A Week of Surprises and Successes

After the whirlwind of returning from a 10-day vacation, it is clear that all of CUHK is still crawling back to normal speed.  Cleverly, this is also the start of midterms, and everyone seems to be freaking out.  Thankfully, my stress levels are near zero, and all I’m really even a bit stressed about is making more travel plans – more to come on that later. This blog will touch on a lot of subjects so I’m just going to break it down as such. Here goes…

Tutoring with Anh

I’ve now been tutoring Anh, my Vietnamese graduate student, for three weeks now and I can say, I can see huge improvements.  This is very exciting for me because I feel that I am worth the money she is paying.  I was a little worried at first because I had never taught English to someone before, but as a native speaker, and maybe because of my background with tutoring, this came to me pretty easily.  I finally figured out the difference between the “p” and “b” sound and am starting to embrace YouTube for these types of helpful lessons.  I’m tutoring now about 6 hours a week, which is also helping to pad the pockets for the weekend – overall I think it’s working out great for both of us.  Sweet as Anh is, she even got me a box of Chinese cookies, which are pretty good actually, for my birthday when I came back last Monday.

Shabbat Dinner in Hong Kong

About three months ago, I was informed that a family from Israel that my grandparents, and mother’s generation is close with (I don’t even know the last name to be honest) has a daughter living in Hong Kong.  Originally, this daughter, Liat, who is somewhere between 35-50 in my estimates, married a man and moved to Sri Lanka for his business, but then after the Tamil Tigers and ensuing violence they moved to Hong Kong.  Lucky for me!

I contacted Liat late last week and have set up a date to go to their house for dinner this Friday.  I am very excited for a home-cooked meal, needless to say a Jewish home-cooked meal.  I am interested to hear their story and hope to create a connection there that will last past this weekend.  She already mentioned something about going for Seder, which if I’m in the country, will definitely pursue.

Podcasts & Books

Without the constant inundation of television, I have been enjoying podcasts and reading more and more.  I love the podcasts because I can get a good source of news delivered to me as I walk to and from class.  I only have two so far: The Economist and Freakonomics Radio (definitely looking for recommendations).  The Economist one has been great – they do a look at the week ahead each week, plus 3-5 more about different pertinent issues like global politics or the Greek debt crisis.  I love it.

Also I’ve been on a reading bend recently.  I finished “Good to Great” by Jim Collins out of Stanford Business School, and would absolutely recommend it.  It’s about what takes companies from being good (going with or beating the market) to great (clobbering the market) over a 30-year period.  It is a mix of empirics and the sort of “leadership advice” you might expect from an airport book.  But it’s really good and I think has some pretty powerful ideas – highly recommend.

Then I started (and am now 200p into) Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “What the Dog Saw”, which I like so far, but not love.  I think his other books were better (in order of preference: Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink).  This one just seems to be a string of stories (albeit interesting ones) that I can't seem to figure how they fit together.

The last one I’m on right now is Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”.  I found a sweet application called Stanza for iPod/iPhone that allows you access to e-books for purchase, but also a catalog of books available to the public – from authors who are dead etc – including the Guttenberg project which is a HUGE collection of such works. Interesting so far – somewhat similar to The Prince in its motif of logical advice-giving to a real political figure.

Economist from this week:

Freakonomics Radio

21^st Birthday: Round Two

Friday I had made plans with a friend Andrea for dinner, who I hadn’t seen in ages, mostly because of the CNY holiday that cut out basically two weeks in February.  We were going to meet at the MTR and go to a good sushi place called Sushi One in Mongkok – they have about three other locations around HK.  The cool part about this place is that it has a 2-for-1 special on sushi and drinks from 10pm-1am every night, and attracts a LOT of people.

Anyway, after walking around for a while trying to find the place – I hadn’t been to the one in Mongkok – and Andrea even stopping in a store to buy something, we arrived at the restaurant inside a big shopping center (not really a mall). There was an enormous line just to get your numbered ticket, to then wait in line to get a table.  I was hungry, but excited to be eating 2-for-1 all night, so I held out.

Then, as we were waiting to the side, someone tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned around and 10 of my really good friends all screamed “SURPRISE!!” in unison.

(Everyone hiding from me outside the restaurant: All Bday photos courtesy of Victoria Ma)

I was in total and complete shock.  I think I was smiling uncontrollably for about 5 minutes straight. Then all the pieces started coming together – questions and comments people had made over the past week, now all seemed to be like huge road signs. I had no idea about it though, and it was so much fun to be surprised like that.

Then, Mike Wu handed me his phone and told me it was my dad – of course it was.  For those of you who have met my dad, this should come as no surprise – he loves to plan these little lovely surprises and gifts.  Apparently, he had coordinated this all over the past couple weeks – calling people’s cell phone’s (I found out this was Sarah Cohen later on) and emailing my friends all over the world. Kudos to my parents, what an awesome gift from 8,000 miles away – I couldn’t have been happier.

As for the dinner itself – equally awesome.  The sushi was flowing for about 2 hours straight eating some delicious bites of mango-salmon rolls, octopus, eel, tempuras, tuna and more.  I’m sure I’ll be back again, and this time, prepared with my camera.  Also, the drinks were 2-for-1 so we certainly indulged there.  They had some pretty cool glasses that look like a mini-Sangria pitcher with a cove built-in where you can put ice without watering down the drink.  We liked them so much that we brought a couple home!

(Mango and fish eggs wrapped in salmon - soooo good)

(Plain salmon - we probably had about 100 of these)

(L>R, tuna, squid, shrimp tempura, mango, unclear, octopus, unclear)

(So decadent)

(Massive shrimp head)

We introduced our international friends to Sake bombs and I had a colorful drink that was served in test tubes  - gotta keep my academics up of course!  The dinner ended with a delicious chocolate cake that they had purchased beforehand.  This was much welcomed, as chocolate is not something they have too much of here in HK, and something which I desperately depend on.

(Sake!!)

(As promised, lots of Asian posing)

(Yeah, my cakes always have marshmallows on top - of course!)

What a wonderful night with wonderful people.  Again, I didn’t have my camera, so I’m going to try to compile the pictures from other people as I receive them.  Also, just as I got home, I saw the email notification that I was selected to be an RA for next year in Milbrook 3, an on-campus apartment.  I’m very excited to have been selected, and also to be living with Michael Chen and Nick Hartmann – coming full circle from freshman year – it’s gonna be great.

Shenzhen – My First Encounter with Mao Bills

On Friday, I was hanging out with Kent, helping him expand his iTunes library (a universal student experience I think) and he mentioned he was going to meet up with a Chinese friend from his school on Saturday in Shenzhen, and that I could join.  I was more than happy to, as I have had my Chinese visa since late January, but hadn’t used it yet.

For those not familiar, Shenzhen is a city just north of Hong Kong, right on the border.  We can take the MTR right from the University, and from my dorm to getting through customs took all of one hour.  Also, historically, until 1980 Shenzhen was just a small fishing village.  Then Deng Xiaoping (the then Premier of China) began the “Opening Up” process to capitalism, and established several Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) where capitalist activities could be fervently but tightly engaged in.  Shenzhen exploded!  It is now home to a great deal of the manufacturing that you hear about in the news regarding imports from China etc. Most of their 8 million people come from other areas of China, coming to Shenzhen to get a job or start a company/factory.  It is China’s second busiest port, and has its own stock exchange.

Overall I would say that I understood more, but also less at the same time.  As soon as we arrived, I noticed that, while there were some similar stores in the train station – a bakery, 7-11 etc, many fewer signs were in English and Chinese – just Chinese.  However, at the same time, I started hearing Mandarin (Putonghua in Chinese) being spoken all around me, and actually understanding some words here and there.  It made me feel good that I had taken those two semester of Chinese at school.  In Hong Kong, Cantonese is completely unintelligible to me, but in China, I felt I might be able to get some practice.

First, we met up with Kent’s friend Bo Wong from school in Ohio. Bo, who has accumulated many credits through summer sessions, is taking a semester off to work in Shenzhen.  All of us business students, it seemed we were always talking about different opportunities and the way business could be done here as foreigners and natives.

After meeting up with us, he took us on the train to our main attraction for the day – the SEG Electronics Market.  Kent is looking to start importing some electronics from China through a friend’s business and sell them wholesale (not a bad idea if I may say) and wanted to see if he could get in touch with some reliable stores and wholesalers here.  The electronics market is a 5-story indoor market or tiny electronics shops selling everything from USB drives and cameras to motherboards and cell phones.  It was like being on an indoor street market – it was crowded, loud, and full of bargains. 

(Plastic token for one-time use on the train - with RFID of course)

(Walking through main area by Electronics Market - very modern, broad streets and sidewalks)

(As out of place as the flowers planted at WashU)

(Famous jewelry "market" - more upscale than the electronics)

(Entering the SEG Market)

After some time there, we went outside to walk around for a bit and stopped quickly at McDonald’s as Kent and I hadn’t eaten all afternoon. I was very proud to be able to order in Chinese.  Having said that it was “Wo yao yi ge Big Mac” – I would like one Big Mac – and that was that.  And as for my worldwide comparison testing of Big Macs – this one was more expensive than in HK, though I did get a meal, which ended up around $4.5 US, and it tasted pretty much the same as in HK – the meat is weird, and there is too much lettuce and the cheese is weird.  But, it’s delicious nonetheless.  I asked Bo how often he eats McD’s, because it seems that Asians I’ve met absolutely love it – he responded with at least 2-3x per week, which in my opinion is a pretty high amount.  But then again, I’ve only seen enough fat Chinese people to count on one hand, so, I guess we’re doing something else wrong.

(Chinese Big Mac)

More walking around, checking out some street markets for “real” designer goods and then we went down a few stops on their train.  I stupidly asked Bo, “Hey the symbol they use for the MTR is the same, are the two trains operated by the same company”. Bo: “No, that’s the character for train”.  Idiot.

We went a couple stops down to near where Bo lives and found a good massage place for me.  I just can’t get enough of them – and no these are not “special” massages – gosh you guys are sick.  Anyway, for 58 RMB (Renminbi = Chinese Yuan) I got a one-hour Thai massage.  The rate between HK and China is 1 HK = 0.87 RMB, so it was about $10 US for the one-hour – I know expensive right?! (Compared to Thailand and the Phils at least). I got to speak with the masseuse a bit in Chinese, which was fun, and the massage was excellent.  During it, I was thinking about how I always say that I want to be able to have enough disposable income to get a massage each week when I am older.  I always imagined this would take some time to achieve.  But in reality, I was just stuck mentally that I would be in the US.  In China, I could do this every day.  Future plans???

One major difference for me between HK and Shenzhen (even an industrialized, populated place like Shenzhen) was the amazement with the tall white person.  Probably every 5 minutes I saw someone pointing at me, or coming up to me to talk with me.  It was pretty interesting, and from what I’ve heard, the absolute tip of the iceberg for what I will experience in other parts of China.

(Big office building)

(Near sunset)

(He was amazed with my hair color)

(Big Red)

One major attraction that we did not go to (and I don’t plan on going to) is something called Windows to The World.  Basically, it is an amusement park of sorts that has miniature versions of all the world’s most famous attractions – Eifel Tower, Pyramids, Niagara Falls etc.  It basically serves the Chinese dream of being touristy in all places simultaneously, even though they are not real.  Just imagine the number of click-happy Asian poses you’d see there? Oh the glory! (click here for the Wiki, it’s almost funny just reading about it).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_of_the_World

After my massage, I met up with Kent and Bo and we chatted over dinner, a semi-fast food Chinese place where you could eat your meal for under $3.  Honestly, there’s a lot of hype about how cheap China is, which is why like 80% of the people who enter Shenzhen are Hong Kong residents looking to shop for cheap.  But really, I think it’s just about the same for the things I buy in Hong Kong – namely food, transportation and drinks.  Maybe on some more luxury items like jewelry there are better prices, but even so, Shenzhen seems more like an idea and not a reality.

(Really interesting bills...for some reason they have a 1 RMB bill, it's like having a dime in paper form)

Weather

Well, as of February 23rd, I can officially say, with high confidence, that winter has ended.  I don’t know what the groundhog said last month, but I don’t think he’s ever been outside of Pennsylvania.

After arriving home from the Philippines to a horribly cold 55 degrees (this is cold because its also 55 degrees inside), things warmed up considerably, and I can now rely on a balmy 70 with 80% humidity pretty much everyday.  I am consistently wearing flip-flops, and may have retired my long sleeves for a while.  I have to note, there are definitely a few downsides to this warm weather.  First, it is incredibly humid.  This isn’t a problem usually because there’s AC in every academic building – in fact, I went to the library this weekend, not to do work, but just to be in the AC – but not in the dorms, you have to pay for that.  Since I’m not ready to shell out the $1HK per hour (pretty cheap really) for AC, all the rooms are really humid.  So much so that my towels never dry and the bathroom floor is always wet.  The by far worst thing, though, is that some genius didn’t think about the humidity when he was making the fire alarms installed in the dorms.  The high humidity causes short circuits in them, triggering them to go off every few hours.  Over the weekend, it went off more than 8 times in 2.5 days.  Not only is this really annoying, but pretty dangerous, as I now consider the fire alarm a regular occurrence and would probably not know if there was a real fire.  Crossing my fingers, there hasn’t been an alarm in since Sunday, so maybe it’s fixed.

Travel Plans

As of now, travel is looking pretty light for the next few weeks.  I will be trying to go to Macau next weekend, and then am planning a trip to Cambodia for Easter.  It’s weird because we don’t have a legitimate Spring Break, but they give us off Friday, Monday and Tuesday around Easter.  However, to me this is not such a big deal as I never have class Friday, and Monday I’m always willing to skip, so it’s really only an extra day, but an extra day I will take with a smile.

A lot of my friends already had plans – either family visiting, or visiting family or significant others, so I have been searching for a travel mate.  But, as of now, I think I have found one in a friend of Isabelle’s named Floor (yes, it’s pretty funny I know) from the Netherlands as well.  She seems pretty cool and I met her a few weeks ago.  Anyway, I’m excited to plan that trip and keep my long-term travel list in good order.

In April, I hope to plan a trip to Vietnam sometime in the middle, and then a bulk of traveling will be done after finals (the schedule for which they don’t announce for a month) in China for at the very least 2 weeks before I come home.

Until Easter though, I’m declaring March to be my “Month of Hong Kong”. I feel like I haven’t done enough exploring of all the awesomeness that is in Hong Kong – from hiking, to delicious SoHo eating, to the many museums and parks in TST and Central.  It is my goal to become much more immersed in these types of things over the next few weeks – wish me luck!

Wow, I’m not sure how this got so excessively long, but thanks for reading if you got this far.

Also, a good luck note to Michael Chen who is about to embark on a 6+-week solo backpacking adventure through Europe – take many pictures and write things down! Also, look out for the Gypsies, they are sneaky (wa wa wee wa)!