Chinese Lion Dances

Nei ho, all!

Even though Chinese New Year was on February 14th, the “Spring Festival” lasts for a full two weeks after. On Saturday, Cindy came rushing into my room all excited because she heard the drums of the lion dances. We rushed out of the apartment and followed the sounds of the drums until we found them!

There were two lions, a yellow one and a white one, on either side of the street. A group of guys were playing drums and cymbals as the lions went from business to business.

The lions are a symbol of luck. Traditionally they go up and down the streets to businesses who have laid out “offerings” to the lion. Usually, the offering consists of lettuce that sits on a chair or stool. The lion “eats” the lettuce, and then continues on to the next business with an offering. The proprietor of the business hands a “red pocket” to the group accompanying the lion. A red pocket is a small, red envelope full of money. After the lion continues on its way, the proprietor sets of firecrackers (which are very noisy, by the way) in front of the business. This is supposed to bring the business good luck financially for the upcoming year.

By the way, red pockets are a very exciting part for younger people during Chinese New Year. Generally, red pockets full of money are given from parents to their children. When I asked my dad if I could have a red pocket too, he laughed at me. :(

May the Year of the Tiger bring you financial luck as well!
Kati

A Chilling Tale

As I’m washing dishes I look up to see Maria standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Her expression is a mixture of disgust and horror. Hanna asks her a question in Swedish, and after Maria responds she follows her out into the living room. Curious, I follow them.

Cindy and Stella have also gathered into the living room. Stella was in the middle of brushing her teeth, but froze with the toothbrush still in her mouth as her eyes found it. The five of us stood there in complete disbelief and utterly repulsed at the sight of it.

Hanna turns to me, her eyes wide with horror. “What do you call this in English?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

They all turn to me. I gulp, trying to bring myself to utter the word for this disgusting scene before me. It was everywhere; it covered the sofas, the coffee table, and even the top of the television. It was of a sickly gray pallor, desperately feeding off of the residual moisture on the furniture.

Finally, I manage to choke out the name of this repulsive creature.

“Mildew.”


Macau normally has between 75% to 90% humidity. Being from the dry desert of Phoenix, and the even dryer mountains of Flagstaff, humidity is something that I am definitely not used to. It affects everything: my hair (which is perpetually frizzy), how fast my clothes dry, and even our living conditions within the apartment.

Yes, it may sound vain, but I hate the way the humidity messes with my hair. I’ve done everything I can! I blow-dry it straight when I get out of the shower, and then use a flat iron, hairspray, and two types of hair-straightening product. It still comes out curly and frizzy. I even had a top-of-the-line hair treatment in Jakarta that was supposed to get rid of the frizziness. It’s a war against the weather, with my hair the casualty of every battle.

I’ve also had issues drying my clothes. I’ve stated before that I don’t have a dryer, so when we wash our clothes we have to put them outside on the clothesline to dry. But it takes days for anything to dry, especially heavier items like jeans. I ended up getting the chills my first week of school from wearing clothes that hadn’t completely dried.

And our apartment is perpetually wet. That’s why we had mildew growing on our furniture. Our bathroom is even worse. I share a tiny bathroom with Stella and Cindy, and I swear I have never seen our tile floor dry. Each time we take a shower the steam makes the floor completely soaked, and it collects dirt and hair and makes me want to die each time I look at it. And the mildew even started growing in our bathroom sink. It’s hard to keep clean, especially since the conditions weren’t so great when we moved in to start with. It’s just like fighting a losing battle with the humidity.

One of the ways I’ve begun combating the mildew in the living room was placing one of the fans in between the couches. Its head turns enough to blow air on both couches and the coffee table. But we can’t keep it on 24/7, and it makes the room freezing. But it will have to do.

Off to fight the war!
Kati

Storytime! How Macau Got Her Name

Nei ho!

Yesterday I learned the history behind Macau’s name in my Tourism Destinations class. It’s a neat little story that I thought I’d share.

Storytime!

The Temple of A-Ma is one of the oldest temples in Macau, dedicated to the Sea Goddess of A-Ma, but today houses other Chinese deities along with the Buddhist’s Buddha. Once upon a time, the Macau/Hong Kong area was a very important sea port. The people in the area used to worship A-Ma, asking her to protect their sailors and return them home safely.

When the Portuguese first landed in Macau, they landed at the A-Ma Temple. When they asked the local people what the town was called, the people misunderstood and responded with “A Ma Gau,” literally translated as “the place of A-Ma.” The Cantonese name for Macau is actually Ou Mun.

The Portuguese heard “A Ma-cau.” They thought that the “A” was the article before the noun, like “el” or “la” in Spanish. And thus the Portuguese named their new colony “Macau.”

The end,
Kati

Conversions

Greetings!

So, one thing that’s been taking some getting used to is the conversions for weights and measures, temperature, currency, clothing sizes, and all that fun stuff.

There’s some things that both the Europeans and the Asians have in common: they refer to temperature in Celsius. They’ll say things to me, like, “Last week was so cold; it was 12 degrees!”

Um, well, YEAH, that sounds pretty cold to me! (It’s actually around 54 degrees Fahrenheit.) Or they’ll say things like, “Let’s check out the beach this weekend. It should be about 28 degrees!”

Well, that doesn’t sound very warm to me! But it’s actually 82 degrees Fahrenheit. By the way, I just now used an online converter to figure those out.

Currency has also been strange. It can be dangerous to spend money here, because I’m not always exactly sure how much I’m really spending. I’m purchasing things under the assumption that they’re much cheaper than in the US, but that isn’t always the case. But to make sure I have a reference of how much money I’m really spending, I made a conversion chart that I carry with me in my purse. It tells me how much each increment of the local currency, the Pataca, is equal to the US dollar. It’s a really handy thing to have, and I recommend to any international traveler that they make a little chart like that for whichever country they’re going to. You can go online to a currency converter, like Xe.com, and enter in any amount of money and convert it to all kinds of currencies. I didn’t make one for Indonesia because you can do the conversion in your head. 100,000 rupiah is $10. It’s all in multiples of ten, so even someone who is math-retarded like me can do that in their head.

When we compare the prices in Macau to back home, I use the USD system, which is actually recognizable worldwide. So everyone knows what I’m talking about. But the Europeans use Euros. “Oh, that’s about six Euros back home.” Well, that is meaningless information to me, just like when you say its 28 degrees. I don’t have any grasp on those concepts, so I have no idea how to react when people talk to me in Celsius or Euros.

Weights are in the metric system, so all the Europeans and Asians here can speak to each other with the metric system and know what they’re talking about. But again, I have no idea how much 30 kilograms actually weighs. I don’t have a comparable reference for that in my head, which is not good because the airlines have luggage weight restrictions. When I flew Viva Macau airlines I could take 15 kilograms, and was very lucky when they weighed my luggage at the airport and was exactly that. But coming back I was 19 kilograms (I HAD to buy souvenirs from Bali!), and I had to pay $12 USD for each kilo I went over. I had to pay $8 for checked luggage, plus the extra $48 for being overweight. The good news, they accepted only American dollars (which is strange, since it’s Viva Macau airlines and fly only within Asia). The bad news, I was saving my $100 bill to convert into Patacas when I got back from Indonesia, but they wouldn’t accept my debit card.

Cooking is also an issue. Everything’s in milliliters and whatnot, but I’m used to cooking with cups. Unfortunately, we don’t have any measuring cups. I’ve had some interesting culinary mishaps due to this little problem, like spaghetti that came out more like soup than pasta. I’ve started going online and converting the recipe’s milliliters into cups and tablespoons, at least that way I can somewhat guess how much ingredient to add.

I’m still figuring out the clothing sizes. My dad sent me a conversion chart, but each country seems to have their own system of sizing. I don’t think China has their own system, but I don’t know if they use the Japanese sizes, the Australian sizes, the European sizes, or the American sizes. It’s hard to shop for clothes here because Asian girls tend to be very slender, so they don’t have many sizes for curvy girls like me. That’s why I bought extra-large shirts a few weeks ago, but I overestimated the size difference and now those shirts are too big on me. It’s very hard to figure out. A lot of the time they don’t even put the size on the clothing, and many stores don’t let you try it on first! Well, how on earth am I supposed to know how it will look on me?

Anyway, it’s been an interesting cultural difference, especially for one not really used to the metric system.

Happy converting!
Kati

P.S. I just switched the time zone for my blog to local Macau time. For all my friends and family back home in Phoenix, I'm fifteen hours ahead of you, or +08:00 GMT.

Another strange thing that the Asians and Europeans do is use military time. But they don't say "fifteen o'clock," they say "three o'clock." I don't get it. They just use it in writing. But I have to do some math in my head before I figure out what time I'm supposed to be where, and if I do some wrong adding I could be late to class, or worse, my flight!

A Breakdown in Senado Square

Hello, all!

This week, for some reason, has been a very frustrating and stressful week. I’m not really too sure why, since school has been a piece of cake for me. Perhaps it was the little things that popped up throughout the week that got me so worked up. When I got back on Monday morning from vacation, I hadn’t checked my e-mail or Facebook in over a week. Coming back to it was crazy!

This week I’ve had to deal with getting my schedule arranged for NAU next semester, since early enrollment is coming up soon. I also had to arrange a new place to live, so I had to get all that paperwork squared away. Along with that, things popping up regarding my personal life back home just started wearing on me. I think all of it combined just made to stress me out.

It’s strange, because I’ve gotten really good at stress management since I started college. But I think this semester being in an environment where everything is so new and different makes the situation a bit different. When you’re constantly learning and readjusting to things, anything remotely stressful becomes a big deal. It’s hard to handle on top of everything else.

Today ended up being a not-so-good end to the week. I got an e-mail from the IFT telling me that my packages had arrived at the registry. I thought it was strange, since they were supposed to be sent to the Pousada (the educational hotel on campus).

Today (Friday) began as a very nice day. I got out of bed around 9:30 after a very nice night’s sleep. It’s been so freezing in our apartment all week, and last night was the first night where it warmed up. I spent some time on my computer, got my apartment application all squared away, and even got in an hour of flute practice after my shower. I spent my sweet old time getting ready and cute for my only class of the day, at 3:00.

After class I went down to the Registry to pick up my packages. Instead, they handed me two slips of paper, one for each package, and told me I had to go pick them up at the post office. I left school and got a taxi to take me down to the post office, which was at Senado Square. I got out, crossed the street, and went in the main door to the post office and stood in line to collect my packages. When it was my turned to be helped, I handed my slips of paper to the employee. He took out a map and pointed to where I actually needed to be, which was around the corner. I walked out rather annoyed and went to the other side of the building, but had trouble finding the place I actually needed to be. That’s when the frustration began building.

But I finally found where I needed to go and walked it. Again I handed over my slips of paper, and he asked for my ID. I asked if my American driver’s license would work (I’ve used it as a valid form of ID here in Asia before), but he said no. He asked for a passport, so I gave him the photocopy I keep in my purse. I only carry my actual passport when I’m traveling or going somewhere when I know I’ll need it. I carry a photocopy at all times so I don’t lose my passport or have it stolen. He didn’t like that either.

I started shoving my IDs back in my wallet, extremely frustrated, and told him I would come back another time then. I think he heard from the sound of my voice that I was on the verge of tears (yes, I’m embarrassed to admit), so he looked again at my package paperwork. He asked if I had an ID for the IFT, which I did. He said he’d accept it this time, but to bring my passport next time.

With my purse, book bag, and two packages I left and went to hail a taxi on the street. Senado Square is a central hub of Macau, so I figured it would be easy to hail a cab. I went across the street where I saw people getting taxis and found a sign to stand in line for a cab. Perfect!

But apparently there’s a system to getting a cab at this drop-off/pick-up place, which I still don’t understand. People would be dropped off, and then the taxis would drive away before letting me get in. Hello, what’s that all about? And I was clearly waiting, but people didn’t care and got in before me. The first person to do that I gave the evil-eye, but then more and more people started taking MY taxis! I walked a little further down the street to get in front of them, but then a local person pointed to the sign and told me (in Cantonese) to stand over there. Thanks, but I was already doing in the first place. And then another local woman tried to help me get a taxi, but they kept driving away.

And that’s when the tears started coming. I was holding two very bulky packages and trying to balance my bag on top of them. I was trying to get a taxi to go home, but couldn’t figure out how. It was really, really embarrassing. Here I am, standing like an idiot white person on a super-busy sidewalk in Senado Square, crying. On top of that, I saw my reflection in a window and my hair, which I spent so long making pretty this morning, was all frizzy and looked like crap (yeah, that's a little vain, I know).

Finally, I lept into a taxi that was dropping of a pair of girls before he could drive away, and he took me home. I had a Kleenex in my hand blowing my nose and wiping away tears the entire way, telling myself that it was okay and I was going home. But even when I got back to my apartment I kept crying for God knows why. And then I opened my packages and cried some more when I saw all the yummy food my mom sent me (candy, twelve boxes of mac n’ cheese, fruit snacks, and strawberry-dipping chocolate; basically, all my favorite foods).

I’m still not really why today was so emotional. Maybe it was those feelings of being lost, not being able to ask for help, and not understanding the ways of the culture. All of these were my fears coming into this, and they were all realized today. And I also was all alone, and when you’re the only white person in sight it makes you only more aware of how different and isolated you really are.

But I finally settled down and I’m much better now. I had a great Kraft mac n’ cheese dinner (on top of a binge eating of all the M&M’s and Twizzlers in my packages). :)

Here’s hoping to a better week next week,
Kati

Inspired

Hola, amigos!

I know it’s been a while since my last update, but I’ve been on vacation for the past week and not had any internet access. Here’s a new post for you!

The other day I realized something which is actually quite obvious. I realized that I’ve never been surrounded by so much diversity! It was always rare when I could meet someone from a different country, and now I have yet to meet any Americans here in Macau. For those who aren’t local Macanese, there are also many from mainland China. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet and be surrounded by people from Britain, Canada, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Finland, the Philippines, and Korea. And the best part is, I’m constantly interacting with these people on a daily basis, and each day is a new cultural learning experience. I enjoy telling them about my country, and I enjoy learning about theirs.

I’m also inspired by them. They are all so well traveled, and they all speak English as a second language (except for my British professor and the Canadians, but they speak other languages as well). Many of them speak more than English and their native tongue! Some of them have told me how hard and exhausting it is to be speaking English all the time here (that’s our common language and the method of instruction at IFT). Honestly, I can’t imagine how difficult that must be.

And then I look at myself and realize how little of the world I’ve seen. Most of the IFT exchange students have been to the US, but I can’t say I’ve ever been to any of theirs. Besides this study abroad semester, the only other time I’ve been outside the US was a week-long vacation to England a few years ago. But England and America still share similar cultures and language, so does that even really count?

It also makes me realize that I can only speak one language. My VERY basic knowledge of Spanish doesn’t even come close to considering myself fluent in a second language.

One thing I’ve been interested in is spending a summer in Cuernavaca, Mexico to live with a host family and become fluent in Spanish. I first heard about this program through the NAU Study Abroad office, and I’ve kept it in the back of my mind for a while now. But now I’m becoming more serious about the idea.

Not only do I owe it to myself to become bilingual and see more of the world, I also owe it to others to make myself more accessible in communication. I can’t expect everyone I meet to speak English. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to me. If I truly want to become a more worldly person and see the world, it seems only justified that I put forth a little more effort.

A big thank you to all of you amazing people who continue to inspire me every day!

Love,
Kati

Can't Take It For Granted

Greetings, all!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far here in Asia, it is to appreciate what I have and not take things for granted. That may sound a little cliché, but it’s the truth.

I’m not trying to say that Macau is a ghetto, third-world, poor town. It’s far from it, actually! Macau is a flourishing city with a great tourism economy, and it’s growing more each day. People in Macau are wealthier than most in China.

But I’d be lying if I’d say there are some things that are lacking, at least for me, some things that I just accepted as the norm back in the US. Things like dryers and dry clothing, dishwashers, clean water that you can drink, or even going to bed hungry.

Okay, maybe that last one is me being a picky eater.

But still, there are so many little things I didn’t even realize I would miss until I didn’t have them anymore. I want to be able to go to Costco or the grocery store and buy a big case of water bottles to have, rather than having to buy them individually every other day. I miss the non-hassle of brushing my teeth with tap water. I don’t want to worry about our gas tank running out again WHILE I’m taking a shower and giving us no heat for our stove or for washing dishes. I want to watch TV in a language that I can understand. I want cupcake mixes, instant mashed potatoes, Eggo waffles, Chewy granola bars, and frozen TV dinners. I want to hop in my car and go through a drive-thru at the fast food establishment of my choice, not JUST McDonald’s. : )

I know, all I’m saying is “I want this, I want that.” A little selfish of me, I suppose.

Now, I have a lot of national pride for my county, and usually it bothers me when people talk about Americans as the stereotypical materialistic society. You know, two cars, two televisions, a cat and dog, big house, etc.

But stereotypes really are a generalization arising from reality, aren’t they? There’s always some truth behind these conceptions. Yet not that it means that they apply to every single person in that particular group, either.

I’m just saying that I miss the comforts of home, but these are just some adjustments I have to overcome being a newcomer to a foreign country. When I get back to the US, I’m going to bear in mind all the little things I went without abroad, and remember not to take those things for granted.

Sincerely,
Kati

The Food Situation

Nei ho!

Okay, I’m sure all of you are sick of hearing about me talk about the food here, but that seems to be the most difficult part of my adjustment here. The culture shock hasn’t really hit me so much in other respects, and if it has I got over it pretty quickly. But the food here in Macau, well, sucks.

Unlike Jakarta, Macau’s only familiar, American restaurants are McDonald’s and Starbucks. I’m proud to say I’ve only been to McDonald’s twice in the two and a half weeks I’ve been here, even though I’ve been tempted to go every night. :P I did find a restaurant called Pizza and Company, which has lots of Western food like pizza (duh, hence the name), burgers, salads, and hot dogs.

I’ve also noticed that bakeries are everywhere in Macau, and there’s even one right next door to my apartment! I saw a big bun with what looked like a chicken breast in it, so I tried it and it was really good! I’m thinking that it would be a good lunch to have often, since it has protein and that’s been a bit of an issue not just here in China, but when I’m off at college too. It’s such a hassle to buy meat and cook it when you can just whip up some pasta in a couple minutes.

But those are all places that I have to go out to eat at. In my “hostel” (a.k.a. apartment) I’ve been eating cereal every morning, PB&Js for lunch, and dinner is kind of a whatever you can find kinda deal. I’ve been going to bed a little hungry each night.

One problem with food here is that as a ServSafe certified card-holder, I find that the food safety standards are not where I feel comfortable with. Even that yummy chicken bun comes cold. Cold chicken? How long has it been sitting out on display? I nuke it in my microwave when I get back to my hostel. I also saw chicken legs wrapped up in seran-wrap at another bakery, and they were cold of course. Eww… Plus, the chicken is often dark meat, since the US exports their dark meat to China. Hooray for me.

Friday afternoon the IFT Student Union took us on a city tour of Macau’s peninsula and two islands, Taipa and Coloane. We ate at a local restaurant for lunch. The restaurant itself was a dive, and I felt a little unsure of the sanitary quality of the restaurant. We sat a big round tables that sat about ten people each (we fit more), and in the middle was a round tray that we set the plates on, and could rotate it to reach other dishes. Also, instead of serving utensils, everyone just dug in with their own chopsticks, even after putting them in their mouths. And keep in mind there are over ten people at the table. Gross.

Lunch ended up being a very frustrating experience for me for many reasons. For one, I was determined to use chopsticks, but asked for a fork just in case I needed a little assistance. The fork they gave me was really dirty, though, so I didn’t dare use it. Using the chopsticks was a little difficult for me, since a lot of the food they gave us was slippery stuff, like noodles and rice. At one point, one of the IFT students went to get me a clean silverware set when he saw me attacking my chicken with my chopsticks like daggers, which made me a little embarrassed at how bad my chopstick skills were.

We had a variety of things, like soup, eggplant, noodles, fried rice, fish, and some other things that I had no idea what they were. But I’m very proud of myself for at least giving everything a shot, except for the fish, whose eyes kept staring at me and making feel awkward eating it… But I can honestly say that I disliked, if not hated, everything I tried.



Unfortunately, I found out after the fact that the strange-tasting noodles were not noodles, but in fact, tiny eel-like fish. I failed to notice their tiny eyes. Nasty.


I also didn’t get anything to drink besides tea, and I HATE tea. I was also frustrated because the waitresses squeezed beside me to serve our food in the middle, and I even had a couple things spilled on me.

Even though we were dead starving by the time we got to the restaurant, I only had a taste of each thing. Wallace, the IFT Student Union President, was also eating with us, and noticed that I hadn’t eaten very much. He offered to have us stop at McDonald’s afterward, but I insisted that I was fine and that I really was full. The truth was, I’d kinda lost my appetite, and I didn’t want to offend any of the Chinese eating with us.

At this point I was on the brink of tears. The food was awful, I’d had some of it spilled on me, I was thirsty, I was embarrassed at my inept chopstick ability, and I felt like I’d insulted the locals at the table. All I wanted was a cheeseburger and a Coke.

We stopped at a small café on Coloane (where the seran-wrapped chicken legs were) and had Portuguese Egg Tarts. Apparently, this was the best place in Macau to get them, and they were actually pretty good. At least I had something tasty. Earlier I’d tried a free sample of what looked like moss green Jell-O that someone in Senado Square was passing out. It tasted funny. Turns out it was actually turtle. Bleh!!!

Dinner was a little bit better. I had plain, steamed, white rice, and I managed to eat it with chopsticks! They also had sweet-and-sour chicken (which tasted less sweet than what I’m used to) and lemon chicken (which tasted sweeter than I’m used to). It was nice to have something a little more familiar. But I did try pig intestine, which was so totally gross and weird.

So, here are the official winners for the top three weirdest things I’ve eaten EVER. Funny, they're all from Macau!
1. Pig intestine
2. Turtle jelly
3. Fish noodles

All in all, I’m proud of myself for at least eating local and giving the food a chance. I just didn’t like it. Sorry, Macau.

Time for a cheeseburger!
Kati

P.S. Thank you to my Swedish roommate, Maria, for the food pictures she posted on Facebook!

Spaghetti and Chopsticks

Nei ho from Macau! (***Note: Ni hao is Mandarin, Nei ho is Cantonese.)

Today I had a great day with my Asian roommates! Cindy (Chinese) and Stella (Korea) were going to make dinner together, and they usually make their meals together since they eat the same things. They were going to make rice, and they asked if I wanted some. I said of course I would, I love rice (they showed me how to use a rice cooker the other day). But since they keep offering me their food, I thought I’d make some spaghetti for dinner and share with them.

Daddy and I found Bertolli spaghetti noodles and Prego sauce at the grocery store, just like in America. I didn’t have a very big pot, so that was fun trying to cook the noodles. However, we got everything made despite our limited cookware. I set the table and invited them to sit down with me.

This was probably the most interesting meal I’ve ever had. I offered Cindy a fork, but she and Stella both wanted their chopsticks. I was a little taken aback at the concept of eating spaghetti with chopsticks, but didn’t say anything. You know, they probably thought I was weird for using a spoon to eat my Asian noodles they’d made the other day.

I only had two small plastic forks, so getting the spaghetti out was a little challenging. Cindy and Stella each took their servings from the pot…with their chopsticks. It was amazing! They grabbed a whole serving of spaghetti noodles with the chopsticks, and it actually seemed to work better than any utensil I’ve seen it served with in the US. They didn’t drop any, and the noodles somehow didn’t tangle with the rest in the pot, as spaghetti noodles tend to do. I have no idea how they did it.

And then they proceeded to eat their spaghetti with their chopsticks! It was so amusing and so fascinating at the same time.

I had a slice of bread with butter, but Cindy and Stella made rice instead. I also had a side of rice with my spaghetti. Cindy sautéed some vegetables Mandarin-style to go with the rice for her and Stella, but I was too full on bread, spaghetti, and rice to eat any more.

Like I said, probably the most interesting meal I’ve ever had.

Love,
Kati


Stella with the Suradurra dessert she made during the IFT culinary demonstration!



Cindy and I at the IFT!

Scheduling Conflicts

Ni hao, all!

I finally got all my classes signed up for! It was a very different experience from what I’m used. It was on the computer, but it was in a much more difficult program than NAU’s LOUIE system. A lot of it was in Chinese, but I had one of my new IFT Buddies, Mandy, to help me out. I was able to get all of my classes easily, since we signed up before the rest of the school. I also got the very last available spot out of all the Wine Studies sections. : )

It was difficult to pick sections of my classes, though. At NAU, you will have a particular class only on certain days, like Tuesday or Thursday for example. The class will be at the same time on both those days. Here, the classes were on different days at different times. Here’s my schedule:

Tourism and Hospitality Marketing
Tuesday at 9:00 am to 10:20 am
Friday at 3:00 pm to 4:20 pm

Tourism Destinations
Tuesday at 11:30 am to 12:50 pm
Thursday at 11:30 am to 12:50 pm

Club Management
Tuesday at 3:00 pm to 4:20 pm
Wednesday at 10:40 am to 12:00 pm

Principles of Management
Wednesday at 2:00 pm to 3:20 pm
Thursday at 3:30 pm to 4:50 pm

Wine Studies
Thursday at 5:00 pm to 6:50 pm

I think it’s a nice schedule, with Mondays off and late-starting classes. It gives me plenty of time to travel, actually squeeze in lunch every day, and have plenty of flute practice time. Also, Wine Studies for two hours will be a nice, relaxing way to spend a Thursday evening at the end of the week. I also don’t have to rush to any of my classes except from Principles of Management to Wine Studies, but the campus is so small that it won’t be an issue. It’s more the size of an American high school, and there are actually only around 1,000 students here. The only problem is that it sits on a hill, so it feels like a hike just to get to class.

I took only five classes, since that’s the minimum you can take at IFT, and I felt I would need the extra time just to adjust to a new school system and whatnot. But most people here take seven or eight classes, and everyone kept asking me, “Is that’s all you’re taking?” It started to get annoying, like they were implying that I was lazy or something, and for those of you who know my course load at NAU know that’s NOT the case at all. But Cindy, my roommate is also taking five, and Stella is taking six.

I also looked into their extra-curricular activities today, since my schedule is so open. I really wanted to take their Mandarin Chinese class for non-native speakers, but it is on the Taipa campus on the other island, and it conflicts with my Wednesday schedule. English Debate Team also looked fun, but again it conflicted with my schedule. So did Choir. And Swim Team. All these clubs are on Wednesday early afternoon, when most of us actually have class!

I did see a beginning guitar class that looked like it could work. I’m going to e-mail the instructor and find out two things:

1. Where is the location of the class (venue is still to be determined).
2. Is it in English?

Once I figure those things out, it might be able to fit into my schedule well! We’ll see what happens…

Sincerely,
Kati

Letters from Home

Today my three puppies at home sent me an e-mail:

Hi Mama Kati.

We miss you. Where are you? Come pet our tummies.

We had a really bad day. Grandma took us to the bad place where they use the buzzy thing and make us naked. Brother Moppit tried to be brave but he cried getting out of the car. Brother Pooh didn't like going to the bad haircut place but now he knows he's pretty & walks real bouncy. But Brother Tigger didn't have fun at all. When Grandma got us home she found blood all over the back seat & Tigger was limping. She thought he got a little nicked but when there was blood all over the floor she checked & Tigger had a bad cut on his foot. So Tigger had to go back to the bad place & see the doctor. The doctor put surgery glue on the cut & wrapped his foot. He thinks he's special cause he's got pretty gauze with hearts on it all up his leg. It can't get wet so if it rains Grandma will have to put a plastic bag on his foot. He's on antibiotics too. That means he'll get to have extra chicken. Hope we get some too.

We've looked in the pink room & you're not there. We've looked in the garage & you're not there either. Come back soon. We miss you.

woof, snuffle and grrrr
(That means I love you).
Tigger, Moppit & Pooh Bear

Asian Dining

Hello, everyone!

Dining in Asia (it was like this in Jakarta too) is very different. There is definitely a higher level of personal attention and service on the part of the staff. There is always a host or hostess waiting to greet you at the door and show you to your table. All the staff are very welcoming and will greet you when you walk in. Once seated, someone will often place your napkin in your lap for you. When you are given your menu, a waiter will wait to the side until you are ready to order, rather than in the US when they’ll go away for a while and come back later to take your order. Drinks are also served differently here. They will bring a glass of ice and the can or bottle of soda, water, or alcohol and pour it in front of you at the table. They sit the can off to the side and will refill your glass if they see it get low. When you are brought your check, they stand there while you put your card or cash into the booklet, and also stand right there when you sign the receipt.

Something I’ve noticed while over here is that dining is very slow-paced here. Food takes a very long time to come out to you, and every time I’ve eaten out we’ve had to ask for the check because we kept waiting and waiting for someone to bring it to us, but they wouldn’t until we asked for it.

One thing I like about Asian dining is the slower pace. For those of you who have eaten out with me, you know that I love to just hang out and chat for two hours each time I go out to eat with a friend. I often feel rushed when eating, and I feel bad when I linger for too long after paying the bill (the restaurant industry calls those people “campers”). However, I do NOT like how people seem to hover over you in Asia. For one, it makes me nervous having someone stare at me while I’m looking at the menu, or paying the bill, and I also feel bad making the server wait while I’m trying to decide what I want. :P

Grocery shopping here is also very different. It’s an experience trying to find food labels in English, or any Western food at all for that matter. I’ll be eating a lot of fruit here (and PB&Js), and I’ll try my best to make American dishes with what I have. I had an interesting time trying to find ingredients for homemade mac n’ cheese today. Cindy’s birthday is also next week, and I wanted to bake her cupcakes, but finding all the ingredients I need might be an issue. We’ll see.

Because Maria, Hannah, and I couldn’t figure out the gas stove, they used the water heater pitcher-thing to boil water for their noodles. I decided to go out to eat, since I couldn’t use the stove, and we have no microwave or oven. I now know my way to the local McDonald’s, but at the last minute I saw a local, upscale restaurant across the street. In Asia they display their menus outside, so you can decide if you want to eat there before you walk in. Their menu had English translations, so I decided at the last minute to be adventurous and eat local.

I wanted it to go, but I couldn’t really communicate that to anyone and found myself sitting down to eat. I ordered King Prawn shrimp, which was pretty tasty, and even more amazing was that I managed to eat them with chopsticks! I dropped it in my lap at one point, but besides that I managed pretty well. The Udon noodles were a little different. I had a large, flat spoon to eat them with, but the noodles were slippery and kept sliding off the spoon. It was an entertaining dining experience. I also drank all my tea, even though I usually hate tea.

I’m glad I ate my meal, but I think this drastic change in my diet is messing with my stomach. I get slight nausea every once in a while, but it passes and comes back off and on. If I come back to the US all anorexic-skinny, it’s not my fault!

Cheers!
Kati

Here's a picture of what the menu looks like at Blue Frog, an upscale, Western-style restaurant at the Venetian.

New Impressions

Hello! Now I’m finally settling into life in Macau!

It was Wednesday night when we landed in Macau by Viva Macau Airlines. As soon as we landed we were let off not into the airport, but outside. I’ve always wanted to get off a plane and go down the stairs onto the runway like in the old movies, and I finally got my opportunity! We took a very crowded shuttle bus to the airport building where we checked in through Immigration. No customs line, no visa purchase, just a short line to stamp your passport.

We got a taxi at the airport, but there was a little confusion in communicating with the taxi driver. We later learned that whenever we were going to take a taxi, we needed our destination written on a piece of paper in Chinese for the taxi driver to read.

The drive to the hotel was amazing! Since it is so much like Las Vegas, there were flashing lights everywhere! It was very shiny and eye-catching. We also took a bridge from Taipa island, where the airport is, to the Macau peninsula. It was a remarkable drive over the water. The bridge had a great view of the brightly-lit peninsula as we drove across. It was a fantastic first impression of Macau.

Daddy and I made reservations at the Educational Hotel at my new school. We got checked in and ate at the Educational Restaurant, which was probably one of the classiest dining experiences I’ve ever had. After we got back from the restaurant, around 10:00 pm, the front desk told me a student from the IFT was coming to greet me. I felt bad that he came close to 11:00 pm just to welcome me, and I also felt especially bad when I found out that there was some confusion about when I was arriving. I had told them I would be coming in on Tuesday, but that was before I’d actually bought my plane tickets. I never told them my new arrival time. Oops.

The Educational Hotel was really nice. It was set up to feel like a small, Portuguese villa, with fountains everywhere. But apparently they’ve never heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because there are stairs all over the place, and not ramps or elevators. We had to go up and down small flights of stairs just to get to our room.

Because the Educational Hotel was booked over the weekend, we had to check out on Friday and move to the Casa Real casino hotel. Casino hotels are everywhere in Macau, in the style of Las Vegas, but the Casa Real was much smaller than the other big-names, like Wynn, the Venetian, Sands, and the Grand Lisboa, to name a few.

Wallace, the student that came to greet us at 11:00 at night, showed me my new apartment the next morning and gave me my keys. Daddy and I were in and out all weekend as we went shopping for various things. I bought a nice HP printer for about 500 MOP (Macau patacas), which comes out to about USD $60.00. Needless to say, the exchange rate here is pretty awesome.

Daddy and I also had some fun, too. We went to two movies, Avatar and Edge of Darkness, as well as the Cirque du Soleil show Zaia at the Venetian. We went to the Hard Rock Hotel to eat at the Hard Rock Café, but they didn’t have it! How can you have the Hard Rock Hotel without the Hard Rock Café? I mean, no one stays at the hotel for the hotel, they stay for the café!!! Anyway, we walked around the hotel at all the shops and ate at a small restaurant.


We also got lost and found ourselves in Senado Square, one of Macau's most recognizable landmarks! The entire city is getting decorated for Chinese New Year on Feb. 14, so Senado Square was all decked-out. A pair of Asian guys asked Dad to take their picture in the square, and then they asked if Dad would be IN a picture with them, haha!


We also ate at Blue Frog at the Venetian (which is friggin’ huge, by the way, and we kept getting lost). It is an upscale Western restaurant, so it was nice to eat American food for once. Unlike Jakarta, American restaurants are few and far between in Macau, with McDonald’s being the only exception. But the main reason we ate at Blue Frog is because one of my NAU professors, Glenn Hansen, personally knows the owner that founded the Chinese chain, and so we went just so I could tell Glenn about it. :)


Now I’m settled into my apartment, and I start the exchange student orientation tomorrow morning. I have really nice, friendly roommates, and I think we will all live really well together. Maria and Hannah are friends from Sweden who share the room at the end of the hall. Stella is from Korea, and she shares a room with Cindy, our Chinese, Cantonese-speaking roommate. She’s already been so helpful in helping us figure things out, like talking to the concierge about how to take out our trash. I’m going to ask her to go with me to buy a microwave tomorrow. I tried to buy one cheap today at the supermarket ($60), but communication was an issue with the staff.

I’m still waiting for someone to show up to share the bedroom with me, but no one has come. On the one hand, it would be soooo nice to have my own room, and take over the other person’s storage space as well, but at the same time I feel a little left out of the two pairs (the Swedish girls and the Asian girls). But I’m sure it will work out great no matter if they show up or not.

Until next time!
Kati

P.S. I had an interesting time doing laundry today! We have a washer, but no dryer. Instead, we have to hang everything on the balcony to dry, but it’s very humid here. We’ll see if my pants are dry by the time I run out of pants after tomorrow…