Surrounded by Deutschland

I have completed my first week of the life at Hong Kong Baptist University! I am among 220 international students from around the world who will be studying here. Most of them will be here for one semester. Orientation was from Wednesday to to Friday with several sessions introducing life on campus and how to work the internet programs that are offered through the university. The weather here is much like that of Houston. Many are complaining that is is ridiculously hot and humid here; the humidity is the same as home but the temperature is in the high 80's. I told them that it is even hotter back where I am from. I find it funny that since I have been to Hong Kong before and I know my way around roughly by memory of my last trip, the other international students and I often go to places and I show them around. A local student, Shae, also coordinates trips for our "group" that we have formed from the 220 students. Needless to say there is never a dull moment with these guys!

It is nice to have a friend here from ETBU, Cassy Rains. Here and I are both nursing students back at home. When her flight was arriving to Hong Kong I was waiting at the dorms for her to show up. Her flight was to land at 7:00pm and the time was 11:30pm and still no Cassy. I began to freak out a little and thoughts began to rush my mind like "what if no one was there to pick her up from the airport" or "I hope her flight wasn't canceled." I left a note on her door for her to call me ASAP when she arrived to campus. I was in my room still waiting for my roommate to arrive... hoping that it was a guy from another country since I signed up for an international roommate. Well, at 12:50am there was a knock on my door. It was a guy with luggage and he introduced himself as Jake from Oregon. Yes, my roommate is in fact an international student FROM THE STATES! I laughed really hard because if you know me well enough this is the luck that I always have. As we began to talk and unloading his things he said that he had met a nice bubbly girl from the states on the shuttle to the university. I knew immediately that it was CASSY!!! I was so excited that she finally arrived. Shortly after Jake and I were talking he expressed that he did not feel well all of a sudden and it must be from flying so long. After about thirty minutes it was revealed that I was the reason that my new roommate was getting sick. He looked at my top shelf and saw a bunch of bananas... come to find out my roommate if HIGHLY allergic to bananas, so allergic that he can not even smell them. I immediately ran to Cassy's room with my bananas and greeted her with a present since I could not have them anymore.

I have already met some great friends and have bonded well with about seven of them... ALL GERMAN! For this reason I felt it necessary to name this post as I have. I have enjoyed their company very much and look forward to many great nights with them on campus and off campus. It is neat to interact with them and talk about our different cultures and views on certain topics. I help them around Hong Kong and they help me stay together at times. They have asked me to help them with their English and I told them that my English is a little different from the proper English like in the U.K. They say that my English is easier to understand and that they would much rather learn from the American. I do have to share this story from today about the whole English thing. One of my good friends, Christoph, said "I need a breast for my hair." I looked at him with my usual "what the heck are you talking about" look. Before I could correct him our other German friend, Lisa, said "oh, well I have one that is round and one that is flat." I busted out laughing and said "wait a minute before people start thinking we are talking about breasts!" I corrected them and told them that the word they were looking for was brush not BREAST! We had a good laugh. I look forward to many more wordings that end with hilarious comments such as this one.

This is Christoph and Lisa (breast convo)

During orientation, the university took us on a tour on Friday. We hit several of the popular areas around town and ate lunch at the Jumbo floating restaurant. Yes, I said FLOATING restaurant! We had to park the bus on the side of the street and board a small boat to bring us to the restaurant. It was a three story restaurant that was sitting on a barge. The food was good but it was said that the locals do not visit this place much due to the high cost and the more western approach to preparing the traditional Chinese meals.

That night I took my German possy to the Harbor for the world's largest light show. The Harbor skyline is used in this display and the majority of the main buildings have lasers and colored lights that are synced to music. The beautiful arrangement lasts for thirty minutes. It was our lucky day for seeing this due to the rare event of it being a clear night and not foggy from the smog.

The semester has started out with a BANG! We have five days off before classes start on the second of September. Until then I shall go and enjoy my new home and family. Prost!

The Two Fatties from AMERICA

I have been in Hong Kong now for four complete days. It is absolutely beautiful here with the smells of all the wonderful food and the rush of the city life. The weather is exactly like Houston right now so I do not feel out of place one bit! A lot has happened since I landed Thursday night: sleep, EATING, shopping for school, bringing Katrina Fritz-Mills to the airport and taking her bed at the Tsang house, cooking, church, checking in at the dorms, etc.

The flight in was great with time for plenty of movies and little sleep. I enjoyed the enormous amount of leg room and free movies that was offered. When I landed I was walking as fast as possible to the customs as I was being yelled at to remove my cap... little did I know they were using infrared cameras to take my temp. I was greeted by great friends (Brittney and Ellison Tsang, Katrina) with a sign that read "Mr. Judson LaGrone (welcome to Hong Kong)." I felt like a rich person being picked up from the airport! As we pulled up the the Tsang's new apartment (flat) I say people dressed in suites opening the doors for people and a huge sign that read "The Palazzo." I felt like I was a high roller walking into a 5 star hotel!!!

I was with the gang venturing on the Peak on Friday night and on our way home there was a slight traffic jam coming down the mountain. As we approached the stopped taxi there was a man on the sidewalk laying there with blood all over him. No one was helping this guy; all they were doing was trying to get away from him. I was thinking about getting off the bus to check and see if I could at least comfort the man of if he needed CPR, but the ambulance was behind our bus. I asked people about others not giving aid to those in need of medical attention and the response was that CPR and first aid is not well known to civilians like it is in the states. On a better note... I found a pair of old school Ray Ban sunglasses in a bathroom at the mall! Of course I asked around and no takers... and yes I did sanitize them.

I am partially moved in to my dorm room now and have a great view. I live on the ninth floor of the north tower. I should have a roommate but have not met him yet. I will be sharing a bathroom with my suite mates and I hear that a "maid" will come and clean my bathroom once a week!

I am sure you are wondering why on earth the title of this blog is titled the way it is... Ellison's uncle was nice to take all of his family out and I was also allowed to go for dinner at a buffet at Kowloon Hotel. The price of the meal was roughly $350 HKD a person. It was all paid for by his uncle! The way of the eating goes around here in China is that the more food the better. They feel that if you have a big appetite that they have spent their money well on you. We started eating at 6:00 and the dinner was until 10:00. Yes, we had to eat for four hours straight and was encouraged to continue to go for more and more and more... I was to the point that I wanted to throw-up all that I had eaten. Do not get me wrong, the food was absolutely AMAZING! Ellison's family kept looking at me and talking to each other in Cantonese. I asked El what was being said and he replied, "They are glad that you came with a big appetite and that the money was well spent." Well hey, at least I was making them happy. My stomach was not... Brittney and I, after eating plenty of the main dishes, headed for the desserts and found that there was a cooler full of different types of Haagen Dazs ice cream... after about three bowls later they kept looking at us and we said, "oh look out the two American fatties are going back for more!"

This morning was eventful as always with me getting ready for a trip. I woke at 6:15a.m. in our hotel room for be at the airport at 7:00a.m. for a flight to Newark departing at 8:55a.m. As with any airport travel I always freak about the weight of my luggage and sure enough this time I was right!

The requirements are two free checked bags weighing under 50lbs a piece. Well… one bag was 55lbs and the other was 67lbs. So I had to unpack and repack the luggage that was already to its MAX stuffing capacity because there was no way that I was going to pay an extra $50 for two pieces of overweight luggage! I thought for a minute and asked myself ok how can I only pay for one… so I transferred the 5lbs from the 50lbs to the 67lbs. The lady then said sorry sir this bag can only way 70lbs… so some pants were taken out and handed to mom to take home. I was offered an extra-leg room seat on the plane from Newark to Hong Kong for an extra $150 so OF COURSE I took that offer. I never get that chance because they are always taken but not today… NOT UP IN HERE!!!

 As I made my way to the security line I told mom and Aunt Debbie my “see you laters” cause there are no “goodbyes” in my vocabulary. Waited in line for the looonnnnngggg security check, and of course I was the one that was taken to the side because there was something suspicious in my bag. IT WAS A TOOTHPASTE TUBE! Come on people what am I going to do with a tube of toothpaste? Maybe offer it to the person that was checking my bag cause his breathe was not fresh. By the time I made it to my gate, WITHOUT MY STARBUCKS, it was already time for my row to board. I was carrying on a hiking backpack that was stuffed to the max as well and my school backpack, it too stuffed. I like to think outside of the box, aka how can I keep my money for something better. So the reason why I was bringing the huge backpack is because you can actually bring a bag that is larger than a carry-on and a personal. The large bag will be checked for you for FREE at the gate. Mom didn’t teach me to bargain shop for nothing!

The flight to Newark was one of the smoothest rides yet in my history of flying. Well… until about forty minutes before landing the plane took a nice plunge downward. It wasn’t time for descending yet people why are we bracing ourselves to the chair in front of us? Oh that’s right because our captain forgot to announce that we were descending before usual time. As I landed I was able to see the Statue of Liberty and the harbor along with the Empire State Building and the skyline.

I find it ironic that this very harbor is were many of our ancestors came into America and started their lives so that our families could live in this great nation. It is really neat that I get to leave from this spot to start a short life in another country. I am sitting in Ruby’s Diner eating my last American meal, a bacon cheeseburger. While I eat I am looking at the skyline of Manhattan.


Well “see ya later” for now as I begin my journey to Hong Kong. My travel companions (Carl the chimp, Jobin the sock monkey, and Jiminy my conscience) and I are about to find seat at the gate to take flight for my new home.

All this PACKING!!!

So it is midnight and I am looking at all the stuff I am taking to Hong Kong for my semester abroad. Sadly, the majority of my luggage weight is not stuff for me but for the ASIANS already there! The Tsang family has put in their request for items to be purchased for them and the nice guy I am has it all packed, forty-five pounds of one hundred spoken for. The hard part is deciding what all to bring (i.e. which clothes, etc.) I have decided that is will be better to purchase the toiletries and school supplies when I arrive.

I am so excited about going to Hong Kong for the fall semester! I am attending Hong Kong Baptist University, incase you did not know. I will be studying literature and learning Cantonese. I plan on going and visiting the Great Wall before I leave to come home at the end of December. There is so much I want to do but the reality is it probably wont all happen. The way I see it is as long as I enjoy the classes and learn all about the culture it will be a WIN situation for me! Hopefully, I will have an opportunity to help out at medical clinics while in Hong Kong. 

This trip to Hong Kong was not even a thought until it was offered at the end of this past semester. Fortunately, I have two great friends who live only a few metro stops away from where I will be living. I was recently in Hong Kong, this past Christmas, for their wedding. I can not wait until I get to see them! I already have the first four days planned of where I want to go eat. It's a little sad when the first thing that is on my mind is FOOD!!! It is just that good. 

Only eight more days until I leave! I am counting down the hours!