Orientation. It’s something every new student has to go through. Problem. I’m a third-year student and have already gone through an exchange student orientation (not to mention that Centenary gave us a week-long new student orientation). Rules are similar. Encouragement to balance school and play? Received that already. Graduation requirements? I won’t graduate from Lingnan. I understand the need for exchange students to hear some of the talks and activities, but many are just repeats of what I’ve already experienced. Makes orientation kind of boring. It also makes me wish classes would begin.
The other day I tried more food. Only one really tasted good enough to eat. It was steamed egg yolk and flour. Essentially, egg yolk between layers of fluffy breading. Didn’t taste bad at all. Too bad I don’t remember what it’s called. I also realized this morning that I forgot to ask about dark meat chicken. I was reminded of this because they had some for me to try this morning, and it was the best food I’ve eaten here that hasn’t come from an American restaurant. Granted, it wasn’t smothered in sauce so I don’t know it it’s any different from the stuff back home. It tasted different, slightly, but I don’t really know how to ask about it. Yet another food I must inquire about.
Lunch wasn’t bad either. There was fish surrounded by batter, some noodles, vegetables (which I didn’t eat because they were cooked), and some beef. The fish kind of smelled like okra, and it tasted pretty good. Don’t get me wrong. I like the smell of okra, but I don’t like eating it. A German exchange student and I were trying for a while to figure out what the meat was before someone told us. It didn’t taste like fish at all. The noodles were edible, but the beef was rather mediocre. The dessert was probably the tastiest. It was some sort of chocolate mousse. Very fluffy.
I am still amazed that I can get a burger, fries, and an ice cream cone for just about $2.50. The meals even are only about $3 or $4, if not cheaper. Many things here happen to be cheaper, but there are still some things that are about normal (for us I mean). The price of clothes, for instance, seems to depend on brand and location. The larger the mall the higher the prices, but they also have a lot of sales, if you identify the sale signs when they don’t blatantly say SALE.
Oh, and by the way, for those of you I haven’t told yet, I must inform you of my experience with the hostel washing machines. First off, you have to pay to do your laundry. That made what happened next worse than it normally would have been. Mostly. I pay at a little box thingy with my Octopus card (yes, you read that right) and put my clothes in the washer. I come back at the right time, but when I open the washer and reach in to grab my clothes, the bottom half is drenched, but the top half is dry. I thought I had put too many clothes in it, so I moved some into the next washer.
This is where more mistakes were made. The washer I had been using really did not work right, and I was the one to figure it out. Lucky me. It just filled the thing with water and that’s it! But, hold on! That’s not the worst part! Next, before I realized the latter, the door to the other washer jammed and wouldn’t close all the way or open for me to get anything out. Immediately the washer starts and water pours out the washer. I have to lean up against this thing’s door for about ten minutes trying to prevent all the water from coming out, before another student comes down and then goes upstairs to get help. Needless to say, I got my clothes washed after yet ANOTHER cycle of washing. At least the dryer didn’t break on me. (By the way, this caused me to miss the last part of orientation. Oopsie.)
Today I bought some fruit to try. Three bananas and an orange. (The oranges don’t look all that appetizing, but I figured I’d try it anyway.) They shall be my breakfast, and I hope it is a good breakfast. I had completely forgotten about fruit a while back, but if everything checks out okay, then at least I have something healthy to eat over here! But, I also got some sweets. Some pocky-like stuff I thought I’d try out. A lollipop. And something that looks like Oreo sticks. . . . I think the people at McDonald’s are going to remember my order without me having to speak, after a while anyway. I get the same thing every time, and only one or two people actually speak a little English. You have to be VERY direct, and oftentimes they’ll just ask you to point at what you want. Not easy when you want a PLAIN cheeseburger.
No comments:
Post a Comment