my life at unnc (so far)

I've just been so busy trying to get used to life here in UNNC that i haven't been very diligent at updating my blog as frequently as I really should be. A lot as happened over the past few days (I've already been here for almost four days).

其中，本來看起來很便宜的一個 exchange term (after all, I'm in China where the living costs are wayyy lower), 來到的時候，發現有很多的 "hidden costs". Everything here costs money. Hot water, cold water, electricity, internet, drinking water 等等....。 So I've suddenly become really environmentally friendly: I adhere strictly to a 5-10 minute shower rule, I no longer blow dry my hair (well, also because my Canadian blow dryer doesn't seem to fit into my converter properly), I boil my own drinking water to drink (Chinese tap water comes out yellow and stays yellow after it's boiled, but leave it overnight and the yellowness settles to the bottom and you have clear drinking water. So far I haven't gotten sick yet), I turn off all the lights I don't need to use, and try not to turn up the heater too much.

Speaking of the heater, Ningbo weather is really weird. Yesterday I did not even have to turn on the heater because it was sunny and warm with pleasant breezes and reminded me of San Diego. Today it is just like Vancouver: rainy, freezing, grey and depressing (my fellow exchange students from the UK said it is just like London so I guess London is like Vancouver).

My biggest everyday worry is food. The canteen food is alright but not something that I would want to eat on a daily basis. So my new UK friend (yes, she has a British accent) and I gone out to get groceries the other day (bananas, bread, peanut butter, cheese, orange juice, instant noodles, etc) to help with eating as much as possible. We cook at least one meal a day (and by "cooking" i mean we made sandwiches and cooked instant noodles). The student cookbook that Karen gave me for my birthday is proving to be very helpful. I'm studying it right now so that hopefully sooner or later I can graduate from instant noodles and spam to more sophisticated cooking ingredients like potatos and vegetables.

My other worries include administrative things that I have to get done and some paper work. I have yet to register at the police station (all international students have to do that), open a bank account and find out how to read my class schedule. Luckily, I have made friends with local students that are extremely helpful and nice about it. 難得他們不覺得我麻煩. But of course, these administrative problems are all minor compared to my food concerns.

在寧波不夠一星期，已經讓我認識到一些跟我志同道合的 Cheer fans.

陳綺貞: 三月二十一號，上海見！！！

currently listening: 不如不見 - 陳奕迅

remember everyone: 其實愛對了人，情人節每天都過。 祝大家有一個甜甜蜜蜜的情人節，with or without a lover. =)

Thank You

Thank You. Even on the airplane, You reminded me that there are friendly people everywhere, including in the seat beside me.
Thank You. You know all my worries, and arranged for helpful local students to help me take care of all my concerns.
Thank You. The first thing that went right was my cell phone's SIM card so that I can speak with the ones I love.
Thank You. You provided a new friend to help me when I thought it would be difficult for me to fit in.
Thank You. You haven't just provided any friend, but one that shares my faith in You.
Thank You. With Your Words You comfort me when nothing else can.
Thank You. Morning by morning, new mercies I do see.
Thank You. I know that no matter where I am, I can always rely on You.

生病了

去看醫生, 他說我感冒, 要吃葯，多休息，少出外吃飯，等等....

i hope i get well before i head to Ningbo.

老陳一日遊

中環 + 山頂纜車 + 天星小輪

一個街市 = 整個高貴林

(This is 牛池灣街市)

At least in terms of 人數. 今日有機會陪嫲嫲爺爺去街市飲茶買餸．The yum cha place (yes, again) is outdoors and it seemed quite unclean. Most of the customers were 老人家s and we had to share tables with other people. The style of eating was self-help (i.e. get your own tea, utensils, bowls, food). 食得很不舒服 because of the unclean surroundings but if my grandparents could do this everyday (yes, literally) and are now already over 80, then it couldn't be that dirty/bad. So far 我都無肚疼．　But if within the next few days 我只有半條人命，大家都知道發生了什麽事，

下午同謝好天先生去了觀塘的aPm．用了大概一小時的時間，終于找到了KFC, 吃了一個四人套餐 (we each had 2 glasses of pop, 5 pieces of fried chicken and a bit of the small eats that came with it i.e. rice, corn, fries, etc). We were like refugees from Darfur that haven't seen food since last year. 之後花了$45 (學生價）to see a HK movie called 家有囍事 2009. As expected, it was stupid but pretty funny. 最後本來打算去捐血 at Red Cross (we saw an ad for it at aPm) but, after filling out an immensely long form, we were both rejected because we were both in North American less than 28 days ago. They wanted to ensure that all donors don't have West Nile before they donate blood. I pointed out to the lady that Vancouver was almost at sub zero temperatures the month before I left and was cover with snow and that no mosquito could ever survive any of that. Nonetheless, she insisted that it was policy and told us to come back later. 成日叫人捐血, but 有血上門都唔要. 無辦法.

currently listening: 嫲嫲煮飯聲

先人在天國

第一天回到香港, 就是買了這些....雪糕米糍 because 平時 in Vancouver it's too expensive, the 溢力多 because that will help me digest all the food i eat and the chips because 在 Wellcome 買夠$50就可以換一個印花...不知道有幾多個印花就可以換一個行李 and i was off 50$ by a bit.


前一天跟婆婆一起去了一個叫"西方峙" 和 "圓 yuan 學院" 的地方 (on top of a hill in tseun wan)，去看我已經死了六年的公公和二姑婆的靈位。這些美麗的花就是買給他們的 (they didn't have real purple so I settled with pink). 在這些佛教的廟宇裏面，有很多的觀音菩薩 (why am i stating the obvious) and other types of Buddhas that i don't even know who's who. Because it is Chinese New Years, there were lots of people crowding around statues of worship and visiting these "scribes" that could write some slips of paper to help them if they are 犯太歲 (who is 太歲 anyways?)

因爲靈位衆多，找自己親人的靈位也不是一件容易的事. The whole place is like a maze with different rooms. Inside each room are thousands of plaques with a photo of someone (sometimes more than one person i.e. husband and wife), their name, their dates of birth and death, their 鄉下 and sometimes, the family that they have left behind. Occasionally, you will find one plaque with a photo and right beside it there's another spot for someone but instead of a photo, there's a red slip of paper with some chinese characters on it. My grandma said that spot is reserved for the spouse of the dead fellow if he/she was still alive.

其實去看他們的靈位也不知道該做什麽。　It doesn't seem appropriate to bow or to talk to them since, obviously they can't hear me anyways. At the same time, standing in front of the plaque and not doing anything seemed disrespectful and against the more Chinese-y sense of the thing. Sometimes the women who work there would ask if we need to buy some incense or what not and my 婆婆 would answer them “耶穌　耶穌" and the women would understand and back off. 其實我兩位長輩都是臨死之前接受了基督, 所以我知道 even though their "earthly remains" are trapped inside this Buddhist temple surrounded by idols and incense burning, to them, it wouldn't matter 因爲他們已經有了永生的鑰匙. As for me, I'll see them both in heaven.

Currently listening (a number of things): 1. some next door neighbour kid playing a scale on his/her clarinet 2. mahjong coming from downstairs and 3. distant buzz of cars

沒有 Internet 的日子

Internet-less days are really slow. My 70+ year old grandma obviously doesn't have wireless so I've been living off tvb and the 10 other channels they let you see on HDtv in HK. Yup, that's right. My grandma doesn't have wireless but she has HDtv. So I've been having my share of tvb shows and, because it's Chinese New Years, TONS of lion dances. Like EVERYWHERE. At first I was intrigued by it all the festivity but now it's just annoying and noisy.

So I've been thinking of what to write for my first blog in HK but I realized that there ain't much. If you ask me what I did for the past four days, I'd say one word would sum it up: eat. I know, it's not surprising since I'm Kathy and all but seriously, even I'm getting sick of all the food. It's always yum cha, yum cha and more yum cha. I still haven't been to Cafe de Coral yet (my favourite HK eatery) so I hope I can eat that for breakfast tomorrow.

Hopefully the next time I blog I'll have more interesting things to say and photos (I'm on my kai ma's laptop right now so no photos). I miss you all immensely and hopefully the midterm crunch hasn't killed any of you yet.

oh and by the way, my god brother took me to "one of the best bubble tea spots in HK". We waited for like 15 minutes on the street for our drinks with like 20 other people around this little bubble tea corner store. All I can say is, nothing beats lazy den.