It's a Very Merry Hong Kong Christmas

So for the first five days of my Winter Break I went to Hong Kong to celebrate Christmas with a friend from middle/high school who is also studying here in Asia. I was really excited to go outside of Seoul and South Korea, and since it was easier for me to stay in Asia than to go back to the states, it was a perfect opportunity to go see a city I have always wanted to visit and to get caught up with an old friend.

I left to to go to the airport at 5am because I had to be at Inchon by 8 for my 10 am flight. I went to Inchon with a group of my fellow program mates who were heading back to the states to go home from their adventure in Seoul. Inchon was crazy with everyone traveling for the holidays! But thankfully I was there early enough that I had no problem finding my gate, even with the train ride to the international wing of the airport.

While I was waiting for the flight, I was able to call my family back in North Carolina via Viber on my cellphone. It was nice being able to talk to my folk, even though we have Skyped a few times that since I have been here in Seoul, I always love to talk to them and get caught up on all the family gossip and doings. Mom, Dad, and Kat, I miss you guys so much <3 !!


Anyway, back to the Hong Kong adventure story.

12/22/13

The plane ride was pretty uneventful other than me trying to figure out what exactly they served me for the vegetarian option for the in flight meal that I have ordered. It was like they took soy and vegetables and blended it together and formed it into a black and covered it in a tomato sauce. It was still editable and good, but to this day I have not idea what it really was. Let me just say it looked like what I imagine a carnivore's worse vegan nightmare would be. But the fruit and real buttered bread made up for it!

When I landed in the Hong Kong airport, the first thing I was hit with was warm air and pure and udder confusion. This may sound really weird for most people, but to me it makes complete sense: I was not used to being able to speak to people and having them understand me. I know that I have English speaking Korean friends here in Seoul and mostly tend to speak English to my friends here at the dorms, but when first arrived in Hong Kong I was at a loss. I kept thinking in my head how I would need to ask for things and where things were in Korean, even though I knew that all I needed to do was ask in English. I guess it is the same thing about how when I first arrived in Seoul, I was constantly thinking about how I would ask for things and such, but in French. Then it was my brain trying to adapt to being in a foreign country by only thinking in the only foreign language that I know. So when I first arrived in Hong Kong, my brain was like 'ok, foreign Asian country, start thinking in Korean'. So yeah I had a small headache for the first half of the day.

It really did not help that I was suppose to take a bus that would have brought me straight to the housing complex that my friend lived at. But no one had ever heard of this bus and kept telling me a different bus than from what my friend had told me and that I would need to take a taxi the rest of the way to her apartment. After texting my friend in a panic through the free WiFi/ Kakao (because my phone was not able to get signal still >.<) I ended up getting on the bus that all the airport workers told me too and got off at the last stop/bus station and took a taxi the rest of the way to my friend's apartment complex. All while having no idea how the monetary system works there and just trying to take everything in!

view of the other apartments in the housing complex

view from my room

the marina outside of Jessie's apartment

the smaller, more expensive houses in the complex

I finally got to my friend Jessie's apartment, met her wonderful roommate Maddalena, and dropped off my bags in the room I was going to be using before I was rushed off in a mini bus to Mong Kok to go eat dim sum for dinner and also some shopping at the local side shops and also Forever 21. Hong Kong is so pretty at night with all the lights and neon signs!

the apartments go up as high as you can see

the larger of the two types of buses that Hong Kong has.

Jessie and I had planned on going to a party that night, but ended up staying in the apartment watching Cantonese shows on the television after going to the 7/11 to pick up snacks.

Not the Crunchy kind, but I'll take 'em!

She also showed me all of her friends that I would meet while I was staying on Hong Kong. I think it was a good thing that we stayed in an slept, because I was going to need it for the rest of my time in Hong Kong!

 
12/23/13

 This was a really busy day. Jessie and I got up around 10:30 to go meet her "younger brother"/ best friend Paul to go to karaoke with him and his friends from 12 to 5 that afternoon; yes we went singing that long! Like in Korea, they take karaoke very seriously. We were the first to arrive at Mr. Red's and got placed in the Chairman's room because we had such a large group of people. I think total we had about 15 people total coming in and out through out our session.

getting set up!

The boys in action

our room!

Such a great time!

Since this was my first time going to a karaoke place, I was really looking forward to seeing what it was all about. We picked the songs on a touchscreen off to the side where they had a variety of songs that were in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and even a few Korean songs! We picked a lot of English songs at first, but as the session started to reach the middle, they were singing more and more Cantonese songs. Since Jessie and I were the only non-Chinese in the room, we mostly just hung back and watched them sing. There were a few more English songs that popped up. It was actually really funny at some points, because as soon as an English song came on, the others would automatically hand us the mics whether or not Jessie and I know the song that was playing. But most of the time they were singing Cantonese ballades. We also ordered lemon tea and I got ramen with egg in it as my meal that came with the set package that we had paid for. I really enjoyed slurping my noodles being serenaded by the sounds of the others crooning their hearts out to one of the faster paces ballades hat they had chosen!

Jessie and I had to leave earlier than the others, because we had to go to a party we had bought tickets for. The Chocolate Party was the party that I was really looking forward to! We got ready and then headed over to Jessie's boss' house to get some dinner and then head over together with the group. We got there and had hot pot and just hung out and talked. Charlie, Jessie's boss, is really nice and chill and so where his friends/fellow club promoters that were there as well.  After we all ate out fill and relaxed enough, we all headed out to the Hotel that the party was going to be held at via taxi. When we got there, everyone headed up except Jessie and I because she had to give away the other tickets that he had sold to people. While we were waiting, I met some of her friends that I had met via her Face book the night before.

Christmas display in the Hotel that the party was at

Finally we got to the party after she handed out all of her tickets! And it was well worth the wait! There was a huge chocolate fountain and all the drinks were made with different types of chocolate. I was having a blast and even met a few cool people.

the amazing chocolate fountain with fruit, Oreos, and Marshmallows!!

The first on was Brian a guy who is from Hong Kong and studied music in England for a spell, so had the most wonderful British accent ever. We started to talk and then later on in the night found each other again and danced the night away until Jessie found me to tell me that wee needed to go. I also talked to one of the guys that I had met at Charlie's house. Apparently he was from South Carolina and had just graduated from USC (SC, not California) and even knew about Sewanee. But the best thing by far was that he was also a Gator!! When Jessie and I were in line to pick up our coats to go, I met a guy who was also visiting from Seoul, but he went to Seoul National. But it really is a small world!

12/24/13

Since by the time that Jessie and I got back to her apartment it was already about 6 in the morning (She lives far away from the center of Hong Kong where we were at the party) we both slept until about   2:30 ish that afternoon, which was fine, because all we had planned for the day was the Christmas party that we were going to throw that night. Since it was just Jessie, Maddalena, and I from the States, and they really don't celebrate Christmas the same way in Hong Kong, we planned on having a Christmas Party to make ourselves feel more in the Christmas spirit and to show the Hong Kong attendees what it was like to have a Christmas party American style. So once Jessie and I were up and dressed, we went to the nearest supermarket and picked up all the supplies we needed for the party. We ended up being able to get non-alcoholic eggnog, the fixings for deviled eggs and jello shots, and also some chips, cookies, and strawberries.

I also picked these up to snack on while getting ready for the party

Carbonated Vitamin C water. Freaking delicious and addictive!

When the first round of people came, they were all very curious about what I was doing in the Kitchen. I was in the middle of mixing the egg yolks with the other things for the deviled egg filling, so they all came in and looked at what I was doing. Paul even offered to help me mix the yolks with the mayonnaise. The party really started to go once more people started to arrive. We had a blast playing flip cup,  Twister, and also I was taught how to play Hong Kong style drinking games, that much to my disappointment involved math and counting, just like the Korean drinking games. But everyone had a great time; pictures were being taken and music was being played all night (Jessie and I had Christmas music playing, but the Hong Kong peeps kept changing it to club music).

The Twister crowd!

Paul is the one in the Black coat. We went singing with him and he also is a great help in the Kitchen. LOVE his Kiwi accent!

My beautiful Hostess teaching them how to play Twister

12/25/13

This day was a little more touristy than the other days. Since the party never  ended until early the next morning, Jessie and I had another late start, although not as late as the other day, but we got up around 2:30ish that afternoon. We had made plans to go to the great Bronze Buddha that is one of the major tourist areas on the Island,  but neither one of us knew where it was or how to get there. The Hong Kong tourist website was really no help, so we kept looking.

Eventually we found a blog from somebody that had visited over the summer that told people how to get there from the subway. It was perfect, until that is we got on the bus heading to the city when we found out that by the tip we would have arrived, the temple would have closed to the public. Jessie's apartment, although really nice and modern, is really far away from the rest of Hong Kong. It would have taken us a little over two hours of traveling time to get to the Big Buddha!

So instead of taking me there, Jesse took me to go see the Christmas lights and to see the area around where her school is. The Christmas lights were in a really touristy part of the city so it was really crowed, but it was so worth it, because the lights over the water were amazing!! In the crowds, there were street performers and also a whole bunch of people walking around with free hug signs. I did not really hug everyone, but had a bast watching Jessie take running starts to crash into them and catch them unawares; all I saw was a blond streak. It was really entertaining!

After the lights, we went to a small little Japanese restaurant near Jessie's school for dinner. It was really good! I ended up getting a set that included tuna sashimi, stir fried beef with rice, miso soup, and endless tea all for under 10USD! Jessie got a hand rolled tuna cone and also a really delicious plate of salmon fried rice. Luckily she let me have a few bits and let me tell you it was to die for!

my sashimi and miso

Jessie looking cute with her hand rolled sushi cone

the super delicious fried rice

my mouth watering beef

 For dessert, we went to one of the mini small cafes near by and ordered desserts. Jessie got a rum jelly that had fresh cut up fruits while I got a dessert that had rocky road ice cream with tapioca balls, jellies, and a sweet syrup, all in a bowl of sweet milk. Yeah, it was really good too!

Jessie's demolished jelly

heaven in a bowl

Since the night was still young, we walked around the night markets and looked at everything that was being sold. I even got to get a small statue to add to my collection!

These are little shrines outside of all the business establishments. These are EVERYWHERE!! You could see the shop owners periodically put in new incense.

Going into one of the night markets where I got my little statue

During dinner, Jessie had told me about how one of her friends had gone to one of the local fortune tellers and that the guy had been right for the most part, so I asked her to take me to the area so that I would be able to get my fortune told. The guy that thee had previously gone to was not out that night, but I picked a nice old lady who seemed to know her stuff to read my face, palm, and birth date/time to tall me what I should be aware about. For the most part, she was really specific and had even talked about things that Jessie and I had talked about earlier when I was telling her my plans on trying out for an internship at the Savannah Port Authority during this upcoming summer;  all this the lady talked about with out us telling her anything other than my birth date and the fact that I like to be active! I kept the paper she was jotting down her notes on, so that I would  know what she told me later when I was writing in my journal. But let's just say I have a good life ahead of me!

Later that night, Jessie and I went to the clubbing district of Hong Kong to Beijing, one of her favorite clubs, so she could show me the night life of Hong Kong. Since everyone knows her at the club, we were able to go in past the line and were even given a few free drinks by the staff and a friend of hers that we met on our way in. Now I have been to a few clubs here in Seoul, but they have nothing on clubs in Hong Kong. For one thing, there was no room on the dace floor or anywhere really, if we wanted to go anywhere, we needed to walk in a single file line and hold on to the person in front of you while they squeezed and snaked through the crowd. And the people were actually dancing!

So needless to say, I had a blast and even hung out with a group of guys that were our age for most of the night. We left as a group around 5 am and since three of the eight loved on our side of town, all of us decided to split a taxi. As I have said before, Jessie lives pretty far away, so the taxi ride took a while. But we all talked and talked about random things. They were surprised when I said that I was visiting from Korea and told me that I needed to move to Hing Kong instead. We dropped off the first guys and then we got to Jessie's apartment. Since it was 7am by the time that we got back to the apartment, I was only about to take a quick nap before I needed to get ready to go to the airport at 11.

12/26/13

My last and final day in Hong Kong. Like I mentioned earlier, I only really got about 2 hours of sleep before I had to get up, take a shower, and finish packing/make sure that i did not forget anything. This time we went down to the front desk of the main office and got my ticket for the bus that went straight to the airport, aka the bus that I should have taken when I arrived at the airport on the 22nd.

The check in process was a lot faster than when I was at Inchon, so I was able to just hang out and was able to pick up some brunch to eat. And me being the American that I am went straight to the McDonald's, even though I was very tempted to go the the Popeye's ( Yes there was a Popeye's!).

Double cheese burger yumminess!

this is not good bye Hong Kong, more like see you later!

The flight back to Seoul was not very eventful, mostly because I was sleeping for most of the flight (see not really sleeping for the past few days). But this time I did not have a seat partner, so I could spread out and also the in flight meal was a really good pasta dish!

Actually was really good. Some of the best plane food I have had in a while!

When I arrived back in Seoul, it felt like I was coming home. I got a ticket for the airport bus that stops right in front of my dorms, got my key re-activated so I could open my room, and also dropped my things back in my dorm rooms before I went out to Hongdae with two of my program friends here in Seoul who are also staying for the break. So I was dead tired for a few days afterward to say the least!

But I loved Hong Kong and really want to go back adn see other placed that I was not able to see on this really really short trip! Just for future reference, four days is never long enough. I was afraid of over staying my welcome, but could have stayed so much longer if I wanted to!! I found it funny that when ever people found out I was visiting from Seoul, they said the same two things: 1) Do I like Kimchi (answer is yes, but only recently have I developed a taste for it) and 2) Why did I pick South Korea, Hong Kong is so much better so I need to move to Hong Kong as soon as possible!

Lol, don't worry people of Hong Kong, you have not seen the last of Sarah!

Trick Eye and More Goodbyes

Kaitlyn and I had planned out our last day together since before finals happened. We had wanted to go to the Trick Eye museum in Hongdae and then go get Pho at a real Vietnamese place in Hapjong. So we picked the 21st as our last day together; me as the day before I went off to Hong Kong, and for her the day before she went back to the States after her semester here in Seoul.

We headed out out to Hongdae and found the museum tucked away off the main clubbing street and went inside. Since there was a really long line for the actual museum, we took pictures at the side area where they had "traveling sections." These were exhibits that were on rotation through out the year, so for us there was one on China and one for the painting of Van Gogh. We had a blast taking pictures and coming up with weird and interesting positions for the pictures!

**Pictures are from Kaitlyn's phone and taken with permission. We thought that it would be easier and faster if we just used one camera for the both of us***

Once the line for the museum died down, we got our tickets and entered the main area. Since it is kind of hard to describe, I am just going to post the photos from the museum. It was really fun, because one you entered, you just go through different rooms and take pictures with the different illusions that are set up. There were a lot of people there, so Kaitlyn and I had a system set up where one of us would go at a time and we would take turns being the camera man. Luckily for us, there were some staff members around to take photos of the two of us and we also ran into my friend Ida and her group of friends, so they took some photos for us as well. So without further adieu, here are some of my favorite shots form our time at the Trick Eye:

pretty much sums up our friendship. I am the rational voice and Kaitlyn is all about the fun

DRAGONS!!!

lol, Kaitlyn is finally taller than me

Save me!

All that time at my family's farm did not really help

we are so cute!

This was on the inside of the stall in the bathroom. A little awkward and quirky, but hey, that is Korea

After we left the real part of the museum, we went to the ice section of the museum. It was really cold in there. I know that it is suppose to be cold, because well ICE, but for some reason, but Kaitlyn and I were freezing so we rushed through the stations as fast as we could to get back outside into the warmth of the heating.

I found a frozen vampire. Edward is that you??

After the Trick Eye museum, we were walking back to the subway to go to Hapjong to get dinner, but since it was only 5 (which we both agreed was way to early for dinner), Kaitlyn pulled me, or rather I did not put up any resistance,  into a frozen yogurt place so we could share a small cup. Dessert before dinner essentially!

Snow Spoon, the name of the froyo place was really cute. There were a few flavors and a whole boatload of sweets that we could choose from. We got a small cup to share and got chocolate, red wine, and raspberry flavored froyo, topped with dark chocolate syrup and cherries. What we both found interesting was that the froyo was sweet, but we could also taste the flavors. It was sweet, but not sugary, if that makes any sense. It was the same with the cherries, they were sweet, but not sugary sweet like most maraschino cherries are. Everything tasted like what it was suppose to. And it was really good and the small was more than enough for both of us. Now that I know where this place it, I am terrified for when the spring and summer heat comes back to Seoul, because I will be living at this place!!

The flavor stations

the red wine is amazing!

they had, pistachio, strawberry, dark chocolate, and butterscotch

Our finished master piece!

Other goodies that you can order

the gelato looked divine!!

ALL THE TOPPINGS!!

We finally made it to the Pho place in Hapjong. We had both been here before, but it was so good that we wanted to have it again together before we had to separate the next day. This place is really good, both Kaitlyn and another program mate Dat, both Vietnamese, had approved this place as authentic the first time that we went, so I knew that the second time was going to be good as well!

loved the Christmas tree and the fact that they put little presents under it!

waiting for our turn

Kaitlyn and I got an order of the Pho with beef slices and also split an order of the chicken egg rolls, which were AMAZING!! If I could I would just live in this place because it is seriously that good. I have been ruined by going here for my first ever time having pho or even any type of Vietnamese food, because I don't think anything else can compare!

The Egg rolls

my delicious bowl of savory goodness!!

So good!! Definitely need to go back soon. Yummy!!

As I am writing this, it has been about 12 days since Kaitlyn and I were together. I was really luck y to have met her, since we later discovered that we are in fact the same person; I am the tall white version of her, and she is the shorter Asian version of me. We both love to fangirl over our kpop groups and also love to derp with friends. She is truly a very special person to me, and people like her are a joy to have in my life (so far I have only had three others). During that day and later when we were hugging goodbye, neither one of us were really that sad, because we know that we will be meeting again someday. We knew that it was not "goodbye", but rather a "see you later"!

Farewell to Good Friends and Hello to the Eatyourkimchi Staff

Well the semester is coming to an end and with it my program invited all of us to the CIEE farewell dinner for the fall participants. It was a chance to get together with the Seoul Mates and the semester long students to say our goodbyes and to eat ourselves full with Korean food.

It was really cool today, so I was not sure if I wanted to dress up or not, but I thought what the heck it is the last get together and I have always loved dressing up ever since I was a little girl. I met Kaitlyn in the lobby and we headed out to the restaurant that our program have reserved for the night. Thankfully it was really close to the dorms, because it was really cold and I want wearing my brown boots that are really cute, but not really good in the traction department, so the ice was a little interesting to navigate through.

Two of your future State Department Officers!

 Even though I was one of the few people who dressed up for the event, it was a wonderful time. The food was good (even got to take some home with me for leftovers ^^ ) and the company was amazing. We had a karaoke session were we sang Christmas songs and some old Korean songs. This semester was so short and passes by so quick, but I know that each and everyone of my fellow students and Seoul Mates affected me in someway over the time that we were all together.

But this semester has flown by. It seems that just yesterday I was flying over to Seoul to start my adventure here in Seoul. But now I only have 6 months left to enjoy my time here and in the region.

One thing that I got to do that I had always wanted to do was  to visit the Eatyourkimchi Studio, or even better, to met the staff of the website in person. For all of you that do not know, Eatyourkimchi is a website that is run by the cutest Canadian Couple to have ever lived. They put out videos and blog posts about everything Korean, from kpop to tips about living in Korea. I have been watching their videos for a while now, and even if I don't always agree with how they show some of their material, I love them and their quirkiness.

So that is how two of my friends and I ended up waiting in line for 3 hours to go out and visit their studio in Hongdae and to get a chance to meet them. It was not too bad waiting in line because the people around us where really nice and Martina had brought out snacks on the last level for us to snack on while we waited the last few minuets. It was great because they had Cool Ranch Doritos out!! For those of you who don't know, the things that I am missing the most besides my family and friends are Doritos, Cheetos, and Chickfila.So having Doritos was amazing.

*Photo by Katie

I just wish that I was able to eat the whole bag, but I knew that I had to share with all the other people in line, so only ate a few. We also got to meet Leigh and talk her her during our last twenty or so minuets before we reached the studio. She was really chill and fun to talk to. I am loving her new short pixie hair style, reminded me of my sister a lot!

When we finally made it in to the studio, all three of us celebrated because it was 1) really warm and we could finally feel our toes again and 2) our three and a half  hour wait had finally come to an end.

Their dog "Spudgy." He is so soft and chill.

the inside of the studio. I loved how colorful and bright is was, also how warm it was!

We all bought what we wanted from Brian, Simon and Martina's friend and who I follow on Instagram for his wonderfully funny pictures and videos. I got the small pin set in green because that way I could tie in my sorority colors into my love of EYK and Kpop (Kappa Delta represent!!). I also thought that the cat bowler hats where adorable, but because I did not have enough in cash on me and also because I really don't wear that many hats, I decided to wait to see if I really do what to get one later.

the pins I ended up getting

After we bought all the merchandise that we wanted to get, Charlotte, Katie, and I got to talk to Simon and Martina while they signed Katie's shirt and Charlotte's hat. We talked about how people don't really hug here in Korea and how much we miss hugging people. Charlotte and I also got to thank them for giving us the tickets to the You Tube Music Awards that we went to a few months back. S&M remembered us and then asked us if we were able to get eh tickets, because we had emailed/messaged them that we were not on the guest list that they told us we were on. We told them that we did get in and that they had done a wonderful job at interviewing the artists.

I had wanted to take a solo picture with them, but because at that point, they were already an hour past when they said they were going to be there and there were still a whole lot more people in line behind us, we decided to get a group photo to save time.

All in all I had a blast and met some of the nicest and coolest people ever. Really hope that I am able to meet Simon, Martina, and the rest of the EKY crew again while I am here in Seoul!