My Winter Break '12/13

Dear Blog Readers,

I've been quite lazy lately, and I apologize for not updating for a month and a half (time flies by so fast, really). But let's dive into some of my updates! 

Lunch + Dessert with my cupcake Janet!

My winter break lasted for about a month, and I went back to Hong Kong (where I come from), along with taking a few day trips to Taipei and Shenzhen for fun. In HK, I met up with mostly my high school friends whom I've missed incredibly so since college, and a few other friends I've met from art camp back in HS. It felt good to catch up with them again, and I still miss them...a lot. Here are a few pics here and there:

Maid Cafe Date with Marcie! Then Bowling with Chelsey, Ellen, and Marcie. Haven't been bowling for a  while~

Chill night with Angela: First dinner at the elements (Chinese meal) and then Ozone bar, sipping our dragontinis and overlooking the Harbor View. We be classy. 

3 hour karaoke session with Ellen and Marcie (sorry about the blurry pics!) 

Photoshoot with Hannah in the playground where I live...then Sleepover time! :)

Street food @ Mong Kok! Spicy noodles are spicy.

Disneyland date with le bff ^^

Dim Sum Date with Angela a few days after my arrival!

 Thrift store/vintage shopping with Kim, Ah Wing, and Gigi

And surprisingly, the either dead silence of my dorms or the constant chattering and crazy laughter of my korean roommates will never be able to compare to that warm hearted sounds I hear from my family. I miss hearing them, interacting with them, being with them. I miss my mom. I miss Hong Kong, the convenience, the food, the background noise, the people. Wow, I'm so sorry this turned into a sappy, nostalgic post. But I'm in a full on I MISS HK mode these days. I'm still living in HK's time zone! Some pictures of my family....

Buying Makeup together at Lane Crawford

Aww my very attractive bro at the back :)

I have about a gazillion pics of him "modelling"and this is one of his poses. Oh, my dad....

One of my stepbrothers and my sister in law came back for winter break too~

I won't go into much detail of my hangouts and what I did on a day to day basis, but all in all, from this trip, I've realized how much I truly loved Hong Kong as a country, as a place. I realized I was so stupid to not have applied university in Hong Kong, but then my parents told me studying abroad is an opportunity, with better education and such. I've thought that way too, but....I've also never thought that leaving my homecountry would be so hard. I've never experienced homesickness before, despite the many month to two month long summer camps I've been to since elementary school. Homesickness is about love, about attachment. And being in Hong Kong this break has lent me a whole new perspective on this place. 

People say you only learn to cherish when you've lost. In this case, I haven't lost my homecountry, but I have learned to cherish it more after I've left. Riding the MTR, a mode of public transportation, is the key to a taste of local culture. The way people dress, how people interact with each other, with strangers, the way they act and talk....if you close your eyes, you'll learn that every country has its own distinct soundtrack. The symphony of cars honking, people talking on the phone, joking around, laughing, the couple being all lovey dovey, etc. And I miss that soundtrack. It brings a smile to my face. So, if you see me riding on the MTR and slowly smiling like a creep, you'll know that I'm appreciating the "noise" around me, the warmth I feel from all that, and the familiarity of the language and the place of it all. 

Being a person who has lived in Hong Kong for about 16 years (I lived 2 years in Guangzhou), I can't say I've been to every station on the MTR map, every touristy spot. I can't say I know Hong Kong from its alleyways and shops. But I want to. I want to explore my hometown. I want to see it under the perspective of a local, and a tourist. When I went to school there, all I went to was a few districts over and over again, nothing new, nothing fresh. But I will definitely do it in the summer.

On Taipei: 

Taipei 101 on a not-so-nice-weather night

This was a 3 day trip with my dad, and I haven't gone to Taiwan since 8th grade. So, I took a chance and travelled alongside my dad, even though I knew he was there for business trip and had no time to be with me. It's my first time doing touristy things alone actually, and being the cheapa*s I am, I took public transportation. It's really fun figuring out the public modes of transportation, because I still firmly believe that it's how I can experience local culture. Better than being alone on a taxi where the only interaction with local people is the taxi driver (=.=)" So, I know it's really shallow of me, but I'm not quite as interested as going to historical sites and such. Instead, I spent the three days there trying out the food there, going to book stores, cafes, night markets, and shopping! Through that, I was able to learn to actually attempt to bargain in another language (Mandarin is not my first language)! To be honest, I usually just accept the price and walk away unless the price is ridiculous.

On Shenzhen: 

Shenzhen has changed quite a lot since I last went! From my impressions, it was this polluted, dirty place with uncivilized people that sell fake products. But now, the environment has changed. The malls are more high class, the people a bit friendlier, just nicer, really! I went with my whole family actually, and it was quite fun. I played some table tennis, got my hair done, cheap manicures and mainly, I just really enjoyed spending time with the fam. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces and just the warm atmosphere everything gives off. Homecooked meals, too, will always have a special place in my heart. 

PS. Pictures will be uploaded when not feeling as lazy.

PPS. I thought this post was long enough already, so my belated New Years' Resolution post will be up another time!

I'm not back in my dorms, waiting for college to start. It's quite depressing, actually. My mind is still in Hong Kong. Can't wait till summer! I've now immersed myself in three dramas recently: (1) Flower Boy Next Door (Korean Drama) <-Highly recommend  (2) Switch Girl Season 2  (3) Inbound Troubles (HK TVB Drama). I'm fully caught up on all three, and might start to watch a drama from the flower boy series Flower Boy Ramyun Shop in order to wait for the next episodes to air for those three (since they're fairly new). It's back to drama addiction time!

And since I didn't have a chance to say Merry X'mas, merry x'mas and a happy new year! (<-Super late, I know)

PIKA PIKA!

mishe