One of the most fulfilling (haha) aspects of this Fellowship is the constant stream of banquets, dinners, and special gatherings we are invited to throughout the year. In the past week alone, we have gone to two special gatherings, one with the President of New Asia College, as a means of welcoming us and getting us off to a good start for the year, and the other with a visiting alum of the Yale-China program who took us to his favorite restaurant in Hong Kong, Spring Deer. In addition to these two gatherings, we have received and responded to invitations for no less than seven events in the next three weeks. Most of these are welcoming receptions for new staff or are part of the New Asia College 60th Anniversary Celebrations (which will be going on all semester). So in addition to preparing for classes, we have quite a busy schedule!
I actually really enjoy these events, for three distinct reasons:
1. The mass amounts of delicious food that are heaped upon us. Dr. Peter Man, the Secretary of New Asia College, and our closest supervisor in HK (and all-around wonderful, amazing man) usually does the ordering at these gatherings, and he is an absolute genius at choosing the cuisine for the evening. We always leave extremely full, loaded with leftovers, and quite satisfied. Though you always have to be careful to leave a little bit on your plate, lest you get the jovial reprimand of "Jenny! Why are you not eating??" from Dr. Man. Several of the alums we ate with tonight happily warned us that Dr. Man is responsible for any and all weight gain while in Hong Kong. This just makes me like him more, since his attitude towards food, making sure everyone enjoys it and eats way too much of it, is very much like the Southern attitude towards food.
2. Getting to dress up for special occasions. It just means there are more excuses to find dresses!
3. Meeting all of the illustrious alumni. I really do love to meet all of the people who come to these events, hearing how they ended up in Hong Kong, how they got involved with Yale-China, what they're doing now, etc. Everyone has a really interesting story and background, so the conversation doesn't turn stilted as much as you might expect when you throw 12 strangers together at a table. I've started to ask everyone who lives in Hong Kong what restaurant recommendations they have, since Annie and I are trying to put together a comprehensive list of the best places to hit while in HK. The best part is when everyone starts telling stories from previous years of Yale-China Fellows - we heard several interesting stories tonight, but I probably shouldn't be broadcasting too many of those online! Wouldn't want to harm the good name of Yale-China :) I'm looking forward to all of the upcoming New Asia Anniversary events, as there will be tons of alumni coming in and out of Hong Kong in these next few months, so hopefully I'll get to hear some great history of the place!
All in all, tonight was a nice break from an afternoon of lesson planning - hopefully I'll have a good report card on my first class to present to you this week! Wish me luck!
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