73 days...

I was counting the days till I have to leave....73 days till the end of the semester. Time has really flown by since I've been here. I feel like I have learned so much, but at the same time, I have yet to see everything that Hong Kong has to offer. I have been here for so long and it's quite astonishing to see the confluence of three cultures merging together in one city - Chinese, Western, and Japanese culture. The local students mix their Cantonese and English all the time; it actually reminds me of back home, where I would say sentences in Chinese but add an English word in there when I didn't know the Chinese equivalent. Who knew I was meant to be a HK person after all?

Today I went to an English table held at one of the colleges on campus (Chung Chi college). It's a gathering of exchange and local students who want to practice their English, and dinner is free. Dinner was served traditional Cantonese style. Bowls of food were placed in the center of a spinning dish, and people can choose what they want to eat amongst the bowls. We had sweet and sour pineapple chicken, vegetables of sorts, soup, dessert soup (literally 'sugar water' in Cantonese), rice, tofu, and beef with vegetables. Yummy.

The highlight of the English table was the fact that I got to meet some local HK students who wished to practice their English. Which was great because they wanted to help me practice my Cantonese. I have been trying to find local HK students willing to talk to exchange students. I find that there is this aura of Chinese pride amongst not only local students, but the Chinese in general. People tend to gather with others of the same common background, so needless to say, local students gather with local students and exchange students gather with others from their own country. It is subconsciously done, but it is still frustrating when you want to break out of that stigma. Regardless, I am quite happy I took Kenji's invitation and joined him at the English Table tonight. I had a delicious dinner and met some new friends, which is always a positive. I even went on a pseudo-date....let me explain :-)

It's actually a part of the English table. The topic tonight was Love and Dating because of this past St. Valentine's Day and this upcoming Chinese Valentine's Day on Thursday. We played the dating game; it was just a fun icebreaker game to get students talking. The person that I was paired up with is actually quite the romantic; his girlfriend should be pleased! Who wouldn't want a guy that loves to watch Romance movies? ^_^

I might add that, for a conservative culture, there is quite a lot of PDA in the libraries and elevators. More than just hand-holding! It really surprised me seeing this in Hong Kong and even in China. Although public displays of affection are not uncommon in the United States, I would not expect to see such copious public displays of affection in an Asian society. I am definitely reminded of how my previous perspectives and ideas about Asian culture and society are somewhat skewed.

What a learning experience this semester is....