When you wish upon a star.....

Today, Laura and I decided to go to HK Disney Land! And it was one of the best days ever!!! To start, all of Disney was decorated for Christmas, which put us in the right mood...and of course they were playing lots of Christmas music too!! The Park is MUCH smaller than Disney World in Florida, but still lots of fun. We were able to do everything in the park in less than 8 hours!

One funny story....So Laura and I decided to go to the Stitch Encounter in Tomorrowland. When we sat down it looked like it was going to be a silly little kids show. Well, were we wrong! The animated Stitch cartoon character began talking...and we thought okay, this is going to be dumb, but then he started asking people in the audience questions. It wasn't much later that I was handed a microphone. Stitch first asked me my name, so I said "Melyssa." and he proceeds to ask, "Well, Melyssa do you have a boyfriend?" I tell him no and he proceeds to call me his girlfriend throughout the rest of the show (reminder this is all on a large animation screen, and his cartoon character had the funny voice and all)....well in the end Stitch accidentally blows up a planet and as he is running away, he yells: "Melyssaaaaaaa, I love you!!" And that, my friends, is how the show ended. I am now a celebrity in HK Disney Land!

The rest of the day was fabulous. We stuck around to watch the fireworks display. Also, Disney truly is a magical place....they made it snow on USA Main street! With all the Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and snow I was reminded of home! It really was a great day! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday...unfortunately they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in HK...I guess it's because it's an American holiday!! haha Eat an extra piece of turkey for me!



MTR to Disney Land


We made it!



surfing Mickey

When you wish upon a star.....

The large Christmas Tree

Cinderella's Castle

Christmas decorations

carrots shaped like Mickey...so that's how they get kids to eat healthy?

Playing the drums in Adventure Land

Mickey in the parade

Let it Snow Christmas Parade

dancers...

float

under the sea Christmas

Toy Story soldiers!

Minnie and Mickey dressed for Christmas

Cinderella's Castle with mountains in background

me impersonating Pooh

It's a Small World

Inside It's a Small World ride--Asia

It's a Small World Christmas

It's a Small World wishing everyone a Merry Christmas

Cinderella's Castle at night

Snowing on Main Street USA

Castle lit up at night

fireworks!

goodbye Disney Land

What happens when I am submersed in a culture for over 4 months.....

Well, things that I would have considered unusual 3 months ago have now become part of my everyday life and I consider normal:

• Being stared at...I am a foreigner (not Asian)! haha
• The only choice in food is noodle or rice...take your pick.
• Fork and Knife are foreign terms...chopsticks are the only way to eat.
• What is English...a privilege, Cantonese is spoken by everyone all the time.
• Searching for the English button on all internet websites! haha
• I can now convert Celsius to Fahrenheit in seconds
• Sleeping on a thin piece of wood is better than nothing
• I can also convert Hong Kong dollar to US dollar within seconds (I've gotten good at dividing whatever the price is by 7.8)
• Paying $100 HK for something (which is really only $13 USD)
• What is a car? Public transportation or walking is the only way to go!
• Searching for restaurants with English menus or pictures
• Stray cats everywhere
• When students say "revisions" they mean "study" and when they say "lessons" they mean "class." I've actually caught myself saying these phrases a few times (it did take me a month to figure out what revisions were! haha)
• Speaking of figuring out what people are trying to say...it's become normal to always be guessing what words locals or other foreign exchange students are trying to pronounce!
• There is never a set price, bargaining is always an option
• Large bug bites...the first time I got a few of these bug bites I thought I was breaking out in a rash! haha
• Surgical masks everywhere (due to the swine flu)
• Wherever I go there will always be a crowd
• Street vendors selling food or underwear or anything else crazy and random
• AiiiiiiYaaaaaa!! My favorite Chinese phrase.

I’m sure there are many more things that I would have once found unusual, but are now the norm…but this is the list I came up with for now! I’ve posted a few pictures of my trip to Macau, aka the Vegas of Hong Kong. I’ve also posted some pictures of our “hot pot” night with my Bible Exploration group. “Hot Pot” is a Hong Kong traditional meal, where basically everyone stands around a hot pot and throws in a bunch of different vegetables and dumplings! It's Very good!

The Venetian Hotel..."Mini Venice" inside


Venetian Hotel



Venetian Hotel


Venetian Hotel



Venetian Hotel

One of the many Casinos (picture taken illegally! haha)

The Girls

My bug bite the size of $1 HK coin (which is a little big bigger the $.25 coin)

Some of the girls at Hot Pot

The "Hot Pot"

Throwing in lots of food!

all of our choices!

We're off to the Races!!

As you can probably guess, school has been crazy lately. I've been extremely busy with papers, projects, and group presentations. It has definitely been an experience working with my different groups and getting past the language barriers, but still a learning experience. Wednesday night the girls and I decided to head to the horse races. The HK horse races is one of those things that all the books say you should do while in HK! It was loads of fun. We decided to try a little of our luck and bet on a few of the races. We all picked our horses based on which name we like the most. I bet on two races and said that the horse I chose would place. In the first race my horse, Har Har Charm (yes that's his name), was in the lead up until the final stretch and ended up not placing. In the second race my horse, Berio, was in the lead for the whole race (very exciting!!!!) and ended up placing second! I was sooo excited that I won!!!! I ended up winning 27.50HK which payed for my two initial bets, and I came out of the races 7.50HK richer! wooo! Next weekend the girls and I are thinking of going to Macau, aka the "Vegas" of HK. I think I'll try my luck there too!! haha


we made it!


at the start


BANG!

rounding the corner...go Har Har Charm!!

You can do it!!!

He's in the lead!

The race track

the race track

the horses getting ready for a race

the winning ticket!! And Laura in the background being sad because she didn't win!! haha