Class Updates

The past few weeks I’ve been pretty busy with papers, projects and midterms. The last two weeks in October marked the ‘Mid-term Exam Period’ so everyone has been locked away in the library. I actually only had one mid-term exam and a paper, but I still have a few presentations and projects due in early November. So now, I’ll do a brief update on my classes (sorry if this is boring, it’s just different from my normal classes at HWS so I figured I’d write about it).

Let’s start with International Politics. I had a midterm exam in the middle of October. This exam consisted of 10 multiple choice and 4 short answer questions. The questions were on a separate piece of paper, which we were able to keep, and we were to write the answer in an 8 ½ x 11’’ green notebook (like blue books, but normal sized). In addition to the professor, there was also some other administrator in the class to proctor the exam, which I thought was odd since she just stood there. We got our scores back this past week, but it wasn’t your normal ‘here’s your whole test and this is what I took points off of’ but rather ‘here’s two pieces of paper for the whole class with your student id number and your grade.’ So after class the professor left these two pieces of papers at the front of the class and there was this mad dash to them. It was rather unorganized and crazy, something I’m glad we don’t do in the States. I am also working on a presentation with Viktoria, from Russia, for our tutorial on Thursday. We are presenting on Regionalism.

 A different perspective of the world.

(The school also had a “University Assembly” (similar to HWS' President's Forum) with the former Head of “Mossad” of the State of Israel Ambassador Efraim Halevy and our professor recommended us to go. So I did. Although his talk was scattered and all over the place, he focused on non-state actors and intelligence services in the 21^st Century. It was rather interesting and an experience to say the least since some Lingnan students were protesting about something religious in the back of the auditorium.)

Moving on to Media, Culture and Society. I had a midterm paper for this class due last week, and although it took me quite a few drafts to write, I finally did it and was happy with the final product. I also have a term-project for this class and I am working with some other exchange students on it. We are supposed to focus on some community thing and provide a voice to certain groups/minorities/organizations. (It’s okay if you don’t understand, because my group and I are still trying to figure it out as well). But we’re planning on working with this community arts organization and will produce a magazine with different articles/pictures about events and local and ethnic artists. Two weeks ago we went and visited an organization in Yuen Long that works with children of ethnic minorities, and our professor, Lisa (yes, the same professor that teaches Media Ethics) wants us to use that field trip as an example for documenting our term project.

I’ll continue with Lisa’s classes and talk about Media Ethics now. Except there’s not too much to say. Since I did my tutorial presentation in September I don’t have to worry about that. We have a term paper due in December that I’m not too concerned about that. And a lot of the same topics are discussed in Media, Culture and Society and in Media Ethics. Last week in lecture, the Cantonese was finally cut back, but I think I will have to wait until Thursday when I have tutorial again to say for sure. Stay tuned!

And now, Visual Culture and Digital Media. Nothing too exciting going on here either. We’ve been talking about our projects and presentations that are due at the end of the semester/later this month actually. I’m working on “creating identities online.” The class has been looking at how media and culture have changed over the past few years. Remember—you can check out that blog here: http://smhvisualculturedesignmedia.blogspot.com/

Last but not least, Non-Fiction Film. For this class we have this main project to create worksheets/discussion sheets for Hong Kong secondary (high school) schools about documentary films that we think they should see. So in my group, we decided local students should see the film ‘Petition’ by Zhao Liang about people in Beijing petitioning for injustices and wrongdoings by the government. Zhao Liang worked on this film for over 12 years and was forced to stop right before the 2008 Olympics. It’s an interesting film that sheds light on how Chinese people feel about the government. My group has to give a presentation about the film and our discussion sheet on Thursday. In the classroom though, we’ve been watching about 2 films a week in addition to lecture and short discussions. I’ve been able to see a variety of films, especially Asian documentaries that I probably would have never picked out myself.  Last week, we watched ‘Nanook of the North,’ a 1922 film about the Inuits in Northern Canada. It was a great film!

Classes here are very different from those at HWS. They’re longer (2 hours is short, here) but they always have a ten-minute break at some point, which is nice and necessary. And most classes are broken up into lectures and tutorials, which allow time for discussion. I will say it’s weird not having one class 2 or 3 times a week for a shorter period. I think I like the HWS style of doing classes because I feel classes here are so rushed as professors are trying to get in so much in such a short period of time and they just get so boring. It’s had to pay attention for 3 hours especially if the professor is lecturing the entire time. It’s quite the experience!

Lazy Weekend

Last weekend was rather a lazy weekend. Thursday, classes were cancelled because of graduation (yes, the class of 2010 graduates in October, so graduates all have to come back for the ceremony, odd, I know). Kat and I went to visit the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. We got a little lost getting there, because it’s off the beaten track, but we eventually found it after exploring some other temple/cemetery-like place. 

 So we thought it was a cemetery because it had these rooms with walls filled with pictures of people and dates like (1940-2006) or something like that. And there were only Chinese people there, Kat and I were the only foreigners so it didn't seem like tourist site.

 View from this place/cemetery/temple?

To get to the Temple of 10,000 Buddha, we had to climb up 400 stairs, lined with gold Buddha statues. When we finally reached the top, we headed for the main room, where the 10,000 Buddhas are located. It was amazing. The walls of the rectangular room are lined with Buddhas, none of which are the same. Each wall has 30 rows of Buddhas and they were all perfectly placed. Outside the main building were more Buddhas (apparently the Temple actually has over 12,000 Buddhas) and provided a great view of the surrounding area/city.  

 

  

Typhoon Megi was expected to hit Hong Kong Friday night/Saturday morning so we decided to postpone our plan to visit Tai-O to a later date.

Saturday, Kat and I roamed around Kowloon and Harbor City. We had planned on going to Hollywood Road, which is famous for it’s antiques but I thought Hollywood Road was the same as Avenue of the Stars and took the MTR to the Avenue of the Stars rather than Hollywood Road. So we roamed around, ended up at Kowloon Park and walked through for a little bit, which was beautiful and was able to cross off my ‘Hong Kong To Do/See List.’ It was a lot nicer than Hong Kong Park- there was more to see and do including a pool, a maze, a fountain and more animals.

Sunday, we explored the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden. At the entrance, we weren’t able to find a map so it was rather difficult to find everything, but we eventually did. We were able to explore a greenhouse, which contained numerous types of flowers and plants. Then we went on to the rather small Reptile House and Zoological part of the park. There were so many different types of animals including Chinese alligators, tortoises, monkeys, lemurs, tamarins, and various types of birds. 

 The entrance to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Some lemurs

For Your Information: The MTR

So I've come to realize that I frequently mention the MTR, and by now you probably now that the MTR is Hong Kong's subway system, you probably have no idea where I am talking about. So I decided to give you a quick blog post while I'm waiting for a class to being.

Hong Kong:

 

(Source: http://www.ely.anglican.org/education/schools/collective_worship/HongKong.html )

Okay, so Lingnan is located in the New Territories, in Tuen Mun (in the middle left hand side). Lantau Island is where the airport is (as well as the Big Buddha). Hong Kong Island is where Central HK is located. Lamma Island, between Lantau and Hong Kong Island is where I was last (?) weekend. And Kowloon is another part- that's actually where my roommate is from!

The MTR:

 

(Source: http://www.wenster.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/5731328243.jpg)

 Sorry if the picture is huge, I just wanted to make sure you could see it.

So Lingnan is at the Siu Hong Station, on the West Rail Line. It's on the left-hand side of the map, again, towards the middle. It's the second to last stop on this line. The little yellow lines around the purple/West Rail Line illustrates the Light Rail line, which is a smaller line that goes further out into the New Territories.
To get into Central, I'd get on at Siu Hong, then transfer at Nam Cheong(Orange Line) and take that to Hong Kong. Hong Kong Stations and Central are actually connected so you're able to walk from one station to the other without going outside- it's actually very nice and convenient.

I know I've mentioned Mongkok, the shopping area/Ladies' Market, a few times, and that is located right in the middle of the map, off the Red Line.

You can take the MTR to the airport, on Lantau Island. It's easy to do it you just have carry-on bags, but there is no way I am doing that in December. Haha.

To view the light show/Avenue of the Stars you'd go to East Tsim Sha Tsui (which is on Kowloon-- the buildings on Hong Kong Island light up, so it's best to view the show from across the harbor)

I haven't had a chance to visit many of the stops on the right hand side of the MTR, but that is on my Hong Kong To Do/See List, so have no fear!

And sorry if this is a pointless post, I just figured/knew my mother would at least like this information, even so late.

Eat, Pray, Love.

Last weekend, I was able to see a movie in a movie theater in Hong Kong. I know it doesn’t sound that exciting and the movie has been in and out of theaters in the states for some time now, but it was rather interesting.

First, Lex, Anna and I decided to go see Eat, Pray, Love. None of us had seen it and it was one of the only English movies playing at this theater. Unfortunately though, I haven’t read the book. I know it’s a popular book and if I remember correctly I tried to read it (I read the first three pages) but I couldn’t get into it. And when the movie came out over the summer it was so built up that I didn’t really have any interest to see it. But I decided to see it now to experience a movie in Hong Kong and to get a little reminder of home.

We had to buy the tickets online beforehand, and get this—it’s assigned seating so I had to pick our exact seats out without even knowing who is sitting in front or behind me, how big the theater is, the lighting (yes, there is a lot to consider when choosing a seat in a movie theater). Thankfully the seats I choose weren’t bad at all- towards the back but in the middle.

The seating chart at the theater.

Each row and seat is labeled.

When we got to the movie theater we had to pick our tickets up from an ‘ATM’ like machine and then proceed to the concession stand, because really what is a movie without popcorn? But have no fear, this is Hong Kong so not only could you get what they call ‘salt’ popcorn (which is similar to our movie theater popcorn) but you could get sweet popcorn (or what we consider caramel popcorn) as well as olives, hot dogs, candy, nachos, and they even had a wine bar! It was crazy!

The movie itself was good; it was in English with Chinese (I assume Cantonese but can’t be sure) subtitles and they didn’t interrupt or distract from the movie at all. All in all, our adventure provided a nice afternoon outing.

Halfway There!

Today marks the halfway mark in my semester abroad. It’s weird to think I’ve already been here for two months, but even weirder that I still have two more months. It seems like such a long time. When I was driving to NYC with my mom the day before I left for Hong Kong, I created a list of things I wanted to see and do while in Hong Kong; although I’ve seen so much already, I still have a lot to cross off on my list. This past weekend, my friends and I were planning when we wanted to go see certain things- we’re trying to get a lot done on the weekends and days off from school so we’re not just cramming everything into our free days in December, but I am still worried I will miss a few things.

Classes have started to pick up- group projects are being assigned, presentation dates set and rough drafts written. Yet, I still don’t feel like I’m at school. This whole meet once or twice a week thing is different. I had a midterm the other day that consisted of ten multiple-choice questions and four short answers. It felt like nothing. In addition, I find myself actually talking in class. At home, I’m rather quiet/rarely say anything, but here since the Chinese students rarely talk I always find myself raising my hand and offering my thoughts.

I am becoming more and more aware of the language barrier- see post, Lost in Translation. I didn’t think the language would be much of a problem because when I applied for this program I was told everything was in English because it’s an English-speaking school. LIES! Haha. Those small side conversations that occur during class, the conversations in the elevator, the signs in the bathrooms and the guest speakers during class all make me feel rather stupid/ignorant because I am the outsider/can’t understand the language. But I’ve slowly gotten used to feeling comfortable when those around me are speaking in Cantonese. If it is not during class, I like to think that if I really needed to know what people are talking about, they’d tell me.

I haven’t really gotten homesick, but I know come Thanksgiving I’ll be dying for the family gathering and Aunt Barbara’s cooking. {Side note: I went and saw Eat, Pray Love the other day (a post is coming) and they had a Thanksgiving Day feast and I was jealous to say the least.} I’ve been able to get a lot of American food here (thank you globalization) but it’s those classic meals my mom makes that I miss- twice baked potatoes/boiled potatoes, steak, omelets, grilled chicken (FYI- Mom, I’m creating a list of foods that we shall have over Winter Break haha).

I do miss Fall, the leaves changing, the cooling temperatures, the sweaters and scarves. I’m still walking around in a tank top and shorts and am still dying of heat. I know I’ll still be in shorts in December.

I still don’t know which side of the street to walk on and am constantly dodging people as they walk. Or actually I am trying to pass them because they walk rather slowly. And I still don’t know how to eat meat that comes on the bone, but I am getting much better at eating noodles with chopsticks!

I’ve found some dishes that I love at the local restaurant we frequent, one being friend string beans with minced meat (it sounds odd, but it’s great) and I am getting better at having the ladies at the Canteen understand my lunch order.

I’ve gotten into routines where I wake up and run in the morning, shower while my roommate is at class (the whole showering situation requires another post at some point) and go to lunch and class later on. In addition I’ve become best friends with the security guard at the track so I don’t even have to sign-in any more he just waves me on. I’ve been tracking my running since I arrived and have been able to see my endurance/number of laps improve which is keeping me motivated for the Spring Crew season.

I’m trying to keep everything in perspective and welcome each and every challenge that comes to me with open arms and ears, slowly adapting my own understand and perspectives. Two months down, two to go!

Lamma Island

On Saturday I spent the day exploring Lamma Island with Anna, Kat and Lex. Just off the coast of Hong Kong Island, Lamma Island is a small island famous for its open-air seafood restaurants and quiet lifestyle. Lamma Island reminded a lot me of Fire Island (in NY) because there are no cars allowed; there were a lot of bikes at the pier when we first arrived but didn’t see too many people riding them on the island. Despite the lack of cars, we were still dodging people wherever we walked.

We took a boat from Central to Yung Shue Wan, Lamma’s main town. It’s a small little town with tiny streets and shops that sell the usual souvenirs and small restaurants. Arrivng in Yung Shue Wan, we wandered around the streets for a little while before settling into the Bookworm Café for lunch.

Bookworm Café is a little organic/vegetarian/vegan restaurant that Kat and I had read about in our respective guidebooks. It seemed rather interesting so we decided to check it out. The food ended up being delicious and the restaurant itself was great; it was in rather tight quarters but the walls were lined with bookshelves and quotes. It had that café feel to it.

After lunch we started the hour and a half hike to the other end of the island, Sok Kwu Wan. The hike showed us the different highlights of Lamma Island, including Hung Shing Yeh Beach and a few small villages and a jungle/forest. The hike was very hilly and I wish I wore sneakers instead of flip flops- I still don’t know what I was thinking when I got dressed that morning.

Kat, Anna, Myself and Lex at the top of the mountain

When we finally reached Sok Kwu Wan, a small temple greeted us, Tin Hau temple, and then we proceeded to walk along the open-air seafood restaurants boardwalk. There were a bunch of different restaurants, all offering the same thing for different prices while proudly showing off their selection of fresh fish.

First sights of Sok Kwu Wan

I was able to capture this one lady getting some fish right out of the tank for a meal. 

She had a little trouble getting the fish out of the tank but once she did it put it in the bucket 

and proceeded to weight it.

We hung out for a little while before settling into The Lamma Mandarin Seafood Restaurnt. We split a 4-person meal and feasted on prawn (shrimp), lobster, scallops, squid, fried rice and veggies. This was probably the most seafood I’ve ever eaten and will be the last for a little while. To eat the shrimp you had to crack the shell (?) because they still had their heads/bodies on; it took a little getting used to. And the lobster, well we thought it was crab at first, barely had any meat on it, but it was rather good. And the squid, well, I’ll just say I’m not a squid fan. I don’t think I ever was.

After dinner we were able to catch the ferry back to Central and wandered around City Super, a grocery store before heading back to campus.