Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover

Sunday, February 28, 2010

sweaty hooker? nope. its kendall.

Who loves when they are trying to sleep and someone is loudly skyping to your immediate right? Not me. Lets just say that while I was trying to take a recovery-nap this afternoon I had some difficulty sleeping due to a problem painstakingly similar to that mentioned above. In cases like this I take my laptop to the common room to take care of my dirty skype dates; geeeez have a little courtesy my friend.

Sidenote: my comma button on my regular laptop has ceased to work for some extremely bothering reason; so bear with me as I struggle to write this on my tiny netbook.

So since I slept in yesterday I had no choice but to go shopping to Mongkok with Elizabeth. After getting lost in the streets, being unable to locate a mall, and being unable to communicate with any of the locals we tried approaching, an old asian man came up to us and asked if he could be of any help. This guy was such a cutie. Even though he was trying his very best, this elderly man really had no idea where we could find good clothes shopping. We thanked him and returned back down to the MTR where a woman saw the puzzled looks on our faces and directed us to "Langham Place", aka heaven on earth (most of the malls here seem that way to me). Check out this huggggge escalator right in the food court people were actually sitting on the steps as it was movinglol. We shopped for a couple of hours before retiring to "Mos Burger" for lunch. For those of you who have never head of this place, I was in the same boat until Elizabeth spotted it from a disance and squealed "oh my god, MOS BURRRGERRRR!". For the sole sake of Elizabeth's snity, I decided that I would give this iffy japanese burger joint a shot. It was the best shot I have ever given. We had these Japanese rice burgers; the "bun" was made up of patties of sticky rice, and the meat was a marinated pulled beef. Easily one of the most delicious things that has been in and around since I arrived in hk. Mos was also situated right next o a starbucks, at which we of course had to make a pit stop to re-fuel before continuing on our journey through the never-ending mall.

After making several pick-me-up purchases, consisting of a dress, a few shirts, some headbands, a little purse, andsome sugar free jam, we headed back to campus. At tis point, I had already begun to mentall prepare myself for what was sure to be a long crazy night at LKF boy was my prediction ever right.

We left campus a little earlier than usual and met up at our friend Christian's flat in Central (via taxi that kept getg lost... annoying), and then headed off to LKF. Wespent an unusually short amount of time at oyster bar, and then headed to Beijing club, where we somehow managed to get a private table upstairs, with botle service. We had an awesome group, and took the odd trip downstairs to cut a rug on the dancefloor. Before we knew it, it was god-only knows how late, and we ended up once again at the Flying Pan, where I quickly consumed an amazing omelette with tomato soup, potatoes, and a little cinnamon bun
(i know, i know... sounds like a lot, but I swear the cinnamon bun was small lol). At this point in the evening I had taken my shoes off and was walking in my bare feet, heels can be the worst at times. We ended up crashing at Christians, but only after he had stopped at 7 11 and purchasd a boatload of ferrero rochers, probably just to tease me lol. We got a couple of hours of sleep before hopping in a taxi and making our way back to campus.

The driver was a ad bit creepy as he kept telling me how gorgeous I was (you should've seen me, I looked like a sweat hooker at this point), telling me how driving was just an in-between jobs thing, and prety much interrogating me with questions. Needless to say, I divulged very little personal information. Once back on campus, Elizabeth and I went to he cafe for lunch (without even going tothe dorms, still dressed from the night before), where she lent me her sunglasses because I needed to conceal my identity much more than she at this point. Lunch was followed by a MUCH needed shower and nap, after which I felt like a whole new woman, back to my pre-sweaty hooker stage.


Me this morning after arriving back at campus. Keeping it oh-so classy.



I mayyy be borderline special needs based on the following:

-almost knocked myself out when I quickly sat up in bed and bonked my head super hard on the light on the wall, humiliating.
-bonked my head again, somehow managing to smash it on the wall of the shower.

We went for Japanese at Hang Hau tonight, which was preceded by the purchase of a fan for my room. Ohhh yeah, that is right my friends; anyboy that comes in this room (ahemmm) will be greeted by the pleasent breeze from my newly purchased Mitsubishi PS-1015. It might seem slightly comical that I feel like I have just won the lottery, the fricken cool air lottery succckkkaaaa. No more nightime sweaty disasters, perfect.

I would also like to let everyone know that I am now THAT bitch that takes your stuff out of the dryer and leaves it in a crumpled pile on a random chair in the laundry room. I honestly have no clue what this place is doing to me, but I have begun to have little if any, mercy for anything anymore lol. I guess I should retract my previous complaints of the dryer-nazis, as I have become guilty of doing the exact same thing.

I'm far too lazy to get the fan set up tonight, as it's like 2am and it remains wrapped up in the box. Ceiling fan will remain on high tonight biznatches. ps. shoutout to whoever was in this room last semester and left 6 hours of credit on the airconditioner, I have been secretly turning it on in here when my roomate isn't here, and then respond with "I have noooo idea", when asked why it's so cool in here. Muahahaha I love it.

Friday, February 26, 2010

a lazy eye? perfect. just perfect.

Apparently last night's sleep was much needed, as I woke up about 12 hours after reading my book and falling asleep (first time I've read before bed in god-only-knows how long). I had the most ridiculous dream, which is the main reason I felt the need to get on here as soon as I got my lazy ass out of bed. You know when dreams have multiple components and you're not really sure how they relate in any way, shape, or form... Thats this dream in a nutshell. Here goes: Some asian girl was pouring gas throughout my entire dorm because she was "practising" to blow it up, as she was planning on doing so the next week. I felt like I owed her something, so I kept it a secret, too weird. The next part felt so real, so scary; I had a lazy eye where my pupil would get stuck facing the back of my head, or just droop down to weird places that weren't the center of my eye. I was hanging out with my friend Morgan (who happens to be travelling asia at the moment as well), and it was her that pointed it out to me, but said that "it wasn't a big deal", maybe I've been just hearing that so much lately that it's creeping into my dreams...

Everytime I visit the doctor and dietician I am the best eater on earth for a few days, today is day #1 haha, I once again had to choose between breakfast and lunch, as it is now noon and there are certainly not time for both. This was my meal of choice today, it was also my "afternoon snack" yesterday. Let me break it down for you; 1 wheatabix (terrible if eaten on its own), 1 banana (shouldn't be having this because the carb count is too high apparently but suck it), some sugar free jam (again, apparently shouldn't be having too much of this because it has artificial sweetner, but cut me a fricken break), a teeny bit of peanut butter (because I'm clinically obsessed), and cinnamon (which, finally, I'm allowed). For those of you who think this looks gross, I was with you at first, but surprisingly it's fairly delicious. And for those of you who are going to be amazing friends and so graciously join me on my diet when I return, I suggest getting used to this kind of stuff sooner than later =)

Since I opted for the sleep in, I missed the trip to see the 10,000 Buddhas, which meansI have only one option left... Shopping. How many buddhas do you actually need anyways right? Time to go get mentally prepared for a day of total credit card destruction ;)

marking my territory.

So yesterday marked the unavoidable first day that I would lock myself out of my dorm room. You might ask how this is possible, and believe me, I was asking myself the same question as I stood outside of the door rummaging though my bag on the ground in the middle of the hallway like an idiot. Apparently I left my key in my purse and just grabbed my backpack to go to class, my roommate then left and locked the door, dammit. The only reason I knew what to do in this situation was that my friend ben locked himself out of his room twice (in one day), and had told the story multiple times... So down to the hall office I went, dignity trailing far behind, and explained that I needed to be let into my room. After paying $10HK, a small asian lady followed me up and unlocked the door, god bless her soul. It was then that I found my key and let a few choice words fly.

Today was my second visit to the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, during which I managed to hold off on the waterworks; until the dietician circled my weight and told me that I had "gotten heavier" since my last visit. If there is one thing that is crushing me right now, it is the fact that this insulin is making me gain weight. SIX pounds in one week, this has got to be some sort of sick joke. Apparently I need to be at the gym twice a day for the next little while. Tonight I actually got dressed and ready to go out, looked in the mirror, and started to cry. I proceeded to take my makeup off, put my sweats back on, and tell my friends I didn't feel like going out anymore. I can't wait for everything to stabilize so I can go back to my skinny jeans, seriously.

The bathroom continues to be in its usual state of disaray, as the blood was still on the stall wall when I went in there today. I managed to snag stall #2 when it came time for my shower, during which I mayyyyy have peed a bit lol... Only in order to try and mark my territory for next time of course =)

So in an effort to continue with this stupid diet I went to the cafe after returning from the hospital and got a salad with chicken. I brought it up to my room and proceeded to dig in as usual, that was, until I saw something dark under a piece of lettuce. I lifted the leaf to reveal a worm about half the size of a bobby pin. I honestly did not know how to react, not only was there a worm in my salad, but it was MOVING. I don't know what the heck I was thinking, but it honestly hardly phased me at first, i put it on the lid of the container and continued to eat the salad (I know, I'm almost puking now just thinking about it). It was only after a few bites that I realized this thing was now crawling on the lid, it was THEN that I let out a yelp, grabbed it witha kleenex and sprinted to the bathroom where it went directly in the garbage. Again, you're going to be grossed out, but I continued to eat the salad somewhat skeptically. I'm thinking I'll take a little break from the cafe for a while, can you blame me?

Tomorrow brings one of two things... A trip to the temple of 10,000 Buddhas, or a trip to Monkok to shop like a crazy woman. Stay tuned to find out =)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

just me.

So, it's official. I'm homesick. I miss my job, my friends, and my family. I miss the poutines, the cookies, and the late night earls wine binges. I miss the skinny, carefree, boy crazy girl that I used to be. I miss my hands not bleeding every single day, and I miss not having to take such good care of myself in order to survive. I miss the hugs, the reassurance, and all of the love. But most of all, I miss how terribly simple life used to be.

I feel like the only thing that ever concerns me anymore is the number that pops up on my hemo-monitor. I find myself consumed with this disease that has seemingly taken over my life, maybe because everyone around me seems to be consumed by it as well. My doctor prescribes drugs, my dietitian outines a terribly bland diet and exercise plan for me to follow, my parents are a fountain of inquisition, and my friends are constantly keeping an eye on me and enforcing this newly necessary healthy lifestyle. I feel weird eating around people now, I feel like everyone is constantly watching me, and often get my food to go. I consume "treats" (which could be something as simple as a granola bar) in private, because I know I shouldn't be having them... Life has changed so quickly and so drastically that I often have to remind myself to stay grounded and not let all of this madness overshadow the exuberant, fun-loving girl that I want to continue to be.

I cry a lot more now, I'm not sure whether it is due to being overwhelmed, scared, sad, angry, dissapointed, or a combination of these. The inner turmoil that I experience on the daily confuses me. On one hand, yes this disease has changed my life forever, in many negative ways, but I tell myself that on the other hand, it could be much worse; I could have been given a death sentence, told that I had a year to live, or lost a limb. I have learned that what may appear as a disaster can turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I say this because I feel that my recent diagnosis has brought my family closer than ever before. After a couple of tough years, it may have been just what we needed. I feel that although we're an ocean apart, we are more committed to eachother than we have been for a long long time. I'll sacrifice my beloved treats for that any day.

My emotional state in a nutshell... A little heavier than expected, but nonetheless true. Things are going to start looking up =)

the keg... i wish.

So I thought that it was impossible for our bathroom to get any more awesome that it already was. Wrong again. I not only found my shower (I have a weird obsession with stall #2) occupied the past 2 times I've gone to use it but also got the pleasant surprise of a wad of hair the size of the palm of my hand just chillen in the bottom of stupid shower 5 that I was forced to use today. To add to that wonderfully disgusting sight was the blood dripping down the wall of the toilet stall I proceeded to use. I honestly wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. My roomate is literally repulsed by all of this, I just chalk it up to being in asia (as I do everything that weirds me out). Needless to say, I keep my flippy floppies on in the shower, hover over the seat, and don't touch the walls.

In honour of my brother's bday dinner at the keg last night, I had "minute steak" tonight. I almost cried thinking of the bacon wrapped filets, garlic mashed, and caesar salad that my family would have been devouring. Beyond that, I don't want to discuss it, you try eating "steak" with chopsticks and then come talk to me.

Random shout out to Jen for sending "trading up" on the trip with me... Finally started reading it today at the gym; better late than never.

So other than my tests (which went fairly well), the gym (which marked the first time I read anything other than a guidebook, or course material), and the library (during which I creeped on hot euros for a good chunk of my visit), today was not overly eventful... Going to the doctor at 10:30 tomorrow morning, which means this rockstar should get some sleep, don't want the doc to think I'm a junkie.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

not again.

I write this entry so late because I fear that I may not make it through the night. Now don't get too worked up, I'm not anticipating any type of hypoglycemic attack, but more of overheating and drowning in my own sweat... I am basing this on the fact that apparently having the fan on in this ridiculously humid weather is too much for some people, who continue to turn the fan off even after getting an explanation that their roomate gets nightsweats due to her diabetic condition. I honestly have no idea how this remains an issue.
I can't even imagine telling someone "we'll see" after an explanation like that. And then I offer to switch to the air conditioner instead, but that "would be worse", and they do not want to get sick apparently? I suggested perhaps a sweatshirt and socks, but no, that won't work either. How about I buy my own fan and blast it all day long? How would that work? Every single fan in the hallways is on, there are fans in some of the walkways that are half OUTDOORS. But we leave ours off because.....? You tell me because I have yet to be able to fathom a reasonable answer. Sorry for the rant but I'm about to lose my mind and start cursing in chinese like its my job, okay maybe not the chinese part but that'd be pretty cool. Lets just say that the sleeping nude part mentioned in earlier entries will no longer be reserved for the nights when I'm here alone.

Special Announcement: Happy Birthday to my wonderful baby bro Jay, turning the big 1-8 today! I'm super sad I can't be there to take him out and show him how it's really done, but I'll be back before we know it and I will personally bring along the bucket for the aftermath of our outing lol.

I attempted to eat at LG5 today, but couldn't even get past the menu, so up to the western cafe I went once again, at which I got some rice and veggies and chicken w/curry sauce. I never thought I would be so thankful for a red curry as I have been these past 4 weeks. Ah well, I got it to go and joined the troops downstairs. I then continued to try and figure my chinese-presentation out for a couple of hours, came back to my room to call my broja, and then went down to the track to run. Joke's on me, the track shuts down at 10 and I had like 1 minute, so nooo dice. I figured a jog around campus would be nice, that was until I realized that it was ALLL uphill. I slowed down to a fast walk when the incline got really bad, which turned out to be a majority of the route that I chose. My butt burned the whole time, and I couldn't help but imagine the pain I would be in tomorrow... It will all be worth it when my juicy soccer bum returns haha.

No 9am class tomorrow. Lovvinnnng life to the max. Someone send me a sweat towel STAT, I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

s.o.s.

Just thought I would throw my next task your way in case anyone has any genius ideas... For my consumer behavior class, we have to do an observational research assignment, during which we observe something, apparently anything, for half an hour, and then write a report about tendencies and behaviors that were observed. I'm assuming its meant to be done in a consumer-based context; meaning sitting at the elevator watching people go in and out will not suffice. It's meant to be purely observational, and not experimental so keep that in mind. I'm going to leave this with you guys, the more unique and awesome idea I have, the better the report is bound to be. Either comment on this post or shoot me a msg on facebook. Merci beaucoup =)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

we are in a cloud. again.

I have become one of THEM... One of those people you utterly despise because you can see them repeatedly pushing the "close door" button in the elevator as you are approaching. I'm not quite sure how it happened, because i was totally against these people upon arriving on campus. But it's just kind of a culture here I guess, every man for himself when it comes to the elevator. I mean, if people are around and can see me, then obviously I don't hit it, or maybe I even go out on a limb and press the "open door" button as to give the false impression that I welcome waiting for these stragglers to get into the "lift" as they call it here. Truth is, I get some sort of high when I manage to get into an elevator all by myself, sometimes I loudly belt out a current tune of choice when riding one that goes up 10 stories non-stop, as there is noo chance of anybody catching me. Sadly, singing in the shower just isn't an option anymore.

Onto the next mode of transport on campus; The escalators. Let me first clarify that here, the call elevators "lifts, and escalators "elevators", takes some getting used to, but easy enough. I got some dirty looks the first few days I was here before realized and started abiding by the escalator etiquette... Most of you probably have never heard of escalator etiquette, don't worry, obviously I hadn't either. This is the way it goes: If you plan on just standing as the escalator moves (like most of us lazy north americans), then you stand as far to the right as possible so that the keeners can beetle by you on the left side. I am guilty of passing people on these escalators now a days as, like everyone else here, I have begun to live in a constant state of hurry.

We are living in a cloud. Again. In other words, the floors are back to being soaked, and my hair is back to its unbelievably sexy state of maximum frizz. This also means that my room temperature has risen, and that my clothes that were hanging to dry a few days ago continue to do so. But most of all, this means that the fan I turn on keeps mysteriously turning off... Who would've thought?

So tomorrow is the first Mandarin test, I've been sitting here for hours trying to put together a minutes worth of crap to say about myself in chinese. SO far I have my name, what I study, where I'm from, what my parents do, and how many family members I have. God help us all. Practically everyone is heading out to happy valley and wan chai tonight to watch the horse races and celebrate ladies night (which is practically every nght around here), and I was in limbo earlier as to whether I would attend or not. As of now I believe the answer to that question is nooooo way lol. 3 tests in the next 2 days, one of which is in a foreign language that actually sounds like gibberish to me all of the time... The horses can wait.

ps. booked our flights to thailand for spring break. full moon party, beaches, and crazy jungle adventures. No big deal.

Monday, February 22, 2010

dumplings and random buns.

After nearly a month in the asian city that never sleeps I have finally experienced the ever popular chinese breakfast/brunch/lunch phenomenon known as dim sum. For those of you who aren't familiar with dim sum, it is a collection of different dumplings, buns, rolls, etc. They come in small portions so you can order a bunch of different dishes and share, which is what we did.
We decided to try the dim sum restaurant on campus (our nicest dining facility) for the main reason that between 2:30-4:00 weekdays it is half price, scorrrrre. Let me just say that this dim sum is nottt really diabetic friendly, based on all of the pastry and carbs involved, so I also ordered a plate of "boiled greens", and yes, those boiled greens were about as flavourful as they sound. Gotta do what you gotta do though. I would have to say that the whole meal itself wasn't that great, my friends said that it wasn't very good dim sum, so I'm hoping to try somewhere better in the city at some point. I think one of the reasons I didn't enjoy it to its full potential is that I wasn't quite aware of what I was putting in my mouth at any point during the whole meal. The "dumplings" are covered in rice paper, so I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best lol. At least I had my greens and some tea to get me through it. The good news is that it was ridiculously cheap, ended up being about $3CDN each, so I guess I can't really complain.

The afternoon was spent at the library once again, where I actually managed to get some work done, thank god. We then relaxed for a bit before heading down to eat at the seafront restaurant, for the first time ever. This place is amazing, they will honestly make you whatever you ask... And you get to see the food you are choosing, so there are no surprises, mystery meat style haha. I opted for rice, with brocolli, an egg and a chicken leg. She added a bit of soy sauce, and I was golden. Best asian-inspired meal (if you can call it that) that I have had on campus thus far. I will definately be visiting the hall 6 seafront more often, thats for sure.

We headed to unibar to cap off the night. I honestly expected there to be very few people there, as it IS a monday. Wrong again. Had I not known better I would've thought it was a Saturday night. I, of course, got into a pretty competitive game of darts. I think my extreme-sober game play is my secret weapon, as I won once again. Before leaving the bar, Elizabeth, Hakon, Jorgen, and I decided to play one more game. If you guessed that after this game I would be 4 for 4, you would be right. I pride myself on being undefeated thus far, my biggest accomplishment on campus up until now; not that that says much for me lol. I will keep everyone updated on my dart adventures to come. I hear there are some leagues back in the peg, I'll have to put mself up for the draft.

Class early early tomorrow and I'm hoping to make some serious progress when it comes to studying for my mandarin quiz, which is on thursday. Ni hao? Late late late and time for bed. My hanging clothes are all still wet, I don't get it..? Ah well they'll be in the dryer tomorrow so let's hope they don't shrink, everyone keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully flood pants are the new steez in hk.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

long islands. with coke zero of course.

Random story to get started off with: I was sitting here having a little itty bitty midnight snack, about to start writing this blog, when I dropped jam (well, not really jam, this sugar free strawberry "spread", but thats besides the point) on the grey sweats I was currently wearing. These would be the sweats that I JUST washed and were JUST lying out to dry before I put them on 20 minutes ago. I grabbed my tide to go pen and went at it, but based on the way they're looking now, the tide pen has failed me almost as severely as the Vanish stain remover. I have decided I am doomed in the stain removal department; and I am the messiest eater alive, so this is going to cause me some serious problems. So after attacking the crotch of my pants (where the jam landed) with the useless tide to go, I headed to the washroom to brush my teeth. A local girl came out of her stall and looked at me a bit awkwardly before washing her hands and leaving. "What an idiot", I thought. Until I looked in the mirror (ask my mom, I can't walk by one without semi-checking myself out lol) and realized that she had probably been looking at the palm-sized wet stain in the center of the crotch area of my sweats. This is when I realized how classy she must have found me, no wonder she scuttled out of there so fast.

Sooo, on to the good stuff. Last night we headed to LKF for Norman's birthday. As usual, we didn't end up getting there until probably around 1145-midnight. We congregated at Oysters as usual, where long island iced teas are always the poison of choice. The whole bar itself would be no bigger than a McDonalds lobby, but that never seems to matter. Everyone hangs out in the street outside of the open-front watering hole, drinking long islands, or any other alcohol they have managed to get their hands on. After everyone had gathered and spent some time outside of the oyster bar chatting and taking random photos (creepers like me lol), someone made the executive decision that we were going to check out the Sky bar, also known as Azure, mentioned in on eof my earlier entries. So along we went, paying the $80HK cover in the form of a purchased drink, and heading upstairs into total mayhem. I somehow got one of the asian bartenders' attention, as when I was handing him my credit card to pay for my bev, e made sure tou touch my hand really awkwardly when taking it from me... Super strange, but not too bad consdering he poured me the heftiest drink of all time; considering I only had 2 all night, I didn't complain. We once again shut the bar down, and headed out once they started to play the slow love songs at the end of the night that make everybody want to leave. We went to a club called Drop that stays open until the early morning, but got rejected upon trying to get in. They said it was full, but who really knows, we were soon over it and moving onto our next destination... The hotdog shop. Most of you would call it "street meat", or something of the sort. But this was no street meat my friends, this was a jumbo hotdog, sans bun, accompanied by only onions, ketchup, and mustard... Diabetic friendly, yes. Heart healthy, I'm not so sure. We somehow found ourselves arriving back at school/home at about 6am after dancing the night away. Not surprisingly that meant that I was going to have the most ridiculous sleep and wake up at 3:30pm today, this honestly has to stop.

Today consisted of going to the library and the gym, and then heading to Hang Hau where I had thai food for the very first time ever. It was delish. Our late dinner was made up of satay beef, some yellow beef curry, naan bread, rice, and some thai soup. Needless to say, I hope to frequent Ma Thai more often than our asian cafeteria on campus from now on. My room once again looks like some sort of modern abstract art consisting of clothes hanging to dry from the strangest of places; examples... The handle of my suitcase on top of my closet, the water pipe running down the middle of the room, my desk chair, as well as every single hook and hanger not inside the closet. Who would've thought that I would be looking forward to getting home for the sole reason of adequate laundry facilities.. Disastrous.

sidenote/funny story: Of course I slept with my sleeping mask on; for the main reason that the sun was up when I went to sleep and there was no way that was going to help in the sleep-department; but continuing on... Since I couldnt see anything under this mask, I woke myself up by quicky rolling over and bashing my face so hard on the wall that I let out a loud yelp. I then sat up, started laughing, and called myself a retard out loud... What a perfect way to start the day.

And a perfect way to end the day was my nice open faced pb&j... until it destroyed my sweatpants, followed by my dignity. Tata for now, napkins in your laps everyone.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

nudist in 1012.

As I was lying in bed last night I realized that I had forgotten to include perhaps the most annoying, yet comical part of my day. Of course it involved my laundry debocle, as that was pretty much the only thing I accomplished. Here goes:

So I head upstairs to waste 20 minutes while my 3 loads of laundry are being done. I return down at precisely 5:33 (the time that my dryer would be done), only to find alllll of my socks and underwear out of the dryer and sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. I guess I've been spoiled by having my own washer and dryer at home for the past TWENTY ONE years... I probably wouldn't have been as bothered had it been towels or something, but I mean cmon people, have some respect for my undies geeeez. The locals here are very conservative, so I can only imagine their reaction when they entered the laundry room to see a chair piled high with lacey thongs and victorias secret underwear. Ah well, serves them right for taking them out in the first place. The best part of this was that they kept falling all over the floor when I tried to gather them off of the chair, at this point im sure I looked like a nutcase trying to pick my skanky undies off of the floor with no success. note to self: stay in the laundry room when drying clothes, otherwise they will end up on a chair, on the floor, and the talk of the common room for days to come.

For those who follow this blog regularly, you will not be surprised that I slept in until 1 today... And that my first big decision of the day was whether I should eat breakfast or lunch, as there was clearly only time for one. I opted to start off with lunch (some sort of "chicken steak" from the western cafe, with a boatload of brocolli and some rice), followed by toast with pb and jam (breakfast), soooo good. After which I chose to come up to my room and waste an hour or so, which is never difficult. I hit up the gym for a bit, trying to build up my rear-end to the size of soccer days, oh god this is going to take a while. I wish I could be one of those girls where everything they eat goes to their bums, maybe one day lol.

My roommate is again gone for the weekend, so I have the whollllle place to myself (a whole 12sq meters). More than having the space it means being able to play loud music, sleep naked, walk around naked after a shower, and try on multiple outfits without flashing my prives to poor anais. So basically, I am a nudist when she isn't here; let's hope she doesn't make a surprise return one of these days.

I got my first piece of mail from home, I non-chalantly grabbed the postcard out of the mailbox as I walked past, but I was actually giddy like a schoolgirl inside, and couldn't wait to get into the elevator to read it. Turns out Mary sent me a winnipeg postcard as requested long long ago, and even drew a picture of me devouring apple fritters and chocolate chip muffins, the girl knows me wayy too well =)

Thanks to one of my american friends I would like to introduce Boyce Avenue to any of you who are not already familiar with him... He does these crazy covers to all of these sick sick songs. Youtube it, its also on iTunes I'm pretty sure (not sure if anyone actually uses it, but just in case)

Friday, February 19, 2010

2 for 2. dart master.

Pulled a bigtime lazy card today and slept in until 1pm... Even strapped on the super sexy sleeping mask as to not be affecting by the mid-afternoon light streaming in through my low budget curtain. I would also like to mention that the only reason I was up so atrociously late was to update this blog for all of you feeners, so you're welcome. My dietician will also probably not be thrilled that I slept in, due to the fact that that means I didn't eat breakfast. Should she decide to say anything I will pleasantly explain to her that it's okay because I made it up by inhaling a Kinder Bueno later in the day, if she remains unimpressed I guess I'll leave out the details of the Banana muffin. Oooopsie.

While waiting in line at the cafe to pay for my salad with chicken and plain brown bread, an asian girl in front of me looked at my tray, and then asked my "you on diet?", I figured explaining myself would take far too much time, so I responded with a simple "yes". She then proceeded to tell me that it was far too cold out for me to be on a diet; at this point I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry... I only wish that the diet was to keep the meat off of my bones and not to save my life. I never thought that I would have to consider the future repercussions of every bite of food that goes into my mouth, it's kind of scary really. People will often hound me about not drinking when we're out, because they don't really know, or understand my situation. I've had to explain to a handful of people that I don't drink in order to stay alive, it's usually at that point that the questions come to a halt lol, exactly the outcome I was hoping for.

After lunch Elizabeth and I headed to the track to get some much needed exercise, not only for the diabetes, but ever since I started the insulin, I'm gaining weight much easier than I had been at home when all of the sugar I was ingesting was running right through me without being absorbed (that part of the undetected diabetes wasn't so bad lol). After my 4K jog, I headed upstairs to shower and do laundry.

sidenote: I would've showered last night except for the fact that I almost went into shock when the water coming out of the tap was literally ice cold, not awesome. Because it continues to be freakishly cold here, taking a cold shower was in no way an option.

So, onto the laundry. Due to the fact that I was completely out of undies after our trip to the Phillipines, postponing my trip to the laundry room was out of the question (I was not about to start turning those suckers inside out). I decided to really take initiative and wash not only my clothes, but all of my sheets and towels as well (not a big deal to most, but you have to understand my usual lack of motivation for hanging out in the laundry room to appreciate this). I would also like to mention that "Vanish pre-wash stain remover" is garbbbbb and does NOT remove stains whatsoever. But what did I really expect to come from a bright pink bottle of barely-labeled asian mystery substance... Should've known better. Someone send me some shout please and thank you. I also wonder what sort of detergent it is that I am literally shoveling into the machine, it site in the corner of the room in a large unlabeled garbage can, again, quite mysterious. At this point I am indifferent, I can't read any of the stupid lables anyways.

I'm sure that everyone will be shocked to find out that after dinner I headed to the library, yes, quite shocking considering it is indeed a Friday. But who are we kidding, I was out of that place by 9:30. We randomly hung out in Justin's room for a bit (where they ripped a piece of bread out of my hands and wouldn't let me have it, jerks). Then we headed to unibar where I brought home the belt at darts. I am now two for two, and warmly welcome any challengers... I stealthy bring my own cans of diet coke to unibar, due to the fact that I get a whole case for the same price as 2 glasses, they don't have a diabetic discount, I checked. I was planning on calling it a fairly early night, until I got onto skype and called charlay and jill... With a little bit of sean in there somewhere as well lol. I miss my friends =( thinking of you guys.

Time for beauty sleeeeeep <3 love from hk

Thursday, February 18, 2010

undercover laxative

latest update: Hong Kong is freezing and I don't have a warm jacket. Kill me now. To add to this craziness is the fact that our school doesn't have heat (not even a joke), and that there was no hot water today (not a common occurence, but bothering none the less).

Went to the doctor here yesterday in the nicest hospital I have ever seen. Got extremely quick and efficient service, and then cried when the dietitian went over my meal plan. Muffins, cookies, and cookie dough ice cream are to no longer enter my mouth, again, kill me now. I decided I would go get some specialty groceries that I can have in my room for snacktime and such. Turns out my friend Kyle was right, and that sugar free chocolate bars also work as laxatives... I learned that one the hard way. Enough said. I'll stick wiht my sugar free jam, thank you!

Well I have a boatload of laundry to do tomorrow, and way too much reading for my own good. I will be disposing of my other sug-free chocolate in the morning, can you blame me?

tidbits.

Random tidbits from the phillipines.

-no toilet paper anywhere, had to steal napkins from everywhere we went.
-saw a ridiculous amount of older white men with young asian females, tried sooo hard not to make any assumptions, but couldn't help it.
-wrote a bunch of postcards while there but didn't have time to put them in a mailbox, so i had to send them back with a flight attendent who promised to mail them for me.
-made a superbed in the hostel the last night, it was the only way we could legitimately fit 5 people on 3 single beds.
-saw an unusually large number of transvestites, or "she-males" as the boys called them. Word on the street is that Christian and Hakon thought they were hitting on these 2 girls, when in fact, one was not a girl at all lol.
-garlic rice is the new mashed potato, should be eaten with everything and anything at any time of the day.
-people there speak english, thank god.
-security is absolutely bonkers and there are security guards in every nook and cranny of the mall. Both at the top and the bottom of escalators, in stores, and even at the door to the mall where you get frisked, and your bags checked upon entrance.
-I'm sure there will be more to come as I rememeber.

phillipines. day by day.

So I have clearly neglected the blog over the past week, but its not like any of you are paying to "subscribe" to this work of art, so don't complain! As most of you know, we spent the past 6 days in the Phillipines, where I discovered that although close together, the southeast asian countries differ in innumerable ways. I could probably take a week to record all of the stories and happenings of our great adventure, but that wouldn't be fun for anyone, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet, and filled with pictures. Here we go:

Day 1

-more than likely got severly ripped off on our taxi ride to the hostel from the airport, rookie traveller mistake. But we needed a ride, so we had no choice.
-started driving down this dingy looking alley when I said "oh my god, imagine we were staying somewhere like this hahaha", not even 30 seconds later the taxi stopped in front of the "international youth hostel", and requested his pay. I thought it was a joke at first, no such luck.
-hostel ended up being decent, it was my first hostel experience. The guys said they would give it a 7/10 as we had our own bathroom, clean sheets, and an air conditioner. I was wishing I had the number for the Marriot.

The fam in the hostel, both mine and elizabeth's first time =)

-we decided to go to "Malate", which is a small district of retaurants and bars, we attended "Max's chicken" for dinner, and then went to a strip of small bars where the boys haggled for beer lol.
Colt 45, soooo classy. at only P120 ($3CDN) for 6, how could we say no?!

-we then decided to really have the full filipino experience and hit up a kareoke bar. Regardless of the fact that there were multiple transvestites rocking out on the stage, we still managed to do some damage (possibly to the ears of others) of our own.


-made the seemingly terrible decision to stay out until almost 6am even though our flight to Cebu left at 10:30 the next morning... but sooo worth it =)

Day 2

Although everyone was exhausted, this day got off to a great start, well for me at least. While waiting in the aiport I made a possibly life changing discovery, "Mrs. Fields Cafe" sold SUGAR FREE ICE CREAM. I was neither hungry, or craving ice cream the slightest bit after having slept for less than 2 hours, but clearly I had to test this stuff out. It seemed like hours before the little asian man behind the counter managed to scoop it out, but soon enough I had this frozen jackpot in my hands, probably my happiest moment involving food in a while. It tasted about as good as you would imagine, actually it didn't really taste like anything at all, but that is besides the point here people; I can still have ice cream, which means that I may in fact be able to refrain from losing all of my composure and retain some degree of sanity.

After the flight to Cebu, we had to get tickets for the ferry to the island of Bohol. The biggest change, and most bothering aspect of the Phillipines was how slow the service was, absolutely everywhere... It took over an hour for 10 of us to get our tickets, I legitimately thought I was going to lose my mind and go print the fricken tickets myself. Thankfully I decided to get something to eat instead. The selection consisted of 3 little plastic containers of asian-ish food. I decided to take a risk and got one containing eggs, rice, and some little sausage thingies that were actually pretty good. Low carb, high fat.... Greatttt for the waistline I'm sure.

Everyone was exhausted and slept almost the entire ferry ride, I actually started writing this blog before my computer died, and left me nothing but angry and tired. I woke up just in time to catch myself drooling literally allll over my arm, and the boat approaching the dock. One a much more pleasant sight than the other I'm sure lol. Our resort was minutes from the ferry dock and we were soon at our temporary home "Bohol Tropics". We got settled in before deciding to check out the pool, at which the guys indulged in Pina Coladas, I caught myself wondering if we were legitimately counting on these fruity cocktail-sipping boys to protect us if needed. Dammmmmmmmmit.


Later than night the norwegian boys arrived and it was decided that we would eat at the resort restaurant, I ordered some sort of korean chicken that was definately what I would classify as mystery meat. Needless to say, I stuck to my rice and cappucino. After dinner we all hit up the disco on the resort where we got the pleasure of listening and attempting to dance to an utterly terrible filipino cover band. Mighhht have been the worst bar experience of my life, the no-drinking aspect might have added to the lack of fun haha. Although not drunk I did somehow manage so bust out some incredible dance moves, if I didn't know better I would definately think I was on something. My new drug of choice; sugar lol. Kidddddding mom =)

Day 3

Today was the day where we would discover Alona Beach, a beautiful stretch of white sandy beach about 25 minutes away from our resort. A van ride here cost us about $14CDN, and was split between about 10 people, cheap cheap cheap. We spent time laying out, shopping around the little boutiques, and enjoying authentic filipino cuisine.


Elizabeth and I loved it so much that we went walking along the beach, found a resort that had a room available for the ensuing night, and booked it on the spot. Impulsive much? Maybe. That night we returned to the beach for what we thought was going to be some sort of raging party, as it was lunar new years eve. Turned out not to be the case whatsoever, but a good time nonethe less. And the night before valentines, sooooo romantic, not really but whatever.
Hakon was my valentine in the phillipines, evennnn pulled through with a gift, this guy breaks NO promises lol.


Ben Struggling bigtime after his Jagerbomb... It honestly took an hour to get the shots organized, only in the phillipines.

Day 4

Day 4 turned out to be a really really neat experience. The 16 of us rented this boat that took us snorkling out on this small island called Balicasag. We rode across the ocean (just a bit), and arrived at the island where we had time to get organized for snorkeling. We then got in these teenie tiny boats that fit 3 (including the paddling driver), and headed out to the coral reef. I have never been snorkeling like this before and it was probably the coolest thing I can remember doing in a long long time. Everywhere I looked I saw these amazing fish that looked like they had just jumped out of the pages of a national geo magazine, it didn't even feel real. I literally reached out and touched some of them. There were also schools of hundreds of fish that would just swim right by, I feel super nerdy elaborating on this right now but I can't help it.


Hakon and Jorgen on the boat ride back. Brotherly love <3

As much as snorkeling was truly unbelieveable, the amount of saltwater that I swallowed due to a slightly defective snorkel (or maybe a defective user), was definately not healthy. We snorkeled until we could snorkel no more and then made our way back to shore where we had lunch. A couple of the guys had the locals make them some fresh fish, which according to them, tasted better than it looked.


The view from balicasag island

We made our way back to the island, where once arrived, everyone except for Elizabeth and I, headed back to Bohol Tropics. We checked into our room at Alona Kew White Beach Resort, showered, and headed down to the beach for dinner. At this point we realized that since it was valentines day, all restaurants had the tables and chairs set up romantically on the beach lol, we enjoyed it. After dinner we got changed and headed down onto the sand to get massages. At this point it was 11pm, but the massage ladies were sill out in full force. We also realized at this point that this evening would have indeed been very romantic had one of us been a guy lol. This was the first night of the trip that I had actually gotten a decent sleep, although we got our wakeup call an hour early, but had no idea due to the fact that our room was lacking a clock of any sort. We went for breakfast, and then spent some time looking around and going between little shops before returning to our room for a nap. After our little sieste, we made our way down to the beach where we once again worked on our tan and got massages.

The massage thing may sound a bit crazy to those who don't know, but you can get an hour long full body massage for P250, which is equl to about $6 CDN, we got one every day... I took this picture of one of the many souvenir-sellers on the beach and managed to get a snapshot of a massage lady in the backround, sorry about the butt cheeks of the male customer haha.

We went to a Filipino restaurant Monday night, as it was our last night on the island, where about half of us completely destroyed our bodies with bbq pork. Sooo good, but wayyyy too much food. Garlic rice, Beef Tapa, and BBQ pork are going to be 3 new additions to my mainly western way of eating. Addicted to that stuff.

Day 5

A day of travelling. We woke up early to catch the shuttle to the ferry for 6am, where not one of us was able to stay awake for longer than 10 minutes. Once arriving in Cebu, we caught our 10:20 flight to Manila, where we once again set up camp at the same hostel as before (except this time we lied about how many people as to not have to unneccesarily pay more). We spent the day shopping at the Mall of Asia (Asia's largest shopping mall), where I was literally in heaven. Let me loose in that place with a credit card and you've got a wildwoman on your hands. Thankfully Liz was there to keep me in check. When we later met up with the boys, who had managed to go ice skating in the mall in their shorts and no socks, we went to the bowling alley, and then the movie theater, where we watched "Valentines Day". Don't ask me how, but I managed to stay awayyyyy from the popcorn. I'm only so good like this because the fam keeps a tight leash on me at all times, especially around food. I'm sure I'll thank them someday, but for right now I often threaten to punch them or suggest that they "don't tell me what to do".

Not an overly eventful day, although I think in total, between the 6 of us, we devoured about 12 frappucinos. If anyone thinks they can out do that, let me know... We're up for the challenge. As long as sugar free syrup is involved of course.

Day 6

Had to be up at 3 and catching a taxi at 3:30, as our plane left at 5:20. Never have I slept so well on a plane. We arrived in Hong Kong in shorts/tshirts, and other summer apparel, only to be greeted by a temperature of below 10C. Those of you back home are probably thinking "oh booo hooo cry me a river, we're literally freezing over here". And believe me, I feel ya, I've endured that gross Winnipeg winters for more years than I would like to remember haha. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled over here weather-wise.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

humidity=death. literally, be careful.

the most random of random updates from hk that didn't really fit in anywhere else...

-all outdoor hallways are ridiculously slippery because of the humidity. Wet floor signs every few meters without any sign of a mop or bucket.
-i thought for sure someone was constantly peeing on the toilet seats in our washroom until I realized that it was in fact not urine, but just water thanks once again to the stupid humidity. This would also be the case for the dripping wet/slimy bathroom walls.
-everywhere you turn, they are selling ferrero rocher chocolates. No, not to tease me, but because they resemble gold and gold is a huge thing during chinese new year apparently.
-banana muffins on campus are dangerously good, and I have zero willpower (as previously stated), could get dangerous, diabetic styles.
-i continue to write postcards home a couple times a week, I'll feel better once I know they have actually been delivered.

Now onto the good stuff... I managed to clean out my war wound at 3 am last night, for those of you who are big babies and don't like details, stop reading now. Looking at my hand, you could see that under the skin it was like green/blue/blackish... Definately not a good sign, so I strapped on one of the asian flu masks and grabbed one of my handy dandy diabetic needles (ps. kidding about the mask), and peeled the skin back, then proceeded to wash it out with antibacterial soap multiple times. This was kind of difficult as the fricken taps in the bathroom stay on for literally 5 seconds, so there I am one handedly trying to hold the skin back and keep the tap on with my elbow, all at the same time trying not to wipe out on the slippppppery floor. Usually I would be a big baby and probably cry at this point, but stabbing myself with needles and pricking my figers for a whopping total of 8-10 pokes a day has made me nearly-invincable. After the whole washing out debocle, I tried to get in there with a towel to wipe some of the grossness out, didnt really work, so onto plan B, polysporin (thanks to kel) and a bandaid. While I lied there in bed after this exhausting affair I figured that based on my skills I would be applying to med school when I return to U of M. Specializing in makeshift medicine and debauchery of dirty war wounds.

Before I forget. Big shoutout to Nature Valley for keeping me alive and not letting me starve to death while I'm in friedfoodcitycentral.com. Cinnamon gets a special shoutout as it is my go-to kind in the variety packs that I purchase weekly from the Park n Shop.

I'm in the process of packing for our trip tomorrow and I have to say, I am extremely impressed with myself. I have managed to fit everything into my Victorias Secret duffle bag. For me, this is extreme light travelling, my parents can vouch for me on this subject, based on the fact that they were the ones rolling my 2 big fat suitcases through the airport on the way here, ps thanks for that =). We are on a hunt to find sunscreen before we leave tomorrow, this is a crucial element of our emergency kit; which will also include adaptors, extra insulin, playing cards, and danish butter cookies. Maybe we'll throw a bandaid or 2 in there, who knows. I'm so lucky to have potentially the best travel buddies in the game, I can already tell we're going to have a blast. Elizabeth an I have decided that the boys need to take us out on Valentines day, only fair right? Okay well maybe not THAT fair, but it would be the gentlemanly thing to do, or maybe I just made that up; who knows. Anywayss...

I called this Hong Kong hospital today to make an appointment with a specialist. "Ching chong ling long wong" was my greeting when they picked up (something along those lines), my first response "Hello, do you speak english?", not to be rude, but just to check, the first lady was having a tough time so she passed me off to someone who could... Who then forwarded me to another department where I was again greeted in Cantonese and I proceeded with the same question as before lol. Within a couple minutes I had managed to make an appointment for next week, puts me a bit at ease to know I'll have a doctor here and that help isn't so far away. Although he'll probably tell me to lay off the banana muffins, dammmmmit.

Going to attempt soccer again in an hour, hopefully on the actual field this time and not on the court that destroyed my entire being last night. I don't know if I could deal with another evening of self-medicating myself with a teeny-tiny (actually ultra mini ziploc size) bag of ice, insulin needles acting as mini scalpels, and the small little square bandaids you use after giving blood. God forbid something should happen where I actually need real medical supplies, maybe I should scout out a legit first aid kit on campus. Time to stop procrastinating and read chapter 2 of mannny for consumer behavior.

Sidenote: I was excited this morning to discover that I have been checking the wrong mailbox for the past 2 weeks, and that the room number is posted ABOVE the box, not beneath it. I was even more excited when I realized that there was actually something IN our box. My excitement quickly turned to disspointment when I realized it was a copy of the school newspaper and some stupid flyers. That is all. Much love.

must be a norwegian thing.

Last night's sleep was not long enough as I had to drag myself out of bed at 7:45 to meet the boys for breakfast as promised. I had to muster up every ounce of my willpower to not get the waffles with chocolate sauce and bananas, so I made a decent compromise and opted for a muffin and banana instead; I opted out of the mystery meat that the cafe serves up, as it is definatley just that... I had "Spanish Chicken" last night, again, purely mysterious as to how there can be an entire handful of fat/skin/other questionable parts on this tiny piece of chicken, I may just return home a vegetarian. Ps. I also really really miss milk. The stuff they sell here comes from the shelf; non-refridgerated milk gives me the heebie-jeebies, so I think I'm going to have to track down some calcium supplements asap.

The flowers are still alive and well, and I'm halfway done MY big jug of water, so soon I'll have an extra "vase" lying around... Juuuust saying lol. After my 2nd class today I decided to be uber-responsible and head to the library, I lasted about half an hour before legitimately struggling to keep my eyes open, and deciding that a nap sounded like the best alternative. When I got to my room and realized that Anais was in there studying, I thought that this would make it tough for me to fall asleep... Wrong again. I had the most magical nap, one where you wake up thinking it's the morning before realizing that you've only been asleep for a couple of hours haha.

Managed to make my way to LANG 113 (Also known as introductory Mandarin for non-chinsee background students) where I was the star of the class. It migght be because I write the english pronounciation under every single word we learn and then read it out of my notebook. For example:

Hong Kong: Xianggang - pronounced "siang gung"
Technology: Keji- pronounced "keti"
University: Daxue - pronounced "dashway"

Tooo crazy for me, a lot of the consonants are pronounced ridiculously different than at home... Hopefully I won't lose my english lol. After class we attempted to study in the library, but as usual turned into a gossip and trip planning session, after which we decided to go join a group of exchangers to play soccer. After bailing miserably during our soccer game on the concrete court, I called it a day and went to get shower and clean out my battle wound (think palm of hand ripped open). Then the fam (Me, Liz, Tobias, Justin, and Ben) headed to Hang Hau so that Elizabeth could add more minutes to her phone and we could enjoy a dinner away from campus. Clearly there were no better alternatives than pizza hut. By the time we arrived the waiter told us we would only have 10 minutes to decide because they stopped taking orders at 10... Really not a problem for us as we were all hungry hippos. On our way back from dinner we stopped at 7 11 (of course) for ice cream and a deck of cards... I felt ripped off when the cards were $4CDN... After getting used to everything being so cheap here I was a bit surprised, but we decided that cards would be a suitable alternative to our frequent visits to the unibar. We also pondered for quite a while as to whether or not we should invest in another oversized tin of danish butter cookies. I was all for it, ut we decided to wait until tomorrow, I can hardly wait =)

To cap off our wonderful family outing into the city, we stopped by Unibar to meet up with everybody. I once again dug deep into my pockets for the 16$HK that a diet coke sets me back every single time, and put a lime in it as to not raise more questions about why I was "only drinking a coke", soooo over pressure to destroy my liver lol. The Unibar is always loaded with peanuts, and it has become more than a bad habit to over-indulge upon every visit... Neeeed to stopppp.


Haken having a gay-old time on the couch at Unibar... 4 beers deep. Quote straight from the man himself "I may be metro, but I'm not gay". Too funny, must be a Norwegian thing.


Jorgen trying to compete with Haken's extreme metro pose. They were trying to give us a taste of their beach poses for the Phillipines, great guys, but god help us all.

JDC West 2011 elections have begun, just read all of the speeches and cast my votes. Goodluck everyone, can't wait for Saskatoon!

Time for this cookie monster to hit the hay. Big hair is back biatches. Love it or leave it.

Monday, February 8, 2010

magic in the atrium

For Hary Potter fans who have dreamed of being able to visit Hogwarts, visiting HKUST the first 3 weeks of the semester might just fill that void in your day to day muggle life. For the past week my friends and I have been desperately trying to figure out what is going on with all of the absolute absurdity taking place in the atrium... Let me put it this way, a bunch of crazy local asian students running around in capes, wizard hats, jailbird outifts, and allll sorts of ridiculous attire. To add to the weird and wonderfuly strange get-ups, these students chase people around with food trying to get their attention, as well as engage in extremely loud and very non-english cheering of sorts. It sounds like a battle of some kind, and there has never been a moment when I wished so desperately to understand cantonese lol. Below are some pictures to illustrate the unidentified campus madness, although they do the actually happenings no justice since there is no sound.



My newest overseas mission is to figure out what the HECK is going on around here so I report back to home base with some useful info. I haven't been able to really figure it out because most of these robo-students prefer to talk to locals and kind of ignore us white kids (maybe because we're being uber-classy standing around taking pictures of them like they're aliens lol).

Newest update... Soo hard to skype back home around here when it gets late. I decided that I would go to the common room to do it because my roomate was about to go to sleep, and I'm trying really hard to be considerate since she has started to work with me on the fan issue. I go into the common room to see a group of 6 local students sitting around this table playing cards. Never did I think some lame-looking game of cards could be so funny; apparently I was wrong as there was about 100 decibels of laughter in the backround every 30 seconds. No respect for the lone white girl sitting in the corner trying to call home. Jerks. Didn't even invite me into the game either, some floormates THEY are, geez. So once I realize that I am going to make absolutely zerrrro progress in the common room, I leave the room and retreat to a spot on the floor in the hallway, oh-so ghetto. So I sit there, talking to mom and dad, enjoying a little taste of home, when some girl comes out of her room to tell me that I am being "annoying", and that because of me, her and her roomate can't sleep. Being the nice Candian girl that I am I managed to keep my big fat mouth shut, but came within inches of telling her that I really couldn't take her seriously while she was wearing a pink onesie that was about 5 sizes too small. Shop at baby gap much? Annnnd now I know where this biznatch lives, wait till april fools suckkkkka haha.

P.s. the above picture isn't of the actual students that were loudly interrupting my skype calls, but I felt as though it was an accurate representation. Just saying.

sidenote: for anyone looking for a good new tune, dj earworm- united states of pop 2009. if you already know about it, forgive me for being so behind the times, and if not, enjoy.

special delivery

Slept in again today, needed a bigtime recovery after avatar last night lol. Went to see this lady named "vava" to talk about the whole medical "situation", ended up being an hour and a half of talking about feelings and crying, her hugging me, and me using up probably a full box of kleenex... Sometimes a good cry is all it takes to fell better again, definately the case for me. I then went to the library for a bit before giving up on reading "Smart Choices" online, and heading back up to my room. Funny thing is, I was headed to my room to get a small picture for my fitness facility card, then left my room without even grabbing one. SO I headed back up the elevator and walked out of the elevator to see this little soaking wet asian man standing in the hallway holding this huge bouquet of flowers. My first thought was "who the heck is getting flowers around here?!", until I realized that he was standing at my door... Probably for Anaise I thought, but nope, definatley my name on the tag. Turns out Josh decided to be an extreme gentleman and send me flowers from the other side of world. I guess I have a valentine lol. The only problem with these flowers was that I didn't have anywhere to put them, untillll my roomate offered up her massive almost-empty water jug. She chugged what was left of it, and we butchered it into a ridiculously classy vase. Improvisation is a way of life around here (thank god for mini scissors (elementary school style). Pretty sure I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face, still cant =)

Sunday, February 7, 2010

epic discoveries in hk

Just got back from seeing Avatar in 3D... I thought it was pretty good, but I can't decide if I really liked it or not, I would've been much happier had jake returned to earth in the end. If I was american I would also be a little concerned that the movie portrays the US army in a horrible, horrible way lol. At least that's not a concern of mine at this point. One good thing came out of the movie; that is, looking at the giant (but otherwise perfect) avatar women made me want to immediately hit the gym. This is an approximation, but I'm going to go with 15" waist, 32C bust, perfect butt, and ridiculously toned body lol.

sidenote: in the mall in which we saw the movie, i made an epic discovery... Haagen-Dazn FONDUE! You get this tray of mini ice cream scoops, dip them in chocolate, and are immediately in heaven. I don't know the last part firsthand (ice cream is not very diabetic-friendly), but I couldn't imagine it being anything less.

Had a McDonalds "grilled chicken burger" from the food court... It ended up tasting more like a spicy mystery meat medley of sorts. I didn't bother asking if it was actually chicken, I didn't really want to find out. Definately should've opted for the Thai food, but that is usually also a mystery to me. Someone ship me some chicken and rice STAT. Okay not really, but I wish.

arguably bad decisions.

I decided after my evening of buying more prepaid phone time, reloading my octopus card, and "independently" shopping in Hang Hau (aka. flying solo), that a night out in the big city sounded like a much better udea than it had earlier on. I skyped with my parentals (for the first time since I've been here) for a while before repeatedly getting cut off by the brutal wireless connection in my dorm. It might have been a bit more of a fashion show than a real skype sesh, as I tried on most of my hk purchases for moms approval, almost bailing off of my chair and killing myself while trying to showcase my new black boots... Maybe I'll stick to sending them photos from now on. She either approved, or just decided not to say otherwise haha either way is okay with me, unless crazy asian style starts to consume my life, in which case I beg you for an intervention.

During my trip to Hang Hau I dicovered this mall made up of the tiniest shops you have ever seen... Some having honestly no more than 20 or 30 items in the whole boutique. I've decided that if I ever need a pick me up, I will immediately mini-bus there, as I have never had so many people tell me I looked so good in every single thing that I tried on lol. I tried on this dress that legitimately looked like a burlap sac hanging from my shouders, and the shop lady was telling me how thin and beautiful it made me look... I looked like a brown grape with thiny stems poking out from the bottom, ummm no thanks. Although I shouldn't really complain, because the majority of the shops refused to let you try anything on at all. I don't know if it was for some strange hygenic reason, or just because the shops were so small they they couldn't afford to spare the space for a change room. Needless to say, I never buy anything here that I can't try on first because the locals are usually about half of my size in every way imaginable; bum, boobs, height, weight... I could go on forever lol. I tried to walk into one shop where the lady had shoe boxes scattered all over the ground, she literally shouted at me "CLOSED!", and shooed me out of the place. She must be related to the girl I met in the common room on my first day here.

I went to LKF with 3 of the boys from USC who had returned from Shenzen (a city just over the border in mainland China), and we had quite the taxi ride... We told the driver we wanted to take the fastest, cheapest way there; usually wouldn't be the same route, and never really figured out which one we took lol. He was speeding like a crazy man until he saw one of his friends driving the taxi beside us... At which point they started yelling at eachother and repeatedly giving each other the finger while laughing hysterically. After this, and realizing that the guy in the taxi ID on the dashboard was not in fact our driver, I quickly made the decision to buckle up. At one point during the taxi ride, our friend in the front seat says "hey, no texting man!", I look up and see the already crazy- possibly imposter of a cab driver with his cell down at his left side sending texts! I closed my eyes and held on for dear life.

Upon arrival at LKF we of course had to make our usual pitstop at 7 11, then met up with most of the other exchangers at "Oyster Bar" where long island iced teas were cheap cheap cheap. I don't think I've ever seen so many guys so proudly drinking them lol. It was the tiniest little bar, with like 150 people drinking outside of it on the street, exchange student mayhemmmmm. We proceeded to "Azure", also known as the Sky Bar, it's on the 29th floor of some building in central, and has a balcony that overlooks the entire city, so beautiful. There was no cover to get in, you just had to buy a drink, that cost between 80-130$HK, so like 10-20$CDN. Not too bad, but not as cheap as the 7 11 haha. Thsi bar had the best music I have heard since I've been here, everything from backstreet boys, to Def Leppard, to random current mainstream stuff. It was actually packed wall to wall, and I'm sure I looked more confused than anything, as I kept being smushed up against couches and tables lol. Dix is going to feel extremely spacious upon my return to Winnipeg.

As Azure was shutting er down for the night we made an arguably bad decision to continue to stay out... The location of choice, some Hookah bar down the street where we indulged in some "mixed fruit" flavoured stuff... Definately a first time for me. Not the healthiest, but an experience to say the least. While at this establishment of which I do not know the name, we decided that we were just going to stay out until the MTR re-opened, which was 6 am... Arguably bad decision #2. Since we had an hour to kill, we wandered around the streets until we found somewhere to eat (breakfast at this point). We decided on "The Frying Pan". Arguably bad decision #3. Elizabeth told me I wasn't allowed to have any carbs so we split an omelette that consisted of eggs, salsa, taco beef, and jalapenos. Spiccyyyyyy.com. After our debatably delicious "breakfast", we took the Metro back to school and called it a night. Orrr morning I guess you could say. We all slept late into the afternoon and have decided to take er easy tonight... Going to see Avatar in 3D, I honestly never thought this day would come. Time for my hot date with James Cameron himself. Until next time...

Saturday, February 6, 2010

fanny pack=tourist to the max

So tonight looks as though I may have a hot date... With my consumer behaviour book lol. Most of my friends are heading to the Muse concert. According to wikipedia, Muse is an English "alternative rock" band from England. Apparently they're pretty mainstream in the States and super popular in Europe, I guess us winnipegers must be a bit behind the times, or maybe it's just me. There were extra tickets available for the concert, but I just can't bring myself to sit through a concert full of songs I don't know, even if the music is really really good. Of course everyone is heading out to LKF tonight; both those who are going to the concert, and those who aren't. I'm considering joining but I'm still getting over my stupid avian flu and am headache-city right now. Not to mention the fact that my prepaid phone just ran out of credit once again and therefore I am unable to contact annnnyone.



Ah well, after everyone leaves for the concert I am goin to hop on the 11M minibus and head to the Hang Hau MTR station where I can reload my oh-so classy mini asian cell phone so that I am not cut off from the hong kong world as I know it... Who knows, maybe I'll head up the escalator and engage in a bit of retail therapy. Oh wait, shopping is the problem at this point, definately not the theraputic answer, dammit.

I had some magical french toast for breakfast (at 2 pm) today... Everyone around my had theirs swimming in butter, syrup, PB, and bananas; not going to lie, it looked insanely good. I opted for the PB/banana option only. Surpringly good. Anything western tastes like heaven around here though. Well, I must go prepare for my little city adventure (don't worry mom, I'm strapping on my fanny pack full of supplies), think anyone will know I'm a tourist? lol

ps. my roomates gone for the weekend. party in 1012.

Friday, February 5, 2010

the germans were right.

Thank god I woke up today feeling better than last night. It would not even be an exageration to say that I could not swallow as I was lying down falling asleep because my throat was literally killing me (talk about drool-city). Apparently whatever that homepathic "Meditonsin" was that my german friend prescribed me did exactly what he promised, as it was only my stuffy nose that slowed me down today.

I never have classes on Fridays, so the fact that I slept in until 1130 is more than acceptable (in my new independent college student-minded way), I justify my newly appointed "lazy Fridays" by working hard all week; in every sense of the word. Studying hard, trying really hard to keep up with all of these exchangers that never sleep and never stop partying, and working really really hard to not break through the glass and devour every single chocolate chip muffin and ridiculously good looking brownie that stares me in the face EVERY single time that I go through the line at the western cafe. After my lazy morning I decided to be productive and go for a run, (not going to lie, one of the main reasons I decided to go about this today is because I was greasing it hard again and new I was going to have to shower before I went out this afternoon, so I decided I might as well get sweaty before having to shower and deal with this whole white-girl afro again. I ran about 4.5K on the track, but it hardly even seemed like I was out there for long at all; I figured this is probably because the track is right on the ocean, literally looking over the water... I was in total disbelief the whole time, running literally never looked this good.

We ventured down to central this afternoon to pick up our Chinese Visas, which inevitably turned into a(nother) shopping trip. We hit up the ladies market again, which is now one of my favorite places on earth lol. Elizabeth and I needed to pick up a few things for the Phillipines so we ended up getting sandals, sun glasses, mirrors, dresses, an a few other things. My clutch broke on me last night so I picked up another one (oliterally thousands upon thousands of purses/handbags/walletsat this place, soooo insane), and this little blouse shirt that I probably didn't need, but had no self control and ended up buying for like $7CDN. After Starbucks, Visas, and shopping, we headed back to campus to finalize the plans for our Chinese New Year trip to the Phillipines.

We booked flight to Cebu from Manila for like $85CDN round trip, and booked a hostel in Manila for the night we arrive. The lady from the travel agency through which we got our Visas called up one of her "friends" in the Phillipines and said she can get us a beach house for $500HK/night that can fit 5-10 people (~$70CDN), we just need to finalize things with her tomorrow and then we'll be set! Only 6 sleeps, team ya b*tch is counting them down biggggtime. After spending a couple of ours eating and planning, and eating and planning some more, we figured we were about ready to pack up our laptops, and put on our party hats... We ended up opting out of the whole party-hat thing and instead decided to hang out in Tobias's room until we could decide on something decent to do; this was until the University decided that it was time for Hall 1 to have a fire drill. Sidenote: the fire drills here are super intense as they have at least 10 security guards monitoring everything during this time, the security was actually so ridiculous that they wouldn't let us cross a line of security tape to get into MY hall (one WITHOUT a fire drill). We tried to argue our way into the hall but didn't make any progress, not that the security guard could understand our arguments anyways, language barrier is nottttt good times.

We hit up the UniBar for a litte bit after our long night of planning and fighting what we called exchange student-discrimination to get into my hall lol. Of course the guys were having some beers (they really can't help themselves since it is so cheap and ridiculously accessible here), but Liz and I opted to save our livers for next time. I just loaded up on aspertame from Diet Cokes instead... I figured I would upload some people pictures onto this bad boy since scenery has been the main focus thus far...

Camille, Charles, and Ben being classically Chinese in an all too familiar way haha.


Elizabeth and I, sober.com


Going to pass out and have a legitimately ridiculous sleep, tomorrow is a nerdy library day for me. Shopaholic over and out.