Life in HK

Dear Chelsea,

I searched for 3 days and finally settled down last night. Luckily I had a friend from Zhoucun who goes to City U of HK having me live temporarily in her home while i searched for a house, for her roomate hasn't arrived.

The houses in HK are all so tiny. I felt suffocated at first, but now I'm getting used to it. I feel I should have felt very happy back home at the large house. In my room I share a 2-level bed with a girl and there is basically no room for others. Can you imagine that? I hear my friend telling me that her boyfriend studying in the US is living in a VILLA with 2 other boys. My! I wish I had that much room!!

The HKese I met so far are all friendly and polite. Don't know the situation in Hong Kong island, the HK we see on TV. And people here don't walk that fast as i heard, just the normal speed. One more point, there is not much vegetables NOR meat in the dishes. I thought HK restaurants were very generous on giving out meat, but actually the quantity is not sufficient at all. Now here comes my chance for weight losing, ahahha.....

The orientation begins on Sep.1. Today I went to a conference on computer-aided translation. Well, kind of feeling lost, ahahah... Made friends with 2 or 3 MA students from Computer-aided Translation, for they got the email alert on this conference and they'll have their orientation after the conference.

Self-explored some places around the campus. The campus is literally a mountain and I was tired to death the first day I arrrived here, for i didn't take the school shuttle bus. ahahh...Until now I'm quite confused for the layout of all teaching buildings.

I tried talking with locals using Cantonese, and most of the time they can understand me if i could split it out at all, but for most cases i can't understand their reply! Applied for a basic Cantonese class already.

I have been here for less than a week but I feel like a month has passed. It's actually feeling good with no workload from the course. Got to value the present time!

Have you started your class? What do you feel about your living, eating, etc. in the US?

Cheers,
Flora

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Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:57:33 -0400
Subject: Hey, Flora! A small showcase, to light your day up~~
From: hanqie86@gmail.com
To: zhangti0615@hotmail.com

Dear Flora,

I finally have got some time to shoot a couple of videos of my dear old green Penn State campus! It's a funny thing to see squirrels and hares popping on the lawn everywhere, while crows cawing from one old elm to the other. Actually, the whole campus is like a natural park, lying quietly in the Happy Valley. I would love to share my videos with you, but due to the attachment capacity limitation, I have to cancel it, elas!

As to the students at Penn State, most of them are very polite and friendly. The residents at State College are also welcoming to strangers. The only thing is that I don't know how to greet people on the street; it is as if the Americans don't get the greeting signals on my face so that each time I come across a native speaker, we just keep eye contact with an embarrassed smile at each other, and then leave off! Some of them were trying to say "hi", but seeing my tightly-shut lips, (I hope I didn't show a stiff face as well, haha), they have to swallow it half way! Perhaps they consider me shy --- but you know what ---- they are almost the same to me!

Oh, one more thing, I love the Englishmen! Their accent, as someone mentioned, have a special effect on people. The other day I stopped a white man for directions, thinking him to be an American, only to find that he was also a brand new international student looking for somewhere as I did! We laughed, and he showed me the place I was looking for on his map, very patiently, very gracefully, articulating with his gentle, soft British accent. Wow, I was totally knocked off my feet! And today at the dinner table, I happened to sit with a band of English students, too, listening to them imitating the American accent in an exaggerated way, such as "faaaan-taaaas-tic!", and "up you pop!", etc. It was so funny, haha~ and they even invited me to come with them to a ball or something after lunch. Unfortunately, I said "no"... don't want to be dumb among a bunch of twittering little birds!

All right, my "report" for my first days in America has been finished so far, although not all of them. Back to you then! How are things going with you there? How much will your tuition be if you went to study in Hongkong? I hopt things will work out for you by September!

Good luck,
Chelsea

Hi Chelsea,

It's great to know you are having a smooth fit-in there. It must have been a quite exciting experience to land on a strange yet familiar country where dreams come true, where you grow freely on the power from your heart.

I've been staying at home for more than a week. No especially exciting news on my side. I went out for get-together with friends for several times, and went to my grandma's.

I should start school on Sep 7. But now my mom is having a second thought on me going to HK. She says a job is not easy to find, and if my relatives could find a good job for me, I may as well give up HK and take the job. Well, I'll see what the job is and then decide. I know the tuition is not a small number to my family and I understand my mom's concerns. Though everything depends on oneself, not the environment, I'm afraid if I really take the job, I'm not strong enough to stand the erosion of everyday life and degenerate into a woman with no dreams, no ambitions, no nothing...Well, nothing is settled yet. Talk to you later.

How's the orientation? Are there many handsome, strong boys there? :P

Best,
Flora

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Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 21:43:35 -0400
Subject: Hi buddy! Sending you this message from State College, PA
From: hanqie86@gmail.com
To: zhangti0615@hotmail.com

Hi Flora,

I am writing now in the US to tell you that everything is going fine. Thank you your seven-year friendship with me, which is among the few things I feel grateful and proud of. I hope to share my life here with you and receive your news from Hongkong as well.

This week, we, my roommate and me, are busy moving and getting things down. Actually, everything becomes much easier since my roommate has been staying here for more than five years. She's awesome to know so many things here! Besides, people here are quite nice to new-comers, which helps me to fit in very well at the beginning. I am looking forward to the orientation next week.

How are things going with you there? When will you start school at Hongkong? Hope your new term will start with much fun!

Best,
Chelsea