Out East

I can't believe that I'm on the last leg of my internship already! The first ten weeks flew by so quickly; five weeks in Montreal, five weeks in Calgary, and now I'm out here in the far east—in Hong Kong!

My apologies for not posting sooner. Right now I leave the house shortly after 9 am to head to work, finish work shortly after 6 pm, go to my grandma's house for dinner, and don't get home until 8 or 9 pm. I don't know if it's jet lag, but recently I've been pooped at that time and have to lie in bed for a little bit before I force myself to shower and do a bit of homework and go to bed at midnight.

Tonight I didn't hit that "8 pm wall" and now it's almost 1 am! No matter, a little sleep deprivation is worth getting this blog caught up to my adventures so far, foodie or not!
Sunday, November 9

• Dim sum with dad and grandma this morning. Checked off #68 on The Vegetarian Hundred - they served a little "salad" with gluten pieces and cucumber in a slightly spicy sauce. It's funny how North Americans are so conscious of celiac disease these days and the whole naturopathic movement is all into getting rid of gluten in our diet when it's still a "staple" in Asian vegetarian cuisine. I enjoyed it; it has a texture that's in between firm tofu and fish ball, and I didn't feel sick after so I don't think I have celiac.
• Also had a SAGGY soup dumpling for the first time in a long time. It squirted me on the chin when I bit into it, but fortunately it wasn't hot.

Monday, November 10

• Had the day off work today, but went down to the area anyway just to see how long it would take me so that I wouldn't be late for actual work! Walked around and did MORE shopping. There's a lot of little stalls selling food, baby clothes, hair accessories, etc. etc. For a few days I was walking past a TAIL hanging from a market stall but it's not there anymore. I wonder if someone bought it?
• I read on Christopher Dewolf's Urbanphoto blog that there's an observation lift in Hopewell Centre, one of the office towers in the area, so I decided to go check it out.


• On my way home I bought a pair of shoes for my cousin's wedding for HKD$60 (~CAD$9.30). Score!

Tuesday, November 11

• Started work, which was a bit of a whirlwind of activity. I'm told to do a lot of things, but nothing feels official...
• Everyone's really friendly though, and we went for lunch at a 茶餐廳 (HK-style café) called Sun Chiu Kee (新釗記). Between the five of us, we shared two rice dishes, two noodle dishes and each ordered a hot drink to finish off the meal, and it cost us HKD$37 (~CAD$5.75) each. The food was decent for a place where you have to share tables and I didn't even have to pay! (My dietitian treated me because it was my first day.)

Wednesday, November 12

• It's my birthday! A little bummed that I can't celebrate with my friends, but what can you do...
• Spent most of the day entering data on a community program we're doing in a more rural part of town (going on Saturday) targeted toward families with kids aged 4-10. One of the dietitians treated me to a Vitasoy Calci-Plus Soya Fibre drink. Mmmm fibrrrrre... Mmm black sesameeeee. Was on a sugar-high for a little while as I checked some personal emails (shhhh!)
• We went for lunch in a little hole-in-the-wall Japanese place. Left shortly after noon to avoid the lunch crowd (lunch is usually from 1-2 or 12:30-1:30 in Hong Kong). Got ten pieces of low-quality sushi plus a drink for HKD$38 (~CAD$5.90). Strangely enough there were photos on the wall advertising foie gras sushi (for HKD$30/pc) and sushi cakes.
• After lunch we went to a local bakery to get egg tarts. They were nice and warm but I wish the pastry was a little flakier.
• Celebrated my birthday with my dad and grandma at the Excelsior Hotel. More on that when it's NOT 1:38 AM...