The Wireless Returns

My heart is full of joy!!

After six days, an Ethernet cord, and many tears, I have wireless!! That means I can access internet anywhere on campus!!

I know that I sound pretty pathetic. I mean, I lived in a time before wifi. And I was just fine. But not having wifi for 6 days in Hong Kong was downright the worst thing ever! I was going crazy!!

It's funny to see how much my generation is dependent on wireless. We need it. It's our security blanket. Wifi allows us to connected at all times--not just to the internet, but to each other. With wifi, nothing is out of our reach. We can talk to family members miles across the sea. We can look up the best Mexican restaurant in close proximity. We can search on how to do almost anything.

And now, that power is back in my hands. Whew!!

A Bit of Culture, My Dear

Note: Please read title in a British accent. Thank you.

Yesterday was the big exchange student trip to see some of the cultural sights of Hong Kong and get a taste of Chinese culture and history.

The first stop was the Man Mo Temple. It is a Taoist temple dedicated to two gods: the god of war and the god of literature. It over 100 years old which is really impressive for Hong Kong--everything in that city is pretty new. Chinese mothers come to the temple everyday to make wishes and get their fortunes told. To appease the gods, these women bring food and other things.

The offerings for the gods. There are fruit and some meat.

Outside of the Man Mo Temple was a wet market, where Hong Kong natives come to buy their food every day.

Next, we went to the wishing trees. Here, people write their wishes on scrolls of paper and hook it to an orange with string and then throw it over the wishing tree. If the wish stays in the tree, your wish is granted. But so many people were throwing wishes at the tree, the tree began to die, so they are trying to restore it right now. To keep the superstitious natives happy, they built a plastic wishing tree so they could receive their plastic wishes. ;)

The plastic wishing tree

The real wishing tree

Then we went to the Avenue of Stars, the Hong Kong version of the street in Hollywood with all the celebrity names in the cement.

This picture is my favorite. A fellow exchange student, Devin, wanted to get his picture with the Jackie Chan star. But as he got down to take the picture, several Asian kids joined in to get their picture taken too. It was pretty hilarious. 

More about the rest of my tour will be up soon.

The Dragon's Back

I have met a lot of awesome people in Hong Kong so far. One of these awesome people is Anika from McGill. The other night we decided to organize a hiking group to go hike the Dragon's Back on HK Island. So yesterday at 10AM, a bunch of exchange students headed out for a nature adventure.

The Dragon's Back has gorgeous views of both the city and the beaches. Everyone in the group had their cameras out taking pictures of the beautiful vistas.

But the best thing that could have happened to us yesterday was getting lost. We made a wrong turn so our 2 hour hike turned into a 4 hour hike. But it was totally worth it because we found this awesome secluded beach town called Big Wave Bay. It's actually known for its good surfing and while we were there we watched old British men catch some waves.

This is an ancient rock carving. No one knows who made it and why. If you look closely you can see the carvings. 

Want to hike it yourself?
From MTR Shau Kei Wan Station Exit A3, take bus 9 at Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus to To Tei Wan, Shek O Road. 

Source: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/great-outdoors/hikes/dragons-back-hiking-tour.jsp#ixzz2JRyFARLm

10 First Impressions from Hong Kong

So I am dreadfully sorry for the lack of pictures for a while. I am experiencing some major problems connecting to the internet here and honestly, it's about to drive me mad. So I have to use the school's computers, which means I can't load my pictures yet.

But I'm in HONG KONG!!!

Here are my 10 first impressions from the 3 days I been in Hong Kong.

10. The birds are super cool here. They are very colorful and bright.

9. Cantonese is the hardest language ever!! Every time Nate tries to teach me some Cantonese, I want to cry. Meanwhile, Mandarin is pretty easy to pick up. I should go to China soon to practice.

8. There are malls everywhere. Like one on every block. It's crazy. No wonder they call Hong Kong a shopper's paradise.

7. Exchange students love their drinking. I see myself spending a lot of time in bars during the next 4 months. Good thing bars offer non-alcoholic drinks too.

6. The buildings are SOOO tall!! Especially the residential areas. A lot of those building are at least 50 stories tall.

5. There is so much nature. It's really a cool juxtaposition. You'll be in the middle of a bustling city center with high rises and malls and restaurants. Then, 15 minutes away, you'll be in a jungle. Lots of good hiking, I'm actually going to hike the Dragon's back today. Post will be up soon.

4. Asian food in Asia is really different than Asian food in America. I mean, everyone told me that, but I eat a bit more authentic Asian food anyway so I thought I would be prepared. But I've been really surprised with how different the food is from what I thought it was going to be. Luckily, it's still delicious!

3. The metro is really quick and easy to navigate. And it even has a British voice telling riders to "mind the gap"! Totes adorbs!

2. Asians everywhere!! I now know what it feels like to be in the minority.

1. The OCEAN!!! My room looks out over the ocean and I can watch sail boats float by. Also, it takes about 2 minutes to walk to the beach. Best location ever? Pretty darn close!

Thoughts from LAX

So today, it kicked in that I'm moving to Hong Kong. Part of me is in awe of myself. I'm all like "Gracious, this girl's got guts." But then there's the other part that thinks I'm downright crazy to move to a country where I don't speak the language and there's no "Get out of jail free" card. I'm moving to Hong Kong, and I'm stuck there for 4 months, whether I like it or not. 

And that's a little scary.

The flight from Phoenix to LAX was good. I was SOOO tired, but couldn't really sleep on the flight. But I realized (or appreciated) how awesome flight is. Here I was, flying thousands of feet in the air, traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. It reminded me of my friend, Allison, who would say, whenever there was something amazing and awesome, would say, "This is witchcraft." And basically, this is witchcraft. Especially the part where the plane flew over the ocean, turned around, and descended to airport, right off the ocean. I was so nervous. The water just kept getting closer and closer. Witchcraft. 

I'm waiting in front of my gate and it's definitely different. I think there are about 5 white people waiting to board. Just getting used to being the minority. :)

The Korean Air flight attendants are the cutest things I've ever seen. The sky blue and cream suits with scarves are just adorable. So terribly jealous that I wasn't born Asian. 

Well, I am dead beat tired, so I am going to relax and get ready for my 13 hour flight!! Yes, I'm expecting major sympathy.

So ciao!!!  

Adventure X: My Last American Saturday

Sometimes things don't always go according to plan.

But that's okay.

That just opens the door for adventure.

And it was an adventure that Taylor and I had.

The original plan was to go to MacAlpines in Phoenix for some ice cream and soda. But when we arrived, the wait was about an hour. And as cute as the place was (it was part ice cream shop/ part antique store) and as delicious as ice cream is, it wasn't worth an hour wait.

So that plan was aborted and Tay and I scrambled for a new plan. I then remembered that there was a Japanese garden in the middle of downtown Phoenix. And on our way to the Japanese garden, we stumbled upon some awesome street art.

And at last, we made it to the garden to find that there was an admission price. Paying money to look at plants? Not for this girl. So once again, we were without a plan.

So we headed back to Mesa, but decided to stop at Papago Park. It was a marvelous idea.

I finally got to be close to the hole in the rock!! You see, it's this big hole...well, it explains itself. But I have been looking at that hole for years, thinking it was uber cool. So I was pretty psyched to be so close, like jumping up and down psyched. And I wanted to kick myself for not wearing tennis shoes so I could hike it. 

So instead, we hiked to Governor Hunt's Tomb. I have also been looking at Hunt's tomb for a long time. It's a white pyramid on a mountain, how sweet is that? So I always used it as a landmark of sorts. A landmark for home. But I never knew you could actually hike to it!!! Once again, I was super psyched. 

And the best part is, the tomb overlooks the Phoenix Zoo. So basically, I got to watch mountain goats, African cattle, tigers, ostriches, and giraffes...FOR FREE!!!!

It doesn't get much better than that. 

One week!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel right now.

Got my room assignment today. And more importantly, I now know who my roommate is. Well, at least I know her ID number. But it's still exciting!

I can just imagine the two of us meeting for the first time and me throwing my arms around her and crying, "It SOOO good to finally meet you [insert her ID number]!!!" (I left out her ID for privacy reasons. Already got your back, chica!!!)

And I won't look like a freak at all.

I have so much to do before I leave in a week. I have to pack. And on top of packing for Hong Kong, I have to pack up all my other belongings (darn Brooke for stealing my closet!).

Then there is the whole making sure my Hong Kong classes transfer to BYU thing.

And I should probably learn some Mandarin and Cantonese phrases before I head over there.

Whew! Don't even know where to start.

So I'm going to stop boring you with my to-do list and actually DO something.

So ciao!

Or should I say "Zaijian"!!

T-10 days

10 more days.

We’re almost to the single digits.

And it doesn’t seem real.

Sometimes I am soooo excited, I just want to jump up and scream with joy. I’m moving to HONG KONG!! How cool is that? I get to be in Asia. I am going to meet people from around the world. YEAH!!

But other times, I am super scared. I mean, I moving to the other side of the world where I don’t know anyone, I don’t speak the language, and I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb because of my hair. 

And I’m pretty much fluctuating between the two. 

Meanwhile, I am currently doing an internship for a small start-up called Virtual Office. Just something to keep me busy while I’m home. And it is doing wonders (even though it was pretty much killed the 25 days of Mesa idea), because being home and not doing anything was kind of making me crazy. But now, I’m feeling my usual self coming back. Thank goodness!

The list of things to do before I leave is still pretty long, but luckily the most stressful thing (in my mind) is basically solved. Since I am living abroad for an extended amount of time, it is required by both BYU and HKUST that I have health and travel insurance. But both schools offer their own insurance. I got my insurance through BYU since it was easier doing it at home and I was sure the BYU insurance covered everything HKUST required. But I was wrong. And I found out with 2 weeks to go before I headed to Hong Kong. So I was a little stressed. But now I just buy the HKUST insurance and drop the BYU insurance and then everything will be okay. Whew!

The HKUST Exchange Student Facebook page is up and running and it has been fun conversing with my fellow future exchange students. There are kids from all over the world who all want to do awesome things. I can’t wait to meet these people in person.

And I will keep you posted as the days countdown to HONG KONG!!

Adventure 5: Brooke's Secret

There's a time in almost every girl's life, where she tries on her first Victoria's Secret bra. And her world is forever changed.

Well, it was that time for my sister. My sister has needed a new bra for like... ever. Puberty and a few extra pounds has blessed my little sister, but she never really got a bra that kept up with all that growth. So I took her to VS to get the bra that would change her life.

And it was the semi-annual sale. Even better!

So we found her the most comfortable bra they have there. And it rocked her world.

Hats off to VS!!

Overdue Pics from San Diego

At last, I have taken the time to upload all my pictures from San Diego.

Our first night, Rachel, Angela, and I went to this tiny Vietnamese restaurant. The other two had never had pho before so I convinced them to be adventurous and try some. And guess what? They loved it! Three cheers for trying new things!!

Then we followed that with some baby Ben and Jerry's.

The next day we got to visit La Jolla Cove, a personal Toller family fav beach spot. Too bad the water was ice cold! But we had a blast for the 45 minutes we had. Then it was off to perform in a parade and meet the marvelous SDSU colorguard. And then the band was set free in the Gaslamp Quarter. The guard headed to Ghiradelli's for some delicious ice cream. Cause cool kids have dessert before dinner!

Wednesday was jam-packed with fun adventures and experiences. First was performing at a Battle of the Bands at the famous USS Midway Museum.

The following picture is the result of Malicious trying to push me over the railing into the marina. Rude!!

Here is a picture of the Star of India. In 5th grade I swabbed those decks. I hunted for rats. I sang sailor songs. Oh nostalgia... 

We then went to SeaWorld!!

And then we visited the San Diego Temple. Gracious, that temple is gorgeous. If I don't elope to Hong Kong, maybe I will elope to San Diego.

Then Thursday morning, Ashlee, Janell, Angela, Nuffer, and I rented a bike and toured the private island we were staying on. It was FULL of adventures including my supposed terrible giant bike driving. 

And then, to top it all off, BYU beat SDSU!!! And I got to touch the hand of almost every BYU FOOTBALL PLAYER!!!

So basically it was a fantastic way to end a marvelous semester.