Thanksgiving in HK

The title of this post is a bit misleading because it implies that my day consisted of something Thanksgiving-y, which, aside form very briefly explaining the Pilgrims and Native Americans to one of my students, it had very little to do with the holiday. I spent most of the day in teacher-mode, teaching two classes, grading papers, getting my Chinese visa in order, etc. My flatmates and our program director capped off the day at an Italian restaurant. As my dad said, Italian food in China on Thanksgiving. Makes perfect sense, right?

However, I did get one small taste of American Thanksgiving. Today, when I ravenously ran to the canteen for a quick lunch between classes, I spotted a "pumpkin pie" in the display case for sale. I decided, in the spirit of the holiday, to indulge in the American classic, even though I have eaten maybe one piece of pumpkin pie in my entire life prior to today.

Delicious, no?

Well, I'll admit the pie did not exactly strike the same chords as real pumpkin pie (as you can tell from the picture, I think they were closer to capturing the color of pumpkin pie than the flavor, and if the pale orange of the pie is any indication...). However, it was a nice piece of pseudo-nostalgia.

Hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving! Hook 'em Horns! And Yale, I still can't believe you went for it on 4th and 22...

These are a few of my favorite things

Today, I had a marathon shopping spree with my flatmates, as we all went after our various prey: for me, more (necessary) winter wear, for Ally, a suit for medical school interviews, and for Annie, an evening dress for the New Asia College 60th Anniversary Banquet next weekend. It was exhausting but fruitful nonetheless.

However, my favorite part of the day was my brief stop at the Landmark Hotel Atrium, which currently is featuring an installation by Preston Bailey, one of the most admired and talented wedding planners in the States (and someone whom I dream of working with someday). It was absolutely lovely. Unfortunately I was not able to stay for very long and see all of the details as much as I wanted, but I hope to return again soon. I had never had the opportunity to see a top designer's work in person, so it was a good reminder of just how talented they are and how hard I will have to work if I want to be a top wedding planner someday as well.

Unfortunately I just had my phone camera, so it's a bit fuzzy, but hopefully you can tell how pretty it is!

Brrrr!

I never thought I would say this, but it is cold here in Hong Kong! It may sound silly to say this, coming from a girl who has lived in New Haven for the past four years, but this cold weather is absolutely abysmal. First of all, nowhere in Hong Kong has heating, or at least the type of heating we're used to in the States. I have a little space heated/mini-plug-in radiator in my room, and that's enough to keep my room bearable, but anywhere else is terrible! There is no refuge from the cold. This means that for the past five days, since this cold snap hit HK, I have been a hermit, not wanting to leave my room, go outside, go out, or anything, because I don't want to subject myself to the cold. Not even my kitchen or living room. I have a bad feeling about the implications of this weather on my social life, if it is supposed to be like this for the next three months! Secondly, because we live on top of a mountain overlooking a bay, we gets lots of gusty winds, making it about 5-10 degrees colder up here than down below the mountain (as well as more central areas of the city). Lastly, because I did not expect the cold to be so invasive, I did not bring an adequate supply of winter wear to Hong Kong. I'm hoping a trip this weekend to raid the sweater/coat rack and winter accessories wall at H&M will fix this problem. So wish me luck in my quest to get warm!

A big, long update on my trip to Mainland China is on its way, as soon as I get a break from grading! Hope everyone is well!

Jenny

Off to Mainland!

Hi everyone, so tomorrow afternoon, the other HK Fellows and I are setting out for Changsha in Hunan Province in Mainland China! This will be my first "real China" experience so far, so I am quite excited! I also am quite curious to see what it's actually like, given all of the stories I've heard! I'll have a full update for you when I get back next weekend. Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Birthday in HK!

I'm 23! I've been looking forward to this day ever since my cousin Lindsay told me about "Golden Birthdays" several years ago, so I had always hoped 23 on the 23rd would a momentous occasion. And I must say, the day did not disappoint! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all provided wonderful and surprising moments, and I'm just feeling a lot of love from all over the world!

So the fun actually started on Wednesday, when I woke up blissfully early and decided to make my way downtown for some shopping. I had a particular place in mind, a dress shop next to the Travelator (a giant escalator in Hong Kong to get people from Central to the Mid-Levels), which had had this gorgeous blue dress in its display window for the past couple of months. Every time I had passed by, I would always mentally take note of that dress, and since I kept thinking about it, I decided it was worthwhile to go and actually check it out and maybe try it on. So when I arrived at the shop, I browsed for a few minutes, but ultimately decided to try the dress on - it was a bit big, but once they pinned it all up to show how it would look once altered, it took my breath away. After a bit of negotiating, I decided to get it! The dressmaker would even do the alterations for free, and would make it a rush process since I wanted to have it for Friday! I felt very well taken care of, and absolutely thrilled with my present to myself!

Thursday started off auspiciously, as I awoke to an e-mail from Kacie with an embedded video, which featured my favorite 7 year-old and 4 year-old singing and dancing to a song they made up called "Hong Kong Jenny." As you can imagine, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever, and I've been playing it on repeat since. So I head out the door, just hoping to get through the busy day of a double lesson and four hours of faux interviews with my 2nd year students, not expecting anything spectacular until the next day.

I walk into my 1310 (my first-years) class, a couple of minutes late, and no one's there - there are a couple bags on the desks but not a student to be found. I'm seriously taken aback because usually no one in this class is ever late, they're always right in their seats, right on time. So I get a little concerned, wondering if maybe they had all left because they thought I wasn't coming, or if they were just boycotting my class because we had had a "come-to-Jesus" meeting about their latest assignment on Tuesday, and I was starting to think that they really didn't like me. Then Allyson, one of the other tutors, comes in and is like, "Where is everybody? What's going on with all of your students?" And at this point, I'm getting worried and a little upset because I just have no idea why they aren't there - then this random girl walks in and sits on top of a desk and pulls out her camera and points it at me, and I'm like, "Umm... what??" Then, all of the sudden, I hear people start singing "Happy Birthday" and I look over, and my entire class is walking into the room, carrying a birthday cake with candles and a big bouquet of flowers, and all singing to me!!! I was *shocked*!! I just about started crying right on the spot - it was absolutely one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Not only did they bring me a cake and flowers, but they also brought me a card in which they had all written really sweet notes and gave me a big red Mickey Mouse pillow, which they told me I could sit on when I was grading their papers because they know it takes a long time. I was just absolutely speechless. I literally could not stop smiling all day. My students make me so, so happy.

My flowers!

The day just got better from there, as I received numerous birthday wishes from people in the English department, and after finishing up interviews, I ran down to Central for my second dress fitting. In addition to the dress being perfect, my dressmaker also offered me 50% of manicure the next day for my birthday and gave me her membership number for a show store so I could get a discount on new shoes for the dress? Was this a ploy just to make me contribute more money to the Hong Kong economy? Probably. Did it work? Yep. I came home already sporting a happy glow from the day's events, even though I still had quite some time before my actual birthday. That night, after midnight, my flatmates all came and wished me happy birthday and helped me celebrate as I bought myself my big birthday present. The best part is, I ended up getting a much better deal on my present than I expected, which virtually cancelled out the cost of the dress! So I was most certainly happy that I ended up making my purchase, on both accounts!

Friday began with the family calling me in the morning to wish/sing me happy birthday, which is always a lovely start to the day (as long as it's not at 6:15 AM!). I headed back downtown to pick up my dress and get my wonderfully relaxing manicure and made it back home in time to relax and watch the latest episode of Top Chef before starting to get ready. After a good three hours getting ready, some of which was spent curling my flatmate's hair (sound familiar, Elena and Rach?), we jumped on the bus and MTR and headed down to Tsim Sha Tsui, home of the Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula, I believe, is the swankiest, most beautiful hotel in Hong Kong (and that's saying something), and one of their main attractions is the bar/restaurant on the 28th floor, featuring some of the most beautiful Harbour views in the city. So the flatmates and I ventured up here first for the evening for drinks and snacks - I had my favorite, Fraises Royale, which is the way-jazzed-up version of Strawberry Andre. It was lovely and a magnificent lead-off to the evening.

Me at Felix, with the Harbour in the background

After drinks, we jumped on the MTR and headed across the Harbour to dinner at Wagyu, an Australian steakhouse in Lan Kwai Fong where we met up with Su and Ren. Now, given that I had been studying menus for weeks (and we know how much I enjoy this activity), I had solid expectations for this place, but oh my gracious goodness, it was PHENOMENAL, even better than I expected!! Here was my menu of the evening:

Appetizers:

Wild Mushroom Camembert (camembert cheese with assorted sauteed mushrooms with thin crackers and cranberry sauce - I expected it to be good, but it was beyond delicious, great flavor combinations!)

Portobello Mushroom Milanese (lightly breaded and fried with yummy greens and sauces)

Entree (get ready):

8 oz. Wagyu fillet

Medallion of foie gras

Whole portobello mushroom

Whole baked garlic

Blue Cheese Butter Sauce

Potatoes Au Gratin

Sesame Honey Carrots

Sweet mustard sauce

Now to be fair, most of the accoutrements came with the steak, but I will admit to ordering an extra side dish. And all I can say is AHHHHSOOOGOOOOD!!!!! I seriously could not take more than two bites without stopping and exclaiming to everyone at the table how unbelievably delicious it was. Could very well be the best steak I've ever had (but that's tough competition). My flatmate Annie also had a phenomenal meal of slow-cooked veal shanks, which when they came out, looked like it was essentially the entire baby cow - it was *huge*!! Overall, I think the meal was enjoyed by all, and I hope that I can return again soon!

My dinner before...

My dinner after! Steak demolished! Yummmm

Happily finishing sipping on my wine for the evening

After dinner, Annie and I decided to stay out a bit longer, and while at first we went wandering for a sports bar so I could watch "football" (by which I mean soccer), but given the lack of games that were on, we settled on going to bar called Tastings. Now imagine this (this is how Annie described it to me): It's basically like a really classy wine vending machine. They give you a card at the beginning, and you go through and browse the various bottles of wine of display, and you can choose either to have a tasting, a half-glass, or a full glass. You then stick your card in, make your choice, the charge is added to card, and the wine is poured from a little spout in front of the wine bottle. It's a brilliant idea, and if there aren't already places like this in the major cities in the US, I think they should be opened. Kacie, get on this.

See, classy wine vending machine.

Saturday also started in a wonderfully surprising way. I got a call from the Hong Kong postman that morning, telling me to come outside and get a package. Being delirious and not knowing who might be sending me a package, I stumbled out to be handed two boxes. Once I got inside and got them opened, I found out they were boxes of treats from Shijie's family!! It was a wonderful surprise, and a great start to that day! Plus it got me up early enough to be able to witness myself actually turning 23, which didn't happen until 12:03 PM on Saturday. Which of course, birthday 2.0 would be celebrated on Saturday night!

After a chill afternoon, Ally and I ventured out to Ocean Park, one of Hong Kong's biggest theme parks, which is famous for its Halloween Extravaganza (think Six Flags Fright Fest). It was fantastic!! A bit crowded, but still really fun. We walked around amongst the zombies and ghouls that were terrifying the park's visitors all over the place - I screamed at every one that jumped out at me, even if I saw it from a mile away. We went through one of the haunted houses (with lines over an hour, it was all we had time for!) and rode some of the rides, the scariest of which was actually just the cable car over the mountain, which was extraordinarily steep and kind of horrifying! My favorite part of the night was dancing to "I Gotta Feeling" with a giant monster.

At the entrance to Ocean Park with our newly acquired headgear

Dancing with the Monsters

After Ocean Park, I headed back to downtown to meet up with my fellow BR '09er, Brittany and her fellow Fulbright-er Emem for a night of revelry. After several solid hours of dancing, we ended up sitting outside Club 7-11, eventually making our way over to the Flying Pan, a 24 hour breakfast joint, around 5am. The perfect cap to a fantastic weekend: Bacon and cheese grits with good people.

After having a few very busy days with work and Yale-China business, I received two more final birthday joys: the making of the Funfetti cake that my mom had sent over a few weeks ago last night, and then the arrival of birthday cards from the whole family today! I even received a fantastic new Colt McCoy jersey, which a little bird tells me is from my dad - Thank you so, so much Dad!! I love it!! I can't wait to wear it around HK tomorrow!

Overall, this was one of the best birthdays I could have asked for - I only wish all of my favorite people from back home and school could have been here with me, but just know that I appreciate the love I was getting from around the world that day! Thank you so, so much to everyone who made the day/days/week so wonderful!!

Giddy

Today has just been spectacular, from beginning to end. It started off with a fantastic video present from my favorite 7 year-old and 4 year-old and ended with me buying one of the best birthday presents ever for myself, with a huge and wonderful surprise in the middle!! Plus lots of other little surprises and treats along the way! I'll post more details later, but if today was any indication, hopefully I'll have lots to tell you by the end of the weekend! I am so in love with CUHK, Hong Kong, my friends and fam, and life right now. Today is one of those days that makes me realize how extraordinarily fortunate and blessed I am - I realize how rare and wonderful this is, and I am savoring every minute of it!

I apologize for the vague nature of this post, but I will give you a more detailed account as soon as I can! But for now, I need to get some sleep so I can be refreshed and awake for my first birthday in Hong Kong, which also happens to be my Golden Birthday! 23 on 23!!

Long Time, No See!

Hey everyone! It's been quite some time since I've had the opportunity to update, so I thought I would give a quick rundown of life in HK from the past few weeks:

1) Papers, papers, papers - Much of my time in the past few weeks has been devoted to the editing and grading of my students' papers. Since I last posted, I have graded approximately 40 papers, with about 40 papers coming before that. It's craziness! I'm starting to get the hang of grading papers quickly - when I first started, it was taking me about 45 minutes - 1 hour to grade a 5-page persuasive paper, but I'm slowly reducing that time. Or perhaps my students' papers are just getting better, and thus I do not need to make as many comments like "It's not clear what you're trying to say here - clarify!" As I was slugging through these papers at first, I was grumbling a bit, thinking what a thankless job this was. However, many of my students go out of their way actually to thank me for the comments and feedback I give to them, and to say how they really feel they are improving in their writing. I can't believe it never occurred to me when I was in school to thank my teachers for grading my papers, but now that I think about it, I think I owe a lot of people big thank-you's!

2) Information Day - I had a major flashback to my tour-guiding days last Saturday, when hordes of prospective students flooded CUHK's campus to be convinced that this was the school for them. I was stationed in the English department and was able to meet many potential English majors, some of whom were more comfortable than others speaking in English with this chatty American. Many of the prospective kids were curious about how they could improve their English, and we all suggested ideas like watching American TV shows, watching English movies with the subtitles on, and listening to American music. When one student said that the only English writing they had tried to read in school was Shakespeare, we immediately said, "No, try something easier! Then work your way up to Shakespeare!" So we recommended easier books like Harry Potter, Twilight, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and Pride and Prejudice. Apparently this was the approach several of our current students took to improve their English, and clearly it yielded good results! Who knew Twilight could be so valuable? :)

3) Football, finally: Last night, after a particularly long week of work, I ventured downtown for the first time in a couple weeks to have dinner with my friend Brittany and then to meet up with the legion of Hong Kong Texas Exes for the UT-OU game! I had been looking forward to this all week long, and I'm happy to say that the experience did not disappoint! The HK Texas Exes had rented out a restaurant in Wan Chai, and about 30-35 Texas fans converged on the site. I got to meet some fantastic people, some Hong Kong residents as well as some current UT students who are studying abroad in HK, so there was some great company. As everyone knows who watched the game, it was an ugly, UGLY game, but a win's a win!! I cannot even begin to tell you how good it was to watch football and to hang around Texans again. I will definitely be making this a tradition!

Here I am after the game, elated but absolutely exhausted and ready for some sleep!!

All in all, it was a pretty spectacular evening!

Not a whole lot else to report as of now, since I've just been knee-deep in the job for the past couple of weeks. Next weekend should promise some exciting times, though, as I'll be celebrating my 23rd birthday on the 23rd!! I'm currently in the process of deciding what to do for the occasion - mainly just deciding on what fancy restaurants to try! I'm also buying myself the best birthday present ever this week! Hope everyone has a great week this week, and I'll be back again soon!

xoxo,

Jenny