I’m surprised that I’m not feeling as jetlagged as I was when I travelled to China years ago, but my sleeping schedule back home has been so messed up anyways during the summer that I can pretty much function on any time given to me.

I had my first breakfast in Hong Kong today, which was in the Queen Mary Hospital cafeteria that’s across the bridge from my dorm. Apparently we live next to the hospital and the medical school, which is good for my pathetic and weak body that likes to develop problems now and then. 

 When I got my fried noodles with the two pieces of luncheon meat and my congee, I was worried that I would have leftover food because it seemed like so much to eat. But I think my appetite here is pretty big, because I finished it all. No, it’s not because the portions here are smaller. Let’s just go with “Dorothy can eat a lot!” We ran into Peter and Will here, which was good because we then got to exchange numbers, and I found out that Peter actually went to campus to meet me at 7PM the night before (like we’d planned before we left the US) and waited for me for an hour! Needless to say, I felt terrible for deciding to eat dinner and assuming that he wouldn’t show up, but Jessica and I were so tired from getting lost last night. I lub you, Peter.  Har har.

Chin, being the lonely person he is living in that tiny hostel of his, decided to meet up with me and Jessica so that he could tag along with us while we went to school to register. We took the bus there, which I have finally gotten a hang of - if I want to get off, I have to say “Yao Lok, Mmh Goy”, hopefully without butchering the language, of course. Peter told us that registration would take us at least 4 hours, but we ended up finishing everything in about 2 hours. Suck it, Peter. Girls rule. I believe it was because Jess and I had already gotten lost on the campus the night before, so we developed mental maps in our minds.

I needed to buy essentials for the shower, which I regret so much for not bringing with me because it’s such a hassle to have to ride the bus all the way to the nearest stores. All this work just for a bottle of toothpaste or a loofah! Chin told Jess and me that he knew about a convenience store where we could buy everything we basically needed, and we took the MTR from Jordan to Yau Ma Tei, where we wandered in the opposite direction of the store because Chin and his bad sense of direction got us lost. “What’s the name of the store?” I asked him, only to get the reply “I don’t know! I only know what the store looks like.” We finally found it after about 20 minutes, and discovered that the store is called “Mannings.” I hunted around for all the shampoo/conditioner/toothpaste, all the while regretting even more that I didn’t bring any of that stuff because American brands in Hong Kong are even more expensive here than they are back home. Oh, how I miss the dollar store! Christine, I think I found the toothpaste you always talk about with the black person on it- although he doesn’t look very black to me.

 We were starving, so we decided to find a restaurant to eat an afternoon snack, and after wandering around even more ended up in a Café de Corale, where I decided I wanted a chicken wing and a sausage. To my dismay, I found that the “sausages” here are just HOT DOGS. I have been spoiled by the smoked sausages and Taiwanese sausages that I find in America, because I cannot accept that everytime I want to order anything with the word “sausage” they will just give me a hot dog!

After our mediocre teatime snack, we went back to Jordan where we wanted to try Gong Cha, which Jessica said was really good (since they have one in Singapore.) While looking for it, we passed by two more Mannings, and I realized that we went all the way to the one in Yau Ma Tei because of Chin’s tunnel vision.  After picking on him for his ability to find just one particular Mannings, we ended up at Gong Cha, where I paid HK$12 for a huge cup of boba (that’s ~US$1.26!) It wasn’t as good as boba back home, because it tastes very powdery and creamy. This makes me miss Half/Half a lot. I am such a boba snob now, but I’ll still buy lots of boba because it’s cheap.

For dinner we decided to go with a group of 10+ to eat at Mong Kok, only to find that we couldn’t fit that many people into one particular area. Half of us split off and went to go eat at Modern Toilet, the toilet themed restaurant I’ve always wanted to go to that I thought was only in Taiwan. We sat on toilets, ate on top of a bathtub, drank out of mini urinals, and ate out of mini toilet bowls. I never noticed how open Hong Kong couples are to PDA here, because we spent some time staring at a couple in front of us with a girl who looked 12 and a guy who looked 30. Maybe I just don’t see that many couples when I’m in LA.

Luckily we came with a couple of friends who knew certain parts of Mong Kok, so we wandered around outside Langham Place and headed to Lady’s Market, where we saw street food vendors with the most amazing smelling and unhealthy food. The best food is the greasiest!  I was full, but couldn’t resist buying Hong Kong waffles because I’d raved about trying them ever since I was back home in the US. The wonderful crispiness met my expectations, and I managed to drop a couple on the floor from my excitement.

Our group was too large to be able for me to look around for very long at the Lady’s Market, so I just tried to hunt for a keychain for my room keys. I was glad that I had Leanne by my side, who tried to haggle for me in Cantonese so that I wouldn’t get ripped off (although we were unsuccessful.) It’s okay though, because I didn’t mind paying HK$10 for fat Ronald. Where are you gonna find him supersized?

When I got back to my room I found out that one of my roommates moved in. I forget her Chinese/English name, but her nickname is “Mirror” because her Chinese name has the word jing in it. I was excited to hear that she’s from Nanjing, because I can basically practice my Mandarin with her and she can practice her English with me. We are supposed to have a third roommate, but because the room isn’t prepared for a third person she will only get a cot and will not get her bunk bed/desk set until mid-September (which sucks). I’m glad that I moved in first!