HK with the parents

I just got home! 2 days early cause my dad couldn't stand shopping any longer and that is basically what you do in Hong Kong... My poor dad and uncle were dragged all around Hong Kong so we could do our shopping! We hit every market at least twice and got lots of fun presents we dont really need... but since you have to bargain for everything you end up buying a lot more than you want to cause they start dealing with you the minute you ask how much something costs... so we have a lot of shit we didnt really need but i am glad we have it!!!  The weather was just perfect the whole time they were there!

One night we went to the horse races at Happy Valley racecourse which is like a step into an all white people area... We all bet on horses but only a few of us won... It was really fun though cheering for the horses even though we were blindly guessing which one would win!

im about to pass out... ill finish tomorrow

ahhhh

I am sooo excited for so many things that are so close!

1. I get to see my aunt and uncle tomorrow! They arrived in HK safely tonight

2. I get to see my parents the day after tomorrow! Happy mother's day mom!

3. I turn 21 in 6 days... scary thought right??? I know

4. I come back to cali in 10 days to my sisters!

5. I get to see all my irvine friends as soon as my jet lagged body recovers... or before cause i'll be 21 and that trumps sleepiness right???

So excited! 

I am basically turning in my "moving out" paperwork tomorrow and finishing packing... bittersweet...

Happy Mothers Day to all my mom's friends reading this and can't wait to see you all when i get back!

- Love you all! 

packing

so I've been packing for 2 days! Why did i bring sooo much stuff here :(   hahaha... No one is really at school anymore so I'm lonely here so if you have skype go on!!! haha... back to packing! can't wait to see you all in less than 2 weeks!

much love

close... but really "da"???Me and Maryevin Sozhou

in Hangzhou
All the Chinese who ran to see the water show

Me at the Barbie Building! SOOO many barbies!Me and the Shanghai skyline!
The steamed buns with soup and meat inside! So yummy!
The famous dragon/turtle/lion statue
The building that holds Mao's body... we stood in a line of over 300 people to see the body and they wont even let you close enough to see if its really him... and also in the pic  is the communist propaganda statue

the crew at the Great Wall.. yes it was stairs the whole way... for 4 hours hahaMe at the Great Wall!!!  The highlight of my trip for sure!
asian buildings haha... all the historic sites look just like this!
Me in the Olympic Bird's Nest Stadium!
Me + Asian building... the picture is crooked, not the building

Beijing / Shanghai (Hangzhou, Suzhou)

So my friend Maryev came to Beijing the day before the boys I went to Beijing left... Her and I spent another week in China! She is studying Chinese for fun in Kunming... She was a Theta with me a USC but was 2 years older than me... We did beijing for a few more days and did a trip to Shanghai and little side trips to Suzhou (I think that is how you spell the second place)... We lucked out when we went to the train station to buy tickets to Shanghai cause they actually still had some soft sleeper ones left leaving the next evening!  On this 12 hour overnight train, there are soft sleepers and hard sleepers and basically the soft sleepers are in a cabin with 4 beds (2 low/2 high) and the cabin has a door that shuts... The hard sleepers are just in the hall and are 3 beds per wall so you cant sit up straight in the bed... considering we were 2 girls traveling, we lucked out that we got soft sleepers... The only problem was the company haha... The way there we were really lucky with 2 middle-aged Chinese men, one who slept the whole time and the other who was really nice and spoke english! He gave us his card in case we needed anything while we were there... super nice... On the train back we were not so lucky... we got 2 more middle aged chinese men, one was a police man who spoke no english but kept talking to me in chinese and the other who spoke english but i couldn't really understand him and he only wanted to talk about the financial crisis... The policeman snored sooooooo loud and woke me up several times during the night and then in the morning he straight up farted out loud and then walked out of the cabin... unbelievable! 

Anyways, once we got to Shanghai we had a lovely day! It was so beautiful out side... We walked all around the old city and had great dumplings at the famous bun place there... They have soup in them so you have to slurp when you eat them, dont the Chinese know how to be attractive! haha.. Anyways, they were super good! We also treated ourselves to Starbucks coffee! It was a big day haha... we walked down the river and looked at the skyline which has apparently changed  lot since Maryev was there 3 years ago! We also went to the Barbie building which is 6 floors!!! It was seriously really cool... They had cultural barbies from lots of different countries and then fashion barbies... I was very impressed haha.. its a little girl's heaven! There is really not too much to do in Shanghai so we decided to take a side trip to Hangzhou and Suzhou! This meant more trains...

We first went to Hangzhou which is known for its beauty and peaceful nature but since it was a holiday weekend (which we didn't think about) it was PACKED... It was absurd... That made it much less enjoyable then it would have been. And there must have been lots of Chinese who came there from less touristy places because I have never been stared at so blatantly and with no shame. They were like owls when they walked by and their head just stayed focused on us... and the funny thing is we would see them tap their family and point at us and then the whole family would become owls... it was very uncomfortable and i found it really annoying... It was funny though cause when there was a little water show in the lake, they all ran from everywhere to go watch... they have clearly never seen a Vegas water show... So the other problem we ran into there was that we called like 17 different hostels and NO ONE had beds available... It was nuts... Thank goodness Maryev spoke chinese so she could call everyone but we failed at finding beds in Hangzhou... So that same day we had to get back on a train to go to Suzhou where were found a place to sleep after trying like 5 hostels there... we should have planned better haha... This was the absolute worst train we were on the whole trip... There were tons of Sketchy people who don't believe in deodorant... a lady pulled out an ear pick and cleaned her ears in the train... and in that train you can buy standing tickets which  means that the aisles are filled with people standing up... no personal space haha... Also, men in china grow out their pinky nail really long which i guess is to pick their noses but it is only really common among the bottom class of people, who were the passengers of this train of course... the kid that sad across from us had this long nail and I wanted to puke... Maryev and I wanted to gossip about everyone on the train so we spoke spanish the whole time! That we knew they could not understand... None of them spoke english but they could understand some of it, hence the spanish... I had this old, dirty man sitting next to me who i blame for all my bug bites I got on the train ride... all the people around us were talking to Maryev in Chinese so i was left out of all those conversations... We had been told that the train was only 2 hours long but then she asked the pinky boy sitting next to her and he said 4... before we knew it we had gone back to Shanghai on the train and then were changing direction there to Suzhou.... liars... we were sooo excited to get off that train... 

Suzhou was a great little city where one street was super developed with tons of shopping and great street food and then the street next to it was charming and old... out hostel was on the charming street an it was a great little place. Unfortunately it rained the whole day we were there but we bought an umbrella and walked around anyway... There wasn't much to do in this city but it was really nice to walk around after all the train rides haha... 

We spent our last 2 days in Beijing. Maryev's mom has  friend who is from Beijing and she took us out one day! We had a fabulous lunch at a chain restaurant that they have in LA too! Then we got massages!!!!! Boy did that feel good after the 12 hour train ride!  So we told her we didnt want to be in our birthday suits if you know what I mean because we were unsure what a Chinese Massage entailed... Lucky we told her that cause then they gave us some pajama type clothes to put on... when they walked us to our rooms for the massages, there were 2 young guys that must have been only a few years older than us that were going to massage us! We escaped a super awkward hour by having those pajama clothes haha.. The massage was absolutely fabulous and was like a normal body massage at home except that he massaged my stomach... it was really weird... I asked Maryev if her guy did that too and she said yes... apparently it is for digestion but it just felt like he was moving my organs around... We left the spa feeling absolutely amazing! Then that lady's son took us to a movietheater complex which looks exactly like the complexes and architecture in the OC... so strange to have it there in China! We saw the Wolverine X-men movie which i actually really enjoyed... We ended the day with dinner with a young couple Maryev had met when she was studying abroad in Beijing... They used to take her out to dinner so they could practice their english... they were so sweet and bought me some green tea as  a present... it was really cute... 

Thats about all i can think of to write right now cause its bedtime... I have been doing laundry and packing all day so that I have clean clothes when my parents come and so that my room is mostly packed up so i dont have to do that while they are here! My aunt and uncle come to HK in a day and my parents come in 3 days!! I can't wait!! It will be sooo fun and wonderful to have them here! 

Miss you all at home but I will be back in the US in 11 days! May 20th~ Mark your calendars! 

And i will be 21 in 7 days! I never thought i would spend my 21st in Hk with the parents! hahah... vegas trip when i get home for sure!

smelly china

This place reeks... The people in china do not have manners up to american standards... Theypick their noses publicly and shamelessly..shoot snot rockets in the walkways of the subway and don't use deodorant. Nasty.
MY friend Maryev is now travelling with me and we are doing shanghi and two smaller cities now before we head back to shanghi tomorrow and then beiking the next day... We are the only white people on the trains to these places so we are quite the entertainment.. She speaks chinese so they all talk and ask questions and then she translates to me... Thank goodness for her chinese or we would have been so lost and without a place to stay...we got into hangzhou yester and it was supposed to be one of the nicest and most serene places in china sice its around a lake but since it was a holiday for the chinese it was absolutely packed and hellish...it was a nice but crazy... Ill write more later

china highlights thus far

Beijingggg

The Forbidden City
- Absolutely stunning! We hired a tour guide to take us through since it is such a huge place..the entrance has a huge portrait of Mao on it haha... Once you enter you are in the like "officials" section and its a lot of asian style buildings and big open squares! There are no trees in the forbidden city to keep thieves away who could hide in the shadows... then you get into the emperors section of the city... The building throughout are pretty much the same but they are very beautiful! Then there are areas where the Empress lives and the concubines (spelling???) live...There are 9,999 rooms in the forbidden city...

Silk Street
-shopping! Annoying vendors who keep yelling and you and trying to pull you into their stores...

The Temple of Heaven
-hugee place with lots of asian buildings and big park areas...Really pretty

Pearl Market
-More shopping! Tons of cheap pearls...so they may be fake like everything else here

Olympic staduim
-Soo cool...I expected it to be much bigger but it was cool to go sit on the field and be in the stands of the Bird's Nest... The stadium is soo cool and itwas awesome to be where history was made! The water cube was a pretty cool building too although we didnt get to go in.

The Great Wall - Simatai to Jimshanling 10km hike
- By far the best thing i have done here...It was absolutely gorgeous and so amazing how grand it is in the middle of nowhere...Itmakes me feel bad for everyone that had to lug those bricks up the wall.. All men were summoned to create the different section of it and were though of as heros for helping to build it! Those that died during the bulding were buried inside the walls.. The portion we hiked separated mongolia from China... WE had our hostel book the trip for us since the section we hiked was 3 hours by bus north of Beijing so we were basically one of 15 people on the wall and we didnt cross paths will really anyone while hiking! It is one of the least touristy spots so that made it even more amazing! It was probably the hardest hike i have ever done... 10 km of constant up and down and endless stairs and hell basically but sooo worth it in the end... It took us about 4 hours to complete the 10km section remaining of this part of the wall...This is what i get for travelling with 3 guys haha...but I am soooo glad I did it and it is still so unreal that I actully got to climb the great wall... Can't wait to upload my pics!

Summer Palace
- Today we went to the summer palace which is basically a hugee park and lake area...Soo beautiful! The emperors would come to this palace when the Forbidden City would get too hot... It is hugeee... we walked the perimeter and it was so beautiful all around with big bridges and lakes and it was raining pollen so it had a little charming effect like it was snowing... There were more really cool asian style buildings and temples along the way... It was a nice long walk and relaxing after yesterdays great wall adventure!

The only downfall thus far have been the Squatter toilets(yuck) and the Asian tourists who greatly greatly outnumber foreign tourists...They come in huge groups everywhere so places get really crowded when a few groups come...i am surprised at how little i see foreigner travellors but it has been nice to be thrown into beijing...thankgoodness for the guys cause I would be sooo lost here, especially using the subway...

I will update as soon as i get a chance!

beijing!

- am finally here! It seems like forever ago when I was planning this trip! I am here with 3 of my guy friends! We got in at like 7 pm so we checked into our hostel and then went out for dinner. We walked through a street food market and they had scorpions skewered on sticks that were still moving! Yuck! They also had seahorses skewered and that was just sad... It was pouring all night so we were running through the streets with our umbrellas! Haha.. We have tons to see here (apparently Mao's body is saved "pickeled" if you will) and I can't wait to see that haha... We are making plans as we go since its rainy so hopefully it will clear up for our Great Wall day and the Fofbidden palace! I am so happy to be here!! I will try and keep this updated so hopefully I will have some good stories!!

not a loner

So i found some people to celebrate with last night! A few of us just sat on the balcony and drank the Franzia and just talked and listened to music... it was a really nice evening... Before I knew it, it was like 3:30 am and we had been sitting there since 11ish... 

Today i did some last minute shopping cause i leave for Beijing tomorrow!!! I just cant believe it! Ill be in Beijing for 2 weeks, Hong Kong for one week by myself, then a little over a week with my parents, then home!!! It is amazing how quickly time flies by!

I am going with 3 of my guy friends to beijing, then they leave half way through my stay there, and my friend Mary-ev from Theta who is studying in China is coming to meet me. We will then take a little trip to Shanghi by train or go to Tsingtao which is the beer making city! I can't wait! It will be so great traveling with these friends!!!

I will try and keep my blog updated while I am in china so read up! 

DONE!

Woo hoo! I am all done with my classes here! I just took my last final! It is suchhh a relief! Everyone either still has finals or has already left to travel so there is no one to celebrate with... So i went and bought a bottle of Franzia (so much classier than a box), and some m&ms to celebrate by myself... Don't worry, I am only having one glass of wine (if you can call it that)... and I am drinking it out of a Ikea much, even more classy... Tomorrow night i will go out to the horse-races with whoever is left here and then to Wan Chai for ladie's night as my last night in Hong Kong with everyone before I am back here by myself for a few days and then my parents come! I have some last minute things to buy tomorrow before i leave the next day for Beijing, and I return May 6th... 

The program I went through to come here gave us a present today of chopsticks with "The Chinese University of Hong Kong" written on it... they are actually really pretty so it was a nice little gift!  

Today has been a good day!

passport pages

So today Jackie and I ... Drumroll pleasse... Got More Passport Pages Put in !! I never thought that would happen... China has taken over my passport. I may as well be Chinese. I leave for Beijing in 3 days so i needed to make sure i got back into Hong Kong and wasn't stuck in China for the rest of my life haha... There was this crazy guy at the consulate who seemed like he was on drugs and it was pretty entertaining... he was telling this story about how he lost his wallet, was shaking, and how someone gave him 2,000 Hong Kong Dollars to get back to Macau or something cause he had to pay to update his passport or some ish like that... It was very strange but pretty entertaining... Other than that, i wouldnt recommend hanging out at the Consulate... 

I have my LAST final tomorrow and have cracked open my book a few times so that is what i will do after this... but its not til 6:30 pm tomorrow night so I still have plenty of time... 

Hope everyone is doing well. I know my family is cause they are on a cruise vacation without me.. i hope you all feel bad and miss me the whole time... JK.. but hope everyone is well! I will see you all in EXACTLY one month!

26 days til I'm 21!

more end of the year pictures

You can CLICK on the pic to make them bigger!

^ our table at the back of the banquet hall... they knew we would be trouble ;)

^ my friend from Mexico and from Italy... I'm a lucky girl!

^ outside of 7/11 because no night would be complete without it... please notice that i have no drink in my hand and that Jackie is drinking Chocolate milk... and richie is just very happy

^ I stole these glasses from someone... and yes I wore them in the club haha

End of the year party!!!

^ the Ughh face... why we took a picture like this? who knows...

^ this was one of the prizes for our "awards" they gave out... gross

^ me and the guys here from USC... Fight On!

^ our dinner group at the banquet... 

^ Jackie and I before we got to the party... haha we still look put together here :)

Well i don't even know where to begin this night story... It was sloppy to say the least... So this was a party out together by some exchange kids and the program here that is hosting us... The program here put together the classy part of the even which was a dinner banquet and the students put together to after-party. Standard haha. So the dinner was at the YMCA in Hong Kong but it was actually a really nice venue! They had big tables in the ballroom and then there was a terrace outside with a great view of some of the skyscrapers... it looked gorgeous... We all sat down and had a great buffet dinner... they probably wanted to fill our stomachs knowing that and after-party would follow haha. So we had a nice meal and got to watch a slideshow of all of our pictures from the semester! They are posting it on Youtube so ill add the link once i get it! Then they gave out a few funny awards... After all this everyone hung out on the terrace for a few hours and had some drinks and took some pictures until it was time to go to the club. The club was in Wan Chai so we all got on the Star Ferry and were on our way! The club is called Vertigo and it was on the 26th floor. needless to say no one was going to walk the stairs so there was a huge line for the elevators... Being the sly people we are, we took the escalator up to the second floor and caught it on the way down so we could skip the line and take it all the way up... this was probably rude of us but i think it was pretty smart :) The club was pretty cool with a decent size dance floor and lots of booths to sit in on the outside. A guy from our program was DJ-ing so that was nice too... There was lots of dancing  (and drinking) and fun! I didn't get home til about 5:30 am which is my new record... I am pretty proud of myself considering I got to bed at midnight usually haha.. I had soo much fun! It was for sure one of the best nights here! It took everyone the whole next day to recover so thank goodness i have a few days til my last final haha... Everyone had a ball and the pictures are hilarious... some you can tell how everyone is haggard at the end of the night and those are funny too! The night was filled with tons of funny stories that we heard/told each other about in the morning. No secrets when you are abroad and there are only 200 international students haha... You business is everyones business... I fell on the floor a few times cause the ground was so wet from all the spilled drinks but it was graceful so i can laugh about it now...  Anyways, it was an absolutely great way to end the semester before everyone leaves to do their traveling and go back to their home countries... its very bitter sweet... It will definitely be weird to not live in dorms and see all these people come in and out everyday... There will definitely be some sad tears on the way home but I will also be super excited to see everyone again! 

P.S. Don't judge me by my pictures haha :)

My roommates

me and Magdalena ... she from Germany
me and Cynthia, my roommate from hong kong
I realized I don't have any pics up of my roommates so here they are. 

3 down, 1 to go

So i only have one final left!!! woo hoo! I took my 3rd one today and its was hard but ok... I am ready to catch up on some sleep now. 

I got my haircut today too! A local friend of mine told me about a close hairdresser and said that they should speak english, and I finally had the time to go! The receptionist spoke english which was a relief... She told me there were three levels of hairdressers and only the newest (aka worst) ones were available... Since my hair grows fast I said ok haha... So a guy came and got me and held out the robe you wear when you get your hair cut and motioned to come with him... He pointed to the hair-washing chair and this is how we continued without talking haha... Then he passed me off the the hairdresser who asked me what i wanted... he was a funky dressed dude (which scared me) with long permed hair and a necklace with a big lock on it... At this point i started to rethink my hair cut haha.. I told him i wanted just a trim and some layers but to keep as much length as possible... he replied "no cut?" as he pointed to the bottom of my hair and so I then motioned to him how much i wanted to have cut off and away the scissors went.  The hair cut ended up being pretty good so I was happy. It was much needed after 3 and a half months!

Then i went shopping to buy a dress for our Exchange End of the Year Party! I walked around unsuccessfully for a while cause i am not into the asian style... Finally I found a dress so I am set for the party tomorrow! 

I am going to dinner tonight with a few girls because one of them leave tomorrow to go home to Canada to start summer school... she is leaving like a month earlier than everyone else... so crazy...

Then i think i will pass out as soon as i get home haha... 

finals

YUCK... finals are really hard here... I saw a girl from my group project in the library today and we have our final tomorrow morning, and she had crazy notes and i think had memorized the book... I feel like I know nothing now and don't even know how to study for this exam since its marketing and we get two case studies tomorrow and then he asks us questions about it and for recommendations on what they can do... Since we dont get the cases til the test begins, how am I supposed to study for this... I think its BS. And I don't like it. 

I have to register for my Fall semester at USC tomorrow morning at 4 am since my registration time is at 1pm in the united states and then I have this horrible final at 8:30 a.m.  

I promise my blog won't be full of complaints in a week cause then i will be done with finals and getting ready for my trip to Beijing... 

more pics

taking pictures with stuffed animals while jumping off the stairs...
more graduation pictures with stuffed animals... I will try an get closer pictures
kowloon park
central campus
looking over campus

easter

so i am unsure whether a lot of chinese celebrate easter, but jackie and I went to brunch to be festive haha... we went to a place in Soho called the Press Room and it was fabulous! I had a great omelette (american style, not with rice or in soup) and jackie had eggs benedict which looked great as well... There were tons of white people there and it was almost as if we were in America haha... it was a great study-break and break from chinese food :)  Unfortunately the studying continues now but i will be done with 3/4 of my finals on thursday! woo hoo!

p.s. Happy birthday Papa!  

pictures

the Hong Kong Stadium for the Rugby Sevens
out in LKF while rob was here

at the rugby sevens representing the US with our sweet wristbands!
These are some random pictures I didn't put up before

SUN

Today was the first day of having the sun out for a long time! It was sooo pretty outside! I went to go study on my balcony and bask in the sun because I haven't see the sun in at least a month! I am becoming pasty white and sad without the sun so today was great! I actually fell asleep on the balcony for an hour so hopefully i will have some color to my skin! I hope its stays sunny (just not humid!!!)  

stolen

So we have a communal refrigerator in our flat which about 8 of us use and someone has stolen my banana and lean cuisine! I am PISSED!  I am going to find the culprit. This means war haha

dog, park, party!

 check out our sweet sweaters... it was chilly outside!
some of the guys there
So i saw the most bazar thing yesterday on campus... There was some people walking a golden retriever which is pretty odd cause dogs are really rare in Hong Kong, especially big dogs. So i was watching these people and then the dog pooed. Not only did they pick it up, but they wiped the dogs butt. Yes the dog's butt... gross.

Then i went to Kowloon park to meet up with jackie and do some studying! It actually turned out to be a really nice day out so it was perfect! I bought a pair of shoes i had been wanting so life couldn't be better! Although there were tons of other shoes I may go back for if i have some money at the end of my trip :)

Then we met up with some friends at school to go to a house party in Central. It is a flat of a guy who goes to my college but his parents live here half time and half time in Japan so he was pretty much raised here. So he had a really nice dinner and wine and stuff and we all just hung out for like 6 hours... it was a perfect night! We sat out side and talked and it couldn't have been better!  Now its back to studying!

The things i can't wait to do

So since its finals time, i have decided to be productive with my time study... just kidding! I am going to make a list of things I am excited to do when i get home.  This list is not prioritized so don't be offended

1. have a family dinner with joke time
2. go to the spa with my irvine friends... then golden spoon after
3. drink wine and eat cheese... i will be able to buy the wine :) (Hong Kong has no happy cows, cause they live in California)
4. Sit on my couch and eat ice cream with my family at 9:30 pm while watching trash tv... yes we do this
5. sleep over with my sisters at Eryka's new place
6. tan on the beach
7. hit golf balls with my dad (they usually go sideways over the fence and almost hit people... shhh)
8. go shopping for clothes that i don't have to bargain for...
9. eat chipolte and golden spoon
10. sleep in a soft bed (asia beds are hard... literally)
11. take a shower without wearing sandals
12. sit with my friends and talk and watch tv
13. Go to a San Clemente bar to give them my real California ID
14. see shaina teach a class if i am allowed to
15. hang out with my family and play wii bowling
16. drive my car Bessie (I hope she is still running!)
17. help my mom cook dinner without having rice as part of the dinner
18. bake cookies - there is no oven here
19. TURN ON MY BLACKBERRY!!!
20. move into my apartment!

Library/Graduation

Yes i have been to the library at school, but only for group meetings. It is always full of surprises... many students spend their time there sleeping. But today was a good day... I walked out of my group meeting to find a girl sitting at a table making a fan. Like a real one that collapses and then can fan out. She was gluing the fabric to it when i saw her and i couldnt help but laugh. This may not seem funny but after being her for 3 months, I am still caught surprised by some odd Chinese student behavior. 

I have yet to talk about Graduation here... They have rolling graduations for all the schools in the university so its basically graduation day every weekend. Yes, really every weekend. And what do you get for graduation?? Jewelry, flowers, a job?? NOOO you get a stuffed animal. All kids graduating from college get big stuffed animals that they carry around all day while in their graduation robes to take pictures with. It is sooo bazar. This is certainly not something that makes the Chinese boys seem manly and grown up. When they all look back at the pictures of their graduation, they will only have pictures holding stuffed animals. Weird.

Lastly, the clubs on campus promote themselves all during the year with songs, chants, and dances... It looks a lot like "stop the yard" actually. Unfortunately, they speak in Cantonese so i don't know what they are talking about, but they make their way into all of the dining areas so you are forced to watch. Some are entertaining but it is still bazar. 

This is a very different environment then campus at home haha

Countdown

This semester has gone by unbelieveably fast... I can't even comprehend where my time has gone... I still have about a month and a week and tons to look forward to! Here is a look at the rest of my semester!

11 days til my end of the year International Party!!!

15 days til I am done with finals

17 days til i leave for Beijing!

34 days til my Aunt and Uncle come to Hong Kong

36 days til my Parents get here!

40 days til I turn 21!!! woo hoo

44 days til I arrive in LAX and get to see my sisters! 

I still have soo much time left but I know this time will fly by too cause I will be super busy and  I have tons to look forward to!

Hot Pot!

So last night me, bryan, lee, and pierre went out to dinner to a hot pot place where they put the boiling spicy broth in the middle of your table and you go grab food to cook in the pot! Bryan's local friends took him there so when we got there it was no surprise we were the only white people. It is under a huge tent so there are tons of big circle tables where you sit and talk and eat! There were easily 200+ people (chinese people haha) there... So you sit down and they bring you the broth being cooked over a little stove that is fueled by a tank of propane that was sitting by my feet... super safe I know! Then we go to the main "buffet" style table with all the vegetables, seafood, meat, and dumplings are and put what you want in a plastic bucket to bring back to your tables... At the buffet there were shrimp that were still moving so apparently you put them in the boiling water to kill them and then eat them (mean), there were chicken testicles (a chinese must have), and some other nasty stuff that i couldn't tell what it was..  I pretty much stuck to the vegetables and had a little bit of beef and beef dumplings... They had some squash, corn, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc and it was all really good cause the broth was spicy! They also had a little selection of noodles... Pierre took the square of ramen noodles and was eating it at the table without cooking it and the chinese people just thought it was the funniest thing ever... there were three different tables staring and laughing at him, knowing that we were watching them laugh.. It was pretty funny.. And at the end of our meal, a huge cockroach ran by... Which is the perfect ending to the unsanitary hot pot meal we had with a tent full of locals :)

more pics

 more old men with crazy hats for costumes... one let me borrow his for the picture :)
 trannies in HK??? They must have escaped from Thailand!
more pics/ a video from the LKF night during rob's visit

Rob's Visit to Asialand

old men in shower gear haha (costumes for the Rugby Sevens)
LKF absolutely packed!
up the stairs to the big buddha!
 I have turned asian. please call me Ping Ping like my teacher
Rob and I on the cable car
So for those of you who don't know about Rob, he was one of my best friends from freshman year who lived in the dorms on the same floor as me! We had a great floor with really fun people and lots of funny stories... Rob is one of the main people i keep in touch with from SDSU and he is on Semester at Sea... which is basically a "school" trip on a cruise boat where all they do is drink and travel haha... but they had a port stop in Hong Kong!!! My friend Bryan who goes to USC with me but also is studying here with me in HK had 2 friends on the same semester at sea boat and sure enough our friends were friends too! So we planned for Rob and Bryan's friends to meet up and Bryan and I went to pick them up from the boat on Sunday... Rob brought along his bff from the ship and Bryan's two girl friends brought along 2 more girls so we had quite a gang to entertain and show Hong Kong to in just one day! It was a non-stop day to say the least! We took them to Mong Kok first to walk through the famous Ladie's market and we also had Dim Sum there which is a traditional chinese breakfast! It was really really good (one of the few things i really like here), and i think they all were glad to have their "cultural" meal!... From there we went to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island! We wanted to take them to Victoria Peak to look over hong kong but it was wayyy to foggy! It was hard for us to even see the big buddha from the bottom of the hill when we got there! We had to take the MTR pretty far to get there and  then an air cable car to the island... So we bought some beer to take with us (once again they all are on a ship where they drink and travel)... you are not allowed to drink or eat in the cable cars so we were sneak and mischievous (and i am a rule follower so that was big for me) haha... We walked through the little town to the buddha and then up the stairs we went to get to the top! It really is a BIG buddha haha... you arent supposed to touch it but of course rob did... we took some pictures and then were back on the cable cars to explore more of HK... We then took them to Soho to get some chips and salsa and Margaritas since they were all craving Mexican food (I'm not the only one)... We ate, drank, and were merry and then continued on our way walking through Soho and central... we then took them back to the boat so they could change for their first and only night out in LKF! We watched the Light show in TST and then took the Star Ferry back to LKF where we had some dinner and drinks haha... I tried octopus, and scallops for the first time (I had some liquid courage to help with that)... I didn't enjoy either but I didnt spit either out so it was successful food trying haha... Then we went to the main street in LKF and it was packed cause the Rugby Sevens had just ended and it was soo fun! All the bars were full and the streets were full of very happy and intoxicated people (mostly and older crowd) but the older men had the best costumes! We walked the streets and talked and had a really really really fun night! All of the people we took around that day seemed to have a great day in Hong Kong and got to see a lot more than everyone else who didnt have their own personal tour guides! (AKA bryan cause i still can't navigate my way around)! It was soo great seeing Rob and sharing Hong Kong with someone who has never been here! This made me really excited for my parents and aunt and uncle to come! But i also realize i need to start writing down directions so i dont fail as their tour guide haha! Miss you all! 

p.s. 46 days til I'm 21!!! woo hoo!

HK Rugby Sevens Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow I am going to the Rugby Sevens tournament which is a hugeee tournament and always sold out! I got tickets through my school so tons of us exchange kids are going!!! I can't wait!!! Here is what Wikipedia, the most reliable source ever, says "The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is traditionally one of if not the biggest event on the Hong Kong sporting calendar. As such, there is a tremendous party atmosphere, with particular emphasis on the South Stand, where hordes of rugby fans dress up and dance for most of the duration. Activities that typically ensue as the weekend progresses include the throwing of empty beer jugs around the South Stand, Mexican waves, and streakers running across the pitch. Since 2007 the South Stand has been made officially accessible to over-18s only, due to its hyper and somewhat provocative atmosphere, although this rule is not strictly policed.  The Hong Kong Sevens typically draws the biggest crowd and is the biggest party on the IRB Seven's Calendar."

I am soo excited!!! There will be a big group of us that will start sipping on some drinks (just juice of course) at about 1 before we leave at 330 to get into the stadium! I will write again after and will hopefully have tons of pictures!!!

my weekend in China

me in front of the Li river after our raft trip
the ladies from Longchang with the long hair like a hat on their head
the Li river in Yangshuo... it was foggy
West Street in Yangshuo
all my purchases... nunchucks for my dad, some rice alcohol (when in china right????)  some painted bottles, a spoon made from ox horns, jade chopsticks, little asian dolls, a jade stamp that a man made for me with my initials, a scroll paining of Yangshuo, and an embroidered tablecloth from Longchang... I am a bit of an impulse buyer... 
 
the rice terraces in Longchang
Ok so this past weekend I went into southern china with my friend Tiphaine who is from France so obviously neither of us speak any mandarin... thank goodness for our china guidebook with common travelor phrases in the back... So Tiphaine bought overnight bus tickets from a guy in Shenzen which is right aross the HK/China border like 2 weeks ago. He spoke very little english but enough to understand her and she thought she bought round trip tickets... when we got there... we asked a person in the little travel agency she booked at to ask the lady in chinese to make sure they were round trip... they were not... so it was liek 200 more HK dollars than they shoudl have cost.. we were ripped off... we were pissed so we demanded our money back and were having this girl translate for us and it was a huge ordeal for like a half hour... Finally we got most of our money back and went to try and find the actual station that sells tickets so that we couldn't get ripped off by travel agencies... Meanwhile we run into a guy from England who is travelling alone and to the same place we are going so he joins us on our mission since the train tickets are sold out so a bus is the only option... After asking several people who couldn't help becasue they didnt speak english we finally found the bus station ticket kisok... we buy tickets and then wait for the bus... The bus was actually really really clean and it was about an 11 or 12 hour ride overnight to Guilin in China... The bus had beds instead of seats and was really comforable given that it was still a bus... A guy from Holland a few years older than us was on the bus as well next to me so I felt pretty safe... My Chinese roommate had warned me right before i left that the buses were reallly really unsafe in terms of people stealing and the busses crashing... needless to say i was really freaked out and then planned to stay awake through the whole bus ride... But with our 2 new travelling friends i was able to sleep (with my passport and money in my money belt!) We arrive a little later than expected in the morning (which will be a common trend) and hopped on another bus that was supposed to take 1 hour (it took 2.5) to Longchang. we bought the ticket from a kid who had a badge saying he worked for the ticket office (which he didn't) because he ripped us off again... When we finally got there we started out climb up the hill to find a hostel... In Longchang there is a cetrain ethnicity of people there and the women grow their hair out down past thier knees... they then wrap it on their head in special designs... its kind like wearing a hat haha... They hand embroider fabrics and sell lots of little trinkets... they were lined up along our hike up to our hostel so we got to do some shopping!!! WE found a hostel after we were taken by a little old lady (she was literally like 4'6")... she took us up to a room and after much translation problems figured out how much she was asking for it and paid her... it was pretty clean and right on the side the the hill with a great little view... So Longchang is famous for its Rice Terraces which are absolutely stunning... There are hills and hills of terraces all handmade in straight lines into the hills to grow the rice... After putting our bags in the room, we set out on the trails to go to the viewpoints on the Terraces... we hiked around there for about 4 hours and it was so beautiful.. we had met a retired Canadian couple earlier on the bus who were staying in a hotel by our hostel who liked meeting people while they were travelling (they had already been travelling asia for 5 months) so we had dinner with them... THey invited a retired french couple and we invited a french guy who was a little older than us that we had met so it was quite a dinner group... I was the only one who didnt speak french so i didnt understand most of the table conversation :( It was ok though cause i talked with the Canadian man and the french guy our age cause he would speak english with tiphaine and me when i was listening in...It was a nice little dinner and we were so exhausted that after we went to bed cause we had to catch a bus the next day at 730am to Yangshuo which was our next destination... 

many hours later than the time quoted, we arrived in Yangshuo! It is a little tourist town south of Guilin and has 2 major streets that sell things and have hostels... The most famous street is called West Street...  We had soo much fun walking up and down this street several times buying lots of souvenirs! We must have walked the street at least 10 times while we were there for a day and half and found new things each time :)   We then took a bike ride through the countryside where people still farmed with ox to plow and did everything by hand... there were even old people and kids out in the farms! the people still carried the two baskets on each of the bamboo stick that sat on their shoulders... we saw women with their babies in the baskets! It the rural area it was like the world hadn't changed in the past 30 years... The next day we took another bus up to a part of the Li River so that we could take a bamboo raft down with huge and beautiful limestone hills all around! The minute we got on the bus this woman started bugging us about buying a ticket from her for the raft... this went on for at least 20 minutes and she didnt speak english so she just talked at us in chinese and pointed on a map... we kept saying no and finally had to ignore her... once we got there she shooed all the other women away that were going to sell us tickets so that we had to buy them from here... there were only two other tourists there and they were both chinese and spoke a little bit english so they helped to translate what we wanted to do to the lady... we went back and forth bargaining on price til we finally settled on $70 yuan... the man told her in chinese that price and she accepted and then got us onto her raft... after about 5 minutes on going down the river she asked us for the money... we gave her $70 and she said 90... again we were being ripped off... this time we wouldnt let her we were were basically talking sternly to her and telling her NO! this went on for another 5 minutes and then she said 10 more or i have no money... we said NO again... she kept telling us no money and we said NO to paying her more... This time we knew she understood how much we would pay her cause the man told her in Chinese and she knew she was trying to rip us off too cause she was laughing while we were screaming No at her... we then pulled off to the side of the river to get more gas and a guy got on the boat and the lady got off and he took us the rest of the way down... he didnt try and talk to us or get money from us so it was a relaxing rest of the trip like it should have been from the start! we went 20 kilometers down the river and ended in a little town... It was a really cute little town with more vendors... surprise surprise.. but it was nice to walk through... we hopped back on a bus to take us back to Yangshuo... We walked West street again, got some dinner, and then got back on a bus to take us back to Shenzen so we could cross the border back into Hong Kong... This bus ride was supposed to take 11 hours and its took 13.5! The lady selling us tickets promised it was a bus with lots of foreigners cause it was a travel agency on west street, and she promised it was clean... We figured it would be the same bus as the one that took us into china... Well it wasn't... we got on the bus and it was all old chinese people and it smelled like the worst smelling feet ever and i wanted to puke. The blankets hadnt been washed in years and the pillows had no pillowcases so we know those hadnt been washed either... We were absolutely disgusted... It was the worst bus ride ever... no one spoke english at all so we had no idea where we were ... when we finally got into Shenzen it was the wrong bus station... now we had to figure out how to get to a border crossing!!! This phrase was not in our china travel guide... luckily we saw two europeans walk out like 15  minutes later after we had been trying to describe border to a taxi driver and they were able to get a taxi who knew where to take us cause they were going the same place and knew the correct name.. we shared the taxi with them and made it back to Hong Kong...  I have never had such a frustrating but fun weekend! It was so nice to get home to my dorm with my hard bed... and i never thought i would say that haha

:)

on the terrace at the LKF hotel bar
view from the top!
i just got back from a fabulous night with Jackie and her mom and her mom's friend... It was so nice being with adults (I miss my parents friends) and we just had a great little ladies evening... We went to the LKF tower/hotel and had a drink on the 26th floor (or 29th???).... We all got mojitos and i had a peach one... it was soo good! we stood out on the balcony overlooking hong kong and the skyline drinking and chatting and it was really nice... the bar is ranked #7 out of 20 of the world's best sky bars... It was sooo so beautiful (and high up!)...We then walked to go have dinner, and we definitely took the long way (aka got lost) .. We ate at a veryy nice restaurant and I had the best Fajitas!!!  The manager of the restaurant was a little asian guy with a real and heavy aussie accent! so cool! We all sat and talked at dinner and it was really great... Dinner was really long cause we sat and talked and just had a really relaxing and nice time... we then took a taxi back to their hotel back in mongkok where we said goodbye and the taxi driver continued to take me home... I gave him a sheet of paper with my address in cantonese and we were off.. what should have been a very short ride took way too long.. i think he took me the longest way possible to rip me off... It should have only been about 40-50 Hong kong dollars but it was 110... I was just worried that he was taking me to the wrong university... so i called jackie and had her tell me the name of our school in cantonese so i could repeat it to the driver, and he proceeded to laugh.. Anyways, i eventually got there and he now has enough of my money to buy his wife a little something haha :)