Blog around the world

Ate out with a friend at a café nearby the school. I didn’t realize there are so many cafés here… First exam in any of my classes, a quiz for Chinese. After class, I hung out with some classmates to get some ice cream at an area nearby. Mango and cookies n’ cream: very refreshing even though it was not particularly warm. Pretty cheap though: two scoops of ice cream for $10. Shortly after, I attended my chemistry course.

… I hope to travel a lot throughout this trip, otherwise it will simply be a blog detailing what I have done in class. I hope to go to Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, and/or Korea. We shall see…

Lab two today! We focused on determining fluoride content in two toothpastes: Colgate and Darlie (what the locals call “black people’s toothpaste”), as well as tap water.

I had lunch with some classmates and then headed back. I was really exhausted after spending a lot of time working on the lab report. Looks like I need to manage myself with the time allotted better. I did start working on the lab report due next week today though, so it is a start.

We have so many moon cakes still… anyone want? =)

Tuesday – four classes. Additionally, I attended a City Youth Empowerment Project (CYEP) meeting. I thought that this was really interesting because of their focus on helping ethnic minority youths in Hong Kong. I never realized before that their culture is similar to that of minority youths in the States; their education is not as privileged as that of locals. Nor have I noticed that there actually is a decent population of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong; it was definitely eye-opening to say the least. The purpose of the project is to provide opportunities for these students to learn Cantonese and help them out with other subjects that they may be struggling with. While my Chinese is not that good, I hope to at least help the youth to be encouraged to learn. I also hope that they may find encouragement from us and give them a chance at a brighter future.

Glad there wasn’t anything too serious today. I wound up not having classes due to the typhoon, but there was very little damage around where I lived, so that was great to hear.

I only worked a bit on my chemistry lab and also went out to go ice-skating for the first time in a long time. Ice-skating was definitely fun, and it was for a pretty reasonable price: $50. I hope to ice-skate again some time soon.

Nothing too much happened today other than going to church and sticking around at home waiting for this typhoon. Hope things turn out well!!

Another long day with lots of food! I went out for dim sum with family at around noon… so much food might drive you crazy… or sleepy.

Afterwards, I headed out to church for fellowship and then later went to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to view the lanterns. They were really amazing! What was most appealing about the area was this half-sphere made of plastic bottles. This half-sphere was situated on top of a body of water, making it seem like there was a huge globe. Inside the “globe” were many glass bottles. I thought it was really creative that people would use recyclable products and make a design such as this!

It was a really long day today. First, I had lunch with my uncle, and then shortly after, I spent some time with my relatives from my mom’s side by eating a lot. We ate seafood from around 4 to 9 with some breaks in between here and there. I was really stuffed by the time the day was over… after eating, we played with the lanterns and walked around the park nearby. It was quite refreshing walking especially after eating so much. Then I went home rather late. All in all, a long but fulfilling day.

My apologies for not uploading more pictures onto the blog, so this one will have many images to make up for it!

Two classes today: Chinese and analytical chemistry. Chinese is proving to be a tough subject, what with many challenges to overcome, but I hope to enjoy this course. Chemistry is also going to be challenging, but it does not seem too difficult to handle at the moment so long as I pace myself with my studies.

After my classes, I went back home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and my uncle’s birthday with relatives from my dad’s side. There was so much food for dinner today, with some classic dishes such as 西洋菜 (a type of vegetable dish), fish, sushi, chicken, pork, and radish. We also had mooncakes for dessert and then walked around with lanterns. It was my first time celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival with my relatives, so it was a really great experience.

Today was lab! A long lab indeed… a lot of things needed to be done as well. It was quite overwhelming considering it was my first time working in the labs here and there was also a worksheet that had to be done over a short period of time without much explanation… but it was a great experience overall.

Afterwards, I ate lunch with some local students and later walked around Festival Walk in hopes of using this discount card I received yesterday. I wound up at a place where the desserts cost more than an average meal… oh well, at least the smoothie I got wasn’t too bad.

Then I checked out the dorms at the campus as well as the rooms. They’re small but seem really nice. It seems pretty well organized, so I liked seeing that.

Later on, I attended a volunteer ceremony kick-off, got some food, and ended the day eating some moon cake!

Today was my long day of classes: start at 9am, end at 8:20pm.

I wound up getting to the university early and decided to relax for a bit after getting a French pastry. I’ve noticed a lot of French pastry food stores lately, including at McDonald’s. I thought that was interesting considering there was no French occupation of Hong Kong (not to my knowledge anyway).

The classes I had were food chemistry (tutorial, then lecture), Chinese, and then my environmental class, with large breaks in between classes. During my first break, I had a very satisfying lunch at the canteen for only $25! It included a bowl of rice and two sides, as well as a drink.

During my second break (that is, between Chinese and environmental), I met up with a friend and helped him out with some bank-related issues, and then went to the gym in hopes that I could get involved as well. What happened is another story… Afterwards, I grabbed dinner and talked about various topics, including past experiences with work and church-related matters. It was really great getting to catch up with him.

After my classes were finished, I headed back home to get some rest and unwind. The wind is really something at night. I sometimes cannot decide when to keep the windows open and when to close them… keeping them open would mean loud noise but would save electricity, while closing them will do the opposite.