My Little Travel Blog

I'll just jump right in this time:

Christmas in Hong Kong was basically nothing special. Just lots of decorations, music, several countdowns in various location in HK, but really most people seemed to kind of forget about the special-ness of the day. So did I. I just hung out with friends and family and family-friends. I met many new people as my host family hosted several groups of their friends/classmates over for dinner on the nights surrounding Christmas. Good Cantonese practice, good food! The break from school was also great; lots of freetime, exploring, doing HK stuff - singing karaoke, eating hotpot and dim sum, watching movies, meeting friends of friends.

On the 30th of December I did something amazing. I went to mainland China for the first time!! Shenzhen, which lies right across the border with Hong Kong, was the specific location. I went with my host dad and 2 classmates who are actually originally from the mainland, one of whom still lives in Shenzhen part of the time. Basically, they speak Mandarin (across the border Cantonese is secondary to Mandarin) and are great guides. First, we all went to Book City, a giant books and electronics store popular with Hong Kongers for its cheap merchandise. Super interesting. Indescribably different from every other mall I've ever been to. Just... different. Next, after a great meal of 'mainland' cuisine, I went with my classmates to one of the most interesting areas I've ever seen in my life called Dongmun or East Gate in English, where we spent the whole rest of the day.

Basically, it is an area of the city with tiny businesses selling various types of merchandise for extremely low prices. It had a special feeling too. Very 'real'. I have no idea how to go about describing it actually. The Shenzhen people were VERY different from Hong Kong people - to be blunt they were ruder, louder, more aware of reality, pushier, poorer, and even more competitive. I saw things I have never seen before in my day in Shenzhen. A young child doing a headstand in the street begging for change (most likely a 'slave' of the local gangs), blatant counterfeits being bought and sold EVERYWHERE (I got a high quality Faux-mega watch for about 15 USD!), old beggars who kept following me around in hopes of some money (not many white people venture into Dongmun, considered a dangerous place for unaccompanied tourists), streetside pet-shops where people just walk up to the cage, choose a puppy, pay a little money and walk off, filipino ladies in a filthy corner working speedily on sewing machines while a chinese woman 'oversaw' their work, and countless other incredible new things. And this was just in 1 day, in what is considered a rich part of the richest city in China. Speechless.

The word cheap gains new meaning to me now too. Fake products seem more plentiful than real ones, and they all are ridiculously cheap for US and even HK standards. In the mainland, everything is negotiable when it comes to price. For me as a white person, they original price given for any item is at least triple what it should actually sell for. Still cheaper than buying in the USA though. Anyway, with the help of my friends' stupendous bargaining skills I wasn't cheated too badly on anything. I only bought a watch and various snack-food items though... other salespeople might have been less forgiving. And the snacks were amazing - the best milk tea I've ever tried, some Shanghaiese bready thing, noodles so spicy I always died while eating them, squid on a stick, octopus meatballs, and fried potatoes (also delightfully spicy).

The day in the mainland was eye-opening, to say the least. Very difficult to even remember all the news things I saw that day... too much. I can't wait to see more of China in my remaining 5 months here.

New Years. New Years was fun - hanging out with friends and when the clock struck midnight, I was actually sitting in Avatar in a Mong Kok cinema. An appropriate way to welcome the new decade; enjoying the new technology that will gradually shape our lives more and more as time goes on. Great movie by the way! I'm a sucker for 3D I guess, and the story, while maybe sappy, was good enough to hold my interest. Beautiful brilliant movie!!!!!

Now exams have begun at school. So far I have just had Use of English Oral and Listening which are simple for me, but I expect Geography and History to be hard. Hopefully I can pass... More on that in the coming few days.

Hmmm... what else? I attended a local Jazz-Hip-Hop Dance Interschool Competition. Fascinating! I'm not a dance person, but it was amazing to see secondary school students with the courage to get on the stage and perform group dances that were kind of goofy to be honest. About 10% of the dancers in the competition seemed to know what they were doing, the remaining 90% flopping around the stage looking quite unnatural and uncomfortable. But, nevertheless, it was a unique Hong Kong experience to see groups of 13-19 y/o's dancing shamelessly. Mostly American music was used in the background, and the students and teachers clearly didn't understand the meaning of the lyrics. Let's just say profanity (including the 'N' word) went unedited and lyrics like 'strip for me, take it all off' were danced to by some pretty young naive girl and boys. Hilarious to watch! Plus the ones who were good were pretty damn good.

Okay, thats all. I'm busy, I'm happy, I'm loving Hong Kong.

Ben

So time is limited at present (too much fun to be had!). I have no energy or brainpower remaining to make a worthwhile blog entry. But school starts again tomorrow, which means I'll have free lessons with nothing to do. Basically, I'm not saying anything except that I'm having a fantastic time here, and a real blog post will be here soon. Sorry for the long wait! Next entry coming soon! Ben

Well, just to prove that my brain is still capable of functioning I've decided to post a piece of schoolwork I just completed for my Use of English class. The assignment was to write an opinion/persuasive paper about the institution of the N.S.S. curriculum in Hong Kong's schools. I happen to be very opinionated on the topic of HK schools, so I enjoyed writing this one... but still its 1/4 BS to please my teacher. Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm completely satisfied with my work, but its an example of what I'm doing here. And unless you are a little familiar with HK schools this probably won't make much sense, but who knows. Here goes: Last year, the H.K.S.A.R Education Bureau introduced a totally new education system into Hong Kong schools. Dubbed the New Senior Secondary Curriculum, NSS for short, it strives to reform the old system, modernize teaching methods used, better equip students for the competitive future awaiting them, and take stress off the student body. To carry out these goals, it intends to encourage a more diverse learning environment. By utilizing more project learning, placing higher value on School-Based Assessment marks in the public exam grading scheme, and promoting life-skills acquisition, NSS aims to prepare students more practically for real-life situations they will encounter. Other changes include the addition of a new A Level subject, Liberal Studies, which will center around the analytical study of current issues in the world, the omission of Form 7 from secondary schools in favor of 4 year university study, a merging of the arts and science streams allowing student to study any mixture of elective subjects they desire, and the inclusion of Other Learning Experiences, OLE's, to broaden student's horizons outside of the classroom. But will these measures be drastic enough to overcome the incredible challenge of fixing a school system often quoted as being the most intense, impersonal, and stressful in the whole world? The changes being implemented are definitely a great step forward on the road to recovering the potential of Hong Kong's youth, but will by no means finish the job. While I appreciate the government's acknowledgment of the problems with education in Hong Kong, I am severely disappointed with their lack of real change to the system. I am not at all confident that the measures being imposed will succeed in preparing students for post-school life any better. Creativity won't be cultivated, stressful exams are still ever-present and extremely crucial to progressing through the system, and most of all, the actual classroom environment isn't changed at all, from a lecture-based atmosphere in which students' minds are put to sleep rather than stimulated, which I consider the most important factor still needing to be addressed. The new system is definitely a vast improvement though. Students are asked to do analytical thinking in Liberal Studies, though the presence of a public exam looming at the end of Form 6 squashes most real potential, will be exposed to new aspects of life through the required OLE's, and be able to become more well-rounded, happy students now that they may choose any elective courses they desire, instead of the old unbending 'streams'. Despite these tremendous efforts by the government to make the necessary changes, NSS simply doesn't perform its role properly. My main complaint with NSS is its refusal to make any real change to the everyday school life of Hong Kong students. Lessons are conducted in the exact same manner. Class is always based around an ever-repeating cycle of lectures, notes, and readings, leading to standardized examinations. This is the cycle that most needs to be broken. Active lessons are scientifically proven to stimulate real learning rather than acquisition through memorization of facts. More student-teacher interaction and communication are required to really streamline the efficiency of learning. If students ask more questions, teachers don't place shame upon incorrect answers, and an attempt is made to enhance student-staff relations, students will feel more comfortable in school and be more open and excited to learn. Teacher re-training should be done to ensure teachers are aware of this need, as many teachers are completely backward in this aspect, tending to overexert their power on students effectually creating a stressful environment in which students are unable and unwilling to focus on learning. Multiple learning styles definitely exist too, with some students learning best from visual sources, some from active sources, some from written sources, and some from oral sources. The current setup only allows those who learn from listening and reading to thrive. The addition of video sources, physical activity, audio-visual technologies, and a decrease in the amount of in-class lectures would be a wonderful option to overcome this obstacle. Sitting and listening to lectures all day long does the opposite of encouraging excitement about learning. It promotes dreariness and boredom among naturally active-minded teens. So, the complete lack of change in everyday lesson structure is the main change missing from NSS. Another complaint of mine about NSS is its supposed reform of the public examinations. Removing the CERT level is a truly great change; no longer will a large percentage of students be kicked out of their original schools or be forced to repeat Form 5. The shame accompanying poor results is lowered, as a student will never be asked to leave his peers behind due to bad marks. But the change isn't great enough. At the end of Form 6, students still need to sit for one public exam which determines the entire course of their futures. Good marks mean an opportunity for a better university, leading to a better job, and a more desirable life. Bad marks doom students to a lower-quality education and career options are greatly diminished. The elimination of the CERT level will only increase the pressure and stress coming with the remaining exam. In an attempt to reduce test pressure, NSS actually multiplies it by focusing all tension on one life-changing test. NSS is an abject failure on this matter. The only positive change to the examination is the fact the a certain percentage of the marks will be taken from the School-Based Examination, balancing the validity of test results a bit more. But for each individual student, the pressure is just the same as in the old system, if not higher. The Education Bureau missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a concrete change to the test-based nature of Hong Kong school. Even Liberal Studies, the new A Level, has a public exam proceeding the course's completion, making its usefulness as a 'skill building' class null. Teachers will catch on to exam patterns quickly, and begin to focus more on what needs to be learned for good test marks than what is really most beneficial to students' learning. If anything, the number of required A levels should have been lowered rather than added to, if schools really want to encourage students to pursue what they love in school. A stronger focus on class grades rather than just test marks should also have been added to prevent the epidemic of students neglecting homework and classwork assignments, citing lack of necessity to complete them as their excuse. An emphasis on everyday work being of top quality rather than relying on a single test to comparatively gauge students, makes far more sense. The prudence of the Education Bureau must be questioned, having overlooked such simple, practical changes that could have led to vast improvement over the old system. NSS has gotten a lot of fanfare in the first year since its inception. Many people claim it provides the much needed changes the Hong Kong's schools. It clearly has its positive aspects; it brings Hong Kong closer to proven successful Western education techniques, promotes creativity more than ever before, and hopes to engage students in life outside of school more. Supporters say NSS is enough; it does its job. Stress will be reduced from students' hectic lives with the removal of the CERT level and AL exams. Liberal Studies will bring awareness about current events to naïve students, and fill the gaps between materials covered in other subjects. OLE's will force students to go out of their comfort zones and experience new things. Opening the 'streams' will let students do what they really want and follow their desires. But this is failing to see the big picture. While each individual reform is a good thing, the total package of NSS fails to fulfill its obligations. Unfortunately, NSS doesn't go far enough with its revisions. It falls short in modernizing teaching methods, diversifying education, fixing the problem of the exam-based nature of schools, and preparing students for life after school. While it is a courageous attempt to mend the old system, NSS simply doesn't make the essential changes. Feedback please! Ben

So I'll start off by explaining the title: In Hong Kong English, pronunciation isn't always... correct. Many words are simply said differently here. One of these words is 'pizza', coming from an advertising campaign by Pizza Hut in which the word is pronounced 'Pissa'. Thus, the general population only knows that delightful circular Italian cheese-bread with the incorrect pronunciation. Anyway, one day I was talking to my classmates about ordering some pizza for lunch (which by the way is damn expensive here) and they just started laughing and laughing. After a while they asked me what on earth I was talking about - ordering 'pizza' for lunch. After some more confusion it was discovered that the word Pizza (said correctly) matches the local (mis)pronunciation of the name Peter, and they really though I would talking about ordering Peter for lunch. So the happy ending to my tale is that a few HKers now know the real way to say the word Pizza. We never got it in the end either; far too small and expensive. But I really miss pizza actually... greasy cheesy tomatoey breadiness is hard to come by here. The Pizza places are all 'upscale' and its impossible to buy by the slice. Whatever, there are plenty of other greasy foods to tide me over until next June. And on that note I'll point out that I'm nearly half-way done with my time in HK. OH MY GOD!!! It's shocking; the time has zippppped by faster the speed of light. Not that I haven't learned, experienced, and accomplished many many things, but it just doesn't seem like I've been living in Hong Kong for 4 months already. But what have I done here so far? Well, apart from the fact that I've matured greatly, am much more independent, more capable of fending for myself, and have a new view of life, there are a couple of more calculable things I've done. My knowledge of the Cantonese language has jumped from 0 to extremely basic conversational ability necessary for life, plus I know many abnormal/random words and phrases good solely for the purpose of showing off. I am now learning to write a few characters too. Hard as hell, but I'm oh-so-gradually learning how to draw those pictographs legibly. For the past two Sunday's I've been going to Tuen Mun to learn some Kung Fu basics as well. It's a great release of energy/stress to smack those pads with all my might! Plus I'm learning South Chinese kung-fu in South China; how cool is that?!?! I'm not sure if I have enough time/commitment to become a master or anything, but just as a fun, unique way to spend Sundays, its perfect. What else? I'm in my school's singing contest (the whole class joined much to my chagrin) and we will be singing an old-school 70's HK song called ShaLaLa in front of the school. It's in English, but still getting on a stage, even collectively, is something I doubt I'd ever do in America. But circumstance is forcing me, so it shall be done. I'll give more info when it actually happens. Okay so I guess I'll just continue by saying more things I've done lately. AFS organized a volunteering activity for all exchange students at a charity in HK called 'Crossroads'. We did an interesting activity which simulated the daily life of the world's slum-dwellers, and it was actually quite eye-opening and enjoyable. After that we just did some standard volunteer work; packing boxes, moving furniture, carrying things around, folding clothes. Otherwise I've been having gobs of fun doing countless different things with my various groups of friends. Eating and window-shopping are recurring though. Hong Kong's malls are simply unescapable, and the desire/necessity to eat never seems to wane. I got a ticket to Muse, coming to HK next February! One of my all-time favorites, and I'm going to get to see them live! Sooo excited. Christmas is coming! Meaningless to me actually, but still I will mention that Hong Kong likes decorations. A lot. Almost every building is now covered in twinkly little lights, with generic Christmassy music playing everywhere, and specialized advertising for the holiday season has arrived en masse. Even the people who work at Tuen Mun Town Centre Information Centre are wearing Santa hats... I would be lying if I said all this wasn't PISSING ME OFF already. I am the grinch. No matter if I'm in Iowa or Hong Kong, the Christmas spirit just ends up making me angry. It's inexplicable really, but I just have a cultivated hatred for all things Christmas. And thats all my exhausted brain is capable of providing my fingers to type today. Until next time... byebyela!

So, I've been thinking about how to make this blog more interesting with my limited time, brain power, and technology. So this post has a theme: Music!

Well, to start off, I'll mention that Hong Kong seems to be a musical black hole. Cantopop is king here, and Mandopop, J-Pop, K-Pop, and late 90's American Boy Band music come next in popularity. I'm not going to say that this music is bad, but its not what I consider quality listening. I don't understand why this music is relevant to the locals' lives either; I think I'd get into gansta rap, death metal, or speedcore if I had to suffer through the stressful Hong Kong school system and lifestyle for my entire youth. But, somehow, those sappy, melancholy love ballads crooned in Cantonese are whats 'in' in Hong Kong.

For anybody wondering what I'm talking about specifically, I can give you a few names of artists my classmates have recommended:

F.I.R
Super Junior
Eason Chan
Edison Chen
G.E.M Tang

Look them up on Youtube if you want to look and listen.

"But Ben, what do you listen to in Hong Kong?"

I'm glad you asked!

Well, actually I listen to tons of music here. You see, even though I have no free time, I have hours and hours of time that can only really be spent listening to music. "How?" you ask? Public transport of course!

Every day, I take a minibus ride of 40 minutes each way to and from school. That gives me 80 minutes with nothing to do but enjoy the contents of my iPod! WOOHOOO! I love it actually, because in the mornings it wakes me up from my semi-conscious 'get ready for school' state, and in the afternoons it relaxes me after 6 hours of listening to various lectures in broken English. It's a kind of therapy almost...

So now I'll mention specifics of who I've been listening to in the past few days:

Wax Tailor - French Experimental Trip-hop
Muse - One of my all-time favorite bands from the UK
Immortal Technique - NYC Political/Conspiracy Theory Gangster Rap
Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - unexplainable spoken word/experimental duo
Rammstein - German Industrial Metal at its finest
Kid Cudi - A new genre I'd say, but in the realm of hip-hop
Mika - amazing singer, in Hong Kong later this month, but sold out :(

Thats just scratching the surface. But anywho, look up those names if you want to hear the same sounds I hear while making the trek from Sheung Shui to Tuen Mun every day.

My fingers are cold now. Heating doesn't exist in HK...

Ben

As usual, will be a breakdown of what I've been up to recently. Hopefully it's keeping all you crazy people who read my blog satiated with news from South China... if not, COMMENT and tell me how to improve.

At my school, last week was "Formal Test Week", meaning that all junior form students have a series of rigorous exams to suffer through, one for each subject they study, but for us senior form students all it means is that we get off at 1:15 every day! Each lesson is shortened to 30 minutes, and lunchtime is removed from the schedule. Anyway, it was very pleasant.

Friday was a very exciting day. After school, I ate some noodles with classmates, then went home to change, and then went to Wan Chai to meet my afser friend Jordan, to go turn in our monthly reimbursement forms to the head afs office. We get transportatin fees to and from school reimbursed, as well as $20 per day for lunch (about $2.50 US) and any textbooks we have to buy for school.　Anyway, after locating the office with the help of a Russian bank security guard who knew the street, and multiple phone calls to the AFS 'workers' for further instructions, we turned in our forms uneventfully. Then, it was time for fun! The AFS/Hong Kong University Halloween Party was about to start. But, of course, it was a Halloween party, so costumes were needed. Me and Jordan had put some forethought into this, and I decided to be a random scary guy with crazy makeup and Jordan was an Asian Vampire. Anyway, we went to Jordan's house, put on our crazy makeup for a LONG time, made ourselves look as creepy as possible, joined some other partygoers (afsers as well), and took the train to Central, then a Taxi to the University, then trekked uphill to the building where the party was taking place, and finally we arrived. Actually, we were 2 hours late to the party, but still it was worth it. We were definitely the best scarily-costumed people there! Plus, riding the MTR in costume is the most fun thing in the world... More about that later. The party itself was nothing special; just meager snacks, crappy music, everybody dressed up in their costumes admiring each other and taking photos, and the University students who were the real hosts dancing and socializing a bit. It was fun just to have many people together though. After the party, it was quite late and nobody had really eaten dinner, so we went together to McDonalds and got some cheap food, then I went home to beat my curfew, while some others went clubbing. Riding the train in costume, is one of the strangest things I've ever done I think. Every single person either stares, pretends not to notice after taking a few glances, or talks to you. I met some crazy people from Atlanta, and Indian guy who (rightly) accused me of being a day early, and some local girls who insisted on taking photos with me. It's one thing to be a gwai chai (white boy) in Hong Kong, but to be white and in crazy makeup is just toooooo much! It was incredibly fun, because ALL the attention of passersby was on me, they all took their turn to stare, point, gawk, laugh, cry, scream... okay I'm exaggerating too much now. Basically, I got a look of odd looks, and had fun by staring down random people in an attempt to scare them a bit.

I got home, washed off my makeup, and had some good fitfull rest.

Then it was REAL Halloween!

In the morning, I just relaxed, ate breakfast with my family, relaxed, and then went to lunch with my family as well. They took me to an ancient Taoist Temple, situated really close to where we live, that serves traditional Taoist Vegetarian cuisine. The food was great; vegetables, noodles, rice and congee from the restaurant's communal rice pot, and all inside the gorgeous temple. It was a wonderful meal, and I believe the cost is quite low as well. After lunch, I joined some afs friends in Causeway Bay, where we window shopped for a while, drank overpriced coffee, and then went to Mong Kok. In Mong Kok, I bought a man-bag! All my life, I have thought of man-bags as being... not for me. But in Hong Kong, they are a must. Every guy seems to have one, and they are indredibly useful becuase they are smaller and lighter than a backpack, but allow you to carry infinitely more things with you than just using pockets. Anyway, we went to the ladies market, and I half-haggled half-got lucky with the price. Originally it cost 120 HKD, but I got it for 90. Maybe I'm stupid for thinking I got a good deal, but its still waaaay cheaper than you could ever find it in the US, plus the one I got is the perfect size for what I needed. So whatever.

After MK, we needed dinner. Then began the journey of a lifetime. Haha, we all decided (Me, Jordan, and Axel) that we wanted Indian food. I hadn't had any Indian food since coming to Hong Kong, and as it is nearly my favorite cuisine in the world, so my wait needed to come to an end. We decided that Tsim Sha Tsui was the best place to find good cheap Indian food, because that is the district of Kowloon where all the Indians live/work, plus Axel had been to an Indian place there before. But, once we took the train to TST, we got lost walking around the confusing streets. TST may just be the craziest part of Hong Kong because the Indians are incredibly pushy. They grab your arm, try to hand you pamphlets, adversitse fake watches and other illegal merchandise openly, and the mix of rich and poor people makes it a strange area. As white folks, we are thought of as 'stupid people with money to spend', or at least thats what it felt like. Anyway, after getting totally lost, we took a taxi to the main Indian area of Hong Kong. Finally, a man on the street called to us "Indian Food!". So we took his pamphlet, read the menu/prices, and decided to go for it. Well, the restaurant happened to be in Chungking Mansions, one of the most famous buildings in Hong Kong. It used to be the center of crime in Hong Kong, housing triads and drugs dealers and other illegal activities. But now, it is somewhat better, being a place where Indian and African immigrant have settled and formed their own sub-communities. Still a lot of dangerous folks inside (the building is a gigantic maze of small, sketchy looking businesses), but now it has its own professional police force and security cameras everywhere. Plus the man-on-the-street who originally enticed us to go inside was our guide. He took us to the elevator, then asked us if we wanted to take the stairs (we refused of course, we didn't want to be alone in a stairwell in that place). After making some semi-racist comments about Nigerians, he left us in line for our elevator. We made it to the restaurant alive and well, the elevator ride and small walk through a corridor after alighting were uneventful. And we did well in our choice of restaurant! It was a well-lit, busy place, that had other white and chinese patrons, meaning that it was safe and 'high-class'. But still not too expensive. Anyway, I had Chicken Vindaloo, and it was a great meal. After paying, and exiting the crazy building, we went to Central for the Halloween festivities in Lan Kwai Fong, the bar district of HK. It was crazy; thousands and thousands of people in costumes walking around. Of course, I didn't go into the bars/clubs and just stayed for a short while to embrace the atmostphere. Then I went home to meet my curfew again, and had a goooood rest.

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I wrote all that on November 5, now its the 9th. I'm slow at finishing these things...

Anyway, another exciting weekend has passed by now, but I'm just gonna leave it at that. This post just needs to be published!

Ben

Another blog entry!

Okay, so this one is about the past 7 days I guess. But really its all about the weekend. Interesting things always seem to happen on weekends...

But I will mention that school is going well. I'm trying to participate in my classes as much as humanly possible, without being a nuisance. Hopefully its working... I think so though, because I got a great compliment from one of my Form teachers/geography teacher. She told me that I am the best exchange student she has ever taught (she's taught 7), and the other teachers in my school agree. Apparently, I am hardworking, I participate, I'm smart, I care about the lessons, and I have a talent for Cantonese. This surprises me, because honestly school is my lowest priority when it comes to time-management. I ALWAYS put social life and sleep above school when deciding what to do. Plus, I tend to chat during lessons. So I'm pleased my teachers here don't hate me!

The only notable thing I will mention about this school week was that after school on Thursday I went with a classmate to the Music Room at my school for the first time, and the music teacher graciously let me play all the traditional Chinese instruments! Just the sort of thing I love! It was amazing to me, to get to mess around on the erhu, pipa, guzheng, Chinese drum, woodblock, and countless other instruments I can't possibly remember. The music teacher and my super classmate were really excited to tell me a bit about each instrument and tell me the basics of how to play them too. They seemed impressed by my 'natural ability' to pick up the instruments and play them. Okay, I can't really play them, but the teacher said I sound better just messing around than some of the actual beginning music students! And my ability to make up random rhythms on the giant Chinese drum was appreciated too; according to her, Chinese people have no ability to improvise at all. They just drill the rhythms by studying sheet music, but I could just walk up to the drum and play random things that sound decent.

Well so far this is ending up being about people complimenting me. Sorry. Don't think it's getting to my head or anything. I still think I'm a musical failure and dunce in school :( . Haha, but actually it is somewhat interesting to me how easily impressed people here are with me. For instance, my ability to use chopsticks 'the traditional way' has been commented on twice by random passers-by when I eat out. Also when I say a few VERY SIMPLE (don't think I'm anywhere near fluent)phrases in Cantonese I get stares which I can only assume mean "Oh my! A white boy can speak a bit of Canto.? Amazing!" Really, I think there is a big double standard here which I benefit from.

Now on to the weekend!

Friday:

Friday was a DAMN boring day at school. Just a stupid geography test and an English Listening Quiz. The geography was actually a well-thought-out quiz paper, but the incompetence of the teacher makes preparing for it difficult. You can't study notes you don't have. You can't answer questions you've never been taught about. The Listening Quiz is just a 'spit back *exactly* what you hear' activity. Now that I know the formula for an A, I think I aced it. But I really don't know... the grading system here is impossible to understand. Free lessons, lunch, and then P.E.! And yes, bowling is a recurring theme in this blog. Bowling this time was, unfortunately, the same as last time. No actual bowling, just strategy and form. Couldn't be more disappointing. But after bowling, I met up with Axel (hey Axel!) from Finland, and we took the bus to Causeway Bay. In Causeway, we met up with many other exchange students, went to Toys R Us for Halloween costume stuff some people needed, ate congee (rice porrige) for dinner, hung out at McDonalds and then Starbucks, chatted, and went home. Sounds simple, but really its evenings like that which are the most fun. Kind of relaxing and makes me remember that I'm in Hong Kong and I'm amazingly happy here. The fact that a simple train ride less than 1 hour can get me to so many incredible places and connect me with so many incredible people is something I will really miss when I have to go home. Actually, I feel like Hong Kong is my home now. I think of the people in America (friends, family) but never the places or things. I know so much more about HK after just 2 months than I know about Iowa after a whole year there or even Kansas after 4 years. I guess I'm just very used to quickly adjusting myself to the places I live, having moved so much my entire life. That, coupled with my fascination with Hong Kong and open attitude, is making my experience here sublime. Hopefully this continues, and my remaining 8 months here will be as fantastic as the first 2, if not better!

Saturday:

On Saturday morning, I ate a quick breakfast with my family of toast, cereal, and coffee, and then set off to meet my friend Jordan (other exchge student from USA) in Kowloon to accompany him on his mission to get his HK I.D. card. His wallet was stolen, so he was delayed a bit in this process (I got my HK ID a month ago). I took the train about 45 minutes to Ngau Tau Kok for the first time, to go to the pick-up place with him. Really, the morning was relaxing and uneventful. He got his ID, and then we went to Causeweay Bay (2nd time this weekend!) to meet up with more AFSers for some good old KARAOKE! Karaoke is something I had never tried before coming to Hong Kong, but now I have done it 4 times, and I really love it. It's great becuase you get a nice room with couches and a giant TV, you choose whatever songs you like (they have English and Chinese, we do English of course), and just do whatever you want. Sing, chat, eat (Lunch included!), drink (non-alcoholic of course), play, joke... I could go on forever. It's just a great way to relax, enjoy yourself with friends, sing a bit, and get away from the constant crowds of HK in your own little cocoon. No expectations, rules, or supervision. Not that we do anything bad, but regulations seem to universal in HK, so its good to get away from them for a few hours.

Okay, so after about 4 hours of awesome karaoke, and diagnosing Axel with tone-deafness, I went with Jordan (USA), Jenny (Germany), and Yannick (Switzerland), to Central by train to meet up with my old First Friend (afs assigns you a local to help you out for the first week). We were going to Ocean Park! Ocean Park is the biggest and best theme park/aquarium in HK, and they have many special exhibits for the Halloween season, so we really wanted to enjoy this unique HK experience. About 10 AFSers total joined us. Getting to Ocean Park was quite a challenge though, because there was terrible traffic and we had to take 2 buses and a train to make it there. But eventually we made it. We had a great time. After splitting up into smaller groups of people, we really began to enjoy ourselves - Rollercoasters, a cable car, a log ride (I got totally soaked), and best of all the haunted houses specially for Halloween. The rides were fun, but nothing spectacular compared to US amusement parks. But I think the haunted houses were excellent! Dark, dramatic corridors, frightening furniture, and some SCARY looking actors jumping out at you around ever corner! You could hardly tell who was a mannequin and who was real, until suddenly they pounced in front of you, making some horrible noise. From 6:15 until 11:30 I was thoroughly entertained. I wish it could have lasted longer! But of course I had to come home.

When I left Ocean Park, I thought the excitement for the day was over. Wrong.

You see, Ocean Park had thousands and thousands of people ALL wanting to go home at the exact same time. So, I had to wait a loooong time for the shuttle just to get down the mountain (the park is split into 2 section connected by bus/cablecar) to the main entrance. And after that bus-ride, I had to locate the bus to Mong Kok. Another looong wait. Plus, due to miscommunication with the driver, I ended up getting off too early, at Yau Ma Tei. At that point, it was almost 1am (I was supposed to be home at 1. OOPS!) and I wasn't even half way home. I was VERY lucky. I caught the last train of the night to Mong Kok (trains end at 1am), though again, it took a looong time to leave the station as it was the final train. Already very late, I had no option of taking the train, like I usually do, home. So, in MK, I asked the station-helper how to get to Fanling (home). He told me to find a minibus outside, but he didn't know the number of it. Dammit. So, I left the train station just as it closed for the night in search of a minibus heading north. Luckily, I recognized the Chinese character for Sheung Shui (next to Fanling) and was able to ask a storekeeper if the minibus towards there stopped at the sign. He laughed, said yes, and instructed me to go to the back of the line. Only then did I notice the humongous line of people stretching back around the block. I kept following the line around 2 corners - probably 250 people total. Only then did I spot the back of it. Crazy. Well, I was happy to have found the right bus, so I waited it out - about half-an-hour of standing in line as minibus after minibus came by and the line got gradually shorter. I still don't know why so many people were all waiting to go to Sheung Shui so late/early, but I think the trains should run later. There is definitely a demand! Anyway, I finally got on the minibus, rode to Sheung Shui station, and walked to Fanling (15 mins) home. WHew....

Of course, I had been awake since 8 that morning and now it was 3am so I was exhausted. So I immediately went to sleep and woke up on Sunday about 10am. Still a little tired, but all-in-all I felt good. I ate some breakfast, and then I remembered it was one of my classmates 20th Birthday! So, I took the minibus to Tuen Mun for some more karaoke! Hooray! But this time it was with many classmates, thus I got to hear them sing Chinese songs. Also, my Geography teacher was there too; she is a good friend of the girl who's birthday it was. Oh, and an explanation of why she is 20 and in my class - she is from Mainland China, so when she emigrated to Hong Kong she had to stay back 2 years to learn better Cantonese, English, and various subject matter in other subjects. Thus she is 2 years older than the other students, and nearly 4 years older than me (I am the youngest in Form 6). A note about the Chinese karaoke songs: They are mostly from Taiwan, apparently Taiwan makes most popular asian music these days. Accordingly, the songs are Mandarin, not Cantonese. But the strange thing is that they all sound the same: sad, slow, duets or female vocalists, love songs, and they are all about finding 'Mr. Right'. And the videos are all the same too - scenes of beautiful couples having fun, or some are about breakups and then you see them fighting and crying. But I've never heard so many songs that sound... identical! Anyway, it was really fun to listen to my classmates sing, and I sang a few English songs too. I was surprised how good at singing they all are! Must be because they speak a tonal language, so they are naturally good singers.

We had a wonderful time singing. Then we ate at the food court in the mall next to the karaoke place. Cheap, oily food, but still tasted great!

Monday I had no school of course. But I had a small cold, so I stayed home, ate Dim Sum with my family, took Chinese medicinal herbal tea, felt a bit better, and slept. Nothing exciting, but a great relaxing day at home was just what I needed.

I've written this blog entry over the course of about 24 hours, so now its Tuesday afternoon (I started Monday afternoon). By now, I know that I got good marks on my English Listening Quiz mentioned earlier. Also, I love formal testing week at my school because for me it just means I get out at 1:15 everyday this week. HOORAY!

This is too long now, so I'll stop.

Until next week,

Ben