Pharmacy Pharmacy Pharmacy. That is where I’m heading, but what actions am I taking towards it?

It’s come senior year of Uni, and all the buzz going around this particular generation is what are you going to do after you graduate? More like what steps are you taking NOW, to set up your future? That is the real question people should be asking. 20 years from high school graduation, at that reunion, it will be interesting to see where people have lead their lives since 2008. In 2011, I can say it hasn’t been far, but it sure has been a long walk. 

Taking up four classes, I am struggling to keep up the required material while attending extracurriculars. It doesn’t help to have a quiz every week for Organic Chemistry, causes immense stress. It doesn’t help that the professor is a complete jerk about the class also. I don’t know what esterfication is, I understand I should know it, but is it necessary to be such an asshole about receiving and answer. Being mean doesn’t help me understand it. Also the new policy of having every student submit some kind of question about assigned reading in every class to promote students to be on top of their work ethic is least to say some-what effective if the student doesn’t just B.S. every damn .01% of their grade assignment.

With extracurriculars, I have to set my priorities. Martial Arts, Fraternity, Anime Club?, and two new things added. I want to utilize what I learned in photography over my time in Hong Kong and through out the world as an Historian for the Chinese student association here at Uni. Then there is the possibility of becoming president of Pharmacy Club. It has been rocky paths for that club, and I want to set it straight. Though I’m sure all leaders before have tried with best intentions to lead Pharmacy Club. I have even seen the best leader shut themselves away and leave dwindling hopes. My priorities are badly scattered. 

It seems that everyone is selfish, but in the Uni life you have to be. You have to be cut-throat, and evil to the point of no return. Although exuding it outwardly, physically, and emotionally is non-existent. The veil covers over all students as humanitarian, volunteer oreinted, and promote actions in building a better communities. Realistically, these are tickets, vouchers, coupons to have at a discounted price of admission to a higher institution along with the assumption your superb grades. It is all for the self, even for the most altruistic people. Doing actions for the sake of others is still an innate selfish desire to want to give yourself to another person’s cause. It is socially perceived as saintly and pure. 

That is the dilemma in my naive logic. My logic based on my small insignificant amount of experiences I have lived thus far. Everything after now, after graduation, after 20 years, has been for what? The betterment of humanity in hopes for the next generation to have a healthier, cleaner, safer future?

Smiling at living. Everything that surmounts to accomplishing every refining detail you possess. When you are safe, when you know what you know because you can say, “I did that.” Living life for yourself. Not that living life for the sake of everyone else bullshit. (Which unless you’re a parent, you can claim as not B.S. ( I am not a parent I know nothing of the matter, I’m talking about the majority of feral Uni-students)) The counter argument is, if everyone lived for themselves and didn’t care about the world by polluting, dumping, etc. We would be living in our own shit. You don’t want that. I don’t want that. We’ll be doing something about that, through out life. 

Stuff that comes thru my mind:

All talk, no action is the definition of a failure at life. 

Do you want it as bad as you want to breathe?

-Life

megajuice:

Chores just got a little bit faster

Well I’m back, and as much as I had hoped. My blog of japan has failed ._.||| No surprise there. I’ve come across a quote that really reflects on my actions and wish at times I would do them, instead of just talking about them: “What matters is not so much talking about it, but getting it done.“ Well I finished my summer school course since I’ve come back from Hong Kong. The trip was amazing, I hope I don’t get americanized too soon, but unfortunately there are problems here that I must deal with. Stuff such as money, future, tests, letter of references, jobs, books for classes, and just things that I need to get done. There isn’t much rest there, but there is alot of it. Some are small and menial, but I guess it’s all things that keep me busy.

I saw a video the other day of Victor Kim, he was talking about his own life; the graduate of UCI with a Bachelor’s in Economics, now touring the world with Quest Crew. Doing what he wants to do I guess. I kind of believe that’s where true University lies. It gets me pumped when I think of this. Going back to UC wouldn’t be so bad in this mindset, even I don’t like it there.

Then again, I’m staring at my Organic Chemistry book knowing I need to study it in order to have any hopes of having any success in my next part of the course. Though I haven’t read a page…

Is the word “unmotivated” or “naive”. Things need to get done, but I choose to just find another thing to do and not do it. There is a problem there. But once I get started, there is no problem. I do it to it’s end and complete it. This “word” this unmotivation to get started is such a pain. 

Thus I went over this other person’s blog today who is aspiring to be a semi-professional manga artist, it’s what I partially want to do. Someday I’d like to put my stories into manga and earn money off of it hahahaha….

I’ve been doing some practicing on drawing, and I’d like to do a little anatomy everyday at least to try to improve. There is alot of Loomis which I need to look over for perspectives. 

As with anything in life: More time spent on things, more practice, and more preparation, gives you better knowledge, performance, and skill.

Next post hopefully will be a little comic that I thought up.

Next post after that hopefully will be the progress I’ve made in Organic Chemistry.

Best of luck to each and every one of us with goals they want done and actually put the effort to attain them.

deeepseadiver:

You’re always eating in your films! You look really at peace in those scenes.

So I’m finally in Japan, I made it. Woke up this morning at 7am to get ready for my 8 hour journey to Osaka, Japan. It’s only the first night, but I have I’d like to mark down this journey as it is going to be one of my last big one before going back Stateside. This entry is more of a journal of what I was thinking at the time and what I have been thinking. If anyone is looking for some reading, this post may not be suitable. This is in hopes a nice reminder for my future self to see how naive I might be right now. 

Coming to Hong Kong, I’ve always wanted to go to Japan. It was my big end of the Hong Kong school year trip. Since he earthquake there has been problems about radioactivity and the condition of the country. I once thought that to not go would be to be superstitious or overly cautious because I compared the drastic lowering of air traffic after 9/11. A friend said that is totally different. Non-comparable, because your trying to compare the possible chance that a terrorist will bomb the specific plane you’ll be on to a health problem that your willing to enter in. Yes, a health problem that I will have to live with as a result of the actions I’m currently partaking… Though reading articles have explained that radiation has reached the West Coast of the U.S. which was detected in the rain water California, I forget which UC. Also reading another friends informative article that coal mining causes more problems and more deaths than radioactivity does. It is just the degree that the radiation effects people that make it to the news. Also the coal miners work in sometimes remote areas of the world, so the news is less likely going to go out and report on the recent deaths of the vast complications that arise from respiratory, mercury/ or was it lime poisoning etc etc. Why is the only news I hear about miners is when a entrance collapses and a few to a few hundred of miners are stuck? They have to drill small holes to give them air as they dig an exit for them that takes them weeks while they have to be fed through slightly larger holes all the mean while they are swimming in their own feces because they have to be stuck down there for again… weeks.

Life is full of information that is twisted to influence you, people to influence you, and personal wants and needs, selfishness, and greeds.

It is amazing as I was talking to a friend on a farewell adventure how I learned that everything is a business and how unfortunate it is that we are dominated a lot by the government/money. From an opinion, the news in the United States is overly sensual. The CNN broadcasted in the U.S. is different from the CNN international etc. There is an overly bad veil over China and the Chinese government. I have learned that the business of the Associated Press is a powerful and many newspaper companies buy AP material to publish in their paper so they don’t have to pay for their own reporters to go to the story. Such is the case I have learned of Tibet and China during the Olympics. Such that the Dali Lama the holy nirvana actually strategically had a hand in organizing the chaos in tibet in order to grab international attention as China underwent the famous Olympics. The same Dali Lama that had shook hands with notorious leaders of Yakuza. The same holy leader that many Free Tibet groups that U.S. is trying campaign that are actually supporting these actions taking money from many well known celebrities, whether they know is well, to them. New York Times took the time to research the actions apparently and well China police and military didn’t know what to do and were taking action to help those who were injured from the Tibetan’s actions. All perspective. But, China has such a bad veil over the censoring they do on their internet. Though they are the most prominent country that actually openly admits it. Whereas the U.S. government has a silent hand in what gets to be allowed not necessarily the net but at least the news. Such in the case of Tibetan riots etc. It’s all about what will get viewer ratings. I have come to appreciate the different news available and the non-U.S. perspective on things. I have become just a little bit in my life De-americanized just a bit. I do enjoy it, it is most unfortunate that I myself am not critical enough within the U.S. Thus, it is nice to have my view of the world expanded just for a bit and hopefully ever expanding even when I go back.

Guangzhou: more on this another time. I spent a week there. Reminders: Net/Camera

Through all the worrying and the nervousness I am here in Japan. It is difficult to get around. If it weren’t for a very very generous friend I would have taken three times as long to figure things out, and search my Learn Japanese book for an appropriate phrase that most likely hope the answer will be in forms of hands signs to a price or hand signs to the direction I need to go, because I wouldn’t be able to understand haha. So far everything is suteki heh. You have your Ramen shops, Udon shops, kabob shops. You have your nice 3 story houses and your apartment complexes. There is the yubinkyoku, and your covini’s. Wish I had learned katakana. Everywhere is clean and the people are very nice. I felt really embarrassed when the old bus driver came up to me and kept tell me sutorappu sutorappu. I didn’t know what was going on. He comes up yanks the seatbelt and helps me put on my seatbelt. Even when I tried to say I can belt my own seat it didn’t work… STRAP(U) ooooo….. too late. The guy was too nice.

Tomorrow I hope to exercise some Japanese, take pictures, experience culture in ways I’ve never experienced and, have my stomach at some native foods because honestly today I had two meals of chicken rice from the two planes I had to take haha…. Plus I’m completely broke right now after paying for a airport bus from KIX to Osaka, a subway ticket, and paying my hostel fee for 3 nights a total of 111 US dollars only left with 60 Yen… and had to borrow 500 yen for a metoro ticket sighhh. One thing I learned that Osaka doesn’t have an abundance of foreign exchange places like Korea/Hong Kong/even Vietnam hah. 

More to come!

Singapore such a wonderful place! Sure people may say it’s another city like Hong Kong, but there are definite differences! I’m glad I saw for my own eyes how nice Singapore is and how different or the same it is. It was quite humid and hot. I’m glad it wasn’t thunderstorming the whole time we were there like the weather websites broadcasted. There were some showers though. There wasn’t a day I wasn’t sweating the whole day ><, and SMRT were nice havens for brief moments :P

Day1: Sands,Chinatown,Little India,Clarke Quay

Day2: Singapore Zoo, Orchard Road, Geylang

Day3: finishing Singapore: City Hall, Marina, Fountain of Wealth, Singapore Flyer

Singapore: I was surprised by the heat, the amount of mandarin speakers, it will be the closest I get to India in my life probably. The underground A/C’d networks are wonderful for their one season year. If you do something wrong you get caned or whipped w/e has strikes and sounds quite reasonable, maybe I’m delusional. Death penalty for drug traffickers. Safe city. The youth seemed nice and helpful. Saw a couple eating a lunch up on top of the Sands that had to be over 200 dollars per person with appetizer, main courses, and dessert contrasting what seemed a guy picking up two hookers in his car. From youths doing school club activities, and people just doing what they enjoy in the nice available places to do things like skateboarding under a bridge, to groups of guys just hanging with their friends at 10pm on a street corner. To packed malls (ION) on a Saturday night to a dead city with little to no cars nor people in the financial district on Sunday morning. Bustling with different languages, people, and culture Singapore is a really nice developed citycountry, overcoming many difficulties with so many different types of people, social perceptions, and integrated society with varied cultures and thoughts, that I cannot fully grasp within my three days of stay. Nonetheless, It’s awesome just like it’s people. 

Now that I’m back I view Hong Kong more differently and have added another worldly view in my sights. It’s nice to be back and not nice at the same time. Traveling is so nice, but during the travels I wished to relax and sometimes stop and just go bask lazily in some A/C. Now that I’m back in fair weather Hong Kong, I feel a rush of boredom like some kind of travel withdrawal. The intensity of the past few days have stopped, and it was very nice. Traveling with a group, there is always some complaints of pain going through your head, or some nice conversation going on. Mostly awesome enthusiastic comedic talks. At least planning or discussion on how or where to go next. This mindset is wonderful, always actively thinking of activities or places to go and taking your surroundings in. Now I’m in the dorm, lying on my comfy bed, but everything seems to be missing. There is a wave of work, education, and life to conquer step by step. I definitely don’t want to face it.

Yet, I get a call. All the times I’m trying to grow and prosper in this wonderful Hong Kong environment. Doing everything I possibly can here when the U.S. doesn’t provide opportunities for. I now have to prepare for a presentation for my Gene class on Ataxia-Telangiectasia. I also got the position for MC for last high table dinner of as a SCSH resident in HKU. Purely exciting stuff for more growth. Getting the chills but breaking some insecurities is going to be freaking fantastic. I hope to keep enjoying this awesome high on life sensation with all the wonderful people I’ve met all around, and those I may meet in the future. Of course continuing the visiting and hanging out even after this little paradise (always learning to appreciate bit by bit) comes to an end. 

You shouldn’t waste food, there are people who are starving and doing anything they can do get a meal. I hear that, it is a well known and guilt trip. I believe it isn’t good to waste food and there are people who believe that as long as they do it and pass the message they are able to do a good deed. It would seem like a Republican scheme of trickle down effect that is popularized when money flows down from the rich to the poor. Maybe it is some kind of religious circle of life type of preaching that wants to convert everyone so eventually when everyone is apart of it, food won’t be wasted. Eventually… Yet I once said that to a man, when I’ve never seen someone throw out so much food. He said to me that he’ll save all the food that he will throw away so I can mail it to the poor boy who needs it more and sure hope by the time it reaches him it isn’t already spoiled. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t even know where to find the poor child. But that is why there are organizations right? To have you donate the dollar to feed that unknown child for months… That is why you should simply be aware of how much you intake to avoid any problem right, or try to save it for later? Simple? Truth is the food is in the trash what are you going to do? Do you know the name of that starving child and where he/she is?

Go around reminding people that they shouldn’t waste food because your going to something and you already don’t waste food yourself?

So…

What am I? “Human” Who should I be? “Yourself” How should I do it? “Only you know the answer” Why isn’t it easy? “Life isn’t easy”

All these vague answers and I don’t want to accept them anymore.

I don’t understand however much I wait it out to find the answer that puzzles me all this time.

I am not as good as my peers. What do I do well? I don’t know. I do some things better than some people yet people are better than I. “There is always someone better than you” “You just got to try your best”

I have not accepted this. I must still be a child haha. Who would still say that he wants to be a doctor or firefighter or policeman when he “grows up” …..

Grows up…

I’m not as well off as other people. There are people more well off than me. I am very well off compared to a lot of the population, I get the opportunity to receive a higher education. Why don’t I appreciate it and work harder? I want to, but what is holding me back from working so hard for it.

Yet…

I am not as good of a photographer as you.

I am not as outgoing as you.

I am not as loving as you.

I am not as carefree as you.

I am not as friendly as you.

I am not as good of a musician as you.

I am not as good of an artist as you.

I am not as good of a singer as you.

I am not as good of computer buff as you.

I am not as intelligent as you are.

I am not as caring as you.

I am not as good at speaking as you.

My English isn’t as good as yours.

My Cantonese isn’t as good as yours.

My Mandarin isn’t as good as yours.

I’m not as strong as you.

I’m not as fit as you.

I’m not as good of a cook as you.

I’m not as incredibly whitty as you are.

I’m not as tidy as you are.

I’m not as athletic as you are.

I’m not as good of a dancer as you.

I’m not as creative as you are.

I’m not as healthy as you are.

I’m not as awake as you are.

You are superman and superwoman, and I am the one trying to fill out the mark that you have instilled with in me with your great skills. I feel that I am trying to step into the footprint you left behind following your steps with no avail.

I am in the middle of ‘something’.

I am with broken dreams.

You are amazing and I look up to you.

I am not as good as you as you are at being yourself, because you are your own being full of wonderfulness.

Thus I am….

Confused.

Korea and New Years: Korea Day TWO:

Twas a start that could have been better, and a very embarrassing one admittedly. Since Korea is so advanced and does not use SIM cards my phone could not connect to any form of service and the time was stuck at Hong Kong time. I had called a friend earlier last night to meet at 10am at the Myeongdong station. So, since Korea is one hour ahead of Hong Kong, I was over one hour late. To my friend I am very sorry and deeply sorry for such a mistake. Nothing like that occurred afterward nor will it ever happen. Myeongdong was quite the shopping center with many shops I have never heard of and some amazingly expensive stores such as G star Raw which I have decided will be what I will buy next. I guess I won’t be needing to buy clothes for a long time to save up money as one beanie was 88 dollars and jeans were 260… whew. I had my first Korean experience and had some very spicy thick noodles. I wish I can remember the name but as you ate each thick noodle it got spicier and spicier. The fish soup that they gave helped just a little. For lunch I had chicken bulgogi which I came to realize that Korean food is in some form of hot plate or bowl cooked quite freshly in front of you and requires some kind of mixing. Also is red from the spiciness lol. I was quite afraid of such dishes but now its alright and have further extended my spicyness limit as I had kimchi all the time =D. I’ve quite decided Korean haircuts are the best so far and they place especially good attention, time and care. They frequently try to make sure that the hair cut is to your taste. All for 10 dollars =D. As I went outside to go to try to go to Gyeongbokgung and it was snowing. It was quite a joyful experience. There was a light layer of snow across the cars and all the streets and sidewalks. I took my time finding the subway station to Gyeongbokgung. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time I got there. The nice thing about it being closed was being able to wander off in to the city and viewing night life of Seoul. Lots of wandering hah - self guided tour^^. That night I spent a long night with the guests as NAMU and just talked alot.

I began my morning with an exploration to Insadong, wandering in circles taking pictures of Topgal Park where I made my first snow angel. I was trying to find my way to Ssamzigil and did eventually find my way there. On my way there the stores sold alot of traditional wear and wares. At the top of Ssamzigil I had a huge meal that much much more than I anticipated with bimbimbap, beef bulgogi, scallion cake, fish, preserved vegetables, soup and a few more dishes! I wandered more until I stopped across a large shopping mall ‘Shinsegae’ There was alot of name brands and Korean brands too. Below Ground level was a lot of food stuffs. Coffee shops, sweet shops, bread, and pastries. I wish I could have bought of of each awesome looking pastry to try, but I would have gone beyond broke hah. I made my way to Namdaemun where I saw numerous street shops selling various clothes and goods. That is where I bought some nice ear muffs where I later lost in a taxi, and had a delicious peanut brown sugar pancake. After walking with no real interest, I made my way back to Myeongdong for some Donkatsu from Saboten. It was quite delicious and worth the name for I haven’t had such a tasty Donkatsu. That night I went with the house mates for Korean BBQ and had my first Soju experience. After dinner we went to my first Norebang, and was quite the Korean music exposure. Afterwards I couldn’t sleep for a good while because of the killer headache that the Soju left me with heh.

The next morning I went to Gyeonbokgung with a friend and viewed the huge palace. It was quite interesting and the guards had many different weapons which I wasn’t familiar to which I wonder what era they represent. We toured a museum which showed some transition from Chinese to Hangul. I had Ginseng Chicken soup for dinner which is totally better than any Chicken Noodle Soup that can possibly be created. Later my friend took me to South Seoul to tour me around the part of Seoul with a higher living standard. It was quite similar and quite alot of people but different ways of shopping comparing Coex mall with Shinsegae and Myeongdong. For dinner I had Army pot which had a sad start of the food. It definitely felt surreal dining with the room full of Koreans eating a red stew of army pot. It was quite the experience along with the Makkeolli. It was quite a big bottle but only had ~5% alcohol where as Soju with it’s impressive 20%. I didn’t enjoy Makkeolli, but it got easier to drink as more was drunk. My stomach was definately giving me signs that I had never exposed it to such a Korean dinner experience. Going back to the LEE&NO where i transfered for my last night I went over to NAMU to watch SBS end of the year idol show up til 2am. 

Last day I woke up and went to Bok Chun Traditional Village after meeting several new guests at LEE&NO guest house. The way Bok Chun was quite the small hike and the common loss of direction. After making it up the hill I had some green tea viewing Seoul from a high perch overlooking how the traditional village transformed in to the city it is now. It is quite a dramatic change and struggle to keep such building well maintained. I had lunch at a Chinese place near NAMU where it caught my eye the first night because it was full of Bruce Lee pictures and stuff. I finally got to try the food on my last few hours in Seoul and was very satisfied to my surprise. The pictures are very misleading with it’s very very brown sauce that looked questionable. It turned out to be delicious heh.

I last experience in Korea was at Incheon International Airport where I had Kraze Burger and ended it with a toast to a free Wifi zone that provided various laptops for guests to use using my last Banana Milk I would have for who knows when. Quite a befitting farewell sipping my milk enjoying some internet as I waited for the remaining minutes until it was time to board the plane.

I came back for one night in HK and left right way the next afternoon to Dongguang where I would meet family I have never met before. During this trip I came viewed several things which had small epiphanies but may not have been important enough for me to remember quite yet. I companied my older cousin to see his family, and had some talk time with him.

We talked about what to do with life after college, and how the college experience is such a great time of freedom depending how focused or unfocused you make it. He explained the necessity for short term and long term goals in order to achieve something. My cousin now a researcher has things going well for him currently, but on the other hand I am quite lost hah. Sure sure, pharmacy is what I’m studying for but I don’t really want to. So what am I suppose to do. Stability versus dreams versus happiness is the battle of this generation. I guess thats one thing I leave for more reflection for another time.

Also we talked about civility, ethics, and tradition amongst Chinese, Hong Kong, and American societies. There is a visible difference and the conduct with the different Chinese in these areas. Money and education has such a dramatic influence of how people conduct themselves and how people view others thereof. It would seem that mainland would have a lower conduct as they more than frequently yell at their own people when they are the same. They treat the family with so much love and respect, but out those boundaries it almost becomes feral. The generalization is sad, but having caretakers allow children to pee on the streets and hawking a loogey as normal conduct. There are differences, but I do not have the vocabulary nor the proper backing to begin to describe what I see and feel between the aggressive environment of mainland China. More on the tradition of Chinese culture the housing I went to had so much family it was very impressive. 3/4 houses on the 17 floor was owned by the family, one on the 16th floor, one on the 1st floor, and one on the next building over. This cause such a huge family gathering so frequently. With over seven adults who are the children of the two grandparents and each adult have their own children and some of the children have children also. The gathering was quite ridiculous. My cousin said that this was the traditional aspect of Chinese culture.

Was this what my father pursued and wanted out of his family? My father bribed me to attend a university near home with a Lexus IS350. I found that very unacceptable after not unwilling help pay for tuition after raising me saying that i can’t have stuff in life or threatening me when I was younger with, “Who’s paying for your University when you grow older?” What a lie. There are many unanswered questions or theories. It would seem to me that my father expects me to instantly know how to conduct myself in a Chinese fashion with a Chinese mindset when he has not taught me anything or took the time to even talk with out giving some tremendously intimidating atmosphere or ANY room for questioning because it is he who is always right, it is he who has so much proclaimed experience that any other person can not attain his level or be reasoned with because they haven’t gone through the hardships he has.

With this family there was more warmth and laughter. Also instances of viewable abuse. The amount of food and alcohol that was order within the two days was insane. I had lots of tasty food and various drinks. Most notably the 53% alcohol rice liquor. What a killer that was. 

The last night ended with Chinese Karaoke which would have been better if I know any mandarin songs or know more mandarin heh. So thus I have been to HK K, Noreabang, and CN K.

Things are winding down as I am now in HK. I have to work harder this Semester, and plan harder for the upcoming trips I want to partake. I’m quite determined to keep myself comfortably bus with this beginning of the year and see where it leads me because I feel it is going to be a good one. The time leading up new years and has been going very well. I hope I can keep this momentum.

Hello 2011.

It has been a long time since I’ve posted anything up. Much has happened since 2 months ago.

Hong Kong University Finals are amazingly difficult. People are tested by the hundreds in multipurpose rooms and grand halls. As many has two subjects can be tested at one time from my experience. It is very discouraging when students will actually raise their hands to ask for more paper because they filled up their booklet. One one hand it is great for regurgitation in order to maximize points. On the other hand there is no novelty behind such a memorzing game. I’ve had a discussion that arguing a different perspective other than the book is realistically what university life is about because one should have understood the material given in the text book. I can imagine it being alot easier with politics, but I guess science is a subject ever stuck in memorizing. Other than that I have seen a great many people study frantically and some people who truly blow me away probably like in any other univerisity but its the most oustanding in HKU. More to come when there is time to type on more reflections on HK education systems.

Christmas was one that I’ve never experienced before. I went out with a family member who I’ve only met once and he invited me to a barbeque with his friends. The night was quite fantastic viewing different opinions on different subjects and Hkers go about life after college. Some are still in college, and some have jobs. The barbeque was so asian and fantastic. There was so much food and I wish I could recreate such a grandiose feast in America with everyone I love to spend my time with. Realistically it would be too much money, but everyone would just have to pay an ‘entrance fee’ and enjoy the night. The location was key to have a succcessful barbeque too. The clean up of the grill is left to cleaners of the residence for a fee of a hundred hk dollars. The lower steps under the patio where the grill was had a bathroom facilities and a foosball table. It was my first time playing foosball that night and boy did it past my expectations in how enjoyable it would be. The night was amazing and I met some amazing people. Definately a Christmas to remember.  

I’m now in Korea and it is day one of the four day adventure until the thirtieth. It was quite nerve racking trying to decide whether to come or not with the rivalries increasing between North and South. Also going alone to the country not knowing how to read or speak the language feels like social suicide. Though I truly wanted to experience a first step or my first step in ‘back packing’. I feel like its a pretty awesome experience just getting in to the hostel where I’m staying at. I’ve never stayed at a hostel before, but my first impression of this one is completely amazing. There is a sound system, furnished kitchen, computers, internet, [heated floors], {which right now Bossa Nova is playing with I am enjoying as I type this}. The weather is outstanding, cold, biting, death. Quite the CNS spiker. The city was dead when I arrived but arriving is just have the battle. I researched with my procrastinated time in the best route to NAMU guesthouse hostel only to come to find that my efforts can be completely scoffed at. I should really learn to check my e-mails as they sent me the best way to get to their hostel as well as the very helpful informacion center at the Incheon International Airport. There is much to learn on my own and watch my hide.

Tonight was a good night to begin a journey to Korea. The city from what I’ve seen is very beautiful from the bus. It reminded me much of America but better because of high rises. Lots of street lights spaced evenly along large roads. In Hongdae, is quite something else. It definately feels Korean, with it’s architecture and doesn’t resemble quite like the city life in Hong Kong especially with the Sunday Night lack of people on the streets. The definate no English characters and the family circles and lines of Korea language. After arrival which I figured out where I at least want to go with my time here. I went out with two other hostel mates who I have no idea who they are but the enviornment is so friendly here that everyone feels equal because we live under the same house for the time being. We had ‘Sam Gyup Sal’ which was Korean barbeque for 9,750 won for me. It was delicious and I really actually ate Kim Chi <ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ>. I can’t wait for other intersting foods and… sleeping with 6 random people in one room<scarcasm>.

Most thankfully some korean friends I have made in Hong Kong have offered some time to let me experience Korean culture, food, and fun. I’m quite grateful and fililed with pure joy and excitement for the next few days.

Let Day Two commence! ㅋ!

7) Everyone plays Nintendo DS or PSP. Everyone. On train, in the park, or at the store. Anywhere and Everywhere. Doesn’t matter your age. Here, 5 year olds play up to 80 year olds. True story.

8) If you want to find a decent Bathroom in Hong Kong and especially China. You take a lift up to the fanciest restaurant you can find and walk straight ignoring the receptionist looking like you have a table already. Pray to find the bathroom plaques, and ENJOY!

9) will continue when I remember!