i can't work with 'macau'

i always find that the first two days in a new place seem to last as long as the next two weeks. predictably, the last week has flown by. the good news for you, dear reader, is that in the past few days i've finally gotten used to the time change and will no longer subject you to semi-coherent/sane rambling blog posts.

maybe you're bummed about that. maybe you're not.

life within the university tends to be pretty quiet. we have a teaching related seminar in the morning, and cantonese class in the afternoon. i've really enjoyed cantonese, although two hours a day is really exhausting. interestingly, the pronunciation of words in cantonese is very similar to that of french, so i'm finding my accent to generally be pretty good (lots of euille, eu and ou endings).

because we only have four hours of class each day, i've had plenty of opportunities to get off campus and explore hong kong. last weekend, i visited hong kong island with a few others and checked out the hk nightlife. the island is unlike anywhere i've been before. covered walkways traverse the entire city, making it possible to shop for an entire day without ever having to touch the ground. the island itself is very hilly, which has resulted in the construction of an outdoor (and very long) escalator through the busy shopping/restaurant district of lan kwai fan. i'm just hoping that they set up stores along the escalator soon because having to get off it to shop really slows me down.

i've also spent a fair amount of time in tsim sha tsui, another fun area just across the bay from hong kong island. it's a little seedier and cheaper than hong kong island, but still has some great entertainment options. on friday, sarah (another ETA) and i went to a 30th floor bar with stunning views of the hong kong skyline.

more action, less words.

- it's hong konger, not hong kongian.

- i came back on thursday to find my locks had been changed. no explanation was given.

- MSG is in a lot of food, but is only listed as 'flavor enhancer.' it's frustratingly hard to avoid.
- dim sum isn't as good as i wanted it to be.

i spent saturday and sunday in macau, a group of two islands about 40 miles west of hong kong. it's one of two special administrative regions of china, the other being hong kong. macau is very different from hong kong as it was a portuguese colony until 1999, whereas hong kong was a british colony until 1997. macau has become very well known in the past five years for its gambling/casinos (the us consulate general told us that as of last year more gambling money goes through macau than las vegas).

me, sarah and emilio (sarah's friend from undergrad) on the ferry to macau.

sarah and emilio usually look more normal, but i didn't in the other photos (please refer to 'ben is beautiful'), so this one gets posted.

having now been to macau (and having never visited las vegas), i find this [the previous statement about gambling money] very hard to believe. there were definitely enormous, overwhelming, pretty gross looking casinos:

emilio and i in front of the lisboa casino (still under construction at the top)

but there were only a few of this size - most of them were quite small and spread out. surprisingly, i actually found macau to be a much more historically and culturally rich experience than hong kong. a lot of the older buildings in hong kong have been bulldozed to allow for more shopping malls, whereas in macau, most of the old town has been left untouched - the casino strip is built on a reclaimed piece of land on the south part of the main island. what this means is that much of the old town still retains its portuguese feel. i've never been to portugal, but sarah said that the architecture and cobblestones reminded her a lot of lisbon.

approaching the ruins of the cathedral of st. paul

wandering through old macau.

well, that's pretty much all for now. i'm hoping to have some photos of downtown hong kong to post soon. last time i went in, my camera was acting up. today i got a great hong kong hiking guide as well, so i'm hoping to check out some trails as soon as it cools off a little (there's a 60 mile trail that cuts all the way across hong kong that sounds great). hope everyone is doing well. until next time, i'll leave you with my new feature.

song of the week: apple orchard by beach house.

just china settle in...

since i got no response to my pretty painful play on words in my first post, i thought i'd make another one just for zachary because i know it drives him crazy, especially since everyone knows we're related. anyway, i've been in hong kong now since the 3rd and only today can i say that i've regained some semblance of sanity. there's really nothing like an 11-hour time change to bring out a side of your personality you never knew existed.

i think i'll start by showing you some boring room photos with the promise that more interesting ones will come soon. perhaps they will even have people in them.

this is a view of the left side of my room. the right side looks the same (remember this room is supposed to be for two), except there's more of a mess, and no cutesy ikea lamp. sorry the photo is a little dark, but with the overhead lights on i feel like i'm in a hospital (side note, RAs here are called wardens).

this is the view from the balcony i share with another fulbrighter. the top photo looks to the left, where you might be able to pick out a little sliver of ocean. the bottom photo looks right, where you can see the bus stop where i catch buses into tai po.

so, it really hasn't sunk in yet that i live in china, because all told, hong kong is a really easy place to live. i’m writing this from my laptop in my dorm room, a luxury i’ve definitely not experienced when abroad before. i’ve gone into nearby tai po a few times to buy various dorm room necessities which has been very easy. public transportation is excellent, and most everything you'd expect to find in the US can be found here, although i must say they combine stores in a strange way: yesterday i walked into a pharmacy that sold your usual pharmacy items (shampoo, toothpaste etc) in one half, while the other half had big open crates of dried pig skins, fish and other dried meat delectables. the language barrier has probably been the most difficult to deal with. people speak little english, and since we’re very far from downtown hong kong (90 minutes, ugh) pretty much all signs are in cantonese (closer in to the city there's more english help). while in tai po yesterday i ordered lunch by pointing at the prettiest characters on the menu. as you can imagine, i feel pretty useless in those situations, and am desperately hoping that i’ll be able to pick up a few things over the next year.

i'd like to introduce a new section of the blog, called 'more action, less words' (for the us weekly enthusiast in all of us):
- because my dorm is built on a steep hill, I have to take three elevators to get to my eighth floor room.
- dorm security here is out of this world – there are security cameras everywhere, with security guards at the front of each dorm watching a wall of TVs.
- the campus is sub free, but the 7-11 on campus sells alcohol…
- there’s a climbing wall on campus!
- people in hong kong love paperwork, and have little time for those who don't.

anyway, i think i'll leave it at that. i'm definitely still getting settled in, and many of us are coping with our fair share of frustrations with the program. i, as well as others, are definitely hoping that since we're the 'pioneer group,' as they call us, that we'll be able to push back against some of fulbright's less popular restrictions. i hope everyone is doing well. if anyone is not getting their questions answered let me know, and i'd be glad to address them. i'm still getting a feel for this whole blogging thing - i seem to have settled on a pretty rambly blog personality - i suppose we'll have to see if it changes. until next time, take care, and if you feel so inclined, write me an email. id love to hear from you.