The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

First and foremost, I want to let everyone know that I've been credited in a compilation of detective stories which I worked on last year. The book is now available to purchase. I helped proofread and annotate the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

You can look at the book here! Feel free to even purchase it if you want ;)

Okay, commercial's over... moving on...

I'm going to do things a little bit differently today, and instead of posting every single detail about my life here in Hong Kong I'm going to simply post "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly."

Before I get into that, though, I'd like to let everyone know that you can make comments on this blog. Feel free to ask me any questions. If there's something specific about HK or my studies you'd like to ask about, feel free, and I'll be sure to make that the focal point of the next week's blog.

Now, for our presentation of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."

First, The Good:

I've made a lot of friends here in the past two months (already two months? Yikes!). Also, the scenery here in HK is quite nice. Crowded as it is, there's also a lot of more natural areas.

In fact, the other day a friend and I climbed a local mountain. The mountain is only a ten minute walk from our hotel. Here's a picture of me during the hike:



Another great thing about being in Hong Kong is the amount I'm learning. Though I originally feared that there wouldn't be many Mandarin speakers, there are quite a few, many of whom live in my building. I really do feel that I'm learning more here than I would have been able to back in the States, since I'm now using my Chinese on a daily basis.

Now, The Bad:

While there isn't a lot of bad, I do have to admit one thing: though I AM using my Chinese everyday, the amount of English that's used here is both a blessing and a curse. While I can always talk to my friends-- especially those from the mainland-- in Chinese, when I go to a store or a restaurant things are different. Often, the waiter or waitress will speak to me in English before I've had a chance to say anything. And on even rarer occasions, since the Cantonese language is much more popular here than Mandarin, my friends from mainland China will even have to use English to order their food.

Of course, another bad thing is being away from loved ones. Thus far, I've been too busy to be homesick. But we'll see what happens if I'm unable to make it home for Winter break...

Finally, The Ugly:

The Ugly is, simply put, looking up a Chinese word in the dictionary only to discovery it's the same word I had to look up twenty minutes ago. This, by far, is one of the most challenging difficulties of language learning. The frustration of having to look up words constantly should speak for itself I think :p

Though this was a reality of the Chinese classes I took in the United States, it is now a fact of life. As usual, I'm spurred to push forward through these obstacles by the same mindless doggedness that's caused me to stick with the language for over two years now...

Anyway... I think that's all for today. I have to get to work on some readings. Also, later today my friend and I are going to get Sushi. Ironically, Japanese food is EXTREMELY popular here in HK. I will post some pictures later if any are taken.

Joseph