Lunchtime Conversations

Everyday during lunch I have the same conversation with my co-worker:

Her: Do you watch Sex and the City?

Me: Yes, I just started watching this summer.

Her: Is that really what the US is like? Are all the women in the city single? Do they really date that many men?

Me: I guess for some people, but it's really just an exaggeration.

Sometimes Sex and the City is replaced with some other popular US television show like Desperate Housewives, but you get the gist of it.

Or sometimes she'll change the conversation up a little bit:

Her: Do you and your friends eat a lot of McDonalds?

Me: No, not really. I don't like McDonalds

Her: Are most of your friends really fat?

Me: No, actually I don't have any fat friends.

Her: Oh, I thought most Americans loved McDonalds and were extremely fat.

So everyday I spend my lunch trying to explain to my co-worker that Americans are not really like the people in movies/ TV shows & that we are not really all obese.

On another note, I'm going to Norway Aug 9! It's incredible! 2010 has probably been the most exciting & epic year of my life. I've always wanted to travel, but I never thought I'd be able to do it while in college! This year I have been to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, & now Norway! In Norway, I'm visiting Bergen & Oslo. I'm also attending this super hipster music festival. I'm so excited to be surrounded by all the beautiful blonde blue-eyed Scandinavians! :D

P.S In addition to giving up cheetos, I've also decided to give up fried dumplings.

Office Etiquette

There's a few things I've noticed about workplace dynamics in HK that are a bit unnerving. First, and worst of all, the men here find it perfectly acceptable to burp & cough up their phlegm while working. I'll be sitting in my little cubicle, trying to translate some financial transaction statement, and I'll hear a loud string of burps in the background. GROSS

Also, it's perfectly acceptable for the secretaries to dress in mini skirts. The secretary here wears clothes that I might go clubbing in. Her skirts are definitely never below the knees. tsk tsk.

Thankfully, none of my co-workers actually know English. This makes surfing the web & spending hours on facebook/gchat so much easier.

I am, however, really worried about gaining weight. Beyond typing, I don't do anything that could possibly help burn calories & I definitely already feel fatter. What's worse is that the fat always goes straight to my stomach. It's really disgusting. I can only eat fruit from now on.

So what does the future promise me? A beige cubicle & indefinite weight gain? I really hope not.

I'm thinking of skipping out on work a week early & hitting up Sanya in Hai Nan province. It's a beach resort area off the coast of China that Chairman Mao & the CCP liked to party at. They'd have pretty elaborate dance parties there on the reg. But anyway, it's this gorgeous beach area with coconut trees everywhere. They also produce this really tasty coconut drink that is extremely popular on the mainland. http://pic.ccn.mofcom.gov.cn/duomeiti/12296054/0011.jpg

It seems like an amazing place to spend a week. I just need to find the financial resources to pay for this trip.

When it rains it pours

It's fucking raining men right now.

I am suprisingly unenthusiastic about this situation.


I miss my girlfriends!

Interning aka Being Everyone's Bitch

According to my daily countdown, I'm on day 6 of interning at Dongying. If only it were day 20. The work here is worse than being mediocre at best. I either waste my time gchatting & reading the NYTimes or I spend hours on google translate trying to translate dense legal documents into Chinese. Sometimes I fill out some simple applications about real estate firms. The latter would be a simple task if my Chinese were any good, but the supposedly mindless job of discovering a company's underwriter/CEO is pretty damn hard sometimes. If I were actually getting paid things would be much better. The promise of a paycheck by the end of the week would give me the strength to complete any job.

Every morning I wake up at exactly 7:08, get ready, take the 46X to the Wan Chai Exhibition & Convention Center, order a small iced latte at Pacific Coffee, and read the paper for 40 minutes. That's probably the highlight of my day right there.
I then proceed to go to my little beige cubicle & spend the next 7 or so hours sitting on my ass. My ass is probably growing as I type & the jalepeno cheddar cheetos I keep snacking on definitely don't help. What I don't understand is why I'm always hungry by 4 pm. Lunch, which is paid for by the company, is always a substantial bowl of rice & some vegetables/ meat. & given the fact that I don't really do anything to burn off the calories I should not be so hungry all the time. But right now I'm starving and I've already finished my cheetos.

I make sure to leave this lifeless soul sucking office by 6 pm on the dot. The remainder of my day is spent finding dinner. It can be quite difficult to find a good place to have dinner especially since my dorm is located in the middle of nowhere (I also refuse to eat at the canteen-it's just too gross). For the past two days I've had wonton noodle soup. Today I'm planning on going to Mong Kok, doing some shopping, getting some bubble tea, and then eating some street food (but probably in reverse order).

The end of my day has also become routine. I get home, blast the AC because it's so hot here, watch some Sex & the City, smoke some cigarettes & drink a beer, all while gchatting people.

So my weekday life can be summed up with: coffee, work, gchat, food, gchat.

Countdown

There are only 33 more days before I return to Boston! :)

And I like to think that the last week that I'm here will just fly by so in reality it's only 26 more days! :)

Tick tock

I promised myself that I wouldn't count to see how many days were left until the end of the week. I started the first day I got here and the number 42 is just so giant and daunting. How will I get through 42 more days of this? That's 1008 hours of scorching heat and extreme humidity.

Every once in a while I just have to take a step back, mentally slap myself, and realize that I'm actually in Hong Kong. It may be a bit lonely at times but this city is bustling with life. It's exciting and imaginative. Though the level of fun I'm having now is not even comparable to my study abroad adventures, I still love the city. I love smoking on the roof of my 16 floor dorm and gazing at the view. It's gorgeous. Right in front of me is the ocean and the peaking skyscrapers are framed by giant mountains. The architecture here is truly spectacular and the city offers such a wide array of opportunities and adventures, adventures that Boston definitely doesn't have. I just wish I knew more people to explore the city with.

I also love being able to eat out constantly. Granted, I did a ton of brunch sessions while I was in Boston the beginning of the summer, but atleast eating out in HK won't completely destroy my wallet.

Luckily, I begin working tomorrow. I've already got my business casual clothes laid out. I love the initial excitement of dressing up for work. It's like getting ready for the first day of classes. I really hope this job is demanding and rigorous--that'll certainly keep me occupied at least.

On Wednesday I'm also taking a boxing class. I'm extremely excited. I've always wanted to learn how to box and I feel like it'll be the best way for me to get in shape. Hopefully I'll make some friends there.

The glass is half full?

I keep reminding myself to think positively because things definitely could be worse. Part of me expected to arrive in HK to find myself locked out of the dorms, find all my items missing, and be internet-less. To my dismay, none of these things have happened. I successfully made my way back to 904 Lee Hysan Hall and all my possessions were still in my room. In fact, I'm pretty sure someone came in and organized my things a bit.

Unfortunately, I still desperately wish that I could be back in Boston. For the past 48 hours I have not spoken to anyone with the exception of airline stewardesses and doctors.

My journey to HK was a real pain. First off, I barely made it to my 7:10 pm flight on time. I went from terminal B to terminal E and then back to terminal B before realizing that Finnair is partnered with American Airlines. I checked in at 6:27 and somehow made it onto that plane. Six hours later, I'm in London Heathrow Airport. It's alright, but British Airways has an odd policy that doesn't allow people to sit at the gates until their plane is boarding. So for another six hours I napped awkwardly in front of a few kiosks. What I've noticed about London is that it is indeed rather dreary and there are a lot of Indian minorities.

I eventually boarded my two hour flight that would land me in Helsinki, Finnland. It is cold as hell there, the sun does not set till almost midnight, and their bread tastes weird. The 7 hour layover in Finland wasn't so bad though because the airport had these lovely lounge chairs that I ended up napping on for 5 hours. After that, I was finally on my way to Hong Kong.

I'd like to also state that this 31 hour commute was all done with a infected and blurry right eye. That's right, it hurt and I couldn't see.

After 4 hours at the local hospital, I've now been prescribed eye drops that have to be used every 2 hours and a lovely night cream that I'm supposed to rub against my cornea.

At least, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sleep according to the HK schedule, especially since I've just purchased a Carlsberg (which is arguably one of the shittiest beers in the world) and a pack of cigarettes.

Well, it's only 42 more days. In the grand scheme of things, 42 days is nothing.