Weeks 8-10: The Half-way Mark

Yes, I know it's been 3 weeks. To be completely honest, I really haven't done anything interesting in the past 3 weeks. Here's some highlights:

-My roommate and I got harassed by a crazy person in a mall. We were just watching people ice skate, and all of a sudden, this crazy guy with sunglasses on inside walks up to us and starts talking about the universe. Apparently, he's strongly opinionated on the subject, and thinks that the Russians are the most advanced in this field. I had to apologize to my roommate, because it was all my fault. My ability to attract every crazy person in a 10 mile radius is pretty impressive.

-I saw He's Just Not That Into You. It was hilarious. I plan on reading the book.

-I got to talk to Laura, Jessica, Carlin, and Calli on skype when they were all in Nashville :). It was great!

-I got a package from my parents with more easy mac, grits, and girl scout cookies! Those samoas are a life saver.

-I survived my first two midterms. There's no telling how I did, however, because it's all based on how everyone else did. I think this is nonsense. You should get graded based on how well you score. Curves are only acceptable when they are beneficial to the students, not when the professor gives out a set number of As.

-I had my last musical theater dance class. I'm kind of sad. Soprano boy is infinitely entertaining. I am glad that I never have to hear the song "Seasons of Love" butchered so badly ever again. It was awful. "Thousand" is apparently very hard to pronounce for Chinese people.

-My roommate and I decided that we're going to splurge on American food once a week. So far this plan has been very successful. You wouldn't believe how tired you can get of noodles and rice.

-I have a very stereotypical mainland kid in one of my classes. One day, he was trying to convince the class (mainly Europeans, Americans, and HK students) that an authoritarian/totalitarian government knows what's best for its citizens, and is therefor more effective in supplying the goods and services the people need. He was also outraged when the professor explained that South Korea asked China to change their pronunciation of characters for Seoul (because the words they used meant "City of the Hans").

I'm officially halfway done with the semester, which is really exciting. Here's some observations I've made about the people and culture here:

-There's no system of order here at all. People will walk in front of you in line if you're not assertive enough. There's also no set direction you're supposed to walk on the walkways. In the US (and most of the world, including China), you walk on the right side. In England, you walk on the left. Because HK has people from so many countries, people just walk all over the place. It drives me crazy. And it leads to jammed hallways and walkways. It's very inefficient.

-Boys dress very femininely, and sometimes I can't tell if a person is a boy or a girl. It doesn't help that they all carry man purses. Man purses with girly patterns. They're also all skinnier than me. I saw a guy wearing a pleather vest the other day, by itself. No shirt underneath. Gross. Boys and girls also all have the same asian mullet haircuts. It's just confusing.

-As soon as an Asian person gets in the elevator, they jam the door close button like there's no tomorrow. It doesn't matter if they see you walking towards the elevator either. They press the button anyway, and look disgruntled if you manage to hit the up button before the door closes.

For your entertainment, here's some quotes I've heard over the past 3 weeks:
-My roommate's group for an economics project is called "Supprier." Think about it.
-"If you want to go to Singapore, what you should do is...buy a ticket." - My Sosc 187 professor
-that same professor referred to babies as an export.
-"Can you have any imaginations about..." - Sosc 187 professor
Basically, he's just a really entertaining guy.

I promise I'll try to update sooner next time. I miss you all! Skype/AIM/e-mail me!