Morning thoughts
I woke up at 4 a.m. today. Again. I don’t understand how my body lasts with so little sleep (for three nights in a row now) but I am not tired. Tonight I managed to sleep six hours, which is –thinking about it- ok. But it feels weird getting up at four. And this was the first night in the apartment- alone, since my Finnish pal left for Indonesia yesterday together with his parents. Anyway, it might still be jet lag or then the Chinese mattresses: they feel like a Finnish self-made rug on a wooden floor (and believe me, I have slept like that for 2 weeks), i.e. there is no mattress.
The apartment -as mentioned briefly in my post yesterday- is pure luxury. I thought it would be some student box (=opiskelijaboksi) but it is really nice. Small bathroom and kitchen, a living room and three small bedrooms, which are box like but in a positive way: very space efficient. There are shelves and closets on one wall of each of the bedrooms, with a bed in front. The closets reach lower than the bed, but when sitting on the bed you can reach down. Below the bed there is even more storage. Clever! And the best thing is the terrace on the roof overlooking the “jungle” (not the correct term probably, but let’s just call it that)!
The company renting it was very pro and had arranged everything for us. Despite some communication difficulties, we got all papers signed and went shopping for some basic necessities in Hang Hau. This tour was arranged by the Uni, but there was only Jussi, me and some American guy from Maryland (Michael as it turned out later). Jussi then left for Kowloon and I went back to the office to ask about internet prices. Once our contact person there (Sammy) noticed, that I was on my own, she asked whether I was his girlfriend and whether Jussi’s parents were married etc. etc. and when I said I was not she was really disappointed and just remarked “but he is sooo good looking”…. Well, so much for the term of an Asian high-context culture (= Anyways, they actually thought Jussi was a girl and told the landlord that three girls were moving in, so it must all have been quite a shock…
Later on I met with Michael in the university. Or first I was supposed to meet him and was waiting and he did not show up because he had fallen asleep (jet-lag or bad excuse?). Instead I met two Polish exchange students (don’t remember their names) coming back from shopping at Ikea; just being desperate of talking to someone! Well. Michael turned up eventually. It was worth waiting just for the fact that I noticed one interesting “habit” standing at the main entrance everyone unknown-to-you “western” greets/nods and smiles compassionately to you (but nobody else) – probably because I looked so lost- Asians don’t and vice versa. Interesting.
We went to dinner in the worst/best restaurant on campus (depends who you ask)- the guy is really funny (he can’t eat with chopsticks and given the food which is not the “Chinese-adapted-to- Finnish-tastes” it is also for me difficult to do it with some sort of “style”, we were however both of us too embarrassed to ask for anything else… so I guess that makes both of us really funny in the eyes of everyone else). Ok, let’s change the topic…I should at this point however add some points about the campus. The campus is first of all HUGE! I have never seen anything like this (probably because I never went to an American university)! Ok, back to earth. The campus occupies a whole peninsula at Clearwater bay. It has basically one main academic building with lecture halls, library, book shop, two banks and a lot of cafeterias and restaurants. Around that are staff towers and student halls (residences) as well as laboratories, a swimming pool and stadium (for athletics). The coast here is everywhere really steep, i.e. no sand beaches, a bit rocky and with cliffs. That means that in the centre of Hong Kong, most buildings are along the shore and in the middle of the Kowloon peninsula, there are parks and just some buildings. When going with the MTR you can see how the land is gradually quarried (is this equivalent to louhia?) with huge machines to make it flat for high rise buildings. The “HKUST peninsula” is pretty much similar geographically (just more trees) with the academic wing with lecture halls on top and some other buildings on the shore. The two areas are connected with walking bridges. I will post some pictures later on when I get an adaptor for my laptop. Anyway, just to say, it is very difficult –even from the pictures- to see how steep and high everything is. Between the different walkways you have to use elevators to go down step by step. There are over 30 elevators in the main buildings only- some stop at only at even floors some only at odd floors, some are shut down in the evening at some point of time. It is a bit confusing, but I think I will get used to it. Anyways, back to the steepness: to get from the ground floor of the main building to the ground floor of the residence halls at the shore, you have to go around 30 stories down. I haven’t bothered counting the floors of the main building yet, but it is high. So every time I go down, I have to “reopen” my ears, it is like being in an airplane…
To go on with the story line: it get’s dark quickly as it gets light at 6:30 as if someone lit a match. There is not much of a dusk or dawn. And if there was I would not notice since it is so humid. Everything is damp or wet all day long and you have to walk carefully in order not to slip- especially since walls and floors in- and outside are mostly covered with ceramic tiles, on which the steam condensates. I don’t know if it is because of the constant cleaning everywhere, the weather or just water, which seems to run everywhere on and below the ground. Yesterday it was so humid that I could not tell whether it was raining or not. Everything is just a white fog, misty, cloudy. Mysterious…! I have heard that the weather will get better (=hotter) however. And I hope so- especially since my hair has turned all curly (!!!) and I can’t get it straight….
Now I am sitting in campus and have been writing for quite a while. When I got here at 7:30 or so, everything was empty. I will meet Michael soon to go to Mongkok to buy a Chinese SIM card etc. To say so much about public transport: the network has a wide coverage in the area, and has (so far) been efficient, on time and organized. The MTR (subway) is really easy to use and you can’t go wrong – every station and subway van has digital plasma screens showing the route and the next station. If a train is announced in 1min, it will be there in 1 min. Buses are a bit more tricky, since there are UK-style buses (double with fixed routes and mini buses with fixed routes and fixed stops or then fixed routes but no fixed stops (i.e. they let you out wherever you want). Taxis operate in certain areas depending on their color code. Everything is really cheap and the system works like in Helsinki with an Octopus card (matkakortti) but it is more sophisticated: you flip the card when entering and exiting e.g. the subway system and the charge is determined when exiting depending on the distance traveled.
Summa summarum: I am starting to realize that I am actually here! I like it so far, except for the Chinese-Western divide. Of course I understand that I can’t understand… at least not everything at once. But still I feel, that the basic setting here does not allow you to understand. A lot of things seem to be Chinese-only (and these are unspoken rules) in a sense that if you are not/ do not look Asian, there is no chance that you might try or be a part of. But maybe I am wrong and just imagining a nonexistent divide…..
Plus for the morning: I found coffee!
The apartment -as mentioned briefly in my post yesterday- is pure luxury. I thought it would be some student box (=opiskelijaboksi) but it is really nice. Small bathroom and kitchen, a living room and three small bedrooms, which are box like but in a positive way: very space efficient. There are shelves and closets on one wall of each of the bedrooms, with a bed in front. The closets reach lower than the bed, but when sitting on the bed you can reach down. Below the bed there is even more storage. Clever! And the best thing is the terrace on the roof overlooking the “jungle” (not the correct term probably, but let’s just call it that)!
The company renting it was very pro and had arranged everything for us. Despite some communication difficulties, we got all papers signed and went shopping for some basic necessities in Hang Hau. This tour was arranged by the Uni, but there was only Jussi, me and some American guy from Maryland (Michael as it turned out later). Jussi then left for Kowloon and I went back to the office to ask about internet prices. Once our contact person there (Sammy) noticed, that I was on my own, she asked whether I was his girlfriend and whether Jussi’s parents were married etc. etc. and when I said I was not she was really disappointed and just remarked “but he is sooo good looking”…. Well, so much for the term of an Asian high-context culture (= Anyways, they actually thought Jussi was a girl and told the landlord that three girls were moving in, so it must all have been quite a shock…
Later on I met with Michael in the university. Or first I was supposed to meet him and was waiting and he did not show up because he had fallen asleep (jet-lag or bad excuse?). Instead I met two Polish exchange students (don’t remember their names) coming back from shopping at Ikea; just being desperate of talking to someone! Well. Michael turned up eventually. It was worth waiting just for the fact that I noticed one interesting “habit” standing at the main entrance everyone unknown-to-you “western” greets/nods and smiles compassionately to you (but nobody else) – probably because I looked so lost- Asians don’t and vice versa. Interesting.
We went to dinner in the worst/best restaurant on campus (depends who you ask)- the guy is really funny (he can’t eat with chopsticks and given the food which is not the “Chinese-adapted-to- Finnish-tastes” it is also for me difficult to do it with some sort of “style”, we were however both of us too embarrassed to ask for anything else… so I guess that makes both of us really funny in the eyes of everyone else). Ok, let’s change the topic…I should at this point however add some points about the campus. The campus is first of all HUGE! I have never seen anything like this (probably because I never went to an American university)! Ok, back to earth. The campus occupies a whole peninsula at Clearwater bay. It has basically one main academic building with lecture halls, library, book shop, two banks and a lot of cafeterias and restaurants. Around that are staff towers and student halls (residences) as well as laboratories, a swimming pool and stadium (for athletics). The coast here is everywhere really steep, i.e. no sand beaches, a bit rocky and with cliffs. That means that in the centre of Hong Kong, most buildings are along the shore and in the middle of the Kowloon peninsula, there are parks and just some buildings. When going with the MTR you can see how the land is gradually quarried (is this equivalent to louhia?) with huge machines to make it flat for high rise buildings. The “HKUST peninsula” is pretty much similar geographically (just more trees) with the academic wing with lecture halls on top and some other buildings on the shore. The two areas are connected with walking bridges. I will post some pictures later on when I get an adaptor for my laptop. Anyway, just to say, it is very difficult –even from the pictures- to see how steep and high everything is. Between the different walkways you have to use elevators to go down step by step. There are over 30 elevators in the main buildings only- some stop at only at even floors some only at odd floors, some are shut down in the evening at some point of time. It is a bit confusing, but I think I will get used to it. Anyways, back to the steepness: to get from the ground floor of the main building to the ground floor of the residence halls at the shore, you have to go around 30 stories down. I haven’t bothered counting the floors of the main building yet, but it is high. So every time I go down, I have to “reopen” my ears, it is like being in an airplane…
To go on with the story line: it get’s dark quickly as it gets light at 6:30 as if someone lit a match. There is not much of a dusk or dawn. And if there was I would not notice since it is so humid. Everything is damp or wet all day long and you have to walk carefully in order not to slip- especially since walls and floors in- and outside are mostly covered with ceramic tiles, on which the steam condensates. I don’t know if it is because of the constant cleaning everywhere, the weather or just water, which seems to run everywhere on and below the ground. Yesterday it was so humid that I could not tell whether it was raining or not. Everything is just a white fog, misty, cloudy. Mysterious…! I have heard that the weather will get better (=hotter) however. And I hope so- especially since my hair has turned all curly (!!!) and I can’t get it straight….
Now I am sitting in campus and have been writing for quite a while. When I got here at 7:30 or so, everything was empty. I will meet Michael soon to go to Mongkok to buy a Chinese SIM card etc. To say so much about public transport: the network has a wide coverage in the area, and has (so far) been efficient, on time and organized. The MTR (subway) is really easy to use and you can’t go wrong – every station and subway van has digital plasma screens showing the route and the next station. If a train is announced in 1min, it will be there in 1 min. Buses are a bit more tricky, since there are UK-style buses (double with fixed routes and mini buses with fixed routes and fixed stops or then fixed routes but no fixed stops (i.e. they let you out wherever you want). Taxis operate in certain areas depending on their color code. Everything is really cheap and the system works like in Helsinki with an Octopus card (matkakortti) but it is more sophisticated: you flip the card when entering and exiting e.g. the subway system and the charge is determined when exiting depending on the distance traveled.
Summa summarum: I am starting to realize that I am actually here! I like it so far, except for the Chinese-Western divide. Of course I understand that I can’t understand… at least not everything at once. But still I feel, that the basic setting here does not allow you to understand. A lot of things seem to be Chinese-only (and these are unspoken rules) in a sense that if you are not/ do not look Asian, there is no chance that you might try or be a part of. But maybe I am wrong and just imagining a nonexistent divide…..
Plus for the morning: I found coffee!
posted by Crazy Night Rider at 1:08 AM
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