Macau was reminiscent of the many scenes in Return of the Cuckoo, the Hong Kong drama serial I watched not so long ago. I was looking forward to this trip for weeks, and I think the place is alot different from what I imagined it to be. Rows and rows of beautiful architecture, colourful mosaic pavements, old cathedrals, ruins and the smell of fresh bak kwa in the air.
The ferry ride there was bumpy and almost felt like a rollercoaster ride, but I skipped onto land with excitement once the boat docked, breathing in the cold gush of wind that hit my face. We brushed past eager salesman who were trying to offer us a city tour and hopped onto one of the Sentosa-like public buses instead for our own rendition of the city sights. I sat in awe for the first ten minutes, gawking at how picturesque and majestic some of the buildings were. Senado Square, the main city square, looked like a scene right out of Final Fantasy according to my Macau 'buddy'. It was a cosmopolitan mix of old architecture from colonial times, modern shophouses like those in Italy and structures right out of Britain.
Without a doubt, the main attraction in Macau was the Ruins of St Paul's. I think we spent close to an hour just taking photos in front of the massive structure, and with the clear blue skies to complement, the ruins will forever be a beautiful memory. My legs were ready to give way at the end of the day however, weaving through the tiny streets and ghettos, conquering slopes and queueing up for bak kwa. Once night fell, we slipped inside one of the biggest casinos in Macau, and the sight that beheld me was one straight out of a movie. Hundreds of tables with rich people ambling around, casino chips in hand, and a cigarette in their mouth. Frowns, concentration or delight on faces, we didn't dare to hang around too long at tables with only one player in case we got beaten up for bringing him bad luck. I didn't part with a single cent, in fact, we just feasted on the free drinks that were being wheeled around in silver carts, and took in the scene. It was a new experience altogether for me, I'm not sure if I'd label it cultural, but it was an eye-opener nonetheless.
The ferry ride back to Hong Kong was quiet, with six heads falling asleep all over each other. We were told later that we had missed out on a few other attractions not in the city centre, such as the black sand beach, as well as the famous pork chop bun and almond cookies. And we thought we had experienced it all after consuming one Portugese egg tart. It definitely calls for another trip there, once I get over the pinch of the expensive ferry ticket.
The things that remain constant - I'm still one of two girls in a group full of guys and I still wake up freezing every single morning. I don't know why it's so cold here. I don't remember it being this cold when I was in London in single degree temperatures. Walking up the slope back to the student residences with the Canadian girls yesterday, we were discussing why we feel so unnaturally cold in Hong Kong. One of the conclusions was that even though they lived in Canada all their lives in minus 30 degrees, they never really had to walk around so much and there was central heating everywhere. There is no heating in Hong Kong, when you step into a building, you just step into airconditioning. And even though it reports 11 degrees outside, we live in mountainous areas so I suppose that takes a few degrees off. This is the first time I'm actually talking about the weather, I hear everyone yawning.
Today, as I sat alone among my familiar friends Marc Jacobs, Fendi and Dior, I finally missed home. Solitude really does strange things to you, but as I sat at Starbucks in Central with my mug of hot chocolate as the cars zipped by in typical city fashion, the emptiness dissipated and I spent the most fulfilling hour of the day talking to God and I realised that He had been with me all along. He speaks to me alot in song, because I have an elephant memory for song lyrics and not memory verses. His grace is sufficient for me, He reminded constantly even as I walked down Mongkok through the mad Saturday crowd.
We escaped from the bustling city life to that little quiet fishing village at Lei Yue Mun a few days ago. I loved the place, every bit of it, with the wooden fishing boats bobbing gently along the sea, the salty air palpable, the streets selling the most outrageous sea creatures I'd ever seen, the children playing in the sea, the breathtaking skyline beneath the rocks, the old school games of hopscotch and table tennis. A perfect place for a child to grow up, I envied them as I watched them laugh mischievously as they played with fire on the basketball court. A life without a care in the world, a life I probably never knew.
Beautiful, nonetheless, and I felt like I never wanted to leave, but as the sun set in the cloudy horizon, we made our way back to the bright lights of where we came from.
I've think I've finally settled in. I no longer wake up in the morning thinking that this is a foreign country, get excited standing at the busy cross-junction at Tsim Sha Tsui or wait in anticipation at the prospect of taking the MTR. Instead, I've carved out for myself a nice routine of school, dinners outside, latenight shopping, random explorations to places away from the busy city centre and funny mahjong nights with the Hongkongers where I sit there and sing Cantonese songs for everyone because I can't play. I finally see the importance of learning mahjong.
I'm opening up, coming out of that shell I've been living in all my life where I dislike being alone in school. I've come to terms with going to classes alone and being enthusiastic about meeting new people and making new friends who sometimes turn out to be such interesting characters I could write a novel about them all.
The life I'm leading here is so different, so foreign and so independent, yet I'm basking fully in it and a part of me has forgotten the life I used to lead back home, where everything was taken care of for me and I didn't have to worry about laundry horrors and settling my own meals.
And after about two weeks of independent living, I've learnt several new domestic things about myself.
1) I love the smell of freshly washed clothing. I'd press clothing item to my nose and breathe deeply, thinking that it smells like a thousand roses. 2) I detest the faint yet lingering smell of food in the room. 3) I don't care for making my bed unless I have visitors (actually, that's not a really new fact, it's just a confirmation that I really do not see the point of making beds because you are going to sleep in it in about 14 hours.) 4) I have a compulsive behavioral trait which involves arranging my shoes according to height. Every other part of my room can be messy except for the shoe department.
Washing day was scary, and I never realised washing clothes required so much skill and constant prayer. After two weeks of no-washing involved, we finally put off the procrastination and got down to the laundry. Of course we've heard of the do not mix coloured clothing with white clothing rule, but my silly roommate (I still love you very much qi) very smartly put in a coloured towel with ALL our white clothing, resulting in the Red Sea spinning in a little compartment on the 10th floor of Jockey Club Harmony Hall, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
So we watched in horror as our clothes bathed in red water, immediately thinking of ways and means to rectify the situation. Dry clean, bleach, was I sure all my clothes in it were white? I swear poor Qi squatted in front of the washing machine and stared at it forlornly in desperation for a good 45 minutes. But God really works wonders - this is a wonderful testimony of His mercy and grace on us, seriously. We were both praying very hard, and when the moment of truth came, somehow all the clothes looked normal without any red stains. A miracle, I must say, although I think there should be an emergency stop button on ALL washing machines.
Part Two horrors came shortly after when we discovered that 90% of our clothes had the label which said, "Do not tumble dry" on them. First, we spent about 15 minutes debating what "tumble dry" could mean. After deciding that it meant the dryer, we debated again why we couldn't tumble dry all our clothes when we just see everyone throwing their clothes into the dryer. The weather was cold, there is no proper place to hang our clothes other than the common balcony, and putting it in the dryer seemed like the only logical thing to do. So we dumped everything into the dryer. After some research with experts online, it turns out that the dryer shrinks everything. I ran upstairs immediately but it turned out that the laundry room had closed for the day and we would have to wait a night before the truth would be revealed.
The clothes turned out fine, although that was an unforgettable night of high trauma.
Girls' Night Out was pure fun and giggles, and I think I needed it very much. As much as I love hanging out with the boys, and listening to their nonsense, being one out of two girls in a group full of guys doesn't really enable them to fully get to know you for who you are and alot of the time you end up being at the end of a repeated conversation revolving around girls and football. So the spontaneous night out with Emma, Nicole, Lian, Enging and Qi was absolute heaven. Gushing over the Kate Spade bags, MNG sale, G.O.D. products and stepping into literally every roadside store and squealing over the cute outfits, blingbling and calculating how much we need to buy to make the most out of the sale at each store was liberating. And with our cosmopolitan group, it's really amazing to see how girls from different cultures are able to come together with a common goal - shopping.
The key of my voice raised about two notches in Kate Spade. The bags are gorgeous beyond belief, the selection is huge, and about half the price of those in Singapore especially with the sale. I'm getting one before I get back, even if it means me eating HK$10 super-saver meals in school every day.
I realise I'm really not bad at math when it comes to calculating how much discount I have on a particular item. The answer comes rather quickly.
The night ended with desserts at Hui Lau Shan and Nicole getting our order sheet stuck inside the table, resulting in five girls laughing and staring at her trying ways and means to get it out.
Jings' birthday at Bubba Gump at The Peak was a night of heavenly-tasting shrimp at the Forrest Gump themed restaurant, perfecting the art of taking pictures with the night mode function under the dim lighting, surprise Tiramisu cakes, birthday greetings and songs from the entire restaurant and silly birthday videos. The view from The Peak is beyond breathtaking. I loved sitting by the window by Bubba Gump and staring out of the glass window at the miniscule buildings below adorned with colourful lights even as the noisy chatter continued. The first birthday here in Hong Kong with at least four more to come, a tad surreal yet you feel at home being with the people that remind you of home. To the birthday boy, I hope you enjoyed your 23rd.
Like the icing on top of the cake, the week ended with a blast at the Hocc concert, which Cheryl and Claire flew down all the way from Singapore for. The first glimpse of the Hong Kong Coliseum, where every famed Hong Kong celebrity would have held their concert at was reminiscent of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and even stepping into the vast enclosed area - I still felt like I was back home. But once the concert started, it was a totally different world. Fans jumped to their feet, banging their fluorescent green balloons against each other in unison, screaming, shouting, shrieking in the dark hall. Colourful dizzying lightsticks came to life and when Hocc's voice came through the speakers, it was pandemonium. But an experience whatsoever, the concerts here are filled with so much more life than those in Singapore, and I enjoyed every second of it. The costume changes, lighting and props were amazing, and it was obvious that Hocc didn't want the concert to end, with her skipping around the Coliseum and asking her fans for more song requests, as this was to be her last concert for this year's tour.
A star-studded week, no less, with Qi meeting Miriam Yeung at Times Square, and us bumping into Miu Kiu Wai and a few others at Miramar Hotel, and that close encounter with William So outside the Coliseum. Her songs are now perpetually on repeat mode in my head, and I remember laughing non-stop wtih Qi as we held up our "We stand as one" balloons at Hung Hom, thinking the tales of our lives right now were dreams not so long ago.
Two hours and my eyes are wild from staring at too much light but some images are finally up on Flickr, link on right, click on the Hong Kong set.
School has started but I can't quite seem to get into the monotonous drum of things, perhaps because I'm in a foreign country and all I'm looking forward to every day is that trip down to Tsim Sha Tsui or the expectation of eating desserts on late nights out. The teacher thinks we're overqualified for Basic Cantonese, although I'm insistent on taking it because I want to finally get the tonal sounds right. And with a few free credits and the headache of looking for another elective that fits into my timetable, I'll probably just settle for his repeated musings of "you shouldn't be in this class". English and the World in Film proved to be a snippet of some distant memory back in primary school where we watched movies and talked about it in class. I expected heavy analytical studies or heated debates from the movies, but the syllabus turned out to be along the lines of listening comprehension from various scenes in the movies, vocabulary and spelling. The British-accented Chinese lecturer also proclaimed the lead actress in Legally Blonde to be Reese Silverspoon. And we had to define "attorney" and "pediatrician". The movies sound interesting though, with Catch Me If You Can, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Butterfly Effect and Notting Hill being some of the movies on the list. I don't quite foresee myself listening to her much - Jings and I played hangman and explored tongue twisters and palindromes all through the three hours today, maybe we will come up with our own syllabus and activities for that course. I got my literature module as well, I can't wait to see what it'll be like, with lit being my favourite subject all through secondary school and junior college. I can remember lines from Wuthering Heights but not math formulas, although the latter proves more useful. It sounds promising however, because I see Confessions of a Shopaholic on the reading list for the group presentation. The book was written just for me - I've read it three times over, I have many thoughts on it, now I just have to find girl group members whom I can envision myself down Causeway Bay with.
I promise a later update on events out of school, which will take up comparatively more paragraphs than this short snippet about school. It shows the emphasis I'm placing on school this semester, although I see it as a semester of many firsts - taking classes alone, and being a foreign exchange student no less, the semester with just one exam, the least hours a week, and probably the semester where I'm going to skip the most lectures and tutorials. I'm a good student back home, but it's hard to stick to that same routine when Kate Spade's having a sale just fifteen minutes away.
I've thought about this entire experience for the longest time. Probably since the day I got the acceptance email saying that I was to go to Hong Kong for the first 5 months in 2007. Then came the cycle of being excited, not so excited, dreading it because I was leaving everyone behind, trying to forget about it, and then the day arrived in a flash of the lasting memories I had crafted out for myself in the last 1 and a half months in Singapore.
Rewind back to the previous month - a month where I truly enjoyed every single day of my holidays - the Bench 1B sleepover, Christmas carolling, the festive Christmas dinner, Christmas service and the hanging out after, The Princesses From Exotic Lands Tea Party, Metamorphosis, New Year's Eve watchnight service, Margaritas, The Innies Asian Chic Party and The Goodbye Amelia surprise farewell. I never wanted it to end, that perfect dream called the holidays where I occupied myself incesssantly with the people I loved.
Then the night before I was to leave to Hong Kong. I did last minute packing as usual, I was online, and then I was crying in the dark of my room, shuddering at the awful thought of leaving all this behind.
But now as I sit somewhere in the hills of Kowloon Tong, gazing up into the night sky with the cold air settling in nicely in my room, in warm sweatpants with limegreen socks, I smile.
The experience has been absolutely amazing so far, extremely fast-paced as all Hong Kong things go, yet God has seen me through a rather smooth transition, providing me friends that I need to get me through this, and has kept me in His loving hands all the way. Undoubtedly, it's only been five days, but I look forward to the next five months with excited anticipation and love for the country that I've always felt comfortable in, like a second home. The place where I had my first mission trip, whose drama serials I adore, whose language I have been trying to pick up for the last three years through television, and whose food I think is superior to anywhere else in the world.
I live on a mountain of a hill. Yes, I have to make that torturous climb at least twice a day from the MTR station or school to the student residences. It's approximately about 200 steps through a park, or a steep slope climb - you do have two options. But what I return to are lovely condo-looking blocks, with the mountains in the distance, and the colourful skyscrapers on the other side. My room is compact, as the Student Residence officer put it, but extremely homey, cosy and clean. I have a wonderful roommate, a close friend from secondary school whom I've grown closer to over the last year, and whom I can now link arms and walk down Mongkok with or have silly girl talks at night. And with our personal touches to the room we call our own, the room is pretty much a dream.
I have friendly toilet mates (two rooms share a connecting toilet), two Hong Kong girls who immediately opened the door once they heard me brushing my teeth inside, and exclaimed hello with megawatt smiles. Then we stared at each other smiling because they couldn't tell whether I was local or not. I sheepishly informed them in English that I was an exchange student from Singapore who speaks bad Cantonese. Then my roomie came along and we had a nice little toilet mate conversation with them, in a mix of English and Cantonese.
Without a doubt, I'm thankful for my fellow inny and 1874 co-star bestfriend, and the only other CS person here in City University of Hong Kong. From the start, Hong Kong and Cantonese has been one of our connecting factors and favourite conversational topics and I can't think of anyone more apt to share this Hong Kong dream with me. I could not have handled the massive 30kg luggage and about ten million other bags I was carrying on the first day without him, and photo-taking would not be as professional (and retarded). Discovering the little treasure of a restaurant in the flats behind the university and going through the headache of matching CS subjects and registration - at least I have someone else to share the joys and pains with. The random tram ride and photoshoot in the middle of the road outside Pacific Place at Admiralty still makes me laugh aloud, what an unforgettable experience.
And the little happy group of friends we've settled into over the last five days makes me feel like we're on a long extended holiday - Jings, Qi, Cemin, Temmy, Henri and I - with our ever so helpful and amazing friend and fantastic tour guide Billy, I could not thank God enough. I might have been somewhere in the USA right now alone and eating lousy Chinese food, but here I am in bustling Hong Kong shopping, eating, buying matching pillows and having late night talking sessions with this wacky bunch. I'm looking forward to us conquering the Basic Cantonese module, as we make up 6 out of the 14 people so far in the class.
The places visited so far have not been many, as I've had to settle much admin stuff, subject registration, opening bank accounts, buying cutlery, toiletries and groceries, but the days have been fast and fruitful. Today was a shopping fest at Mongkok, with a new bag and boots in tow and bargaining in Cantonese. I feel myself improving already in the language, slowly but surely, as I learn new words every single day as I'm forced to speak with the security guard at the block, the waiters at the restaurant or the cashier at the supermarket. Indeed, they have laughed at me - I accidentally ordered iced lemon tea instead of iced milk tea, I happily said "lik lik" instead of "lak lak" mango dessert at Hui Lau Shan and I fumble trying to think of the correct words to say. I've gotten lost in Mongkok thrice already, eaten my favourite wanton mien at Tsim Sha Tsui, eaten two gai dan zais, had the delicious fruit juice they have everywhere here, been to Avenue of Stars, mastered the MTR announcements, taken the tram from Causeway Bay to Admiralty, hung around Times Square and walked about a zillion times up the stupid slope to my room.
And the Cantonese line I find myself saying most these days - no, not 'dor jeh' or 'mm goi' (thank you) - but "Mm goi Siew jeh/sin sang, hor mm hor yi bong ngor dei ying seung?" (Excuse me Sir/Miss, could you please help us take a picture?)
Expect many photos in the next five months, I'm trying my best to get them up on Flickr so hopefully they will be up soon. We've enrolled in a City Tour tomorrow, and everyone is asleep but me.
The last month has been one filled with wonder and marvelling at God's love for me. Christmas and the New Year were perfect events that I would not want to change a single detail of, Meta camp opened my eyes to a new side of myself that I never knew, and things that I could do, with a wacky group of new friends that came along with it. The last few days have also been a whirlwind of sleepovers, long conversations, tacky lists, surprise farewells, endless meetups, lunches, teas, dinners and suppers and many photo-taking memories.
I could not thank God enough for these Christmas holidays, for friends - new ones and old, for family and for the many survival kits thoughtfully crafted out as I embark on this surreal dream in four hours time.
I have been prayed for, and with, probably more than a normal exchange student, and I know I'm covered with God's shield of protection and loving care, but those tears at the thought of leaving home for the first time still threaten to fall. My family, friends, the GGs, church, Crusade. But that's me, and that mindset will probably change after a few weeks of settling in. I look forward to walking along the cold, bustling streets with some Hong Kong snack in hand, and poking around at the secret shopping centre, with wanton mien soon after.
I will go where you send me, Lord Jesus, my whole life, God, is Yours
And I believe His amazing love will continue to shine through even as I embark on the Hong Kong dream, as Gen puts it, to the land with six prawns per wanton.
