Classes, Light Shows and Karaoke

Classes

As I’ve mentioned, I’m taking four classes this semester (a part of my “be on vacation” program) and we’ve now had a full week of class.

First of all, its very easy to get a great schedule when you’re in class for less than 10 hours a week.  Pre-meds and Engineers – don’t read the next sentence.  I start class at 2:30 three days a week, and get up early for a 1:30 film class on Tuesdays – its quite excellent.

As far as size, most of the classes I’m in – two of them (Accounting and Film) have about 40 people in them, my Econ class has about 25 (but we’re in a 100-person auditorium) and my SE Asian culture class has about 9.  All of my classes, and as it turns out, most Major classes are taught in English.  This is interesting as most professors’ English is not very good.  Apparently, CUHK is branded as an English university, so students here expect to take most of their classes in English.  Once again, I’m impressed.  Most of my professors seem pretty good, except for my accounting prof, who makes a boring subject that much worse.

As you might expect, Asian students are very quiet in class.  They spend most of the time huddled over their notepads writing down what seems like every word the professor says.  Also, they seem to be deathly afraid of speaking or asking questions.  This is something that I expected, but, is more frustrating than I imagined, as I end up answering a lot of questions just to break the silence.  These kids need to learn to speak up

I have been seldom taking notes, as the professors provide pretty detailed slides, and I find listening more enjoyable – like a good audiobook.  Speaking of which, I’m about 1/3 of the way through the new Dan Brown book, which I have in pdf and mp3 if anyone wants it, and its really good as expected.  As further academic stimulation, since I have very little work to do, but lots of time to kill, I edited Michael Chen’s paper on development economics, which was pretty interesting.  It’s a good thing to keep that brain moving.

Another benefit of my 4-class, 4-day schedule is that it gives me ample opportunities to travel.  I’m already planning a trip to Thailand for the end of this month to the Full Moon Party in Koh Samui and to spend a couple days in Bangkok.  Also, I need to plan a trip for the week of Chinese New Year, since the campus all but shuts down as everyone goes back home.  I’m thinking the Philippines or Vietnam – suggestions are welcome.

The Light Show

So as I alluded to in a previous post, every night, the Hong Kong skyline becomes a part of a pretty awesome light show.  No fireworks or anything, but lots of cool spotlights, “laser lights”, and lights on the actual buildings that change etc..

Last Thursday, I went with some friends to eat before watching the show.  We walked around Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) for about half an hour trying to find food.  What a huge fail.  This is a city with more food than I’ve ever seen and yet we couldn’t find anything suitable – and not in taste, but rather non-shadiness and inexpensive.  However, I did find one of the more bustling shopping areas on these streets, and if I decide to get a tailored suit, I know the place to go.  Interestingly, the suit and watch shops here are run by the Indians.  Unexpected, I guess.

After McDonald’s, which I’m starting to think doesn’t taste as good in the states, we stood out on the Avenue of Stars for the light show.  Overall, it was really good.  I think it might be hyped up a bit, but then you have to realize that this is not some auditorium putting on a show, but a massive skyline in the middle of a city.  I think that’s what makes this really awesome.  Plus, it’s set to some pretty sweet music – something between classical Chinese music and the theme music from Mario.

I took some pictures, but they don’t really capture it.  I’ve also included a video.  Bottom line – definitely a must-see, but not sure I’d go back every week.

(The Bank of China building (middle) had lots of different light patterns.  See video)

(Click on this to open in a new window to see it in more detail)

(Best skyline in the world)

Karaoke

So Saturday was my one of my flatmate’s birthdays.  Winter, who is from the mainland China via Toronto, is taking this year to do an internship.  He is really awesome.  Anyway, Friday night the exchange students who have been here since last semester through a party, but after that we hung out in our flat with Winter and drank some of the Black Label that we bought him for the occasion.  Good times all around.

Saturday was a typical lazy day for me, except that I had to do laundry which was a marathon process since their machines are really small, and the machines are in the other I-House block.  I’m not complaining though, I got my three loads done for about $5 US.

Saturday night, we enjoyed some delicious KFC, which tastes a million times better here than in the US, and then went out for karaoke, more commonly known as K-TV.

First off, these K-TV bars exist all over Hong Kong, but we went for convenience and went to one that is in the Shatin Mall nearby called the Green Box.  You walk into this place, and it seems very much like a brothel.  Lots of doors that lead to rooms behind one-way glass.  Very creeper-ish.  Anyway, you rent a room that lasts you from 11pm-6am for less than $20US per person, which includes two drinks.  In the room are couches, a big TV and microphones.  You queue up music, which they had in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and then sing to your heart’s content.  The problem with a lot of the English music was that the music videos were missing for a lot of them.  So, to substitute they have these really weird, generic videos that I think were filmed around 1986 for all a lot of the songs.  Also, about 1 out of every 10 words was wrong or misspelled, which was always good for a laugh.

This is a much better setup than US karaoke bars, as you only need to embarrass yourself in front of the people you’re with.  Much more doable.  Four hours later we were exhausted.  This was tons of fun and I can see why everyone does it a lot.  I’m sure I’ll be back soon.

Sunday was equally lazy except that my flatmate Ryan and I decided to go see Avatar at the mall.  Unfortunately, it was sold out, but instead I got my pleasure from eating a delicious, western-style, western-sized club sandwich on BREAD! With CHEESE! It absolutely made my day, and for only about $5US.  Perfect end to a great weekend.