Heya i did lots of things today but i dont really want to recall them all again. Basically, it was a tour around tsim sha tzui area today and we just walked alot and took lots of silly pictures with silly poses cause... cause thats what girls do.

Its only been a week and i feel like i've been here for ages.

What im thinking about these few days:
1. I need to find a church to go to every Sunday
2. Im quite excited about moving into my new apartment
3. I cannot get used to HK food
4. There are people i miss back home
5. I want to know what my grades are
6. Im going to confirm my flight back soon
7. I need to watch how i spend cause the Singaporean lifestyle most definitely does not suit me here
8. HK is unexpectedly cold and chilly
9. I dont really fancy shopping
10. Lots of people are planning to visit me and my roommate these four months

Just some random thoughts that occur to me... well, take car ya'll!

im not even remotely enjoying myself here...

Is work fun? no
Are the people at work fun? no
Have you had fun? no
Is there anything u like? no

I think an internship is very different from an exchange. For one, its work here and that means im occupied (with the AWESOME job of filing applications) from morning till night. I can still remember when i told people about the internship... "so exciting Stace!"

hmm...

But maybe its cause its only the first week and im not settled in yet... or maybe its cause i dont have deeper pockets to enjoy myself.. or maybe this is the beginning of me learning something (like being thrifty, being alone etc) Maybe after all this is over, i'll look back and smile and think how spoilt i used to be. Well guess these would only be answered much later...

Its a friday night... if i was back in Singapore, i'll be going on a hot date now... heh... or meeting my family for drinks (which is still a "hot" date too!). I would not be home typing away on my laptop sulking about how lonely i am... oh well... hope things turn out better as the weeks go by.

Did i mention i have work tomorrow? sat morning? yes... i work every alternate sat mornings... fun right?

well.. the only thing keeping me company is Michael buble on my laptop and this pasta that i bought back for dinner...

Heh heh... its beef.

Seems like the ONLY thing i can get use to around here... Cow meat...

Ok... do keep me posted on whats happening in your life. Its only when im here that i realize i take lots of things for granted... like my sis for example and my clique too.. haha

Never thought i'd say this but Singapore sure is more "happening" than HK... Ok.. to those of you who miss me and havent got a chance to see me for quite some time... a random pic of myself at Aunty Jenny's house and the laundry as the backdrop....

Argh... 16 weeks and not even one is up... =(

Things sped up a little bit today. Finally come to terms with my "filing" duties and have committed myself to it wholeheartedly. Im going to be stuck doing those for the next 2 weeks at least... might as well get comfy now...

Met up with the landlord today and signed the contract... feel so grown up for taking charge of my own apartment and re-drafting the tenancy to make it more "legally fair"... (of course i couldnt have done it without mum and sis's help with clauses to put in)... moving in this sunday and monday is a public holiday! so will be sorting out stuff within the apartment and making ti more homely... its the first time im staying by myself... (technically not by myself but still u know what i mean) and just want to put MY stuff in the apartment to be able to call it my own. My own personal style of Branding i suppose... =)

Need to start personalizing my office space too... its going to be mine for th next three months and i've already been allocated drawers to put my stuff in. Also dont know what i should put in there... any suggestions? By the way, my office is pretty high tech... all staff's are passed TABLET PC's as their desktops with wireless keyboards... its super funky...

here's some pics...

All right... the first 2 pics are my tablet PC... not my laptop but the ones the office provides... super cool... i can view it horizontally or vertically and all i need to do is flip... its even slimmer than mine! and the key board is really slim too... the black band on it is the infrared and it detects the mainscreen even if im standing far away! haha...

The bottom left is my workspace, pretty neat huh... that wont last long... soon, my messy symptoms will start kicking in and you'll start to see the usual pile of nonsense i leave around.... Oh yes and the girl on the bottom right is called Qianyu. She's staying with me and she's really nice and sweet too. Yup, we go to work together and we sit just opposite each other... haha but she's more bored than me at work... I msn while at work... she not only Msn's... she brings her headphones to work and listens to them while working!! haha...

I think that HK really brings out a different side to me... i'm taking public transport everywhere i go and its just Buses and MTR's all the way! i dont even consider taxi's cause those are just way beyond my budget... haha... you'd think that these would transfer back when i return to Singapore right? nope... nonsense.... when i return... its not going to be public transport for eons... i'm expecting my designated "drivers" to send me everywhere!!!! haha... you know who you are.... Mr. Ji Teow, Ms Tammy and of course... Mr. Jiang... heh...

Love you all and missing all of you very much!

Today was just plain... before work, during work, after work, at home... everything is just getting repetitive and its only been three days... either i have too high expectations for what constitutes non-plainness or it really is just damn boring around here.

Truth is... i cant do anything even if i wanted to. i cant go drinking cause there's work tomorrow and there wont be anyone to club with... I cant go and watch a movie because... it costs 60 HKD which is equivalent to 13 bucks SGD! I can't go shopping because i have yet to move house and any exra baggage means more trouble for the mover(s) a.k.a me.

Lets recount what i have done for these past few days... I came back yesterday to go jogging around the estate... all right, im lying... it wasnt meant to be around the estate but because of my fabulous sense of direction... i ended up going in circles before i reached the stadium and once im done with that... i got lost trying to come back home... yes... go ahead and laugh at me why dont you... I deserve it anyway... anyone who runs for an hour around the estate and ends up at OCEAN PARK deserves to be laugh at... i'd laugh at me too if it werent for my aching legs...

The things that i cannot get about Hong Kong people is their ridiculous rules on lunchtime... why do we ALL have to come out at one and ALL have to go back at two? At lunchtime, you get massive influx of people trying to squeeze their way to whatever cramped up hawker/ restaurant. Its impossible to get a place to sit, much less find a restaurant that serves food fast. Has no one ever heard about staggered lunch timings? Oh well... i ate sandwich for lunch today... at the office. seems like its the norm to either bring your own food or just ta pao back to avoid the noise downstairs. I do admit... sandwiches are a far cry from my usual daily feast in Singapore. Oh well.. "we live within our means"...

My moving is this Sunday so im quite excited. But the latest news on the apartment... aparently there's some problem with the broadband and its disconnected. Horrors of horrors... I would really NOT have anything to do at night...

Just received news today that my sis and mum is coming to visit me on the 1st to 5th July... yea.. well thats more than 2 months away but still something to look forward to unless some of my friends would like to visit me in HK in June... *hint* *hint*

Oh well... theres nothing much to do so going to sleep soon... will keep you all posted on... on more stuff later on... oh yes... i have skype... username: trixtermind... and i have a HK number too... msn me if you want it... and give me suggestions on what i can do every night.... sigh... miss the TV... actually not the TV.... miss CABLE....

AWESOME.... i just realised that i can tap into some wireless at my aunt's place here... no surprise... all the apartments here are so cramped and squeezed up.... one man's wireless is good for four more surrounding households... And im just glad that one of them is MINE.

As Glowy has said... NEVER take for granted the beauty of the internet. How true...

Started work yesterday... i think cause of the fact that im new to the office and they havent really sorted out what they want me there for... i end up getting dumped with the administrative stuff that is too tedious and too troublesome for regular staff to waste time on... thats all right... I'd rather have something to do the whole day than read brochures the whole day (which is what the other interns did...) So for now... its data compilation and then if i inferred correctly, its data analysis and other statistical stuff to do... yea... my forte...

Hmm... the apartment contract just arrived yesterday... going to take a final lookthrough and hopefully we'll be able to move in by Sunday... ok... just a heads up... rental in Hong Kong is really expensive so im renting a studio apartment but sharing it with another intern who's working at the same office as me!

Heres a pic of the place... the interior designer is really good and really nice...

We're going to put in another bed and isnt it nice? of course... the space that you see in the pic... THATS ALL IT IS... its defintely going to be a squeeze but oh well.. its only for a few months and i cant afford it by myself (actually i can but i dont want to waste the money)... Compare this with the apartments i view...

This was the one with the bugs crawling out... and heres a look at the toilet of another apartment...

Im really not exaggerating when i said i found this incredible deal... i believe the people that i've said this to remarked it as stumbling across a goldmine... and i concur...

Well thats about the "highlights" of the journey so far.. there's plenty more to say but there's also plenty more time to say it too... till next time friends...

Hello everyone...

Its been such a tiring and long week even though i've only been 4 days since i've been in HK. Im starting to slowly understand the culture (note: understand does not equate to immerse) and realizing that i cannot be part of it anytime soon.

Language is a big factor for me and i cannot understand cantonese at all which makes it difficult to get anything that i want... like noodles with prawns instead of pork or something... i dont know havent really gotten a chance to be alone by myself yet...

My accomodation hunt has been relatively successful. im on the verge of confirming a place to stay at lai chi kok (prince edwards MTR) and i really like that place. It was just this huge consolation to find this studio apartment cause the previous ones i saw... were either too cramped, musty smell or... filled with bugs crawling on the walls. This apartment was furnished by an interior decorator and she's leasing it out and the place looks really good. Heh... there's place to put my rug that i brought all the way from Singapore too... (thanks guys!)

Hong Kong is dirty and the streets are nothing like Singapore and the fashion sense there is just bizarre and weird sometimes... you get people mathcing green and white stripes top with black lacy stockings that ends at their calves and then matching it all with a bright pink shoes and hat...

But i must admit that i have been blessed with great hospitality when im here. Firstly, there was his company... and he took really great care of me, and he speaks canto too so it was much easier to us to ger around and it made the transition for me less bothersome... and he's great with directions so i dont have to look at the map all the time too and we hardly got lost and we could always find out way around... He also gives the best advice about apartments and food and places...Then there were friends and relatives over there that just treated us to dinner/ lunch and brought us around to places to visit like the peak tower which was gorgeous and just making the effort to go the extra mile to find what we need which just made us felt touched...

So... thats about it... im now staying temporarily with my aunt's friend... until hopefully sunday when i move into my new apartment. Its all about getting used to life here and just the small little things that make up hong kong... like the way the buses turn on ridiculously tight angles that just makes your hair stand when you're on the sidewalk... and if you think IM a reckless driver... whoa... come to Hong Kong man... and there's the usual spit people give on the road side or how people NEVER stop at the traffic light even though its red... and how the buses and taxis take narrow turns at 45km/h! and never get hit!!!

Oh well.. im not using my laptop, this is a borrowd one from a friend... we'll see how the internet connection is like in the office. will keep everyone posted then! see ya and i miss you...

First Day in Hong Kong and well... nothing much. Just been really tiring and alot of walking thats all.

Its all about familiarizing (or trying to at least and failing miserably) myself with the places here and re-visiting some of the all time favourite haunts by my sis and I (i.e. fa yuen street, temple street) walked all the way from mongkok to Jordan... came back to my hotel (which is completely not worth the 200 bucks a night charge) with blisters and just this compelling need to doze off...

Only to wire up to the internet to find a dozen emails regarding accomodation problems and how the organization is demanding immediate replies from all interns... bleah... I'm going to hit the sack now.. ciao...

To those of you who have not heard the news... I've gotten a HK internship from SMU and im leaving next thursday 20th April. I wont be back until the 22nd of August. Yep, 4 months...

I just got the news so im desperately trying to prepare for it. While it is a great opportunity and experience, its also quite a stressful one. For example, work begins in almost a week's time and the company expects me to handle my visa, air tickets, accomodation by myself! This means that i have to get all these done by thursday and tomorrow being Good Friday, doesnt really help...

My company is called the Hong Kong university of Science and Technology and i would be assisting in their program developments. Hopefully, i can do some liason work between Hong Kong and China. My work is scheduled to start on the 24th August. Going there earlier to recce a little, hunt for accomodation and just try to start getting used to life there.

Now that we've gotten all the details out, its time to talk about emotions...

Im scared, i really am. Its going to be my first time away on my own for so long and i really have no clue on how its going to turn out. I mean, its me you know?someone who doesnt take a bus if she has the choice to and has absolutely no clue on what bus and which direction to take to anywhere from anywhere. Oh well... i guess its about time i learn to be more independent and its about time i take matters into my own hands...

Coupled with the fact that i just received confirmation this week is really putting me in a frenzy. I feel like theres so many things i want to do before i go and there's so many people i want to meet up with before i leave. But, my exams end on Monday and i have that ridiculous FT dining in thing on wednesday. I'm packed right till the 20th... I wont have time to meet up with my clique, my family and my friends.

Oh well... i hope the experience will be all worth it at the end... as someone has said to me, "im already stuck with it, i might as well make the best of it."