn't really cut it compared to this.

I love McDonalds. That is something I never thought I would say. But seriously the McD's here is absolutely amazing. The shake shake fries, shake shake chicken, and taro pie just blow my mind. This was my breakfast one day last week. A bowl of macaroni with veg, a ham sausage, and an egg. Comes with a hash brown that is delicious with Thai chili sauce and a cold milk tea. All for the low price of $18HKD.

Yesterday I went to Tuen Mun with some classmates. I saw them making baw law bao. It was wayyy too cool. There was a bakery with a window of the kitchen and I literally stood outside the window watching the guy make it with my mouth wide open.


Here he is cutting the topping



He then smashes it with the knife



Then the magic layer goes on top of the bun!


After that, we stopped and had some dau fu fa. I ended up putting a big scoop of salt in it because I couldn't read the Chinese words on the box.


This is an picture after I quickly scooped up the salt. The sugar is orange sugar and absolutely delicious.


Salt Box.

Moral of lesson. Learn Chinese.


Tuen Mun is a beautiful place. I hope that someday I can come to HK to live. People seem to have such good lives here. On the weekends they go for walks, and there are places like this all over HK.




I've seen these around asia but never tried them before. I thought they were for foot massages but little did I know just how painful they were. Apparently if its painful it means that you are unhealthy. I guess that means I am going to drop dead soon cos I could barely walk on this thing.




Here is a picture you will rarely see at home. Four happy and carefree engineers.




I love Hong Kong.