A Ferry from Macau

I wrote this right after leaving Macau. I'll update soon about the past few days in HK, but for now, enjoy.

We are sailing away from the shores of Macau and Jatana is singing me a song using only my name for the lyrics. Somehow this seems fitting. We are both very sad to leave our friends, but we both agree that we don’t feel like we’re leaving for good. How could we?

My last exam went well. I beasted two essay questions and think I did alright on the short answer. It was my favorite subject: Development and Management of Attractions. Ended up writing one of my essay questions about Magic Kingdom and what design elements the park has that I think are very effective. Needless to say, I wrote a lot and had to tell myself to STOP writing!

Jatana was reading over my shoulder while I wrote this. She is envious and telling herself that she needs to update her blog. She says she will………soon. Yeah right.

After the exam we went and paid our unexpected water and electric bill. Any future exchange students should know that you will have to pay for the last couple weeks you’re in Macau, but you might not get the bill until the night before you leave. It was lovely. Then we went to lunch at a yummy sushi place. Mmmmmmmm so good.

]“See you later”s were said and hugs all around. Then back to the apartment to finish packing and do the dishes from breakfast. We gave away some of our food to our friends, and I gave away my hairdryer to a friend. My bags are still heavy! Oh well. I still have some stuff to pitch when I leave Hong Kong, and the rest I say is because of all of the presents I’m bringing back for people! Ok, maybe there are a few items for me in there too.

I’m super excited to hang out in Hong Kong for a few days. I think I’ve scared Jatana with the prep work I’ve done for our Hong Kong Disneyland day. There are some things I don’t want to miss. She has agreed to arrive with me no later than 11am. I’m hoping for 10:15 so we can see the opening ceremony…if there is one. Not sure, haven’t read anything about one.  I’m also curious to see how the crowds are. It was completely dead in March, so I’m wondering if the crowds will be higher but still nothing like Disney World at this time of year.

Ocean Park tomorrow. Can’t wait for it either! Still need to look up some more info about it, but there appears to be some awesome rides!!! I’ll definitely post pictures from our day there.

Still have about 45 minutes till we reach Hong Kong and Jatana has finally begun to make her epic blog update. You go girl!

This has been an amazing adventure and there’s more still to come!

Last Night in Macau

It's sad. It sucks. It's awesome. I can't wait to be home.

Had an AMAZING dinner tonight at a famous local restaurant. A bunch of exchange students and it was so much fun to see everyone. I hate saying Goodbye and find it very awkward, so yes I was awkward, but who cares! This people are awesome and I will miss them dearly. This is not goodbye though. It is only "See you later."

Two More Nights

I really truly can't blieve that I only have two more nights in 20K. Everything is finally setting in that I'm going home. Love you guys at home but right now I can't imagine leaving. I don't feel like I missed out on doing something I really wanted to do, BUT there is still so much I want to do!

The people I've met here are awesome, and I know that some I'll be friends with for life. Last night we all went out to D2 and danced till 6am. It was a blast and the perfect way to celebrate the end of the semester and how close we had all become. For Spring '11 Macau was my home and all of my IFT and Exchange friends made up my family, except for Jatana who doesn't love me anymore because I started packing today. (Just playing: She loves me. She just likes making a fuss.)

Tomorrow the plan is to maybe go to the Wine Museum, pool for studying if the weather is good, go to the 10MOP shop, dinner with Eve and Emily, study, study, study!

Oh! Almost forgot to mention that we had a Typhoon yesterday and today! I didn't even know it till I went running yesterday evening and my friend Yuki told me. Apparently it was/is a Typhoon 1, which means that it's nothing serious. Today it was overcast and high winds and a little rain, but that's all.

Here are a few photos I took around 1pm today.

Typhoon???

please excuse the undereye circles. didn't really feel like taking my mascara off before I went to bed at 6:30am.

Two Finals Down and Three To Go

So with Socio Cultural and Travel Agency out of the way, I'm left with Human Resources, Marketing, and Development & Management of Attractions. Really after tomorrow I feel pretty good. I enjoyed Marekting and DMA so the finals should be alright. Socio was fine, I think having an Anthropologist for a Mother helped out and Travel Agency was ehhhhhh. It's frustrating understanding something in class so well, but feeling very confused on exams. Ah well It's over now.

Tonight took a study break and went to see the new X-Men. It's still odd going to a movie theatre that to me, isn't really a movie theatre. No buttered popcorn. No giant sodas. No cup holders! But it's cheap compared to back home I thought the movie was good. The special effects were a little cheesy at some points, but overall I give it two thumbs up.

I can't believe that I only have 9 days till going home and only 5 more days in Macao. We took a bus tonight that took us to a part of Macao I realized I hadn't explored much. It's amazing how I've lived here for four months, and really Macao isn't that big, but there is still so much I haven't seen.

This weekend I plan on going to the pool/beach with friends to relax and study; Hopefully I'll make it to the Wine Museum which I'd really like to see before leaving, and eat lots of yummy food and drink lots of Milk Tea from Donago's. They are building what appears to be a Comebuy, a large chain milk tea stand, right next to Donago's and man I'll be mad if it hurts Donago's business.

It's weird because writing about Donago's and Comebuy makes me realize how many things have become second nature and so common to me, but when I go home all of them disappear. Where here I have to explain about things from home, soon I'll be explaining about things from Macao, my second home. Yes, I'll be happy to be home where I can see the stars every night and where there is still an ozone layer, but it really is bittersweet leaving this place and all the people I've met.

Goodnight to all. Enjoy your day while I sleep.

Finals????

Another great weekend, and I really don't feel like taking any finals!

Friday: BUNGY JUMPING OFF THE WORLD'S TALLEST BUNGY PLATFORM! It was amazing! It was awesome! I wasn't truly scared until I started to fall and could really see how high up I was. That was terrifying. I would do it again in a heartbeat though.

Saturday: Barbeque on the beach for Jatana's birthday. Went to Hac Sa beach out in Coloane, and grilled out from 4pm till 9pm. We had a lot of fun. For anyone who wants to do this here are some tips: You have to have a local to help you out with the ordering. Get a package and don't worry they definitely don't skimp on the portion size. Go early the day of the barbeque. Jatana and I got to the beach at 2:30pm to grab a good table and grill and to set up everything. You also have to bring your own drinks. This was kind of funny because since we had so many people we purchased two cases of beer the night before. It was pretty funny to see the security guards faces when we came back to our apartment building carrying the cases. haha Don't even know what they must have thought.

The party really was a great time. The weather was perfect and everyone just hung out, ate and played on the beach. One of my favorite days in Macao.

Sunday: Jatana's Actual Birthday- For the most part we were incredibly lazy. We did go out and go the gardens and have dinner at the oh so yummy sticky rice place. Then it was Donago's, facials & pedicures and a marathon of Bones. We ended up staying up till 5am finishing the 6th season, which is why I slept till noon today.

Since I woke up I've been studying for my finals which start Wednesday. I'm feeling pretty confident right now, but still trying to push myself to study just so I don't kick myself later for not studying. I will say having a full week off before finals was awesome and terrible at the same time. Awesome - well that's obvious. Terrible -because now all I want to do is hang around Macao, go to HK and go home. Finals really are cramping my style. What's a girl to do?

I've got 13 days before going home. I will very much miss Macao, but I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.

I Love Macao

School is out and lazy days have arrived. First though, a bit about my weekend.

Friday: Went to see House of Dancing Water at the City of Dreams. The show is one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. Most of the action takes place in a 300gal tank of water with a stage that can be raised and lowered. Performers did high dives, danced, tumbled, swang from what looked like a chandelier and there was even a motocross part of the show.One of the best parts was that our seats were in the first row and the performers got so close to us that they actually splashed us! It was awesome even when they did it on purpose. Anyone who comes to Macao should go see this show!

Saturday: Woke up went to my final Travel Agency Operations review and then headed out to the IFT Karting Event. Jatana's sports and event class was in charge of the event so I wanted to support her. Had a pretty good time and even got to watch my friend race. That was really cool. There were a fair number of ppl there but the day was incredibly hot so not quite as many as they were hoping for.
After that event I went home. Then grabbed dinner with friends and went to see Momentum up at the Cultural Center. Momentum is a work done by a troupe from Israel. The whole idea behind the show is basically about time and rhythm and the goal is to spread love through the performance. They were truly amazing and it was so obvious how much each member loved what they were doing and truly was trying to give love to the audience. They used some of the best audience participation techniques I've ever seen. Before the show, I guess, someone had rigged up pulleys that would drop over an audience member. This audience member then became part of the show and was told where in the beat to pull their pulley. This went on till four audience members were helping one performer create a rhythm. It was AWESOME! Another way the audience was involved was in video that a performer took before the show and then projected on a large screen at the end of the shows. The technology they used was just amazing. Even after the show was over the performers danced through the audience and did two more pieces outside.

If all my Fridays and Saturdays were like this I'd be in heaven. : )

Sunday: Spent most of Sunday working on my Marketing project with my group. Then spent another couple of hours editing both my marketing project and my human resources project. I have a new found respect for editors, and now I know I never ever would want to be one.

Monday: Happy Memorial Day to the States! Woke up and headed over the Zhuhai with Sidsel. Bought a pair of flip flops because then we got manicures, pedicures and leg massages. How much? you ask. $15 oh yes. woot woot! Grabbed some lunch and then I got my hair trimmed and an awesome head and neck massage. Only $9. Ahhhhh. Living the good life. I will definitely be going back at least one more time before I leave.

Tuesday (Today!): Another wonderful day, but this time I spent it by the pool with my friend Johanna. She found out that there was a pool out in Coloane that is right on the beach and only costs 7MOP ($1) for students. We got off at the wrong bus stop, but once we found the pool, we were ridiculously excited. Very clean, great facility, very big and just the right temperature. For three hours we just lazed around in the pool and on our lounge chairs. She tanned A LOT. I...well I love my pale skin. : ) After we had had enough of the pool we decided that ice cream from DQ was needed. I got a mango almond blizzard with chocolate chips that was out of this world good! Then it was back to our apartments to shower and then some dinner.

Now I'm sitting in my apartment contemplating what I should do tomorrow. Right now studying, getting things in order for going home, a few necessary emails, followed by my last *sniff sniff* ladies' night.

School is great, but I love holiday.

On a Roll

With a little more time to spare here is Guilin Day 2:

We woke up at 11am, grabbed some breakfast. We both got the American breakfast (I think that was the name) which consisted of eggs, toast, tomatoes, sausage and a strip of bacon. I opted for some much needed coffee while Sidsel went with orange juice. After breakfast we grabbed our stuff and walked down to the busstop to try and grab a bus to Yangshuo. This was.....exciting. Since barely anything was in English we tried to go ask at the customer service counter. Haha joke on us thinking they would speak English. She did point in the direction of a set of busses though and we went over there and found that YES those busses were indeed going to Yangshuo. We hopped aboard and payed our fare of 18RMB a piece, about $3.

Now in retrospect we both agreed that we should have gone ahead and done  the cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo. What happened though is we weren't aware we could do the whole route and we had already planned on the bus and felt more comfortable sticking with that route. It would have been nice to go ahead and go the cruise the first day and have time to do other things our last day but c'est la vie. Anyways...

The bus was fine. It was a bus. Got into Yangshuo and our adventure really began. We took this "taxi" to our hostel, but it was the funniest/strangest ride ever. It's hard to explain in words so here is a video. Yes I know the video is sideways, but my stupid butt forgot you can't turn a camera sideways. ahhhhh well.

 

That's all for now! Off to my last presentation. Wish me luck!