Lantau Experience

Another week goes zooming by.

I spent today in Lantau, on a trip with some students from the mainland. A good time was had; however, weather was not permitting. Actually afraid that I've come down with a cold. Anyway, here's some pictures because that seems to be what everyone seems to like best :)

This is, more or less, the entrance to the place:

You can see the big Buddha statue in the upper right hand corner. The statue is actually a recent edition to mountain and, in the eyes of some people on the trip, a tourist trap. I don't know. It's not an authentic Buddha statue from ages past but it was still pretty cool to see. There did seem to be some religious people paying homage regardless.

Here's a closeup:


And let's go for a closer closeup:

More about how the day actually went now...

Basically, I had fun. Traveling with people from the mainland and practicing my Chinese was cool too, especially after discovering that paying a private tutor was going to be out of the question for the time being (even if I just learned more internet slang than anything else 神馬？）. Oh, and did I mention the cable cars?

Yes, I took that picture from inside one. And, as you can tell, it was fun and a little bit scary. Oh, and cold. I thought it was spring here already, but I was wrong. In Hong Kong we're currently getting the cold rainy season that comes in Spring's place and ends with the arrival of the brutal summer. Can't wait for that :P

Anyway, figured I'll do something a bit more erudite before I sign off here for the week. After several conversations with friends, I've come to realize just how much of a give-and-take language learning is. What I'm finding to work best is when people learning each others' languages make time to help each other practice. It's good to set up certain time periods just for speaking one language, and then moving to the other afterwards. What doesn't work is when people get selfish, and only want to practice one language without helping someone else learn their own. I've come to realize, too, that some of my biggest frustrations with language learning have come when I've felt like people were 'taking' more than they were 'giving' or, on the other hand, when I was expecting to 'get' more than I was willing to 'give.'

Anyway, back to the grind of learning Chinese, thesis writing, and so on. I'm now officially 1/4th done my time here. It has flew by, so far, but there's still a long way to go. And I have to admit, I do miss home a bit.

New Years pt. 2

Not much new this week. Worked pretty hard on my topic this week, and relaxed this weekend. Blisters on feet from hiking 30 kilometers are gone.

Haven't gone out, because it's been cold and rainy. And I thought spring was here! Haha. Anyway, instead of doing another real update, I'll just post some more pictures from last week.

Hiking back:



Beach



牛肉



I would like to know what this is



Rocks



Friends



The gate

Happy New Year!

Have I really not updated this in a month? I'm terrible! :P

Anyway, this week was the Chinese New Year. As can be guessed, there was a lot of celebration going on. Unfortunately, most of my friends went home to their families (good for them!) so I had no choice but to celebrate on my own for a majority of the week. One of my friends here, Nancy, took me to a special market that's only around during the New Year and bought me some presents. Props to Nancy for being a good friend!


Other than that, I didn't do much for the New Year. The good thing is that my holiday boredom inspired me to join some events that I normally wouldn't. As a result, I wound up going to Xigong again, this time with a lot of other international students. We wound up hiking through a lot of mountains (about 15 miles worth) in order to get to a beach, where we just kinda slept, chilled, and played soccer for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun, and very relaxing. Though I am a bit tired and sunburned now.

We took a cab back and ate in XiGong. I was hoping we'd eat some expensive Seafood, especially after the long hike, but a couple people we were concerned about the price so we just wound up eating at a normal cafeteria. It was a bit of a let-down after an otherwise awesome day, but thankfully it didn't stop me from enjoying the time I spent with everyone. I do hope, though, that next time we all agree on a place to eat beforehand.

Anyway, as of Wednesday the break is over; though I'll probably go to the office tomorrow. Also, vague plans to apply for my Visa on Tuesday. Better print out the form. Here's a couple more pictures before I go (and, of course, you can always find more on the photobucket I linked to in the first post):