Gallamine.com

Oh no! The escalators in Whampoa Gardens are backwards! They caved to the forces of Right Walkers.

I made myself a salad for dinner. Healthy aren’t I?

In exchange for very high cost housing costs here in HK you get amazing convenience. There’s a grocery store on every corner (literally). Today I made the mistake of buying too many groceries and having to lug them to my room. I think if you lived here and had a family you’d either 1) take the whole family shopping to help bring it all home, 2) be filthy rich and have a car, or 3) go shopping everyday for what you needed for the next meal.

I kinda like the idea – perhaps the women don’t (my mother would hate it).

Everything is small. No big bags of potato chips, no 20 oz drinks (just 250mL), no bulk candy, and no regular Italian salad dressing – just the “lite” and “fat free” business. Bleh! And there are streamers and signs hanging in the grocery store that hit my head when I walk around … constantly ducking.

I want ice-cream.

First let me just say that today, er, yesterday, er, tonight … however it goes with these timezone differences (the 28th at least) makes 6 months that Jamie and I have been on this strange and wonderful journey of mutual romantic interest together I find that a pretty amazing thing, considering how long I had to wait for this.

Anyways …

So last night I broke down and did it … yeh … twice … I feel like a failure …

I went to McDonalds, and got two double cheese burger meals (hey, they’re a lot smaller here … )
It was so good. I ate it all. Enjoyed my guilty pleasure the entire way. I just needed something from home. Afterwards finally ended up at a Starbucks (not my first choice but eh … ) and read for a good while. The seat was hard but it was good to be out of the room.

Speaking of being “out of the room,” currently I’m locked out. My key card suddenly decided not to work anymore.
I woke up early (well, I actually didn’t sleep last night) and came into the common room as to not bother Thomas. I tried to knock on the door but either 1) he’s too asleep to hear the knock or 2) he’s not in the room. I also tried to call.
I could go downstairs and get security to let me in, but it’s $5 HK and I’ve already had to do that twice … but unless the card mysteriously starts working again I’ll have to do it anyways. But, I’d like a shower and some clothes first … well, clothes other than PJ pants and a hoodie.

Mmmm … nothing much else is happening. I don’t know what I’ll do today. Tomorrow I think I’m doing some hiking on HK island.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145493,00.html

…

Makes you not want to have kids, eh?

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness … but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So this whole “driving on the left” deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

For one thing, it takes a lot of getting used to. For the past 21 years of my life the idea of “look left then right” has been ingrained in my head. That’s just how you do it. But, not here.
Escalators too. I always try to get on the wrong one.

HOWEVER, this would all be great BUT these folks aren’t consistant. Half the time they walk on the left and half the time on the right. The walkway from the dorm to school is filled with right walkers. Then, on the bridge over the road it’s a free-for-all – “pick a side.” It makes for horrid congestion.

I find this aggravating.

They are “zebra crossings” here, not “crosswalks.”

Tis a down night.

This post on TWW gave me a good laugh. Not sure why …

========
if no one has mentioned it, this is what you do.

before you go out to dinner, eat something, not a lot that will fill you up, but like a bowl of cereal, small sandwich, or whatever.

so when you goto dinner, you wont have to order a big meal, so then your date will see that you got something small, and women never eat more than the men. so she will order the same thing, or smaller.

you saved yourself some major $$ there
========

So, today I went hiking with a group from the 19th floor. Alex and Pierre came too. Unfortunately, I forgot my “solar creme” as Pierre calls it, and I’m not rather red and sunburned.

We took about a 30min trip up into the New Territories to the main reservior for Hong Kong (Sai Kung East Country park) and hiked about. Hiking here isn’t near as fun as in the States where you have lots and lots of open forrest and you don’t see many humans. Here was a lot of concrete and too many people. There were a few really really nice spots though. Pictures will go up soon.

At one point Pierre shook a tree and bats flew out. Visibility is generally pretty low here, but there were some spectacular vistas of the sea and all sorts of little islands.

We somehow hooked up with a local guy who came along with us that went by the name “Lego.” “Like the toy” he said. “Actually,” he continued, “I named myself ‘Legolas’ but my firends were lazy and just called me ‘Lego.’”

I wanted to go swimming rather badly, but I think it would have been chilly. It’ll warm up soon though.

I went with a local girl, Shelley, to another church tonight – an Anglican church. However, the night service was very ‘contemporary.’ It has potential. I think I shall visit again.

Tonight I went out for indian food with Chris, Meagan, Ryan (Toronto), and Ronny (my Hong Kong-ese (that’s what they call it)) buddy.

The food was excellent, albeit a bit expensive. I think I need to cut back a bit on my dinner spending.

I came back to the hall and “indulged” in some traditional Chinese dessert, “sweet soup.” Which is made out of bean curd and is gelatinous. They put yellow sugar on top. The first few spoonfulls weren’t so bad … but, unfortunately, it got worse quickly. Right now I’m still feeling a big sickly and get a few “ugh” shivers

I tried to see if the inaugaration was on the TV here, but I don’t think it was. I had to watch it streaming from Fox’s website, but it was pretty choppy. I missed Bush’s address

I’m craving dairy. It’s extremely expensive here – milkshakes, mac ‘n’ cheese, pizza, etc. I also really miss Cookout and Bojangles.

Monday:
12:30 – 1:30 – Marketing tutorial
1:30 – 4:30 – Embedded systems lab

Tuesday:
10:30 – 12:30 – Embedded systems
6:30 – 9:30 – Elementary Putonghua (Mandarin)

Wednesday:
10:30 – 1:30 – Telecommunications

Thursday:
4:30 – 6:30 – Marketing

Friday:
1:30 – 2:30 – Embedded Systems tutorial
1:30 – 4:30 – Telecommunications lab

Talked to Jamie this morning. So lovely.
Had a great lunch for like $2.50 US.
Marketing class just for kicks – looks interesting.
Just hanging out now. What to do?

I left this morning about 10:00AM to get to church. I stopped at a bakery on the way to get breakfast. They seem to everywhere.

Church was pretty western. Service in Cantonese though. I had to have a translation radio job. Funny thing is that I met a woman I had gone into China with back in ‘99.

It’s a long way out there though. Probably 30 minutes from Hung Hom.

After that service I tooled around the mall next door for a while. Eventually I got hungry and dropped in the nearest eatery doorway. It was some Japanese place called “Watami.” It was quite good and I splurged and got dessert … I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten dessert at a resturant before.

Serving sizes here are much smaller than in the US. It takes a bit getting used to, but in the end, I think it’s better. The same goes for drinks – there is no such thing as a free refill. Drinks are also pretty expensive (I had a Pepsi and it was about $2 US). Tea is served for free with every meal though.

I tried to order a “Cherry Cola” but the woman said “no good” and motioned for me to get something else … I have no idea what that meant.

The Pizza Huts here are bang up! So nice. Swanky looking even. Maybe I should eat there once just for the experience. They’re not the trashy places they seem to have devolved to in the US.

Can someone explain to me how the cell phones work in the subway? Are there antennas in the ground? High frequency signals are seriously attenuated by the ground so they must be.

After that mall I went back to Mong Kok to get a better feel for the place. I saw this ring for about $8 US.

Check out the pictures of some of the stuff. Lemme know if you want some

I think before I leave I need to go “all out” and buy myself a genuine Hong Kong ultra chic outfit, complete with the weird high-tops and goofy glasses.

Well, I’m off shortly to go find a church. I feel compelled to Worship my Savior in a foreign land. ’twill be interesting.

Last night Alex and I went down to the water front and took pictures of Hong Kong island and some other stuff. Very beautiful.

I didn’t do much yesterday. Spent the morning talking to my family and Jamie. I went out and explored a bit. I tried to look for a bed pad, but no luck.

I took a nap at 4 and didn’t wake up till 8. I fell like such a slacker. I’m not sure whether I should get as much sleep as possible or whether I should begin to condition myself to normal sleep patterns.

We’ll I’m off.