Caitlyn Should Have Told Us About These Pictures

I was snooping around on facebook trying not to do homework, and I found these pictures from Caitlyn. They're great.

An Excellent Short Story

I haven't done too much today, but I did read this short story. It was in the New Yorker. It's called "Alone" and it was written by Yiyun Li. It was very good. If you have some time, I'd recommend reading it.

The Racetrack and Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

So, on Wednesday night, we decided to go to Happy Valley Race Track, which is located right between Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. I hadn't been there before, and I heard it was fun, so I wanted to go. I went with Susanne, Heidi, Lorenzo, Eric, and AJ. We also met some other kids from UST there. I was really impressed by the size of the race track. It was cool.

When we walked in, this guy wanted to take our picture. He then gave us the decision to either keep the picture or get a certificate for free beers. We kept these pictures, but soon took more and got some free beers. That was cool.

I didn't do any betting, but the people I was with did so. Most actually won, too. Lorenzo put $10 down and ending up winning $200. Not too bad.

After the races, we walked over to Wan Chai. There was a band playing in a bar there, so we decided to go there. The band was pretty good, and there were also some other kids from UST there, so it was pretty fun.

Yesterday was a little different, since I was going to class on Thanksgiving. The classes went well, nothing too exciting. After Lit (around 6pm), Lorenzo, Josh (from WashU, via Canada), and myself took off to TST to pick up our Thanksgiving meal. We got four turkeys, cranberry sauce, salad, bread, and stuffing from Fat Angelo's. Then we went over to KFC down the street and picked up three buckets of chicken and mashed potatoes. We then took a cab back to campus and met the rest of the eating group in a room. There were about 20 of us. We had three of the turkeys pre-cut, and the last one I carved with a huge knife - the one I bought from Stanley Market. Most of the food went. It actually was really fun. I wasn't expecting to have such a good Thanksgiving while in Hong Kong.

After dinner, we put some music on (I brought my iPod and speakers) and played a few drinking games. It was fun. We then went out for the evening, and had a fun time. All in all, a very different but quite good Thanksgiving.

Today, I talked to Mom, Uncle Bill, Auntie Ro, and Kristina. I'm catching up on stuff now, and I'm gonna run shortly. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

Oh, and there are more pictures up, starting here.

Tuesday: Lots of Food

Yesterday was a great eating day. After OB, Lorenzo and I went to Choi Hung to pick up our student Octopus cards. Then we decided to go to Mong Kok (one of my favorite places in the entire world) to do a little shopping. I wanted to get a new flash drive, as some of the locals showed me very small ones with tremendous memory. So, we went in search of the Computer Center. We happened to stumble upon it, and it was a very unimpressive building. There was only one small storefront in sight, so I was a little disappointed. We went up a staircase, however, and we were confronted with every imaginable technology device needed. I purchased two things: an 8GB flash drive and a USB number pad. The flash drive is about the size of top half of my thumb; it is incredible the amount of memory they can put into something so small. I got the number pad because there is not one on my laptop, and I will be doing a lot of work with Excel next semester. I will be going back there, in order to get a 1 terabyte external hard drive. That amount of memory is so absurd that my spell check did not even recognize the word. I also might get the Windows 7 update, because I think the price will be better.

After leaving the computer center, we wanted to get some street food. So we found a little spot and I got pig intestines on a stick. I wanted to try it because I see it all over and it's pretty popular. And it was actually pretty good. It's not my favorite, but it wasn't terrible. We walked around some more, then decided to get some more street food. This time I got octopus balls, which were delicious. They might be my favorite street food yet.

Once we got off at Choi Hung, we went over to the little market over there and walked around. I ended up buying some pork neck meat, which is absolutely delicious. If anyone is getting Chinese food in the near future, I would highly recommend it.

We then went back to campus. Susanne had invited me during the day to go to hotpot with her and a couple friends (mutual friends - Heidi from Canada, and AJ, visiting from BC via studying abroad in Australia). So I ran, showered, and headed back out. The place was in TST.

The food was quite good. We had lamb, beef, dumplings, veggies, clams, etc. It was a lot of food. We ordered so much because it was all you can eat (and drink) for only about US$10. We also had a few beers, and ended the night playing some drinking games around the table. It was a lot of fun.

Today, I ate breakfast, went to class, worked out, and talked to Mom and Caitlyn. Now I need to shower before my next class. I am going to the horse track tonight, so it should be a fun time. I'll update how it is later.

And, if I do not do so before tomorrow, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

P.S. - I just got a haircut. A nice buzz. I'll bring the camera to the horse races tonight and take some pictures and then everyone can see the new cut.

New Pictures

By the way, I put up some pictures from the Philippines. I also forgot to mention that I got roasted by the hot Filipino sun yesterday. It rained/ was overcast most of the time, so I wasn't expecting it when the sun came out. It was only out for a short while, but pale Irish skin and hot, tropical sun is not a good combination. Have a good Monday everyone.

The Philippines

So Thursday night began our journey. I met Dominic, Wolfgang, Francesca, Janina (all Germans), Yaser, David (both Americans), and Soren (Danish) in the atrium at 10pm. We took a cab to the airport, had some food beforehand, then got on the plane at 12:50am. We landed in Cebu, the second biggest city in the Philippines, around 4am. We then took a cab from the airport to the port, from where we took a boat to Bohol, another island in the Philippines. The ride over was quite uncomfortable, as someone decided it would be a good idea to create a seat with two uncomfortable mounds right where the butt cheeks would sit. We arrived in a couple hours, then took a cab from the port to the resort.

On the way, I was very surprised at the level of poverty in the Philippines. It was very disconcerting. The are only a few streets which are paved, most of the "houses" are little more than shacks, and there were all sorts of people walking around without shoes. I thought of the Philippines as a developing country, but they have a long way to go.

So, we arrive at the resort and they show us to our rooms. They were a little modest, but they were right on a beautiful beach. That more than made up for it. Everyone was quite tired from the long journey (we arrived at the resort around 9 or so), so everyone had a bit of a nap.

When I woke up, I had lunch and then I read my book for a while. Then we went to dinner. I just had a drink, since I hadn't eaten too long ago, as did some others. I eventually ate some pizza, which was actually a lot better than I expected. We had some more drinks as the nights progressed, and it was a nice night.

The next day I had a bit of a lie-in. When I woke up I ate something, then read my book on our deck. Then, we decided to take some motor bikes around. I was a little nervous, as I had never ridden one before and because the Philippines doesn't really have "rules of the road", but it ended up being pretty fun. Upon our return, we showered and then went down the beach for some dinner. Dominic, David and I shared a whole fish and a whole squid. They fried the squid (as in calamari) and they barbecued the fish. Both were very good, but the squid was a real standout. There was also a guitar trio which came over and played for us during dinner.

After dinner, our waitress asked for my autograph, as she thought I was Elijah Wood. Yaser also convinced her that I was, despite my protests. It was pretty funny. I signed E Wood, so as not to disappoint.

After that, we had a couple drinks at the bar next door, then went to bed early, as we were waking up at 5:30am on Sunday.

We had ordered breakfast the night before, so it was waiting for us when we woke up. We ate on the boat, as we were rushing to try to see some dolphins. And, we actually got to see some. It was very cool. We went to an island not too far from our beach and snorkeled, which was awesome. There were so many fish and other interesting sea creatures to see. We putzed around the island after snorkeling, then we took the boat back to our beach. We had some lunch down the beach, then it was time to leave. It was a quick weekend.

The return trip was also a journey - we left the resort at 3pm and didn't arrive back on campus until 1:15am. It was exhausting.

Now it is back to classes and whatnot. Thanksgiving is Thursday, although that means nothing here. I am going with a couple of friends to pick up dinner for Thursday and bringing it back. I think the final tally for the eating group will be around 25 or so. Hopefully the food won't be too bad, although it won't compare to a Filippello Thanksgiving. There won't be any fried turkeys for me this Thanksgiving.

Also, I have 27 days left in Hong Kong. Wow.

Rest of the Week, Philippines for the Weekend

So, this week was very studious. Today, I had a presentation for OB and a paper in Anthropology of Food due, so this week was a lot of preparing for these two items. Both turned out well, and I was pleased. I wore my grey suit with blue shirt and yellow tie for my presentation. I looked very professional.

I'm off to the Philippines for the weekend. I'm very excited. We're taking a midnight flight, then we get in around 4am or so I believe, then we take a ferry a couple of hours to another island. It should be quite the adventure.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Go Bears and Eagles.

By The Way It Got Really Cold

Today, it got quite cold. It was about 45-50 degrees, rainy, and quite windy. I wore a thermal shirt and some jeans. There were people wearing hats, scarfs, and full-on winter coats. Completely unnecessary, but it was very different from the usual weather. Just FYI. Apparently it will be warming up this weekend. The Philippines will be good weather, I am led to believe. I'm glad about that.

The Weekend, and Monday

Thursday night I stayed in. I ran after class, and I already was tired from my whole day of classes. Also, most people were staying in as well. I read my book, and got some good rest.

Friday, I worked out, did some homework, and then went out to dinner. I went in a group of nine to an all-you-can-eat hot-pot restaurant. Hot-pot is very popular here. You are given a pot full of boiling broth in which you can cook meat, vegetables, seafood, etc. It's pretty good, but not my favorite. After dinner, we went out and had a fun time.

Saturday, I had a group project meeting. I didn't plan on going out, but I was talked into it by Eric and Lorenzo. We went to a party down in the city, and it had a mafia theme. I wore dress pants, a white shirt, a vest, and I slicked back my hair. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone else also decided to dress up. It was a fun night.

Sunday, I woke up, took a shower, and had some breakfast. Then I trotted off to the library for the rest of the day. I met a couple others for dinner after my library day, and I got roasted pork neck with rice. It was delicious - probably my favorite meal I have had on campus thus far. After dinner, I watched Thank You for Smoking, as I thought I deserved a break after the full day in the library. It was very entertaining.

Today, I woke up, had breakfast, and went to Operations. After class, I searched far and wide on the internet for a stream of the big game between the Colts and the Patriots. I had to settle on watching the ESPN gamecast update every few seconds. I was disappointed. Also, I stopped watching the gamecast after the Patriots took a 31-14 lead. I really wish I had been able to find a stream, as the game turned out to be quite the classic. Too bad the Bears can't have wins like that. At least those Eagles are still in contention.

After the game ended and I had lunch, I went to my discussion for Food. After that, I worked out. Then I met with the group with which I am going to the Philippines on Thursday. We kinda firmed up our plans for the weekend and such. After that, I went to TST to pick up my third and final suit, this one a navy blue one. It looks very nice. On my way back to campus, my friend called me and asked if I was still serious about going to Taiwan next weekend (Nov 26-29). I said I was, so I think we are going. We want to book flights tomorrow.

Now, I'm just in my room, working on finishing up my paper for Food, and waiting for my OB group meeting to commence in an hour.

That's all for now. Hope the week begins well.

Why Did the Bears Trade for Jay Cutler?

Seriously, why? Unless they want to spend some money on some new offensive linemen (and 85 year-old Orlando Pace doesn't count) or some decent receivers (Devin Hester played cornerback and kick returner at Miami for a reason), then having a former Pro Bowl quarterback is pointless. But seriously, 5 interceptions? Five? Wow, that is awful.

So, back to Hong Kong. I have some work due next week, so this weekend will mostly be occupied doing that. I got some more music from the library, so now I'm over 9,400 songs (putting that in perspective, I could listen to music 24 hours a day for the entire month of February and never hear the same song twice). The new music is all classical music.

This week on campus, there were graduation ceremonies. Here, they apparently take after the British, as the students who graduated last May do not have a graduation ceremony until now. This is a little different, but no big deal. It became a big deal, however, when they decided to do this three-day ceremony in the middle of the atrium in the middle of the school. Mind you, you cannot get anywhere on campus (seriously, anywhere) without going through the atrium. This made it exceedingly complicated and frustrating to try and navigate to various classes. It was also extremely crowded. It was very annoying. It's fine if you want to have the ceremony in November. It's also fine that you want to do it in the Atrium. It's not fine, however, to do so during the week while classes are going on. It's ridiculous.

Another little quirk about Hong Kong: no one picks up their own garbage. Say, for instance, you are out at a fast food restaurant. You eat, then you bus your own table. That is not the case here. Everyone leaves their trash on the table, and then it is someone's job to come around and pick it up. Maybe it has some communist overtones, as a company needs to employ an extra person just to pick up trash. Everyone can have a job then, I guess.

That's all for now. Hope all is well. I'm gonna go for a run now. Go Eagles.

A Birthday, A New Suit, and Some New Food

So, yesterday was my friend Eric's 21st birthday (he's also from BC). So we went to the uni-bar and had a few drinks to ring in the occasion. It was a fun night.

Today, I went to dim sum with my fellow BC males (Eric and Lorenzo) as a quasi celebration of Eric's birthday. In fact, I think we all just kinda wanted some dim sum. We ate on campus, and the dim sum was actually excellent (if anyone doesn't know what dim sum is, it is Chinese breakfast. Most of the food wouldn't be considered breakfast food in the west.). And, for the first time, I ate chicken feet. They were quite interesting. I wasn't a particularly big fan of the feet, but I tried them. They are quite bony, and there's not a lot of meat to them.

After breakfast, I went to see a speaker. He was the executive director of HSBC, so I thought it worth my while (and skipping a class - sorry) to see him speak. It was. He gave a very nice, technical discussion of the recession and what the new world order will look like in the future. I enjoyed it, and I am glad I went.

I hurried off to OB after the talk. After class, I got some crab and pineapple pizza for lunch with Lorenzo, who is also in my class. Then I met Eric to go to TST to pick up our suits.

When we arrived in TST, I got my perfunctory Mango Sago, which was delicious as always. I also got curry fish balls on a stick, which were actually pretty good. Then Eric and I picked up our suits. My new suit (grey) looks very nice, and I am excited to wear it next week for my OB presentation. While at the place, I also picked up another suit - this one a dark blue/navy suit. I knew I wanted one, and it being Eric's birthday and my third suit, we got an especially enticing price. So that one will be ready on Monday.

We both fell asleep on the MTR back to campus, but we awoke in time to get off. When we were on our way out of the station, I took Eric to see the little night market nearby. Then, we decided to eat dinner there. No one could speak English at the place, so the waiter called a friend and we ordered through her. We ended up having a really good meal, and it was quite inexpensive. We were both pleased.

Tonight doesn't hold too much for me. I'm currently skyping with Mom Jones, so I'm sure I'll be on that for a while. I do need to finish today's paper, and maybe I'll get some other work done.

Sidenote: I am now in the room by myself for a while. Today, Gunter left for Indonesia for twenty days. He really doesn't need to go to classes, as they do not count nor do the credits transfer. So, he is going to train at his kung-fu place in Indonesia.

That's all for now. The Bears really disappointed me this weekend. Oh well. Hope all is well back in Chicago and elsewhere...

Mad Men

Lots of surprises in the finale of Mad Men. I'm very sad that the season is over. I really enjoy watching that show. I am very excited for the next season to start, even if that isn't until next August...

Another Visitor

Last night, I met up with another visitor. This visitor was Michele Dietz, who is a Park Ridge native and fellow '07 Ignatius graduate. She was studying abroad in Thailand for the past five months, and her group came to Hong Kong before leaving. So I was able to meet up with her. We first met at the Mong Kok MTR station, then I showed her the ladies market, the enormous open-air market for everything. She said she definitely wants to go back before she leaves on Tuesday.

After that, we took the MTR over to TST and walked around there a bit. We also got some delicious meat-sticks and Mango Sago, both of which were great. Then we walked through the huge mall there, and she almost had a heart-attack when she saw that the mall had both Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnicks (sp?) shoe stores there (Ellen Jones did the same). Then we went and took the Star Ferry across to Central. As luck would have it, we got on the ferry at exactly 8 o'clock, which is when the light show begins. So we had a great view for that.

We went to Good Luck Thai in Lan Kwai Fung for dinner, one of my favorite spots to eat in Hong Kong. We had chicken and beef satay (more meat on sticks) for an appetizer. We also had some garlic naan (Indian flat bread), chicken curry, some Thai rice, and a couple Tsing Tao's to wash it all down. Everything was great.

After dinner, we walked around LKF, as "Carnival" was going on at the time. We purchased a couple of beer things which hung around your neck, which were cool. We had Erdinger, as I mentioned at dinner how good it was. We saw the sites, finished our beers, and headed back. On the way, this guy on the MTR struck up a conversation with us. He was an American, that was obvious from the accent. Then I asked where he was from, and he was from Boston. To continue on the night's theme of a small world, I told him that I go to BC but was studying at HKUST for the semester. His daughter goes to Ohio St. and is also studying at HKUST for the semester. Very funny.

Michele and I said our goodbyes at Yau Ma Tei, and I was home by midnight. It was a lovely night.

Today, there's gonna be some homework finished and such. I also will get to start my new book (Blink by Malcolm Gladwell), as I finished 1776 on Friday night. It was excellent, and anyone remotely interested in American history would really enjoy it.

Go Bears.

Lost in Translation (the movie)

I just watched Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. It was really really good. The story takes place in Tokyo, and the plot involves a lot of miscommunication between the leads and the denizens of Tokyo. There were some really funny parts (i.e. - the part in the hospital with the old man) that I especially identified with due to the language barrier I have here. I would highly, highly recommend this movie (although there is a brief scene in a strip club, so for mature audiences only). There is also a sorta-love story aspect to this film, but it is really well done. I think this is one of my favorite movies I've ever seen. I really enjoyed it.

10/10

Thursday and Friday

Yesterday, after my marathon of classes, Eric (another BC kid) and I went to TST to get some suits. This time, I decided to go with a grey suit, 2-button, with cuffs. And I got a nice blue shirt. I think it should be nice. After the suits, we went around TST and ended up at this restaurant nearby. It was full of people, so we figured it must be good. And it was. I had fried noodles with beef in XO sauce, and Eric had some curry beef. Good stuff. We came back to campus and I met with my OB group for a project. After that, I met up with some other kids at the bar on campus for a couple drinks before bed. I was back to my room by 12:30, so not too late of a night.

This morning, I did some further things with my OB group. After, I did some skyping and some downloading music. Then I went for a run. Then it was back to TST for a fitting. The suit is looking nice, and it will be ready next Tuesday. After our fitting, Eric and I walked around TST, stopping in a couple bookstores to browse. I'm just figuring out which books I'm gonna get come winter break. I got a pretty good list working already. We also got some mango juice, and some "meat-on-stick" things, which turned out to be quite tasty. We also had a couple pork buns, as I had a craving for one (I am becoming Chinese). Eric wanted to stick around and do some more shopping, but I wanted to get back, as I was tired and my back was a little sore (nothing to worry about, though, mom - I took some Aleve). When I got off the MTR, however, I noticed a shop which was lit up right nearby. I walked over to it, only to discover that there was a whole night market going on. I walked around there, looking at the fresh fish and the butchered meats, and I ended up getting an egg tart. It wasn't too bad. Then I cam back to campus, had some dinner (a barbecued pork omelet, which was much better than it sounds), and now I'm back in my room. I'm gonna attempt to do some work, but I think I might take it easy tonight. I'm gonna hit the library tomorrow after my workout.

That's all for now. Hopefully, the Bears will have a successful weekend. No game this week for the Eagles. And we can start cheering for the Bulls once again.

And happy birthday, Kelly Whitney. I am shocked, legitimately shocked, that you are now fifteen. Unbelievable. Nevertheless, I hope it's a good birthday weekend.

It's Cooling Down (kinda)

These last two days have been the coldest days I've yet to experience in Hong Kong. Yesterday, it got down to 70, and today is only 75. Needless to say, I wore a sweatshirt these last couple days.

I think it will be quite the rude awakening when I return to Chicago and Boston.

These last two days, apart from the change in the weather, haven't been too interesting. I had my classes, I ran and/or worked out, ate meals, and slept. And did some homework. That's about it. I'm reading the paper right now, and I'm going to do some Operations Management homework after this. It's gonna be an exciting night.

Best Episode of Mad Men Ever

The newest episode of Mad Men is the best episode of the series thus far. And the most important. It was great. Watch it.
Season Finale is next week. It's called "Shut the door. Have a seat." I can't wait.

Some Other Thoughts

I forgot to mention how good Mad Men was last week. Maybe the most important episode ever. If you didn't see it, you really missed out. You can buy episodes on iTunes. And maybe it even is on-demand. Or it replays Monday night before the replay of the new episode.

Also, I was happy to hear that BC won yesterday. Too bad they couldn't have pulled out a victory at old Notre Dame. Most of my friends actually drove out to ND for the game, travelling in RVs. Joe, my roommate from last year, told me how he rode there with eleven other people in one RV. I guess it was pretty crowded. He said it was a great time, though, and I'm disappointed that I missed out on it. Oh well.

I Did More Exploring

So, on Friday, I decided I needed a costume. I went with some other to Central and got some stuff. I then heard that the Ladies Market (which is a huge misnomer) also would have great stuff. It is in Mong Kok, not too far from Tsim Sha Tsui. So I stopped there on my way home from Central. It was so cool. Mong Kok is the most crowded area of the world I have ever seen - there's stuff and people literally everywhere. I walked around there for a while, bought a couple of presents for some people, then went back. I will definitely be coming back. It is a really cool place. Next time I'll bring my camera...

I got back to campus then around 8 or 9, and decided I would go into Lan Kwai Fung with Gunter and Yaser for dinner. I didn't plan on going out after, but I wore my Rex Grossman jersey just in case. We had a pretty good dinner at a Thai restaurant, but it didn't have anything on my meals with the folks. I ran into some of my BC friends after dinner, and, of course, they talked me into coming out with them. I had a very good time, and I'm glad I went out. It was very crowded, being that it was Halloween weekend, but it was fun.

The next day, I had planned to go to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. It is called the Tian Tan Buddha, and it is the largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha. It is indeed huge. I went with Bryan (from Vancouver), Ellen (from Florida), and Micro (local). We had a really good time, but it did take a while to get there. We first had to go to Central, then catch a ferry, then take a bus when we get off. I'm glad I went though. There was also a Buddhist monastery nearby, called the Po Lin Monastery, and that was also very cool. We left the area via a cable car, then had some dinner before heading back to campus. It was a great day. All told, the trip took around 10 hours. I went out last night to a jungle-themed party, and it was also pretty fun. No complaints.

So that's about it. Hopefully this post, and the other novel I just wrote, satiate everyone for a while. There's a ton of pictures up from the Buddha and from the parents' visit. Enjoy. Thanks for reading.