Happy New Year!!

Wait...don't you mean Valentine's Day?!? Well actually, I mean both. This past weekend Lunar(Chinese New Year)New Year and Valentine's Day happened to fall on the same day. We got the day off of school Monday, so naturally, the obvious choice was for me to take a weekend trip to China to celebrate!!

It just so happened that Darren(my friend from DC), who lives in Guangzhou, China, was going to Hong Kong for the weekend. I was able to find a cheap flight to GZ(and of course use my mom's Marriott discount... awesomeness ), and then take the train with him to a town called Shenzhen, and then walk across the border to Hong Kong!!  Despite that fact that it was a lot of traveling in a really short amount of time, it was perfect!!

It was a whirlwind weekend, and unfortunately, the weather was foggy and drizzling nearly the entire time, so I didn't get to do everything that I wanted, but I will definitely be making a return trip to HK!! I really, really liked it there. The views of the harbor are amazing, even in the fog!! And this nightlife was great! I felt like I needed my partners in crime for a UG night!!

Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

While we decided to forgo the infamous Peak trip, due to lack of visibility, the rain and chaos didn't keep me and Darren from going to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. It was extremely crazy!! Chinese New Year is the busiest time of the year, and we decided it was the perfect time to stick 2 foreigners in the middle of all the worshiping! People were all around us waving their incense in one hand and hold their umbrellas with the other. Darren got taken out by an umbrella to the temple and my scarf got hooked to at least 3 umbrellas before I removed it from my head. We, well mostly just me, b/c I am not quite tall enough, were covered in incense ash.  I got some great pics, but whether or not the wait was worth it is debatable. Although, the couple of hours it took us to accomplish that part of the trip, did allow for some of the fog to lift a bit so I could get some good pics from the Star   Ferry while crossing the harbor.

My layover in Shanghai, afforded me the time to get my Picasa up and running, so please check out the link below to see all the pics from my trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/meganebroderick/HongKong20100214#

Star Ferry 

Hong Kong...

these lights will inspire you

I'm a Barbie girl...

in a Barbie world!! I'm not plastic, but it's still fantastic!! As you might have already guessed from the title, this post will deal primarily with my blond hair...which is literally a phenomenon here in SoKo. 


Last week was my first week going into the 3rd grade class. Each time I entered the room, there were gasps and WOWS!....kids sure do know how to make you feel good. But, literally the first comment after "Where are you from?", was "You are like Barbie".  I found it really funny!! But what is even more funny is that not only do the students tell me I look like a Barbie, but some of the other teachers in my school told me that as well. Now clearly,  I know as well as you do, that I do not indeed look like Barbie...and this, in their limited English, is the only way they know how to describe a girl with blond hair and blue eyes, but I honestly do feel like I am a Barbie doll here sometimes. People are always touching my hair...students, my co-teacher and even the old lady on the bus...yes...you read that right.


 About a week and a half ago,  I was taking the bus and I felt my hair being pulled slightly. I thought maybe someone had just grabbed it on accident when they went to stand up, but then I felt it again about 30 seconds later, so then I assumed it was stuck between the seat and either myself or someone else's belongings, so I moved my head to wiggle it free. About a minute later, I could still feel the slight pull...so I looked in the window and in the reflection, I could see a woman, maybe in her 50's or 60's(so I guess technically not old) twisting my hair around her finger!! So I turned my head around, and she put her hands in her lap and acted if she had not been doing anything!! It was hilarious!! 


I also felt like Barbie last week as a result of me being a complete airhead. I managed to get on the bus on the wrong side of the street to come home. I got on and had on my iPod and was reading so I didn't even notice we were going the wrong way until I head the driver asking "hangukmal hasil jul aseyo?" (the Romanized version of "Do you speak Korean?") and then again, "hangukmal hasil jul aseyo?". I looked around and realized there was nobody else on the bus and he was talking to me...ummm..."Anio!"(no), I answered. Then he asked me in Korean where I was going...luckily I understood. I told him and he started going on and on in Korean, so I looked up and realized we were approaching the last stop...which definitely was not mine!! OOPS!! I had gone the wrong direction all the way to the end of the line! So I got off the bus, and got right back on another bus going back the way I had just come from!! I know, you are all shocked that it took me this long to have a total "Jess"(BLOND for those of you who don't know this reference) moment!! 


That Friday, we went out to celebrate our friend Morgan's last day of work at her terrible hagwon, and ended up at...you guessed it...norebang. In honor of my recent Barbie status, I opted to sing "Barbie Girl". I never knew the words were so lewd and I definitely should not have been singing them aloud in high school...oops!! 
http://www.purelyrics.com/index.php?lyrics=fhjpacrk


Sorry, no pics with this post...but, you all know what I look like, and unfortunately, I was not able to capture a pic of the woman twisting my hair!!