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there's a ghost in my room. something supernatural and freaky and that's all i know. let me explain.
two nights ago i woke up in the middle of the night to someone standing at the foot of my bed, on my bed, looking at me. i thought my roommate had sleep walked over to my bed for some reason, so i yelled "kristen!" to get her to wake up. well then i heard her stir in her bed next to me, and definitely not in front of me. so i stared at the person and as my heart was about to beat out of my chest, it finally went away. so i thought i was delusional but now people are telling me there's a ghost and since people commit suicide at my school more often than normal, maybe that's why.
but maybe i'm just delusional.
anyway, all the trauma caused me to sleep late through my 9:00 and then when i was ready to go to my 10:30 i lacked motivation and instead sat around until i met oscar (local student) for lunch @ the cafe. he brought me some dessert from 'pie and tart' which is a famous hk bakery. it was an egg/dough/cheese concoction. it was good but i could have done without the cheese part of it. anyway, rahul joined us and later apologized for barging in our date but it was very much not one of those. then i went to my 1:30 and then i had my 3:00 and then a group meeting at 6 and then that was over. (thankfully).
kristen, jeff, michael and i went out for indian food and met up with oliver and krisstopher there too. it was my first time having indian food abroad and boy, was it needed! although my tummy hurts a little bit today and i wonder if thats a result of the delicious meal. 
we went to a club called volar that jake told us about and got free shots until midnight (which was about 20 minutes away from the time we arrived) and then just kind of hung around. there was a famous dj there from paris and im not really into that kind of music so i didn't think it was all that grand. but jake and rahul were loving it. and i mean lovin it! (i think it was because they went to vistory's pub night "drunk in four shots" before they met up with us) (and also sebastian was sick so he didn't join us) (and so was david leibman)
after a stop at 7-11, we headed back to mine and kristens room and hung out and ate chips and drank water. it was a grand old time until i was ready to go to sleep. which i did at 3 and now at noon the next day im awake and my only obligation for the day is to go to the gym. and perhaps i could work on homework. but...yeah.
oh and on a purely separate note from anything i have written above: i think im starting to find religion or spirituality or something like that. i've been thinking about a lot of things since i've been in hong kong regarding myself and what i believe and now i think that i'm leaning towards buddhism. however, im going to refrain from categorizing myself because what does that matter? all that matters (to me) is what i believe and it's a personal thing so i don't need to declare it. but i do like to talk about it, for instance, right now.
i think the main goal in life should be to be happy. finding contentment, i have found (haha), is NOT an easy task and takes a lot of time & effort. i've been so used to feeling sad, dull, bored, depressed, anything negative for the longest time and then a transformation occurred and here i am, happy and healthy and wonderfully excited about everything in life. and now all i want to do is keep progressing toward that enlightenment, which i think is the point of life. you have to find out who you are and what makes you content.
all the rest is just fluff.
at first i got hooked on travelpod because ted, the yoga guy from mn used it for his travels in india and i thought it was so damn cool. but then i remembered that i love google and am a super huge nerd like that so then i got a divorce and here i am, in the stages of a new relationship.
this way, i can write more of a personal journal and not just about travels and all of that profound stuff that i happen to occasionally stumble upon. i hate not finishing things so i'm going to have to let the travelpodders know that i've moved on, tear. :( and i also maybe uprooted my old posts into this and now that's enough of that talk.
today i woke up and feeling a bit groggy, i showered, dried and curled my hair, got dressed, and quietly (or so i tried) slipped out the door and headed for central to get more passport pages at the us consulate. after a long ride on the crowded mtr (when is it NOT), i ended up in central and followed the 'peak tram' signs because that's how you get to the us consulate if you're wondering. after 20 short minutes at the consulate, my passport was looking all shiny and happy and new and then i went and wandered around central because really ive only been to lan kwai fong there to party and im sure there is much, much more!
i ended up at hong kong park where there is an avian section which OMG i love birds. i wish i was a bird and maybe in the next life (if i didn't get this one right) i'll come back as a pretty bali mynah which is the coolest bird. well for now anyway. i wrote down the name and sketched it on a receipt that i was using as my bookmark in eat, pray, love. i love that book by the way. at first i was wary of it because i thought it was about just religion and finding god and it's so much more than that. it also makes me crave going to these places (italy, india and indonesia). if im lucky ill make it to bali or at least jakarta this spring. so after chillin with the birds for a while and listening to their pretty calls, i parked myself on a bench and read my novel for a little longer.
after escaping my little sanctuary in the park, i headed back to the crowded mtr and back to class. i went to lab which was a joke (info systems 101) and then walked over to the cafe where i knew i'd find sebastian eating a sandwich and studying chinese. funny how people are creatures of routine and habit. we talked for a bit about everything i could expel in 10 minutes since i had so much energy, then i had lunch with kristen, frances, hannah, christine and some other people in lg1 which consisted of dim sum. then i headed to management which was terribly boring since it was about absolute & comparative advantage and other trade theories and HELLO have we not learned this? or have I not anyway?
so then i kept jeff company with my coffee as he munched on his panini and then i headed back to my room for some flight searches and a quick nap. then i did some exercises and yoga stretches and now ive just finished my dinner (indian food from a box that was interestingly tasty). after i got a quick divorce, here i am.
i think ill finish the night by calling my fam fam and possibly proposing the idea of staying in beijing this summer (maybe not because the timing is off, i can just feel it) and then stretch, shower, and sleep. but seb might call me so my plans might change, but probably not. ps he is indirectly teaching me how to speak british and i love, love it. it's my favorite accent by far, with aussies trailing close behind.
today was perfect. the weather felt first-day-of-school-autumn-esque and the only thing missing were the leaves crunching beneath my feet. (that andrea would have to go back and crunch if she missed)
love and misses
After traveling 6 hours on a bus out of Phnom Penh, we arrived in Siem Reap and were quickly escorted to Yellow Guesthouse, which is an extension of Okay Gueshouse. I just can't get over the awesome names of these places...so original!
My favorite part of the bus ride was when we stopped at a rest area with vendors selling fruits, whole chickens and best of all, spiders. Not just any spiders, but huge, black, thick, gynormous, disgusting spiders cooked with oil and eaten whole, with yellow goo to accompany the body. Seriously, I know if I had grown up on spiders, I would think nothing of it...but since I didn't, I found it truly sickening and had to back away when a spider-vendor got close. (Eew).
We made it to Angkor Wat in time for the sunset but the cloud coverage was anything but forgiving. After exploring for a good twenty minutes, we gave up and tried to go to the market. Well, we ended up at some tourist area that wasn't all that great, but we scored some t-shirts out of it, my main goal of course. We headed out for dinner and drinks and had a happy old time and then headed to bed in order to wake up for sunrise @ Angkor again.
So after waking up a little late (5am) we headed in our TukTuk to Angkor and faced East to watch the sunrise. Well, we saw the sky lighten but that was the extent of it because of the lovely clouds. So we explored Angkor Wat a little more, then headed to Angkor Thom and saw Bayon and Preah Khan and then finally made it to the beautiful Ta Prohm which was left to the jungle's mercy and cleared out later on. (Also where Tomb Raider was shot, you know, the big trees entwined in 
the structure of the temple). What is amazing about all of these temples is how intricate the design and structures were, even when they were constructed so long ago! (The Angkorian Era began in 800 AD) It is sort of difficult to imagine what life was like back then, but when I was walking through the temples, I tried to picture people and how the structures used to look before they were subject to time and nature. Rahul said a movie should be made about ancient Cambodian civilization and we all eagerly agreed. We decided it was a good temple tour and headed back to have some breakfast and make it to the 12:30 Angkor Express back to Phnom Penh.
Back in PP, we had dinner and drinks and celebrated our last night in Cambodia. We toasted every drink and then finally called it a night in anticipation of an early morning wake-up for our 8:50 flight.
Now I am back and it feels a little relieving to be on familiar territory, in my nice cold dorm room with my computer and bed.
And now that I've gained a little perspective, I can quietly return to my life in Hong Kong...
Until the next adventure.
Cambodia is a whole different world from anything than I have experienced. It reminds me a bit of Vietnam, but only in the small roadside shops, lack of serious development sort of way. Cambodia is by far (in my eyes) poorer than Vietnam and it breaks my heart to see all of the people who don't have anything, or very little anyway.
Children sleeping on the sidewalks and begging for money and selling fruit for so cheap to make a little bit of a living makes me question why there is such injustice in the world. Some can afford to spend money like it's nothing on yachts and houses and cars, while others can't even afford to live anywhere but on the public sidewalk. It also makes me feel very fortunate to be able to have the things I do and experience life in the way that I am...traveling and viewing these lifestyles with my very own eyes is something in itself.
After a grueling set of flights and waiting in the "aircock bangport," we finally reached Cambodia, but with much exhaustion. After settling in at the Okay Guesthouse, Seb, Rahul, Jake and I took a four-hour nap to recharge for some exploring. Our first destination was the Killing Fields of Cheoung Ek which I soon found to be a waring experience on the heart and mind...something I was not prepared for. As soon as we entered, I set eyes on a monument dedicated to the victims of the mass genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s. I prayed for them with incense and a small donation before stepping into the little sanctuary with a glass case filled with skulls and other bones. These were real people who died because of hate and ignorance. I couldn't bare to look at them for very long, as my stomach started to churn and my eyes began to well with tears. We were also able to see some of the mass graves with horrific descriptions and the walk around the field was eerie and chilling. How can people do this to each other? What drives someone to want to kill another person, much less an entire population of people? It baffles me and I'm sure others feel the same way. It's just so sad.
After that, we headed to the 'museum' which was code for the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was a former school turned prison during the same genocide period. Over 14,000 people were tortured at this prison named S-21 and we saw the prison cells, the torture instruments, beds they were chained to, and worst of all...the pictures of the victims. The childrens' pictures were the most heartwrenching part of the tour...little innocent lives being imprisoned and then burned to death, sometimes by other children who were bred to be evil by the Pol Pot Regime. These two site visits were a silencing way to begin our trip, but traveling isn't just about beaches and having fun.
To be exposed to the realities of the world, past and present, is surely a gift. So many people I know have no idea about the world outside of their own small sphere, and my naive eyes still aren't aware of much of what the world has to offer. I'm still learning, but it's a rewarding experience.
Shenzhen is so underrated. For those of you who aren't sure, Shenzhen is a big city in Mainland China that is roughly an hour away from Hong Kong. In order to go, I had to get my Visa rush serviced, trek a little to get to the embassy and pay a hefty fee. But it was definitely worth it because this weekend was amazing!
Most people go to Shenzhen for cheap prices on clothes and electronics. What they don't know is that they can stay at awesome, relaxing spas for a cheap price too! I, along with Jake, Jeff, Dave, Seb, Rahul and Arne went to Shenzhen by train on Saturday morning/afternoon and when we arrived we immediately started
shopping. We were measured for suits and shirts from a tailor in this crazy, demanding, insane mall where all of the shopkeepers chase you to buy their products which are "copy" everything. Copy watch, copy ipod, copy Gucci...you name it. After I was measured I still had to wait for Jake and Jeff to get their measurements down so I ran off to a shoe store and in the span of about 15 minutes managed to buy 6 pairs of shoes after trying on about 20. (They weren't all for me and totalled about 40 USD so that's what, less than 8 a pair?!)
Then we had a late lunch at a restaurant in the mall that turned out to be surprisingly one of my favorite meals since I have been here. After that we checked into the Queen Spa and Dining complex and the beginning was a little upsetting for me because since some of the areas are split up between men and women, I thought I would be doing everything alone (including sleeping with strangers) since I was travelling with 6 guys. Anyway, we got it worked out so that instead of sleeping in a common area, we got a private massage room for the seven of us. I also cried a little because I thought Jake was pissed at me when he said "It's either this or some shit hole hostel." So yeah. But Jeff was super caring toward me and that made me appreciate him a little more and pretty much everyone softened up once they saw that I was upset. :) I have good friends.
Well we finally checked in, headed to the massage pools that consist of many pools with different forms of water massage like jets shooting from shower heads, overhead jets that pour onto your back as you lay down, jet beds, whirpools, everything. So after being amazed at that, we showered and got dolled up for a night on the town! We went across the street to eat some Chinese food which wasn't all that great and then headed to a club called Chocolate. The bar was so fun and crazy and I got to practice my Chinese with some people there. There were definitely some creeps and I met the asian version of my guy roommate from last summer and that was sort of awkward.
After the club we went back to our massage room and while Jake and Jeff had massages, we all stayed up joking around. After falling asleep at the wee hours of the morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the "rest area" which consisted of two gynormous fruit bars with all the things you wanted to drink. The rest area was also comprised of a gazillion chairs with people getting massages, watching tv on their personal screens, eating, reading, whatever. Not to mention to pool tables, Wiis, and all that other entertainment stuff we didn't end up using.
After hitting the massage pools one more time, I finally had my full-body aromatherapeutic massage that lasted 100 minutes and included a facial. It was a lot different from the massages the boys had because I was alone in a dim, lush room with suede walls, a beaded curtain, soft music, yummy scents and plush bedding. After that, some of us had foot massages while we lounged in the m
ost comfy chairs in front of a big screen playing American Gangster, drinking tea and resting.
Finally, I am back in my dorm room ready to return to "normal life" for about four days. It's so weird to me that Hong Kong feels like home and has this welcoming aura to it once I step back into the city after being away. Funny how that could happen so fast! I'm going to Cambodia on Thursday-Monday and it should be a very intense and interesting trip.
Can't wait to tell you about it!
So there is no particular reason that I am writing this other than to write it and keep everyone up to date on the daily happenings of my life.
This week was quite uneventful! I came back from Macau on Sunday and slept all day because of our early morning travels and then joined the boys in the common room for lounging around. Then on Monday I was going to get my visa...but that didn't happen. Only class and grocery shopping and a futile attempt to find a heater happened. On the bright side of that, I know the mall and shops at Hang Hau like the back of my hand and have found some dry cleaning places to remove all the smoke and soot from my pretty dresses.
Tuesday I skipped two classes because I thought I was dropping one of them but it turns out I finally got into the class and well, oops. Seb and I watched Trainspotting in my room, which I have to say is a crazy movie, but good nonetheless. Ewan Mcgregor being the lead character doesn't hurt either. :)
Wednesday I went to lab on "advanced googling" which was quite the joke, then headed to international management, booked a cab to Wan Chai to apply for my Chinese Visa, met Terrence @ Hang Hau for sushi, then headed back to the dorms to hang out with the crew. I was going to go out but thankfully I didn't because I had a full day of class on Thursday.
Thursday. I didn't go to my first two classes. Hopefully my parents aren't reading this because I didn't go to class and that is what they are paying for. Frack. I did, however, make it to logistics management and to strategic management and this time I kept my mouth shut as a result of the other day's blunder in class where I answered the teacher like five times and he didn't get it and shut me down. Frack again. Anyway, I made Valentine's cards for my friends here and then met Terrence for coffee before his track practice. I finally got myself back to the gym and ran for half hour and then ate dinner (in my room and from the microwave and it was awesome) and then watched part of a movie, showered, and here I am....about to finish the movie and then start homework and then relax.
Anyway, I'm going to Shenzhen on Saturday while everyone is in either Bangkok or somewhere in the Philippines. But hey, it's a cheaper trip and it's sure to be a good time!
Love you all and hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful, even if you are single like me! :)
<3>
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Or in other words, Kung Hei Fat Choy!! That's a phrase I learned when I was young but I wasn't ever really sure how to say it exactly or what it meant. Now I get it. :)
In spirit of Chinese New Year, almost all of the exchange students went to a club called Skitz last night and it was open bar and ladies night which translates to free drinks are bad for you. I didn't have a whole lot but it turns out that the drinks are strong and I spent until 5pm today sleeping. Great, right? Then I talked to my dad today and his only piece of advice for me was "don't get drunk." Then he also told me which means when I drink, don't get to the drunken point. Which translates to my dad knows and is okay with me drinking a little bit. Well maybe not okay with it but not oblivious. Anyway, it's when things go shitty that you know who cares and who steps in. My friend Christine and some other girls were helping me out and apparently they weren't very convincing to me when trying to make me go home, but as soon as I heard my friend Jake's voice, I was ready to go. He was very sweet last night and pretty patient with me.
On a much worse note, my good friend Sebastian got sucker-punched by a guy trying to take his cab (big freakin' deal, right?) and then he got knocked unconscious and hit his head on the pavement which resulted in stitches and a sore jaw. Dumbass drunk people make me so mad. Today he wasn't feeling too hot and I left Central with him to go to back to campus and he was falling asleep on the train. Amid the drifting off and being tired, we managed to make some plans and brainstormed for our spring break trip in Tokyo. I can't wait!!
Oh and two days ago we went to the flower market for New Years and I bought a plant and a balloon for my friend Frances' birthday, but failed to get a plant for myself. I did try some crazy dessert thing and had some sugar cane juice which wasn't too bad but definitely sugary. Then tonight we went to TST to watch the CNY parade and it wasn't that great but we managed to get into this VIP section of a nice hotel where we definitely didn't belong. But it was fun anyway! Afterwards, Kristen and I and a few other people went to
an Italian restaurant which wasn't awesome but it was the best service I've had in Hong Kong and definitely a nice break from Chinese food. Asian food for that matter.
Anyway, it's time for rest and recouperation and a good start to the new year! :)
So these past few days have been exhausting. I went out a few times, stayed up too late and lacked in productivity. On the upside, I called a few friends and had some good chats which eventually led to a pang of homesickness that lasted for a couple of hours. Don't get me wrong, the life here is amazing and dreamlike and super duper cool but then I start to miss those certain people that I'm so used to having in my life everyday or at least a lot closer than thousands of miles apart.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping for the first time at Taste, a store that is "more than food" and right next to the Hang Hau MTR station. Kristen, Frances, Christine and I made a trip of it and ate at a sushi bar and then had gelato. I also finally did my laundry which feels awesome except for the fact that it is currently in heaps on my bed which prevents me from being able to sleep in my bed. And why would I want to sleep in my bed when it is not even 5pm here? Well because I woke up 12 hours ago to go to Lan Kwai Fong to watch the Patriots NOT make history at Bulldogs, a British pub. Speaking of Brits, my new friend Sebastian is pretty cool and I have a class with him, Juliette, Micheal and Jeff which is totally awesome. I'm starting to say things like Seb without even trying to. Hopefully I'll gain his accent and not the HK accent of broken English. Okay that's mean but true. I'm starting to lose my grammar and it's sad.
I'm sitting in the computer barn...yes barn not lab...at school and I hope no HK students look over my shoulder and read this and get pissed at me for saying they speak poorly. I can't speak Cantonese, so they have one up on me.
Anyway, today I finally got my Octopus card form stamped (I thought that sounded dirty but of course I did) and now I just have to go to the MTR station to get a card so I don't hold up my friends when they're ready for automatic entry to the trains and I have to speed through getting a ticket and run breathlessly to catch up. I'm exagerrating of course and I'm not particularly sure how to spell that either. Oh well.
I have a Blackberry that I found and well it's sort of stolen I guess because I didn't make enough effort to find the person it belonged to and return it. I am a bad person. Now I get made fun of everyday for talking on a BBerry and they call me "Hollywood." Well Dave does and some other people do sometimes. But Dave's kind of a punk.
Anyway, it's getting sort of late and I need to get to the fitness center.
See you soon my loves!
Oh, and I burned my hair off. Friggen high voltage.
So now I am back in Hong Kong and it really is very interesting to see the culture and experience it first-hand. And I mean up close and personal. For example, lines and queuing are a rarity. People shove, push, budge, and basically do anything they can to get ahead of you, literally. To anyone who has claustrophobia, do not come here. Seriously, don't!
However, despite some of the rudeness that is sometimes hard to comprehend for a little Minnesota Nice girl, Hong Kong can be truly a cool, efficient, astonishing city. When you get off of the MTR or subway system to change trains, the one you are switching to pulls up as you are walking to it, as if it saw you coming. Well I am sure they do in fact know you are coming, but it still baffles me everytime it happens. I guess I am easy to shock...(that's what she said, for those of you who missed that little line from me, which I assume is none of you).
As for the people, I haven't gotten to know many Hong Kong local students or residents, but the exchange students are all I could have asked for and more. They're all so nice, intelligent, funny and definitely a great time to be around. My roommate and I are getting along pretty well and she's introduced me to a lot of people since I was gone for a while while everyone was meeting each other. It seems that people are getting homesick though. I talked to a couple of my friends who are starting to feel that way, and I'll admit I have a little bit of that heartsickness as well, especially because my mom, Nancy, Nathan and Mary just left this morning to go back to the states. :/
But we'll all be okay as long as we have each other and have fun.
And boy, is it fun.
we went to a club called volar that jake told us about and got free shots until midnight (which was about 20 minutes away from the time we arrived) and then just kind of hung around. there was a famous dj there from paris and im not really into that kind of music so i didn't think it was all that grand. but jake and rahul were loving it. and i mean lovin it! (i think it was because they went to vistory's pub night "drunk in four shots" before they met up with us) (and also sebastian was sick so he didn't join us) (and so was david leibman)
