Saturday Through Wednesday

Well well, the days are flying by!

Saturday was Paul's leaving day! So I woke up early and said au revoir and then went back to bed for a few more hours! Ran an errand into Repulse Bay for Paul and then went shopping at Stanley Market for a bit to finish off getting all the gifts for my lovely friends and family :) After that, while I was in Repulse Bay I mooched around Jason's, this cool grocery store, and then I went to Pacific Coffee Company and just sat and read a book while drinking my coffee. I have to say, I wasn't too impressed with their coffee, and most likely will stick to Starbucks. But I did like their plush red high-backed chairs!

The rest of my Saturday was really chill. It was a beautiful day, so I was outside, walking from the market to home, and then I did alot of reading and watching True Blood!

Sunday- Slept in again, so glorious! Then made myself a tomato/cheese/avocado omlette, yummy! Then decided to go into Central, taking my addicting book with me. However, I was disappointed to find that it was raining, so I donned a rain jacket (thanks Kerry) and trudged to the bus stop. Made it into Central with only a few terrifying, life-flahes-before-your-eyes moments. Went to H&M, walked through Li Yuen East/West, these great alleys with all these little stalls and shops. I'm on the quest for a new purse, but I've just been incredibly picky! I know exactly what I want, but I have yet to find it. So frustrating!

So I got a few things from H&M, which I love oh so dearly, and then walked through some other shops. Then went to Pret a Manger and had a vanilla caramel pudding type thing that is a bundle of joy in dessert form. Sat there for ages reading my book, I couldn't stop reading it!

Monday -

Started work at the PR company. actually got off work early and read a book until Margarita Monday began. Went to Agave in Lan Kwai Fong with some girls from the fundraising company. Had a great time with guava flavored margaritas and nachos!

Tuesday - work work work. Pouring rain. :( home for a delicious meal courtesy of Phoebe. Skyped with mom/family for ages! watched NCIS LA, which I really enjoy! It has McVet on there from Grey's Anatomy.

Wednesday - At work at the moment. Will update tomorrow. Last Wednesday in Wan Chai tonight!

Love you all,

xoxox

Chinglish

So I have been editing alot of things from Chinglish to English. While I cannot take credit for physically seeing all of these signs myself, I thought you all might enjoy them!

New Photos!

Hey guys! Just wanted to give you the link to my updated photo album! Enjoy!

My Photo Album

This past week

Oh wow, so I'm lame and havn't been typing much. Goodness, I can't even remember what I've been doing!

Ok, Friday/Saturday was Macau.

Sunday - Slept in. Ran some errands with Paul in Wan Chai and then went to go see Robin Hood. I don't know why everyone was bashing on it! I loved it! Like really really really enjoyed it. I loved that it was a different take than the typical steals from the rich gives to the poor. The movie started with Robin's life before all of that and how he progressed to become that person. Really enjoyed it, even with Chinese subtitles :)

Monday - Work work work! Guess what? I went to work! and then afterward, had margaritas. Monday is Margarita Monday at Coyote's in Wan Chai. Not actually, the girls I go with just named it that. To have a frozen margarita is kind of a novelty here...as if there is any other way to have a margarita?! So a few margaritas and a delicious quesadilla later I cabbed it home. Watched a little bit of glee (rented from the Country Club) and then went to bed. Lame I know!

Tuesday - I'm so lame. Coffee in the morning, work, coconut tart or noodles for lunch, bus home, dinner, and then true blood. I have read all of the books and now started watching the HBO Series. so addicted. wow.

Wednesday - Pretty much the same as Tuesday. OH! haha something crazy did happen! So normally I drive in with my Uncle in the morning, but he wasn't feeling well (he's been sick for ages) so he told me he was going to stay at home. So I was running late and missed the bus I need to get into central on time. So I was 15 mins late (not a huge deal) but I was walking quickly, trying to make it to work kind of on time and as I was walking (not looking at my feet like I normally do, as crazy as it sounds, you kind of have to here, because the storm drains (not like US storm drains) have these little metal holes that eat your heels, so I have to watch out for those, and then when they are working on the sidewalks which is often, they put these huge cover things over the sidewalk, which I hate walking on because I'm scared I will be that person that will walk on one and it will give way to this bottomless pit. ) so anyways, I wasn't looking at my feet and my heel became subject to one of these ridiculous metal storm drain holes!

So I saved myself from tripping and continued on, duly noting that my heel was not feeling right. Made it to work and inspected my shoe... My right heel had no bottom, and you could see the nail or whatever on the bottom, which was why I was walking funny.

Got off of work early because there wasn't too too much for me to do, so I walked into Central, through the alleys of vendors and shops, (got your pink jacket mom!) and went to H & M on the quest for shoes. Now I'm not trying to go all girly on you all, but I was just not having a good day, I was grumpy that my shoe had broken and mad that there were about a million people in H&M, so I stormed out and went to CottonOn (Aussie store) and my new favorite! I was successful in there, purchasing a pair of sandals, ok 2 pairs, it was a deal, $149 for two. So that's like $18 US. and then I got a pair of shorts for $25. which is like $3 US. Bargain!

So once I had new shoes to wear, I took my damaged heels to Pedder Street, well the alley off of Pedder Street and dropped my shoes off with a man who promised them to me in 20 mins for $30 (less than US $4)

20 minutes later I had beautiful new heels on my, well heels.

Thursday - Work, drove in with Paul. Get to work, read my email and realize it's Paul's birthday and HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING. I completely forgot, shame on me! So I angrily text him and email him explaining this and ask what he wants to do. We decide to go for dinner at the Verandah in Repulse Bay. But backing up... Had a lunch meeting with my boss for next week. It was really great, he's a PR guy, so I'm going to be doing some interesting work I hope. It's a small company, but it's going to be good, I can feel it. Went to their office (once I found it, struggle bus...) and then we went for Japanese. I had sushi, of course, it was delicious. Lots of wasabi. Also had green tea ice cream for the first time. I wish they sold it in the states! Do they?? Because it is AMAZING! I could eat it everyday I'm pretty sure.

Left work early, came home to shower and change before dinner. Had an absolutely lovely dinner at this restaurant that used to be part of a hotel. It is now just the restaurant, they pulled the old hotel down. (Apparently you've been there, Mom)

Had a lovely salad they tossed and made in front of you, it was their "famous" caesar, with warmed (but still raw) salmon on top. yummy!

Had lobster linguine for my main course, Paul had a rack of lamb. We were quite stuffed, but thoroughly enjoyed the dinner.

Went home, was supposed to have a skype date with Shannon, but passed out on the couch. Sorry, Shannon!

Friday - The weekend (almost)! My last day at my current internship. It was good, really chill day there. I wrote a really great story about Tsavorite among other things. Good stuff. Got cakes for the office about 3pm as is customary here. On your last day it's like what you do. Coconut tarts and egg tarts for everyone! They're so so cheap it's insane! 24 cakes cost me $84, so $10.25. Cheap.

Finished everything up, gave in my name badge and left. Did a bit of shopping along the way. There is this little store that sell different things everyday. I kid you not, everyday it's somehing different. I got a hair thing for Lydia, and then a few bowls and a plate for Mom. I just couldn't resist!

So now I am home. Just had a steak that was mouth-watering. Listening to music and just relaxing. It is Paul's last night here. He leaves early morning and then I'm on my own! Eek! But it will be ok, I have just 12 days left until I come home. My how time has flown!

Peace and Love, friends. I will speak to you soon. Email or comment, it's always lovely to hear from you!

xoxox

Macau Madness!!!

I made it home from macau! Yeah, it was crazy. The event was complete crap because the charity aspect was added last minute to the CAGE FIGHT, which was the main event. So there were 10 different rounds of different guys fighting, oh my gosh, blood! And lots of macho guys, and then lots of mainland chinese. 900 people in attendance... ha it was crazy. we got our picture with one of the boxer guys after on the red carpet area.
so the event wasnt good, but we went out after. oh let me back up

met at the office to get all the stuff to sell and then went to ferry
FINALLY got on ferry, after lugging ridiculous amounts of frames and suitcases and getting through immigration with it all ha. 1st class seats on ferry, which looks like the inside of an airplane, but better seats!
Got to macau, walked a million miles to the arrival hall, went through immigration pretty quickly, everything is in porteugeuse on the signs, but thankfully my spanish (for the 1st time ever) is becoming handy.
So we get 3 taxis again for all of our stuff. there were 6 of us. so 3-2-1, I don't know why.
But my taxi driver,I was in with 2 other girls, does not know where the Grand Hyatt is, seriously?? ha so we finally got him following the other taxis. and then we wanted a receipt (write-off) and the guy was like what, so I was like, oh crap what is the word for paper in spanish? So i remembered it is papel, so i asked him "Papel?" and he goes si si!
So we get out stuff moved into this HUGE Grand Hyatt, it's only 8 months old.
My boss got a room for all of our stuff wehre we could get ready and she and her sister were going to stay the night there.
So that was fab, the room was way cool. modern though, you wouldn't like it mom.
The shower/bath were in this glass room, (which you could cover so you couldnt see it from bed. but it had this huge tub freestanding and then 2 showers separate of it. like a shower room. rain shower (like from above, absolutely fabulous) and then it had the plain old regular shower. Boring!

So after the event we went to Lion bar, which EVERYONE was raving about. The 40+ yr old men hitting on us should have been the tipoff... It was in the casino at MGM, but it was just a sad, sorry excuse for a club. We literally walked in and walked out, it was that terrible, way too many 50 yr old men with little asian girls. Ew.
Then we went to these 2 other clubs, the 1st was terrible but we didn't care, so we paid our cover which included 2 drinks each and drank them down and moved onto the other club. the cover was $250 for that one, but we were like, um do you seriously not want to let 5 girls in?? So we got in for free to a club we later found out is known for its "exclusivity." Pshh.
So we danced and hung out there for a bit, this club was actually normal and fun
and then we went to McDonalds, and then we went back to where one of the girls was staying. Her boss has a place in macau, a penthouse, so we slept there instead of filling up the awesome (but too small for 7 of us) hotel room
so I had my own room and bed which was awesome, and then this morning we got up, looking way busted, in the same clothes and went back to the grand hyatt and figured everything out with our boss for getting everything back, DHL SAVES LIVES.
Then we went in quest of breakfast, and I ate a crappy cheese croissant, but whatever. Walked around the casinos and hotels a bit, Grand Hyatt is attached to a bunch of casinos that attach to The Hard Rock Hotel and then to Crown Towers etc etc.

Got the ferry back to Hong Kong, made it through Immigration and jumped in a taxi to the bus station once the other girls were all situated to go back to the office,
Got home, took a much needed shower and then took 1.5 hr nap,woke up and ate dinner, spaghetti and meatballs (yumm)
and now typing to you.
going to go watch some dexter and eat ice cream i think
and then i think we might go out tonight, to appreciate the significantly better night life of hong kong.

It's becoming routine

I'm getting into the routine here. I drive into town with Paul in the morning. Arrive about 8.30. Say au revoir to my uncle and then walk to Starbucks. I walk along the footbridges as far as I can go because they avoid traffic so successfully. I grab The Standard, the Hong Kong free newspaper here. I arrive at Starbucks and quickly order my doppio over ice before the line starts piling up. The Starbucks here are fabulous, and they offer a variety of breakfast items which is great, even doughnuts! (they’re not half bad)
I sweeten my doppio over ice with “syrup” which is simple syrup, not maple! Then I sit, preferably in the window, and read my paper, people watching sporadically. It was quite rainy this morning, so the people watching became even more interesting as there was a barrage of umbrella holding figures all hurrying through the blustery streets. There was a man wearing a trash bag and shower cap as he pushed a card with trash cans and women hold the umbrella so close to their heads I’m sure it is ripping their hair out.
I had an apple pie for lunch. Probably not the healthiest thing ever, but it was delicious, and nothing like American apple pie. It was like a personal apple pie size. No saucy apples, just cut up apple and raisins and seasoning, and it was delicious. It cost me HK$6, less than US$1. Yum.
I am quite determined to go to the book store today. It’s supposed to be a rainy weekend and I would love to have some good books. I’m running low! The new Charlaine Harris novel is out, I would be floored and so flipping excited if I could get it while I’m here! We shall see… I will keep you updated.
Hmm, since I wrote on Monday… Havn’t done too too much. Foot was still hurting on Tuesday but was better. Worked, aka was on facebook because there was nothing for me to edit. It’s been a chill week. Just going to Starbucks and work. I’m pretty sure the girls working there recognize me now, as do some of the other Starbucks regulars. I’ve been watching more Dexter, hanging out with my uncle. Phoebe bought ice cream, so now I have Ben &Jerry’s! (in Hong Kong!!!!) haha. Last night I was putting a new bandage on my injured foot and touched the wound and like jumped. I was mad, because my thought was that it shouldn’t be this sharp of a pain if there is nothing in there. So I started examining it more closely and found that a piece of glass was trying to force its way out of my skin. My tweezerman’s came in handy and my foot is now glass-free. It instantly felt 10000% better, for which I am truly grateful. Tomorrow I’m going to Macau, which should be fun, I’m definitely excited.
Thats all.

Little Observations and the past week (this is a long one, get ready!)

Hello friends

Wow it has been so long since I have blogged and I apologise! ok firstly here are a few things I wrote a couple days ago. Just little observations and experiences I've had. I havn't edited any of this, so my apologies for typo's and misunderstandings.

As I was walking to work I had to stop to go moved around a man who was unloading a pig, a cooked and hanging one, from a truck. He then proceeded to lug this huge pig, just a bit smaller than him into a nearby restaurant and hung it on a hook just next to the counter.

I rode the tram today. Trams in Hong Kong are great because they are cheap and efficient, though they are a bit slow. It only costs HK$2 to ride the tram, so that’s about 50 cents for the Yanks reading this.

I got a taxi into Lan Kwai Fong last night. As we were driving along the road that I go along every day I realized how I look at Hong Kong now has evolved and developed very quickly from my first looks at Hong Kong when I first arrived. My first drive on these roads was at night time, just after 1am, and there were still people out, barbecueing near the beach, all the buildings still lit up, while the roads remained dark. Now that I travel these roads multiple times a day, I see so much more. The armors walking their family’s dogs in the morning, old men swimming in the harbors every morning, Police setting up roadblocks and shining torches in your face (that was a bit scary). All sorts of things, I’m really becoming accustomed to life here. Public transit is the best and cheapest way to go, especially because Hong Kong never stops. If you let it, you will be going and going 24 hours a day. Life here is work hard, play hard, which is a great concept, but sometimes you need a bit of a rest.

I went out Wed night to Lan Kwai Fong but didn’t stay out late because I had an 8am breakfast to attend. The breakfast was at the Hong Kong Club (fancy, really fancy) for the British Chamber of Commerce with a market research speaker who talked about the growing market in China. I was the “media” person, and recorded the speaker and subsequent questions. I was quite official. I had to eat in the proper British way with my fork turned over, and very very good table manners (thanks, Mom!)
So it was really interesting, and I got many people’s name cards. Name cards, I don’t know if I mentioned this already, are a huge thing here. When you meet someone, you give them a namecard with two hands. I now have my own, so I can properly exchange name cards with people. It’s a lovely thing I think. It’s an easy way to properly get everyone’s information. For me, it meant I could design a cool and interesting name card, and also keep up with Hong Kong!
Now I am at work, writing and transcribing away!


Ok, now Im just going to give a quick run through of the past week…
Ok, hmmmm. Wow, can’t remember..
Friday – Kerry’s birthday, went out for dinner that night. Kerry got foodpoisoned we think, and she was really ill. So it wasn’t a good night.
Saturday – Through a friend of a friend I got hooked up help out at this designer sale. She is a cashmere designer, Maddy Thompson, so I helped out at her sale for a few hours which was great. Afterward I wandered around Central and then went home.
Sunday – Went to the country club for the day. Laid by the pool, read a whole book, got a tan. I had a quesadilla for lunch, which was very different than what you get in the states, but good nonetheless. Continued to lay out at the pool, sipping fresh squeezed apple juice (yummy), ha it’s like I’m a little kid. Had dinner and a mojhito at the CC by the water. It was a beautiful night and the sky was gorgeous!
Monday – My first day of work! Went in early with Paul and met a lotttttt of people in his office. My boss came over to pick me up and take me to my office. (which is where I am typing from right now haha) They got me to work straight away writing articles and such for various publications. Left with Paul that night since Kerry was leaving on Wed and I wanted to see her as much as possible. So I walked back to Paul’s office (20 mins walk) and we drove back home. Had a lovely dinner and then just hung out and watched Grand Designs (mom, if you havn’t seen it, you should, you would love it!)
Tuesday- Same kind of deal, went to work in the morning, took the bus though, because my boss said I don’t have to be at work until 9.30, not 8 or 8.30 like Paul likes to do. Yippee! Misjudged a bit on how long it would take via bus, (50 mins, in case you were curious) and then a 20 min walk, so it’s just over an hour commute. At lunch, I had a meeting over in Wan Chai (connected via a friend of a friend again) to work for this events company that does silent auctions for charity functions. So went over to Wan Chai for that and then back to work afterward.
Wednesday – Work again! Pretty chill day, left quite early so as to see Kerry off to London. She was madly packing when we arrived home. We ate dinner and she continued to pack. I got ready to go out to Lan Kwai Fong. It was my friend Victoria’s Leaving Party, as she was leaving Friday to go back to the UK. So went to Le Jardin for that, had so much fun and met loads of people. Called it an early night though, as I had to attend an 8am breakfast at the Hong Kong Club for the British Chamber of Commerce and didn’t want to be too too exhausted.
Thursday – the never ending day.
Arrived at the Hong Kong Club in Central at 7.45am. Dressed quite nicely I might add! I’m loving being able to dress up and wear heels, its so much fun! So went to this fancy schmancy English Breakfast. I was the “media” there. So I sat near the front with my voice recorder, ate my breakfast in the proper English style (harder than it looks) and met many many people. Received and gave many name cards which is great for networking purposes. After the breakfast, which finished about 9.15 I caught a tram west to the building I work in. Trams are great because they only cost HK$2 and you can go for as far as you like, and it saves me walking all of that way!! Went to work, and then had to leave early so as to get to this event on time. The event was at the Hong Kong Football Club, (quite niceeee). The event was for the Soccer Sevens, which is kind of a big deal. There were about 700 people there, all of whom we girls (in fabulous pink dresses I might add) greeted and explained that we were holding a silent auction tonight. It was so much fun, ha lots of young British guys who were mesmerized by the girls in pink. Finished up about 11.45 and then went home to sleep, because I was exhausted!

Friday- Still exhausted.
Went to work in the morning. Met Paul and coworkers for dim sum in the western market for lunch. Absolutely delicious. Dim sum is when they just bring loads and loads of food to your table and you put some onto your plate. There is a huge variety of things in these little bamboo boxes. I was so full. Yum. Afterward, it was back to work unfortunately lol. Ran over to Wan Chai to get ready for event I was working Saturday and then back to central. An American guy who works for Paul had asked me out for drinks, so we ended up going to this event in the Landmark. Nice nice mall. The event was huge, you were given this special bracelet you had to scan to enter the stores, and they gave you tickets to possibly win giftcards and such. First we had a drink in the Armani Bar and then began the walking tour. There was free champagne or some kind of drink in each store, and many of them had favors to give as well. We walked around loads of stores including Valentino, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Tod’s, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana etc. A lot ok??
Afterward we headed toward Lan Kwai Fong and ate dinner, a late dinner at The Frying Pan. Which is a local 24-hour place that serves delicious breakfast. Had a yummy veggie omlette, toast, fruit and OJ for about HK$64 (US$8) Good deal I think! Full of food and exhausted, we decided to call it a night.
Jumped in a taxi and went home to bed!
Saturday- I gloriously got to sleep in! The drilling did wake me up for a bit, but I quickly fell asleep again. Slept till about noon and then watched Dexter and ate some delicious banana bread Phoebe had just made. It has chocolate chips in it!!
Had to arrive at 4pm for this event, so got up and at ‘em and went there. Stopped in IFC mall and grabbed a sandwich from Pret. Pret a Manger I don’t remember. But it’s all freshly made and delicious food and brownies as well. Ha, I’m definitely in a chocolate mood right now. Event went well, still for the Soccer Sevens, but a corporate event, but still a lot of quite young guys lol so it was fun and entertaining. After we took everything back to the office, we went to Lan Kwai Fong for celebratory drinks at Solas. Love that place, so cool and fun. My friend Rachel, who was actually my boss that night was giving me a ride home, and we stopped for pizza on the way home at Cul-de-sac in Wan Chai. It has absolutely delicious pizza, even at 3am. Stood on the street like locals and ate our Bizarro’s style pizza. Folded in half, with the paper plate wrapped around it because it was so hot! 3:30am – SLEEP!
Sunday – wow, almost caught up!
Met Paul at the Country Club at noonish. Laid by the pool for absolute ages. Read another book. Had a pita stuffed with coronation chicken for lunch (yummy, you Yanks would love it, trust me!)
Was walking around a bit and then went swimming and realized I had stepped on something and cut my foot. But didn’t think much of it. Took a shower at the CC and then headed over to the yacht club because Paul had a squash game. I sat and read, and then got ready for the Chinese wedding we were attending that evening. We headed over to the wedding in Kowloon via star ferry which was really fun and a new experience for me. Lots of walking today! Walked around Kowloon a bit and went to this place that used to be the Police Mariner’s building but has now been converted into a hotel, 5 restaurants/bars and many upper end shops. We had a drink in the Mariner’s Rest, which has historic photos all about and prison cells intact. We then walked to the Sheraton Hotel which was the site of the wedding. Chinese weddings are so interesting, but very long. We only went to the reception/dinner because the actual wedding started at like 3. We arrived at 7:15 and dinner was served at 9. It is a marathon. You arrive and take pictures with the bride and groom. She was already on her third dress of the evening. You have one white, traditional dress and then many other colored dresses. Carmen had a gorgeous purple gown, coral/pink gown, yellow gown, and 2 different white ones I think. She was always changing, it’s so fun!
So then the meal is served. There is a huge lazy susan in the middle which olds enough plates (12) and has room in the middle for the dish. The waiter then distributes food onto each place and then you each take one and eat it. Once you’re done, they take that plate away and put new ones on the lazy susan and the process continues on. I think we did 13 different dish/courses. It was pretty intense, and I had a variety of items, from goose feet, shark’s fin, suckling pig (glowing fake red eyes were attached to his head!) fried prawn, garoupa, and even something as tame as chicken!
Exhausting but night. However, as we were walking back, my foot really did start to hurt again. After we got home, I realized it had been bleeding a bit :/. Paul took a look at it, but couldn’t see any glass stuck in it which was good.
Monday – This morning! So my foot was really hurting and Paul thought I should go see the doctor. So I went in with him this morning and he dropped me off at the doctor. There was a starbucks on the first floor so I waited there until my 9am appt and drank a chai. Side note – I think I’m going to get a Hong Kong Starbucks coffee mug or thermos because they are so fun and different! Ha.
So I went and saw the doctor, he took a look at it and told me he doesn’t think anything is in there, it’s just so painful because it’s on the ball of my foot, so all of my weight goes on it you know? So hopefully tomorrow it will be feeling a lot better which would be awesome! So I paid my doctor bill and went to work. Took the tram, since I was so far away from my office and I kind of hobble funnily when trying to walk since my foot is all bandaged up.

Ok, that is all for now, I’m going to get back to work. Love you all. Please comment/email and keep me updated on life! Miss you and love you! xoxox