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):

Rosary Church

This weekend, like last weekend, was a pretty uneventful one. Friday night, I went to Hong Kong's Ikea for some reason (I still don't know why) and last night I went to an Indian restaurant with a classmate and had curry. It was good, but a little bit expensive; and I'm still not sure it was worth the price! Today was looking to be another lazy Sunday of relaxing, napping, video games and music-- especially since, once again, my friends are all busy-- but I decided to do something different and went to church. There were a couple of Catholic churches near by, but I decided to go to one in Tsim Sha Shui due to its proximity to shopping and the fact that Tsim Sha Shui is an all-around decent place to spend a Sunday.



Mass was nice. The priest who does the English mass, Reverend Sheridan, is from (and was ordained in)Ireland. I talked to him briefly after mass, and he seems nice. He invited me to come more often, and I think I will. I think it'll be nice to get involved in a church-- or, any community outside school, that is. It's always good to have a life that consists more than wasting time on the internet and one's current school-job.

After mass, I walked around shops and eventually bought this CD. It's good; not quite as good as the Arcade Fire album I purchased recently or Jose Gonzalez's solo stuff, but still really good. And, it sounds good played on my new speakers which came (along with a bunch of scholarly books) in the mail this week.

This weekend was bad for productivity. But what are weekends for? Thankfully, Fallout New Vegas has glitched out so much I can no longer enjoy it, so I probably won't be playing that next weekend. Of course, I get paid this weekend, and I've got a decent hunch I'm also going to be purchasing Dragon Age: Origins :)

Will update again next week. Possibly after church :P

Well, not much to say...

This week was a pretty standard week. The semester begins tomorrow, so I just relaxed this weekend. The friends I'd normally see on weekends were all busy this week with various things, so I've just been keeping to myself.

My adviser gave me some readings materials, which I'm pretty excited about. Two books about early Chinese literature (in English), two books about Script Writing and Classical Chinese (in Chinese), and finally one book about the history of Chinese literature (also in Chinese.) I'm averaging about 1 page per hour. That's up from one paragraph per hour, which is where I was when I got here!

Classes begin this week. Monday I'm taking a class on "The Literary Theory of Carving Dragons" （文心雕龍）. Then Tuesday I'm taking a language class. Finally, friday I'm sitting in Dr. Chen's Classical Chinese course. Looks like this semester will have me back in the classroom, rather than the office. Honestly, I like that better!

Oh, and the New York Jets are going to the AFC Championship!!!

Back in Hong Kong

Hey everyone. Sorry that I haven't updated in like a month! I usually wait until Sunday night to update, but I forgot. And then I was on a plane. And then I was home, and since I didn't bring my computer with me there was no reason to update. And now that I'm back in Hong Kong, I'm ready to get back into the swing of weekly blogging.

For this first update, I guess I'll write about being home. I arrived at JFK airport Christmas Day and was able to stay until January 4th. Originally, I feared that the break would be too short (and, of course, there was no way it could be long enough) but it was just fine. It was a nice, relaxing chance to recharge and see the people who I love. And now I'm back in HK, quite ready to take on whatever this city and M.Phil program throw at me.

When I was home, it snowed. In fact, it snowed less than one day after I arrived home. Thinking about the fact that I was only 20 hours or so away from being on the tarmac'd Cathay Pacific flight really does give me the creeps. Next time I go home for Christmas, I won't schedule a Christmas Day flight. I'll schedule a few days or a week earlier, so there's no risk of missing the holiday. Man, what a bummer missing Christmas would have been.

This time, I lucked out. Instead of being stuck in an airport, I got to play in the snow with Casey:



My mom said that I should start planning my next trip as soon as possible. I'd like to, but I can't. I can only keep it in the back of my mind. I know I'll be coming up again in the summer, but there are just too many variables right now so I can't say when. There will be a conference in early spring, for example. And then, at some point, I have my mid-term review. I'm assuming I'll be prepared, but something tells me I'll be better off waiting until that mid-term review is over before coming home.

For now, all I can do is work hard and take the opportunity to go home next time it comes to me. And this upcoming week-- the one that starts tomorrow-- is my first "true" week back, working on things without the obstacle of Jetlag. Speaking of which, I've recently read some scholarly articles which inspired me to begin new readings of the Classic of Poetry. What I'm finding so far, even though I've just begun, is that I can get to a place where I really am able to appreciate these poems from a literary-- rather than historical or linguistic-- point of view.

Can't wait to dive back in tomorrow.

The semester is winding down...

Looks like this semester is finally coming to a close. Although I shouldn't say finally, since it went by really fast. I can't believe that it'll be over by the end of this week.

Last week was tremendously busy, which is why there was no update. Not only was I immensely busy doing my paper, but I was also helping host our department's "Symposium on Poetic Legacy and Textual Tradition in Pre-Modern China." I barely had time to do all the things I needed to do. That said, this week I managed to finish my essay and, aside from proctoring an exam yesterday, I've been able to relax, watch some movies and play some video games.

Last weekend's conference was interesting. I couldn't understand the majority of it, but I did meet some relatively famous professors from the United States and Europe. They gave me some advice for learning Classical Chinese, too, and this week I've managed to put some of it to good use.

This upcoming week, I'll be keeping myself busy trying to draw up what I'll focus on next semester. I've got to select my courses when I come back. I've also got to hone in on my topic, and figure out what I'll be doing. This includes, among other things, figuring out what interests me, what research has been done, and what Chinese research is worth me delving my full energy into reading.

After that, I'll have a couple more days to tie things up around here. Then, I finally get to come home. I'll only be home for 10 days, but I'm very excited nonetheless. Having ten days to hang out, relax, and spend time with family sounds fantastic :)