vas deferens

I was so traumatized last week when I went for my weekly volunteer tutoring. As usual, I asked my 7th grade student "Do you have any homework?". She responded "oh, I have some science homework...I think I'm supposed to do this in class...but I do need help." She then proceeded to whip out a piece of paper with two anatomical drawings of a woman and man's reproductive organs with a list of various terms listed at the top. Her homework was to match the terms to the appropriate part of the body. Wooooo boy. Oh man. I didn't see that coming whatsoever. I took a deep breath and had to take myself back to junior high. Glancing at the list of terms, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to goof things up and see if I knew all the terms....up until I reached one that I didn't know. I knew it was a boy part...but had no clue what it did: vas deferens. Totally embarrassed, I excused myself and thought the quickest way for me to figure this out would be to ask another male tutor. I went over to Kyle, explained the situation, pointed at the term and said "Do you know where this is exactly?". The best part----his response was: "oh...um...gee, not really sure...but I think I have it right?" Man, the rest of my tutoring session was hysterical as I had to talk about everything from what happens during a girl's period to explaining who makes eggs (given the analogy of a hen & rooster, my student thought the rooster made the eggs and stuck it in the hen). I have a greater appreciation now for the teachers I had in the past that had to teach sex ed.

Waiting for Star Wars

I just walked by the Cinerama Theater in Belltown late at night and noticed a guy camped out on a blue couch...and he didn't look like your average homeless guy. Then I realized "wait...could it be...can't be..wait, has to be..." And indeed, a quick lookup of my suspicions on the 'net proved true---Jeff Tweiten is, once again, waiting for Star Wars. This is the same guy that waited four months in 2002 for Star Wars II: The Attack of the Clones. Now, he's trying to beat his previous record by waiting it out for five months for Episode III---he's apparently been waiting for about 11 days now, since Jan. 1st for the May opening. Raise a glass to perseverance. Hear Hear.

New Year's Resolutions

I was asked by Brendan about New Year's resolutions today. I decided to take a look back at my resolutions for 2004 and I think I did pretty well. I'm definitely healthier and during the fall/winter season thus far, I've only gotten sick once (at the end of October). I'm working out on a regular basis, got back into salsa dancing, I started bellydancing, and I finally learned to knit. I also made it to most friends' weddings, traveled somewhere new (Banff) and had a successful housewarming. I didn't play the piano again since I don't have one. All in all, I was rather successful with my 2004 resolutions!



Hmm...resolutions for 2005. Here goes:

Stay healthy, stay in shape. I started a workout regimen mid-way last year. I want to stick to it. This time, I want to add more cardio instead of just going to the XGym. I'd like to regularly have some sort of cardio regimen, whether it be going on the elliptical machine or going to a class.

Maintain dancing. This keeps me happy.

Travel somewhere I haven't been. I love traveling and always want to make a goal of going somewhere new.

Visit my brother in grad school before he graduates

Keep moving forward in my career. I don't like to talk about work too much in this blog so I'll just leave it at that.

Do something with singing other than karaoke. I miss singing so much. It'd be fun to do something, like try out for a choir or perform.

Re-do one of my bathrooms. It's the bathroom in the other bedroom/study. The floor and counter don't match and it looks hideous.

Get living room painted

Learn to play tennis. This kind of goes with my first resolution in finding a regular cardio thing to do. I learned tennis ages ago and still like it..but haven't played in years. Anyone want to play/teach me?

Help Anna have a successful wedding

Learn to make souffle

Attend my 10 year high school reunion (eeks!)



I think that's a good set of resolutions to begin with.

Welcome to 2005

I'm in the Tokyo-Narita Airport now for my layover en route back to Seattle. There's really not much to do or see in this airport..fortunately, there are some Internet Kiosks and for 100yen/10 minutes, I can go online.



I had a fabulous time for New Year's--it was quite a night! Ben and I headed up to Shenzhen around 5pm for the hour long train ride. When we arrived, it was just chaos trying to get a taxi..nearly impossible. It took probably another hour just to get to the restaurant due to our lack of luck with finding a taxi. Dinner was at a Thai restaurant, followed by dancing at a disco at the top of a mall where the countdown happened. We had a small private room and I learned to play some random Chinese drinking games and attempted my Cantonese in order to communicate with some of his friends. The most useful Mandarin I learned all evening was "woh buh way po tung wah" (I don't speak Mandarin). That was an easy way to get the locals to switch to Cantonese. After dancing, we headed to this street lined with seafood restaurants and ate some good, ridiculously cheap seafood (ex: a whole steamed fish cost about 40RMB or $5). We topped off the evening by indulging ourselves in one of China's famous specialties--big massage parlors. We went to a place called the Queen Spa & Dining and it was amazing. Words cannot describe the enormity of this place--it was gigantic. The boys initially jumped into the large heated swimming pool--this was no ordinary, rectangular sized swimming pool. It was massive and reminiscient of major Water Park pools, equipped with slides and waterfalls. I changed into these pajamas and headed up to one of the massage rooms. Imagine a cafeteria sized room equipped with huge lazy boys from one end to the other. People sit in these chairs, equipped with personal TVs and get a nice fluffy duvet to keep warm. Once we got comfortable, we got some complimentary fruits and a drink (I had Horlicks) and then ordered some services. For about $6, I got an amazing 45-minute head massage. For another $8, I got a 45-minute foot massage along with a pedicure (er, foot scraping). After that, we found the boys and we all headed down to another section of more private massage rooms that are equipped with actual massage tables. All 6 of us were led into one room where we all lay with our duvet covers and were treated to a 1 hr 45 minute full body massage. We were supposed to end the night with sleeping in one of the bed chambers, which is literally a tube in the wall...but every one of us passed out on the massage table and slept there. So how much did all this indulgence cost? Around 400RMB per person, which is $50--that's for an overnight stay, massages, fruits, drinks, free Internet, use of the hot tub, sauna, heated pool and five-star bathroom facilities. What a deal! That would cost hundreds of dollars in the U.S. What a fabulous way to usher in the year 2005. This will be a new year to remember!



My last night in Hong Kong was good too---ate dinner at the Chesa fondue restaurant in the Peninsula (can you tell my grandmother likes the Peninsula?). In addition to getting cheese fondue, I had a very yummy entree---a very simple lasagna with mashed up prawns inside, whole lobster meat & asparagus on top, drenched in a creamy lobster sauce. Absolutely delicious.



Well--that was a lot of blogging over the last week! Back to my boring life in Seattle....ugh, middle seat on my flight over.

Oh so full

Just had a major Chinese feast for dinner at the T'ang Court in the Langham Hotel. I'm so incredibly full right now and feel like I've gained five pounds. Dinner items include: vegetable dumplings, roasted suckling pig with jellyfish, shark's fin soup, braised abalone with sea cucumber and chicken feet, mushroom with fish, duck meat, drunken chicken and bird's nest soup. There was more food but I can't remember all the dishes. Whew!



Just wanted to add how excited I am to see the donations to the American Red Cross via Amazon. When I blogged about this just yesterday morning, the number of donations was around 9,000 with a total amount of around $450,000. Today, the number of donations is around 71,000 with an amount of $4,285,773.51---wahoo! That's so impressive!



Things are set to go to Shenzhen tomorrow night with Ben. I applied for a single-entry visa yesterday and can pick it up tomorrow...can't wait! Happy New Year everyone!! See you in 2005!!

Notes on Hong Kong

After a fabulous dinner at the Verandah Cafe at the Peninsula tonight, I finally made it out to the harbour to get a good shot of all the Xmas lights on the skyscrapers across the water. You can see how the Chinese go all out with full-scale holiday decorations on their buildings (see bldngs in lower left corner)...quite spectacular in person. In this picture is the new 2IFC (Two International Finance Centre) building, now the tallest building in Hong Kong at 88 stories--surpassing the Central Plaza Building (78 stories) and I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower (72 stories), seen in the photo next to my head. The building in a purple neon glow on the right is The Center, the 4th tallest building. In the evenings, there have been mini laser light shows off the top of some of these buildings in addition to fireworks. This view still takes my breath away....a must-see if you ever visit Hong Kong, esp. during holiday time.





Mustered my way around the Night Market in Mong Kok today, which is really open all day but happens to be insanely popular at night. Quite the touristy spot, this is 3-4 blocks of ridiculously cheap rip-off bargains from Hong Kong. One can find things like a fake Gucci bag for less than ten bucks or a cheap shirt or some fake Rolex watches. If you can brave the crowds and be willing to bargain, you'll walk away with some deals. I was thinking just today about how claustrophobic this city can be. It's only Wednesday and the streets and subway are constantly crowded---you don't even want to know how bad it can get on a holiday (such as Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve). I don't think there's any city in the U.S. that can even be comparable.



Style note--what seems to be popular amongst the hip girls in Hong Kong:

calf to knee length slouch leather boots

a skirt or some sort, the funkier, the better

fur. lots of fur. especially in the form of a vest or the hood lining on a jacket

wearing your boots *over* your jeans (i remember doing this in junior high...i can't believe it's coming back)

carrying your cell phone on a cord around your neck with the earpiece attached to the cord for easier access

vests overall--with fur is better...but i'm seeing vests everywhere

Extended relatives

Met 3 more distant cousins last night at dinner: Steve, Kenneth & Raymond..who all go to university in Canada currently. I don't have that many first cousins since my parents don't have that many siblings; however, when I start going up and over the family tree, it gets complicated. My grandparents each have so many siblings, up in the teens somewhere, due to my great grandparents being of the generation where it was common for a man to have multiple wives and concubines. For example, the cousins I met last night are related to me in this manner: their mother is the daughter of a man who is the older brother of my ma-ma (grandmother on father's side)--but he has a different mother, same father.