Leaving Do at Shek O

I am not sure if it is a British thing or an Aussie thing, but in Hong Kong alot of people call a going away party a "leaving do". Anyway, we had our "leaving do" on Saturday at a very cute little bar in Shek O called Big Wave Bar. They let us rent a big barbecue and bring our own food to grill. (Of course, we found this out after I had posted a comment on Boston Chef about how there was no place to grill outdoors in Hong Kong!) Anyway, it was a nice little spot right on the beach.

The only problem was that it is sort of a long trek from Central, and the weather was bad! It was like, really windy and I was freezing. I was wearing my bathing suit and shorts cause I thought it was going to be hot! It has been hot and gorgeous in Hong Kong everyday except that day, what a bummer! Alot of people were out of town that weekend, so that was also a bummer.


It was a fun afternoon, but it ended early cause everyone was freezing, especially me!

Moving Day

Today the movers came and packed up our stuff. Sadly, it was traumatic for me. Not during the move, that was easy, but the days preceding it. I feel ridiculous because after Kelly left and I started thinking about packing and organizing my stuff, I started having all of these flashbacks to when I was packing up Dad's house and my house before I moved to Hong Kong. As Grandma and my cousin Melissa know, that may have been the worst day of my life. On that day, while the packers started boxing up Dad's house, it started to sink in that Dad really wasn't coming back. So, I huddled on the floor and sobbed. In retrospect, I feel bad for the movers. They just worked and tried not to look at me. Haha! I gave them a huge tip, so I don't feel that bad. My cousin and my Grandma were great, and my Grandma's dog Bandido was also great. I have never been the hugest "dog person". I think they are ok, but have never had the deep love for them that other people (like Matt) do. But while I was crying there on the floor, holding Bandido was the most comforting thing in the world. For a long time after that I really wantd a dog of my own. Bandido really made me feel better! Now I am over it though.

Anyway, I feel ridiculous because that was two years ago. This move is a hundred times easier than that one was. We are basically paying guys to do everything and we don't have that much stuff. It was done in literally an hours and a half, and Matt was here to help me the whole time. Poor Matt, I might be scarred about moving men and the process of moving for the rest of my life. Just kidding, when we move from Boston I am sure it will be better...

Another thought about Dad...I got an email from my friend Rachel. She is getting married this summer in Burbank, which is not far from where Dad and I lived in Pasadena. She is booking the hotel for Matt and I and one option was in old town Pasadena, right by my Dad's house. When I started to think about going back to Pasadena, I couldn't handle it. I feel like I want to avoid that place at all costs, even though I love it. I haven't been back since we sold Dad's house, and I don't want to ruin my first weekend back in the US by freaking out over being in Pasadena. So, I think we will just stay in a hotel in Burbank. Yes, I am avoiding the situation, but I don't care! I do feel ridiculous though...shouldn't I be over this by now?

Enough about sad topics...I ran into Paige and Diane today in Kosmo Cafe. I wish I had really talked them sooner. Diane said she always loved to see Kelly and I in class because we look so happy to be there. I think that is a very nice compliment. I am going to miss the teachers at Pure alot. Strangely, I feel like I have been through so much with them in the past two years even though we didn't really know eachother. They recommended me to go to Baron Baptiste's studio in Boston. I am slightly afraid of him because he seems so intense, but I will give it a try because Paige said his studio is awesome. I usually don't like male teachers because they seem so "achievement oriented", but maybe Baron Baptiste will be different.

Kelly's Last Day in Hong Kong

Last Monday was Kelly's and my last day in Hong Kong together. It was a very sad day! We had lunch at Life Cafe, which was one of our favorites, and went to yoga. Luckily, Paige was teaching that day so we could have our last class with her.


On my way home from lunch I saw this really crazy bug. You can't tell from the picture, but it was huge! Like, the size of my palm...It was right outside my building. It makes me realize that Hong Kong is definitely a subtropical climate. We don't have bugs like that in California! (Or at least not that I have seen...)


Matt, Kelly, Maria and I went out to vietnamese food for dinner, and then to get foot massages. When I leave Hong Kong I am definitely going to miss the foot massages. While Matt and I are in China I plan on getting foot massages as much as possible!

The End of a Very Lazy Weekend

Well, I guess I never fully recovered from Cinco de Mayo...I felt horrible the entire next day. I had a headache, I felt nauseous, I didn't want to do anything except lay on the bed and groan. It was horrible, plus there was a thich grey cloud laying right on top of the city and that made it even worse. Matt and I went to see Match Point at night. I was bored with that movie from beginning to end! Too many British people in it I guess...



This morning the weather was better, but I still felt very blah and extremely lazy. Matt and I went to Lower Cheung Sha Beach (where we had his birthday party last year) and laid on the beach and read our books. Very relaxing! I needed to get out of the city a little bit. After the beach, we went to dinner with Kelly and Raul. She is leaving on Tuesday...I can't believe it! We won't be living near each other anymore!




On our way home from the beach, there were some fortune tellers at the ferry terminal. I had my fortune told, and it was very interesting. This is what I found out:

1. I need some "eyebrow gel" (his words not mine) to keep my eyebrows in order. If I don't do that, then I will not be able to keep money. I must make sure to pluck in between my eyebrows. (I am not joking. He said this.)

2. My face could get fatter. It is too bumpy right now (he said my cheekbones stick out too much) and it should be smooth. If it is bumpy, then things will keep changing alot in my life.

3. I should chew gum to strengthen my jaw muscles, then I will be better able to tell people what to do.

4. On my hand, the "health line" is faint. I must continue to exercise and be very careful of my health because there may be problems in the future.

5. On my hand, the "business line" is "not existing". (Hahahaha! Matt and I both laughed at that one.)

6. I should not lend money to friends because I will not get it back.

7. The shape and size of my chin means that when I am old, I will have enough food and money. (Oh good! I actually worry about that alot.)

8. My palm says that I waste money so I need to think about not buying things I don't need.

9. My upper lip shows that I have stomach and digestive health issues so I should do 20 sit ups every night before bed. (Hmmm....maybe he just thought my stomach was fat?)

Very interesting! I was going to take his advice about the sit ups, but now I feel tired...I will definitely go and get my eyebrows done though!





Aaaahhh...beautiful Hong Kong...The pictures in this blog post are ones that Matt and I took today on the ferry back from Lantau. Beautiful Hong Kong, O how I will miss you!

Cinco de Mayo

Last night we celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Tori and Patrick's house. Tori is my beatiful, fun, perfect hostess/perfect house/perfect career friend....very inspiring! Anyway, she outdid herself again, and made the most delicious spread of Mexican-style appetizers: seven layer dip, guacamole, and some sort of cheesy dip. So yummy! And, her margaritas were out of this world. I drink less and less with each passing day, but some how at Tori's magic house, I always end up drunk (okay, I am exagerating...but I have only been there twice, and those are the only times I have been drunk in the past 2 years)without any warning or knowledge of how I came to be that way. Actually, that is not true...I know how I got that way, it was the yummy, not-to-sweet/not-to-strong margarita she put in my hand when I walked in. It didn't even take me a full margarita...I drank a quarter of the glass and was already well on my way to being sloppy drunk. It is sort of sad in a way, cause that is not very much alcohol.


It was an amazingly fun night...Kelly, Tori and I went into Tori's bedroom because Tori had some old clothes that didn''t fit her anymore but are basically brand new, and they fit me perfectly...We were in the bedroom a really long time marveling at her wardrobe and talking about what clothes I would need for Boston. Apparently I need khakis, boots, turtlenecks and a trench coat. Oh, and lots of seersucker. I can check off the khakis cause Tori gave me hers. I think the clothing style in New England is cute for other people, but frankly, I don't think it is really my style. I guess I will see when I get there. I am not sure if I will ever get into the seersucker!


When we came out of the bedroom, everyone had caught up with my margarita drinking and were dancing around the living room. There was lots of air guitar playing and singing going on...

I am sad to leave my friends in Hong Kong!

PS. Happy birthday to Matt's sister, Ana!
PPS. Now I remember why I don't like drinking...I feel sick and gross this morning. My head hurts! I think I will go to yoga, that should help.

Fiona's Baby Shower

Fiona opening one of her many gifts!


Last night Kelly and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Fiona. Well, I guess "hosted" is sort of a strong word for what we did...basically, we sent out the evite and brought the food and some baby shower games over to Fiona's house. Despite the fact that Kelly and I don't have kids and aren't really baby shower experts, I think it turned out great! Most of the people there were British anyway, and apparently in England they don't have baby showers. So, they hadn't been to a baby shower before and so they couldn't compare it to anything else. We had a ton of food...but that was good cause there were lots of pregnant, hungry ladies there. We played the game where everyone guessed how many times a roll of toilet paper would wrap around Fiona's stomach, and also had some Fiona trivia questions to keep the gift opening interesting.

I guess that in England and Australia they have a tradition called "wetting the baby's head". When a baby is born, the father will go out and drink all night with his buddies. Hmmm...I hope wetting the baby's head never catches on in the US. Matt will definitely not be wetting my baby's head. (I hope...)


I have been totally baby crazy lately...I probably shouldn't admit this out loud, and I am sure it is only because all of a sudden it seems like I know a lot of people who are having babies. But...with every passing month I want a baby more and more. I even had a dream where I had a baby, but Matt was at work I was worried that the baby was going to be cold and for some reason I needed his help. So, my solution was to put the baby in an envelope and keep it in my coat pocket. Hmmm....maybe that dream is telling me to wait 5 years so I can learn not to put a baby in an envelope! No, actually, it is Matt telling me to shut up about babies...I am only 25 after all.


My other beautiful pregnant friends, Jean and Julia!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

For Matt's 28th birthday, we had a small, casual dinner at Pasha. It was very different from Matt's birthday last year, but it was a lot more fun. Last year was good, but this year it was more relaxed, and with a smaller group we could actually talk to everyone!

The restaurant, Pasha, served Xinjiang cuisine. It was delicious, but I am slightly worried for when Matt and I head off to Urumqi in a few weeks. I think all they eat there is big hunks of greasy meat! Matt will be happy, but there is only so much lamb and beef I can eat before I get really sick of it. The good thing is, Xinjiang bread is so yummy...they cook it in a big oven, and it is soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, with sesame seeds on top. So good! When I was in Beijing, I was addicted to the bread they served at the Xinjiang restuarant on campus. Also, the Xinjiang province is famous for its vanilla ice cream. Sounds good to me! Plus, that is where a lot of the fruit is grown that is sold in the rest of China.


We had cheesecake for dessert, and they even gave Matt a birthday fez that we got to bring home.

Dragon's Back

This weekend Matt and I decided to hike the Dragon's Back. Dragon's Back is an easy, one hour hike that it seems like everyone in Honbg Kong has done a million times, except us. We have been hiking quite a bit here, but never the Dragon's Back! It was nice to get out a little, but it was SO humid, and I was sweating like a beast. Also, there were a ton of people on the trail. I miss hiking in the Sierras, where you might not see another person the whole day! All the expats rave about how hiking in Hong Kong is so great, but I feel like they haven't seen really beautiful, stunning, pristine wilderness. I guess that is the point though, hiking areas in Hong Kong are accessible to everyone, and it is not a long trek to get to a good hiking spot.

The views were great and we ended up in Shek O, which was lucky cause we ended up booking a really cute barbecue spot on the beach for our going away party.

Six Years!

Yesterday was Matt's and my 6 year anniversary. It is unbelievable, it has gone by so fast! The weather was not that great, so we decided it was a good day to take the ferry over to Lamma Island to play some Scrabble at the Bookworm Cafe. It was a lot of fun. Matt beat me....that makes twice in a row! I can't believe it! My mental agility has definitely decreased over the last couple of years. I used to trounce him without even trying. I blame it on the multiple sclerosis! (Or maybe my brain has turned to applesauce after leading a life of leisure in Hong Kong for the past two years...)

We decided to be completely lazy all day, so we ordered pizza at home instead of going out to dinner to celebrate. We watched the end of Six Feet Under. I was crying so hard when they showed Nate's funeral. Somehow it reminded me of my Dad dying...maybe cause he was a forty-ish year old man that died suddenly and unexpectedly and left a daughter behing? Not sure. Anyway, I was crying, and ended up saying, "Matt, you had better not die until after I do. I could't handle it." Very morbid for an anniversary night, don't you think?

Aside from that, it was a great day. I like relaxing...Hong Kong seems so stressful after being on my yoga retreat! I am lucky to have such a great boyfriend...it isn't every man that would agree to go to an organic, vegetarian cafe on a random island to play Scrabble.

A Few More Photos from Thailand

We spent a lot of time on the beach, but I was a good girl and wore tons of sunscreen and a hat!



Meagan at Yoga Thailand



Meagan Relaxing in the Bungalow

Our Teacher

Since Kelly and I were beginners, we were lucky enough to basically have our own teacher. Neil was awesome! I am so happy that he was our teacher, because sometimes Ashtanga teachers and practitioners are very achievement-oriented. That is my one big gripe with ashtanga yoga...I feel that yoga is one thing in my life which should most definitely NOT be achievement-oriented.

Neil helped us alot in our postures, but was also very open to answeting any questions we had about yoga. He has lead an interesting life. He has travelled all over India and had a yoga studio in Beijing before moving to Thailand. We were sad to leave him!

We had Thai massages every day. They are so cheap that it is affordable! Yoga Thailand has an open air, covered platform like thing that they use for the massages. It was great because you could hear and see the ocean during the massage. I definitely needed the massages and the steam room, because I was unbelievabley sore the first few days there. My hamstrings and my upperback were so stiff! I think the massage ladies got a kick out of us, cause we both were screaming when they massaged our hamstrings. I think they pressed harder to make us scream, cause they were cackling away the whole time!

Thai Cooking Class

The only time we left Yoga Thailand was to go to a cooking class in Chaweng. It was excellent, and very professional. We all made our meals from scratch by our selves, and got our own individual wok, mortar and pestel and cutting board. The food was great, but you need quite a lot of spices and I am not sure if I am patient enough to make food like that on a regular basis. One of the best parts was that the teacher explained all the ingredients to us, as well as what substitutes we could use in our own countries. We ended up making WAY too much food though!

The Food at Yoga Thailand

The food at yoga Thailand was SO DELICIOUS! I bought the cookbook, so hopefully some day when I have a kitchen I can make a few recipes. Everything was vegetarian and organic, and it was so delicious. Even Kelly loved it, and she is a junk food addict. It's always nice to have someone else thinking of balanced meals and then making them for you at regular intervals, with out you having to think about it. It really keeps you on an even keel emotionally. Healthy food makes a difference! Plus, it is nice to eat as a group. I hate eating alone. I will be happy when I have a family some day and we can all eat together.



The Buffet Line



Some Yogis Eating Lunch

Yoga Thailand

Kelly and I spent all of last weekend at yoga retreat in Thailand. It was amazing! I have never felt so relaxed in my adult life! I have to admit, I was slightly nervous before we left...the web site said you needed to bring everything yourself, even towels and shamboo and herbal tea. Plus, I didn't know was sort of crazy, hard core yoga people would be there...also, I hadn't done Ashtanga yoga for a long time and it is quite rigorous!

I shouldn't have worried, cause it ended up being the most amazing trip...Kelly and I never ran out of things to talk about (amazingly)and we met lots of cool people. We were new to Ashtanga, at least compared to the other people there, so we basically had a private teacher. I definitely learned alot while I was there.

I think one of the reasons I felt so healthy and relaxed is because of the schedule we followed there. We were up by 7:30 for meditation (which involved sitting silently in a room for 15 minutes) then did yoga till 9:30. After that it was breakfast, which we ate communally, then Kelly and I would head to the beach. After the beach we headed back to the shala for a communal lunch, then back to the beach. We had a Thai massage every afternoon and a quick trip to the sauna, then a shower and dinner with everyone. After dinner we would watch movies about various aspects of yoga, then we would have another meditation time. We exhausted and asleep by 9 pm every night! It was a nice schedule also because we never had to make any decisions all day....that can be stressful, even on vacation!

End of Semester Celebration Dinner

My Chinese class is over! I am actually really sad....I know, I know, I complained endlessly about how long the commute was and how boring it was to sit in class for hours every day. I am really happy that I don't have to commute every day anymore, but I am sad because my class was filled with really good people! They are all so nice, I think we really bonded. We definitely bonded much more than my class in Beijing did.

To celebrate, we went to a dumpling restaurant in Hung Hom. It was in an area called Whampoa Gardens, which is a really huge housing/shopping/entertainment area. I had never been there before. It is amazing, I feel like there is still more to explore in Hong Kong...too bad I am leaving now! The dinner was good, at a place called Din Tai Fung. They had dumplings of every type, but they were sort of a Cantonese-style take on dumplings. Most dumplings I have had have been Beijing style. The outer wrapping of the dumpling was thinner and more dry, and all the food was less oily than it would be if it were Northern style. I definitely want to bring Matt to the restaurant, it was good and cheap!

One nice thing about my class is that it was very international. (This was also a bad thing, because Korean and Japanese students learn characters at a much quicker rate than Westerners.) I learned so much about Korea and Japan and the lifestyles there...very interesting!


I am going to miss Kelly so much when I move...we spend every day together, and text message eachother all day if we are not together...It is sort of like in elementary school when you have a friend that you are "attached at the hip" with. I think that is pretty rare for an adult friendship, but I guess in Hong Kong we have a lot of time on our hands!

The Last Book Club!

Last week we had our last book club! It was officially disbanded because the main organizer, Fiona, is about to have a baby and no one else volunteered to pick up the slack. It is probably for the best...half the people in the book club didn't even like to read, and they never read any of the books. They just showed up for the food! I have to admit though, I didn't read the book for this month...I was too busy with finals and preparing to move from Hong Kong.

Only a few people showed up for the last book club meeting, but it was a lot of fun. It was at Kelly's house and she made fajitas and brownies, it was delicious! I am starting to get really sad about leaving Hong Kong. I have met a lot of nice people here!

I lost it all!

Well...my upbeat, positive attitude of yesterday morning didn't last very long. When I was writing my blog, I realized that all of Dad's pictures weren't on my computer. (The one I had posted was in a separate folder from the other pictures.) Not only are his pictures not there, but also none of the pictures that Matt and I had taken the whole previous year. When my computer crashed this December, Matt had taken it down to a data recovery place, and then put the recovered data back onto my computer. He told me to check to see if everything was there, and I thought I did...but I guess I just saw that some of the pictures were there, but not all of them. I had alot of pictures on the desktop for some reason. Maybe I just saw those and assumed all of the pictures were there? I don't know. It is my fault, I should have done thorough check. I am devastated, more so about Dad's pictures than mine. I still have like 75 years to travel and take more pictures, but he is dead! So, that set me off on a crying episode and I was very sad all day, as realized anopther part of Dad had slipped away. Matt was great though, I am so glad to have him in my life. We went and played scrabble all day and he let me pick a restuarant that I always want to go to and he doesn't: The Bookworm on Lamma Island, which serves only whole grain, organic vegetarian food. They are so creative though, that is why I love to go there! The serve such interesting food.

Anyway, on a more positive note...I found I was accepted back into Tufts, so looks like Matt and I will be heading to Boston this Fall. Expect to see us back in the US permanently!

Another year gone by....

As of today, it has been exactly 2 years since Dad died. It is crazy to think how different my life was just two years ago! I was a happy, blissful child then...But I definitely feel better about it than I did last year at this time. Matt is still asleep, but I don't think he has to worry about me throwing a knife at him this year!

So what do I have planned for today? Well, it is the Ching Ming Festival today, which is a public holiday in Hong Kong. Chinese people usually honor their dead realitves on this holiday by sweeping their gravestones and burning paper money. Dad doesn't have a gravestone, but I think I will walk over to the same place I did last year to burn some colored papers. I know it isn't a tradition in my culture, but it just seems like a nice way to mark the day.

Even though it has been two years, I actually still think about Dad all the time. He had such a huge influence on my life, so even here in Hong Kong where there isn't as much to remind me of him, I think about him all the time. I also have been thinkng about him because I have been gathering and preparing the paperwork to do the final taxes of his estate. I will be SO GLAD when that is over! It won't be till this summer though, cause I have to meet with my tax advisor when I go home in June. This process is neverending!

Windows of the World

After the night of karaoke and Liar's Dice, Matt and I spent the night in the hotel and then went to Windows of the World in Shenzhen. It is an amusement park that lets people "tour the world in a single day"...this is good, cause it is hard for Chinese people to ever leave China...Haha! It was actually pretty fun. There were rollercoasters and other rides, but every time I got on a roller coaster I was like, "Oh my god! I am on a roller coaster in China! Oh no, hope it doesn't crash!" They also had an indoor ski slope with real snow. I am not kidding! Matt and I are going to do it next time.

After the amusement park we went and had dinner. I had such a great time speaking Mandarin! I feel like I can really communicate now...Matt said it was like being with his coworkers who speak Chinese, he didn't have to think about anything! We also went to get massages at the Carnival Club and then headed home. Now I am so excited for when Matt and I travel in China. We are going to the Xinjiang Province, and it should be amazing...

Hookers and Whiskey

This weekend Matt and I went to China to have dinner with the owner's and employees of a factory that Matt works with. It was a great opportunity for me to practice my Mandarin! If you ever want an ego boost, go to China...all they tell you there is how beautiful you are, how clever you are and how amazing it is that you can speak Mandarin so well. (I DON'T speak mandarin very well, but I think Chinese people are so shocked to see a white girl speaking Chinese that they think anything you say is brilliant.)

The dinner was delicious: standard Guangdong style food with lots of veggies and seafood. Delicious! After dinner we all went up to a room in the hotel to play Liar's Dice and do karaoke. When we got in there, the servers brought in a whole bunch of pitchers of whiskey (to be mixed with water...eewww!!)and plates of snack food. Then....the girls came in. A whole line of girls dressed like hookers came in and stood at the front of the room, with badges around their neck that had their number on them. All of Matt's coworkers were men, except for two women. All the men sat there and looked at the girls and picked ones from the line that they wanted. I thought the embarrassing, degrading situation was over, but then they brought out another string of girls. More of them were picked, and then another string of girls was brought in. It seemed to never end! Some of the girls were
blocking the TV that the Karaoke was on, and the men yelled for the girls to move...which seemed even worse, cause it was like the girls were SO inconsequential that they were less important than the karaoke which no one was even singing. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, a girl was in the way of where I had been sitting with Matt...a factory worker literally pushed the girl out of my way! I felt very sad, the girls were treated like dirt.

Matt was completely used to a nd comfortable with the whole process...usually he gets a girl, which I think is yucky. He said he tried not to get the girl at first, but it was so awkward with the rest of the men that he decided he should just get one. Hmmm...then he said it was no big deal because they are just there to play Liar's Dice and sing karaoke if the men get bored. This may be true, BUT there is still the fact that the girls will have sex with you if you pay them money at the end. I was playing Liar's Dice, and the girls were really good. It was my first time so I was bad. Plus, I was wearing jeans and a t shirt, and they were dressed in tight, sparkly outfits. They were overly nice (of course) to the men, pouring their drinks, laughing at their jokes, leaning on them, cuddling with them. The whole thing was so intimate...like having a girlfriend that is your servant and who thinks that everything you say in brilliant. On girl kept picking up Matt's dice cause he was drunk and kept dropping the dice. I was like, "Don't do that. He is a drunk ass, he can pick up his own stupid dice." It is a dangerous situation: really drunk men, girls that are dressed in very revealing clothes that are really nice to you and yet desperate. The men would like, kiss the girls on the cheeks and keep their hands on their thighs. Yuck! Not that I think Matt would ever do anything...but damn, how easy can they make it?

I found myself in love with the two men that refused to get girls. This is not to say the whole night was awkward, it was fun actually, and Matt's female coworkers had no problems with it, they were high fiving the girls when they did good in the game. For some reason, this sort of "entertainment" seems a lot worse than men going to a strip club. That seems like more of a performance, less hands on. This was like girls being yor girlfriend for a night. That is a LOT WORSE! Matt said no one usually takes the girls home or to their hotel room, but frankly I don't believe that at all. We saw one of Matt's coworkers the day later and he said that after we left, the atmosphere changed alot and they brought in more girls, so he left. I was like, alright, what about the two female coworkers? They didn't seem to care, but I think they just don't know anything different.

I am all for cultural sensitivity, but there is a line, right? Just cause you know that it is a cultural norm for people to do a certain thing doesn't mean that you have to like it. BUT, that being said, we all saw Memoirs of a Geisha...it didn't bother me so much in that movie. Anyway, enough of me ranting...

Matt told me a long time ago, out of the blue, that he felt bad for expat women here because the expat men are so sleazy. Kelly's husband told her the same thing. Thank God I trust Matt so much.

We have plans, finally!

Matt and I have started to make our plans for the next few months. We fly into San Francisco on May 17. We will stay in San Francisco till the 20th, then drive up to Eureka to visit Matt's parents. We will drive with them to Joseph, Oregon for Matt's cousin's high school graduation. Then, I will fly back to San Diego for my friend Rachel's bachelorette party. I am very excited! Then I will stay in San Diego and gets lot of quality time with my beautiful little sisters, then Matt will fly down and we will go to Sam and Rachel's wedding on June 18. After that, we are going to rent a car and visit all our friends in northern California. After that, we have no idea....Still no long term plans but I am SO happy to at least have the next few months planned out.

Too Much Jello!

This weekend one of my friends hosted a girls dinner for my good friend Mel, who is moving back to London in April. It was so sad! I feel like there is a mass exodus from Hong Kong...everyone is leaving!

Our friend's apartment was amazing, all the way up on the peak, so that the view was even better than the one you get from the tourist area on top of the Peak. It was HUGE, and she had her helper there to help her cook and clean everything. This girl is 24 and her boyfriend is 26. It is insane...I can't even begin to imagine what her apartment must have cost. Plus, it had like, art and stuff. Who has art when they are 24? Also, all their furniture matched and was tasteful and they picked it all out themselves. They are more together than most adults twice their age. She made an elegant meal of wild mushroom risotto, and delicious salad and for dessert a moist chocolate cake that was rich and delicious with a raspberry puree on the plate and two artfully placed, perfectly beautiful raspberries on the side. OH MY GOD! Talk about Bree Van de Kamp, right? I hope to host an elegant dinner party like that when I am 35.

From knowing our hostess, Kelly and I knew how perfect everything would be so Kelly thought it would be funny to bring Jello shots instead of wine...just to throw a little trash in the mix. It was pretty funny, except that Jello is very deceiving. You can eat a lot of it, especially if it has whipped cream on it. I never drink very much, and a lot of times am the only sober one around, along with Kelly, who doesn't drink at all. I guess her and I both love Jello, cause we both ended up drunk. When we met up with the guys at Kee Club, both her husband and Matt were shocked. They kept saying, "I can't believe you guys are drunk." Matt is always telling me to drink more, cause I will have more fun...I guess he is right because the night went by really fast and the other drunk people didn't seem so stupid anymore. But then, I started to feel sick and the next day I felt horrible, I couldn't do anything.

Yes, this story is very embarrassing...I am too old to accidentally get drunk from Jello shots. It was a bonding thing for Kelly and I though...I will be so sad when we don't live in the same city any more, it is not often that you find such a good friend once you are out of school.



Our Elegant Dinner

Maybe I AM bipolar...

Both of the things I just ranted about on this blog (my oatmeal breakfast and how much I hate going to class) I now don't feel the same way about at all! It is like writing such strong feelings down negated them in some way or made those feelings less strong...

Now, I am slightly bored with my oatmeal breakfast. After TWO YEARS, I am all of a sudden bored with it!! Amazing. Strangely, it is tasting too sweet to me all of a sudden even though I don't put sugar in and I switched to the most tart kind of apple I can find. I am now thinking of switching to cranberries to limit the sweetness.

About my Chinese class...now I don't dread like I had been. After I wrote that blog last time I had a really bad attitude about going to class, but I had to because we had a dictation. I called poor Matt up at work and told him all about how boring class was and how I never wanted to go and it was too slow and that I wanted them to just give me the exam early so that I could leave...But then, all of a sudden, class wasn't that bad.

All I can say is, no wonder Matt is always saying, "Jesus, you are freaking bipolar!" Luckily I am with Matt, the most laid back, steady, consistent man in the universe.

I never want to get back on the train AGAIN...

I am about to head off to school today and I am dreading it! For some reason, I dread my class more and more every day. I hate it! It is so tedious! Just more and more memorizing of characters and practicing grammar patterns. It is three hours long every single day, plus a one hour train ride to get there. I think I hate it so much in part because of the fact that I have to take the train...it gets to be very annoying. I have to change 2 different subway lines and then change to the train, so it is not like I can settle in and read a book or anything. Plus, it is CROWDED. I feel so cramped! By the end of the week, I hate every single person on the train. It is horrible...I hate having such bad vibes in my body, hate is a bad thing. But it is too crowded, and everyone is grumpy and everyone is rushing to be the first one on the train, or off the train, or to get the free seat so they don't have to stand with their nose crammed into someone else's arm pit.

There is really no good reason for me to hate going to class. I am getting good grades, and the people in my class are nice. Kelly likes the class...I hate it though. I like learning Chinese and practicing it, especially in china. It is so rewarding when you can communicate with someone in Chinese, or when you can read something or recognize characters. I just HATE sitting in class everyday. Plus, the teachers annoy me, particularly one that I call dragon lady. She is from Beijing and I think she is manic or something. She stares in the corner while she asks you a question and if you get it wrong she screams, "Bu Xing!" That means "Not OK". She is crazy! The other teachers are nice but it is just such a tedious process.

I used to worry that I wouldn't like going back to grad school if I can't even handle this class...but grad school will be different. There will be exchanges of ideas, not just memorizing things and repeating them.

My Morning Ritual

My Morning Ritual:

First, I put the kettle on so that my tea can brew while I am making my oatmeal. Then, I start skinning the apples. I used to prefer fuji apples, but now I like the tanginess of Granny Smith. I put the apple skins on a plate with cinnamon on top, then pop it in themicrowave for 2 minutes. Then, I start chopping up the rest of the apple to put in the oatmeal. I mix the apple, a half a cup of oatmeal, alot of cinnamon and about a cup of water in a bowl, then microwave that for four minutes. It is so delicious! The apples become soft and sweet and the cinnamon is a perfect complement. It is like eating a giant, mushy cinnamon roll with apple. So good! So good that I have eaten this every day for almost to years! The apple skins are a new thing, but I love it too...when you microwave the skins they get sort of crunchy and sweet and it is so yummy.



Big Bowl of Delicious (aka "oatmeal")

When Grandma Janet came to visit me she was shocked at how big my bowl of oatmeal was. She said, "How can you eat that? You should never eat a whole apple, only a half..." It looks bigger than it is because something about cooking the apple with the oatmeal makes it puff up alot. But even so, I have no trouble finishing off a whole apple at a time. I didn't know anyone ate just half...





Microwaved Apple Peel...Yummmm



The Full Spread

In addition to oatmeal, I also like to have a pot of green tea, and I like to read a magazine while I eat. The more mindless the magazine the better...I don't think very clearly first thing in the morning. I would probably prefer to read the newspaper but we don't have it delivered to the house, and it isn't convenient to run out and get one.



I don't look my best in the morning...

My morning ritual that has been in effect for almost two years now. Anyone who has stayed at my house or lived with me knows about it. When we were in Beijing, our elictricity would go out randomly. One morning we woke up and my roommate Audrey said, "Oh no, there is no electricity so the microwave won't work...what about your morning ritual??" So nice of her to be concerned! (Don't worry, I still had my morning ritual...I just made it on the stove instead.)

Yes, I know...it is very boring to eat the same thing every morning, but hey...I love it.

Carnival Club

This weekend Matt and I some of our friends went to Shenzhen to go to a spa called the Carnival Club. It is not like any spa that I have been to in the US...it is sort of like a cross between a spa and a casino. You go inside and they give the girls pink and white striped suits to put on, and the guys go and put on blue and white striped suits. In the locker room they have everything you could need: saunas, showers, steam rooms, individual rooms with milk baths, salt scrubs, and every grooming supply you would ever need.

In the main part of the spa, they have a huge room with chairs that have TV's attached. You can get a pedicure/manicure, or any of a whole variety of massages: foot, neck and shoulder, or scalp. Or, you can get your ears cleaned. I had that done once and I hated it but other people love it and say it feels good. They use a really long sharp needle type thing and try to scrape all of the wax out of your ear. Some people have a whole bunch of stuff come out. The whole time I was having my ears cleaned, I was worried they were going to accidentally jab me and pierce my ear drum...and then when the ordeal was over, he said I didn't even have any wax built up! How anticlimactic! I guess I am not a wax collector, like Grandma always said I was...

They also have separate rooms for full body massages. I had one ninety minute massage, and another 45 minute one later. I was in heaven! The place is huge, and has two restaurants, and little fruit platters that they bring to you while you are sitting. They also have a workout room, ping pong tables, pool tables, a "cinema" where you can watch movies, and mahjong/karaoke rooms. We played mahjong, which was really fun. Matt and I finally learned how, after two years of saying we wanted to learn. The scoring seems really complicated, but then, I was super tired after all the massaging and I don't think my brain was functioning properly.

We stayed there overnight. You can sleep in these little pods that are quiet and have pillows and blankets and everything. After spending almost 24 hours in the spa, I felt sort of weird...we left the next day at around 3 pm, and it was weird to be out in the fresh air again...The inside of the spa has the artificial feel of a casino, with fake trees and waterfalls and stuff. It is a self contained little world in there, you lose track of time. The crazy thing is, all of the massages and food and mahjong and sleeping and salt scrubs cost less that 100 US dollars. Matt's bill was only about 70 US dollars! Pretty cheap for all that pampering...

Before we went to the spa, we did some shopping and I picked up some spices. I thought I was buying cinnamon but, when I got it home I realized that it wasn't. Unless there are different types of cinnamon? I also got what I thought was turmeric, but is actually curry powder. They had lots of spices there for really cheap prices but they were labeled in Chinese, and I don't know my spices well enough to tell what they are without names. I want to buy more though, since it is so cheap, so I will have to do some research before I go to China next. I also bought more of my favorite tea, longjing green tea, and a new discovery: lemongrass. Tea made of this is so light and fresh tasting. It is delicious, especially when served cold!


The tea that I bought


The spices that I bought


This doesn't look like cinnamon to me, but I am not sure what else it would be...

This weekend was very busy! On Friday, Matt and I went out with some friends to a very cool Nepali restaurant in Jordan. It is pretty unique because all of the clients are actually Nepali. We have been there twice, and have only seen two Chinese people eating there, and definitely no Western looking people. It is pretty rare in Hong Kong to find a place where there aren't a lot of Chinese people. Anyway, this place has the BEST chana masala that I have had in Hong Kong, nightly shows of a woman doing Nepali dances, and best of all it is really cheap. It was less than 100 US dollars for 7 of us to eat, and that included 3 pitchers of beer.

We had an early night because on Saturday we were going on a junk boat trip. I had faith that the weather would be warm, but it stayed cold the entire time. We were on a huge, beautiful boat...the nicest junk boat I have ever been on! It was a good thing, cause we stayed on the boat the entire time. I didn't even go swimming! I got totally sea sick cause the water was so choppy and we were the only ones that brought food onto the boat. Usually there is so much food on those trips, so we just got a few thing: chips and salsa, fruit, a salad. That is more than enough if everyone brings stuff to share, but no one brought a single thing. We only knew the guy rented the boat, and the rest were his friends. They were a bunch of guys who had been out really late the night before. They systematically devoured each piece of food we brought out. One guy even ate a leftover chunk of tomato that I had half eaten! I guess everyone was hungry...

After the junk boat, we had our friend's birthday party, which was pretty fun except that we were knocked out from the boat trip. We left early without even saying good bye. I will never, ever do that again! The whole taxi ride home, I kept thinking about how rude it was to leave without saying goodbye. It would be such a process though, and it seems like you can never just leave...people always act shocked and try to convince you that you should stay and that you are really lame for leaving.

Through out the weekend, people were trying to convince me that I shouldn't move back to the US, that I have it made living in Hong Kong and not working, and that I could certainly find a job here. Well, maybe I could find a job...I did find jobs when I first moved here, but they don't want to go through the effort of getting a lawyer and getting a work visa unless you have some specialized skill, like in finance or if you are a lawyer. I am not, nor do I want to be, in either of those fields. Also, people that tell me I have it made not working...they just don't know. They all have great careers. I want to feel productive and make money. I am just too young to not be working. It would be great if I was older, had already been working for 10 years, and I wanted to settle down and have kids. It was nice traveling for two years, but I am ready to feel productive again! When I was applying to grad school, I rewrote my personal statement, and I was remembering how much I like working. Also, I found two things that I had written while working on the task force, which are published on the task force website. (One is the Compendium of Traffic Safety programs and the other is the Pedestrian safety fact sheet. They are the fourth and fifth links under "Our Publications".) They aren't a big deal or anything, but it just brought to my mind how I liked working. Also, it made me remember how grief stricken I was when Dad died. My boss had emailed me to tell me she had published my papers on the web, but I completely didn't register that fact because I was so overwhelmed with grief. When I was going through my old emails, I saw the link she sent, and it was completely new to me! Grief is so amazingly powerful...I was literally out of my mind with grief, but I had no idea at the time.

Now that I am living in Hong Kong and studying Chinese, there aren't very many exciting things to write on my blog! I think I have hit a wall with the Chinese thing...I never want to look at another character again and I dread going to school every day. It is becoming so tedious! Plus, I feel like I am wasting my time since I never get a chance to practice speaking to anyone. Kelly has a tutor that she practices with, but that costs 50 US dollars per hour, and I refuse to pay that. I guess I was spoiled by Beijing, where you can get a tutor for under three US dollars and hour.

Other than that, not much is new. I have had a mini breakthrough in yoga, which was exciting for me but probably not for anyone else! I can do headstand against a wall, but not in the middle of the room. On Monday, the class was so full that I couldn't move to a wall, so I tried it in the center. It was a really intense class, and I think I was too tired to be afraid...so I popped myself up in the headstand, and comletely fell in the opposite direction, onto my back! Yes, this sounds bad...but actually I think it is a good thing. It didn't hurt at all, and now I can get over my fear of falling. I am horribley afraid of falling, as anyone who has skiied with me would know!

It's been a long time....

I haven't written for quite a long time...since the Masseys first arrived in Hong Kong! Alot has happened since that time, but all of it has been internal. I have had a major self identity crisis! The trip with the Masseys was great, they were very laid back and relaxed and seemed to welcome every new experience that came their way. It was fun! I am not sure why, but the day after they left, I decided I should finally educate myself about multiple sclerosis. So I bought a book by Dr. Howard Weiner. It scared me! I could no longer deny that I have this chronic disease. The further I got into the book, the quicker my carefully constructed work od self delusion came crumbling down. Now I think I have actually had 3 MS flare ups, not 1 like I had thought before. The first one happened when I was 18. THis is very scary considering that the disease usually takes 15 to 20 years to progress (or so the doctor says...) and I am already 25 years old! So that is 7 years of the disease...a long time! My mobility is precious, and the thought of losing it makes me feel ill, literally....after reading this book I was (coincidentally?) sick for 2 weeks. Bummer! During this long time spent in the house, sick, I thought a lot about what is important to me. The ONLY thing that is really important to me is family and friends. Also, I want to have a career, or at least start one. Also, I want to have kids. If I (tentatively speaking...) only have 8 years left of mobility, I want to spend those years with my family nearby. Also, somehow I feel that my medical care will be more consistent and thourough in the US. This is probably just my own feeling, because actually medical care in Hong Kong is excellent, and I love me doctor. So, in conclusion, I decided to try to apply for graduate school again, even though I am more than a month past the deadline! So, now I await news...Matt and I might be back to the US soon, or we might not, I have no idea. It is hard because in Hong Kong, the culture is so travel oriented, and it is seen as sort of a weakness to go back home. It seems like everyone has given me all the reasons why I should stay. I agree, there are lots of benefits to living in Asia, I love it here! But, I love my family even more.

Anyway, enough blathering on about my issues...There is good news in the family, Kristi is pregnant! I am so excited! Also, my friend Rachel is getting married, and I will be back in the US for the wedding. Yay!



Who wouldn't want to see these cuties more?