Good Afternoon! I'm here in the comp lab at Taipa campus killing time before class. This morning was spent reading out on my balcony. A good book is the best/worst distraction! No, I didn't accomplish any of my goals for the morning, besides getting bread from the bakery, but I enjoyed myself immensly. Took the bus over to Taipa a little earlier than normal, and strolled around. Found a small coffee shop called Cuppa Coffee, that is open from 8-8 everyday! I know what I'll be having for breakfast tomorrow : )

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I have a 9am class in Taipa on Tuesday, and trying to get a bus is extremely difficult. Thanks to a suggestion from Tyler, I'm going to leave around 7am, take the bus over (hopefully it won't be crowded) and have breakfast in Taipa.

The weather is amazing now. Today is sunny and feels about 65 degree out. It makes it very hard to stay indoors. While I was out walking in Taipa, I came across a couple little restaurants to try, a temple, a few small shrines and some nice places just to sit.

Ahhhh now it's off to class and then to the gym! Signing off until next time.

Explorations around Macau

Hello! Here are some pictures from a few of my adventures around Macau! More to come!

Welcome to the world's largest casino, The Venetia. This is a picture of the lobby heading towards the casino.
We went shopping and these are the escaltors to get from the shopping area down to the casino.

Jatana in the lobby.

Jatana posing at the fountain which greets you upon entering the hotel.

Me!

View of the Venetian at night. On the left you can see the Room section and below and on the right is the casino.

At the Ceremonial Tea Museum. Saw this and thought it was cool....notice.....no North or South America!

Outside the tea museum at Lou Lim Loc Garden
I have class every Saturday from 8:30-9:50am, so when I was done I was very much awak and didn't feel like sitting at home. I left a message on Facebook bout going out walking and my friend Sana texted me, so we met up and headed out searching for adventure!

Garden entrance

A bear which has seen better days. Think he was for the new year

This statue is at the front of the garden, and we weren't sure if someone had littered and put a piece of candy in her arms or if that was an offering. In Macau it could be either.

I thought it was cool to see the juxtaposition between the garden and the towering apartment buildings that literally bump up right against the garden walls.

One of my favorite spots.

Inside another museum within the garden.

Thought this was really cool. (Mom, I took this mainly for you, since you just bought some very similar 1950s/60s art)

This is awesome! I believe its made out of matchsticks, or something very similar.

On Nine Turn Bridge! The reason for so many turns is to confuse evil spirits, which only travel in straight lines.

Nine Turn Bridge

Looking out from a rock formation we climbed up.
The whole garden had these weird rock formations, and some of the had pillars built into them and this set had stairs. I read in my guidebook that the garden was built so that it was suppose to represent the Chinese idea of perfect nature in miniature form. I'm not sure how the rocks fit in, but they were very cool.

This is my friend, Sana's, gum which she brought with her from Finland. You pronounce the name "Yankee". I thought it was hilarious.

This was also taken at McDonald's SIDEBAR: Before anyone gives me grief lemme just say that I don't go everyday. Also it just screams Western and sometimes that's nice. lol SIDEBAR DONE While we were sitting eating, this little boy came over to us and said that his mom had sent him over here because we looked American and that maybe he could talk to us for a little bit. Yes, it sounds weird, but we found out that he was from Texas and here in Macau with his Mom and little brother visiting family. Both of his parents are from Macau originally. So it started to make sense that maybe he wasn't getting to talk to that many people. Then he mentioned that his mom is deaf. So it made even more sense. He was only six years old and very intelligent. It was really cool to watch him turn around and talk to his mom through sign language.

We went on talking, and he taught us about Brakia Brawl (sp?). They were these little balls that you battled with by throwing them on the table and yelling "Brakia Ball!" I failed miserably and lost. Though really there was no way for me to win and he informed me that the character I had was weaker than the one he had. I still don't really understand what it was we were doing, but it was fun. He was a really cool kid.

After lunch we, decided to continue walking and came across the most adorable day care center ever!

You really can't get much cuter than Hello Kitty tiles on the OUTSIDE of a building.

We were walking past this and decided we needed to go investigate. What we found out was that this is a mausoleum. The building is five stories tall, and we aren't positive, but we think we might have actually passed an incinerator. It wasn't in a closed room or anything, just out in the open near the center of the building.

A small temple we stumbled across.

First load of laundry! No not the most exciting adventure but and adventure none the less. It is really nice having our patio so we can hang everything outside. Some of the other apartments do not have anywhere outside they can hang their clothes. It only took about a day/day and 1/2 for my clothes to dry.

My raincoat which I bought at the venetian for only 79MOP! Wooooo That's about $9

China! This picture was taken looking back at Macau and the border gate. Below where I'm standing is actually the big shopping district in Zhuhai. It is this huge underground maze that starts right when you cross the border. Very convenient!

Katherine and Catherine in China! This is taken looking into Zhuhai. Katherine took me over and we spent a couple hours shopping and then went to dinner with her family. We had hotpot at this awesome restaurant that I nvr would have found by myself. It was so yummy and her mom and brother were really nice. Then we went and Katherine and her mom got her haircut. Her mom even offered to pay for me to get my hair washed just so I didn't have to sit and wait on them. It was sweet, but I declined. She had already paid for dinner, and I felt that was more the enough. Next we went into the market to buy some fruit. My friends from Mainland had told me it was a lot cheaper in Zhuhai. So Katherine's mom did all the bargaining for me AND even decided she was going to pay for it all. I got apples, oranges and strawberries! All of the fruit has been delicious. Everything is really fresh, and tastes amazing. My first trip into Mainland China was a definite success!

Hong Kong Tomorrow!

Soooo the second week of school has come to an end and I'm finally starting to get assignments and group projects.

In...
HR: A case study on how to to deal with a sexual harrassment case.
Travel Agency: Quiz on International & Macao/Hong Kong codes - 2 Fare Construction Point problems
Socio-Cultural: Assigned group for Video Project about religion
Marketing: nothing
Attractions: Assigned project on the Taipa House Museum

I'm still enjoying all my classes except for HR, is just the material is very dry, and I'm glad to be getting some projects. It is kind of funny but today when we chose groups in Socio class I felt like all of us exchange students were prizes. Me and my friend Marta paired up with four of the local students and they were so excited! It was like, "Score we got girls who speak english fluently!" They are super nice, and I'm happy to be in a group that is so welcoming, but it was kind of weird because every group that got an exchange student reacted the same way.

Two days ago an amazing thing happened. The weather warmed up, the clouds rolled away and the sun shone bright in the sky. So far this beautiful weather has stayed and I hope it continues! We've been warned that Macau is notorious for warming up and then turning cold again real quick this time of year, but as long as it is only for a week I'm ok.

A couple of weeks ago some of us exchange students decided to get together and plan a trip to HK. Soooooooooo tomorrow we are going! Woot Woot! It is only for a day so the game plan is pretty simple. Victoria's Peak, shopping and Symphony of lights at 8pm. My wonderful friend Cynthia is going to meet all 11 of us there and be our tour guide. I can't wait to see, but I already know that I'm going to want to go back and spend at least a full weekend there!

Signing off for now! Next time a tale of going to Mainland China for the first time! And my opinion on intestine.

Wuan An

Quit with all the chit chat!

The First Week of Classes

So, I have officially completed my first week of classes! Woooooo! Overall everything went very well and I'm just going to give a breif overview of the good and bad. I figure through out this semester you'll read plenty about school so no need to make the this week extremely long.

Good:
Enjoyed all classes except Human Resources
Met a lot of very nice students. In everyone of my classes someone introduced themselves to me.
I got to talk in class, and this is important because a lot of the teachers give out points for ppl who speak up.
Decided to stick with Travel Agency Operations! It is by far my favorite class. : D
Made it to all of my classes!
Like all of my teachers.


Bad:
HR class is extremely boring. More the material than the teacher.
In most classes the students chit chat constantly. It's incredibly annoying, and disrespectful, but it seems to be the norm here.
Trying to get the bus as 8am was a nightmare. The busses were so full I watched four go by before I could get on one. Extremely stressful.
Finding bus fare - don't get my bus pass till tomorrow.


Signing off! Heading off to start the second week!

Bus and Walk. Walk and Bus.

So today I'm going to recap the last day of the welcome program. It was exciting! It was jampacked! It was so tiring. We started at 9am and toured Macao, Taipa and Coloane until 7pm. While the tour was awesome, and I was very excited to get to see the city, by the end of the day I was ready to curl up in my bed and not wake up for atleast 12 hours.

With that said, let the tour begin!

My friend Terry. He is Korean and this is traditional dress for him. Korean males wear it twice in their lives. The first time when they turn nine and the second time when they feel they have become a man.
This is looking going out of Kun Iam Temple. My apartment is across the street. : )

This is inside Kun Iam. People burn many different offerings in these.

Three Lamps Square! It's a really good shopping district that also has some reallygood restuarants. If you want you can even partake in a tasting of brain.

St. Anothony's Church - The first of a bagillion group photos!

This street is called Lover's Street. There is a story about two teenagers who were in love. One was Macanese and the other Portugese, so they were forbidden to be together. In the middle of the night the two met here and ran away together. (now I might have this slightly wrong. I'm telling it purely from memory.)

Love this photo because I happen to catch my friend Sidsel jumping for another picture being taken! The panda is because the Chinese government gave Macao two pandas as a sign of goodwill.

Old set of doors.

Old street markers. I thought they were gravestones when I first saw them.

Traditional puppets. They are oddly beautiful and kind of creepy.

In the museum they have a street scene set up to show what the streets of Macao used to look like.

THE RUINS OF ST. PAUL!

Looking down from the steps of St. Paul's. This is the most visited sight in Macao, and as this was during the end of the Chinese New Year it was extremely crowded.

Three of my wonderful friends.

This was probably the moments I finally felt like I was in Macao. I'd seen so many photos of the ruins, and going there I felt like I had made it!

This is where we ate lunch. It was so yummy. We had chicken curry, rice and cheese, fried rice, etc. There was so so much and most of it was very good.

This is at the IFT Taipa Campus. This room is suppose to mimic a western restaurant. I can kind of see it, but really it looks more like a banquet hall to me. And I didn't realize westen restuarants had such a large bar. haha

The massage room! Sadly no massages for free. You have to be in the Spa class.

A typical classroom.

The most famous street in Taipa. At one shop we could sample everything! I ended up buying some biscuits that were filled with orange peels. They are delicious.

One of the many New Year displays. This type of display is everywhere.

Waiting for the group to gather.

Emily and Me. still waiting. It's so much more fun to take photos than just sit and wait.

Looking across to the casino district on Taipa. The amazing thing is that this pond use to be the shoreline. I find it kind of sad.

Jatana!

In Coloane we got egg tarts. They are a portugese snack that Macao is famous for. I thought this one was really yumm, but the funny thing was the Portugese exchange students hated them.

I can eat! Ta-dah!

A little square in Coloane.

In front of a church in Coloane.

I thought this looked cool. We were at A-Ma Temple when I took this. A-Ma Temple is the most famous of all temples in Macao. The story goes that Portugese explorer came ashore and asked a local them what the name of the island was. The locals thought they had asked what the name of the temple was. In Cantonese the name for A-Ma is Ma Gao, so the locals told the explorers Ma Gao. Now you can probably guess what happened. Slowly but surely the pronunciation morphed from Ma Gao to Macao! : )

The Golden Lotus. Another gift from China. The reason it is gold is because in Chinese culture gold represents money, and the Chinese love money. My friend told me that.