練習“寫”中文

其實我的目的不是給自己練習寫中文而是給你們練習念中文。=) 如果我寫的有任何錯誤﹐請原諒我。更好就是在評論上提醒一下或送個 email 給我。

今天我早上起來以後﹐練了一下中文課本。我妹妹借給我她大學的課本--伯克利的100AX/BX (她的中文程度比我好多了)。我父親起床以後我們一起吃了早餐。吃完早餐﹐休息了一下﹐到了公寓的俱樂部去打乒乓球。可是到了俱樂部以後發現有人剛開始打﹐要一個小時以後才有空。那時候已經十一點半了﹐所以我們決定跑步和舉
重就好了。運動完了以後我父親問我還想不想打乒乓球。我當然說好﹐可是已經有另外一些人開始打了。我們決定晚一點再試試看。

我們回家洗個澡﹐換了衣服﹐就搭了計程車(出租車)去浮士德餐廳吃午飯。我們家人常常去這家餐館吃牛排。他們菜單只有套餐。我們兩個都吃了鵝肝沙拉﹐牛排﹐芒果摩絲而且喝了冰咖啡。我爸喝了法國洋蔥湯﹐我喝了奶油野蘑菇湯。吃了又好又飽了以後﹐我們去了潘家園舊貨市場逛一逛﹐買些小東西。市場三點半就開始收
攤了﹐所以我們就回家去了。

回家不久就去打了一個鐘頭的乒乓球--真好玩﹗玩完以後回家換衣服﹐又去吃飯了﹗晚飯去了鼎泰豐(鼎泰丰)﹗我們兩位吃了兩個半籠小龍包﹐一份痘苗﹐而且還吃了一大碗芒果冰。今天吃了那麼多好東西﹐還好有夠的運動量。我們晚飯八點鐘才開始吃﹐吃完就九點半了。回到家就休息﹐準備睡覺。

Back to 北京 (Beijing)

i've never really had one city or town to call home. i always went with the cliché "home is where the heart is," meaning mainly wherever my parents resided. having grown up just 50 miles north of the city, and then living there the last few years have definitely contributed to making NYC home.

it was strange yesterday when i returned to 北京 because it felt a little bit like coming home. perhaps it's because my dad lives here, or that it's been my home base this summer, but i definitely felt the kind of relief you have after being away from home for a long time. of course not to the degree i'm sure i'll feel when i go back to California and then NYC, but i guess 北京 is now a home as well.

one negative thing was how poor the air quality was! made HK's air quality seem crystal clear. but this morning, after it was gloomy and rainy first, it became much clearer and even a little sunny (as much as can be expected here anyhow).

so since i had promised some ppl i'd update my blog with my last HK entries, i proceeded to go to this blog to update it to find it was CENSORED! hrm. i forgot about this issue while spending 3 weeks in censorship-free HK. i can at least still edit (and thus view old entries) and add entries, but sorta sucks i can't see the blog (as a design person i like to see what the final look is...). (sorry Eric, i won't be able to read or comment on your blog for at least a week.) i wonder if i could put up with the net censorship if i ever moved to China... i guess there are proxies out there, right?

so last night i just wanted to stay in and not do anything. since my dad was getting back later that night from a business trip, i had to figure out what to eat. i could've gone to the restaurant in the apartment complex (part of the members' club here), but decided instead to try to order a pizza.

they have a pizza chain that is (supposedly) owned by Pizza Hut and very similar to Pizza Hut (but no pan pizzas). i found the chain's web site and proceeded to attempt to order a pizza online. this took about 40 minutes. :P (to be fair, i was chatting with a few people at the same time...) this was largely due to my sub par Chinese reading skills. but with a bit of help from NJStar (Chinese Word Processing program), i was able to enter in my address, navigate through the pages (reading slowly), and place my order! it was actually not a bad way to work on my Chinese... definitely why living in a place is the best way to learn its language.

while doing this, i was struck with how helpful computers are. not that this is something i've been aware of (far from it), but i'm able to construct conversational e-mail messages in Chinese since recognizing is easier than recalling and the software presents with me with a list of choices to choose from. another example of how helpful computers were in this process: i could Baidu (sorry Google) my dad's apartment complex with the English version to find the Chinese text to copy and paste.

anyway, after getting my pizza and eating it (yum!) i decided to finally upload some HK pics to share. finally added pics to most posts from my trip in HK. i also spent way too much time adding photos to facebook... their system isn't horrible; it has some cool features, but it definitely wasn't the smoothest nor most pleasing experience...

it was actually kinda lonely getting back to the big apartment and being by myself. i was happy when my dad got home from his trip and the place definitely felt better.

since now i'm back to Beijing and my days will prob get even less eventful, i'm going to stop blogging daily and just blog when interesting things happen or when i feel like recapping a couple or more days at a time.

so the brief on today was sleeping in! i slept before midnight last night, got up at 9am when my dad was leaving, but went back to bed and got up around 11! i could've easily slept a couple more hours (or days) but decided to get up. god it feels good to be in a real bed!

i spent much time on the laptop, chatting in the morn and catching up on various things. i then met up with Jini (pretty 'ridicerous' that she's here at the same time) for lunch. we had a big and delicious meal at 鼎泰豐 (Din Tai Fung) in the new 新光天地 (Shin Kong Place) department store. seriously ate too much. oh, and we had mango with shaved ice. not quite 許留山, but it was still good :P. we then stopped by my dad's place before she had to leave to meet up with work people.

and now i'm continuing to 'catch up' on things (like email, blogging). i need to get more disciplined on my personal projects, since i have a week here in Beijing, then about a week in Cali (where i'm sure i'll have plenty of distractions) before heading back to the east coast. last chance to make progress or complete some things before i have to get ready for school. hopefully that starts tomorrow, as today was my "adjustment" day (good excuse, huh?). :)

HK Day 19 (Mon Jul 16)

The last full day in 香港!

i decided not to put too much pressure on myself to do anything in particular. i did, however, need to pack up and make sure i'd be ready to leave early the next morning since i planned to be out late with WingTsun friends.

i ended up spending a decent chunk of time chatting and catching up with people both in and outside of 香港, and didn't get around to updating the blog for the previous day. finally, with things pretty much packed (except for things i needed that day, and things to be bought :P), i headed to Mong Kok (via minibus!) to meet up with Sifu Robin's friend Queenie (whom i had met in Sha Tin a couple of days before). the minibus is definitely the more quick and convenient way to go, but i figure that having done the bus to MTR route gave me a better feel for the area and to see more, as well as get to ride the MTR, which is pretty nice.

i realize my last post was probably full of boring details (analyze THAT, eric :)), so i'll skip some stuff here. did some shopping for gifts, and also gave in and picked up a pair of shoes (see yesterday's post).

after shopping was done, we went to -- yes, everyone is getting sick of reading this i know -- Hui Lau Shan. 許留山. after that i went to meet up with Robin and then we grabbed dinner at a Japanese place back in Mong Kok. after dinner i went to GM Cheng's class and Sifu Robin went off to Baptist University to teach. i planned to join him later, but wanted to stop by and say goodbye to my 師叔公 (si-sok-gung). on my way to class, i actually bumped into my 師公 again so got the chance to say goodbye once more. Got to do some more chi-sau with 師叔公 and to soak in the atmosphere of the main gym one last time, then headed off to Baptist U.

got a little lost, but finally made it. the Baptist U class was very large and festive that day because it was one of the instructor's birthday. shortly after i arrived class ended and we went to their usual after-class dining spot. they ordered a whole lot of food but i couldn't really eat since 1.) i was still full from dinner, 2.) it was really hot and i am less hungry when hot, 3.) i had just exercised and i'm less hungry after exercising. i sat between two of my 師兄's, Sifu Jon and Sifu Robin. it was a nice way to spend my last night, just chilling in a local spot with a bunch of people--who i knew to varying degrees--who shared a common love for 詠春拳.


people gradually parted to go their own ways home, and at the end it was Sifu Robin and i at the Mong Kok MTR station. i was feeling thirsty again when Robin asked, "would you like to get a drink?" i thought he meant from a vending machine in the MTR station or perhaps a 7-Eleven. "Sure." "How about 許留山?" Ha. how could i say no? so off we went!



we drank my favorite 許留山 drink (of the ones i had tried), and reflected on the past couple of weeks, on many things WingTsun, and on thoughts of the future. i think both of us were tired, but neither wanted to call it a night quite yet. around 1:15 am they were starting to clean up and close up shop, so we headed off to the minibuses.

one last trip with the "psychotic" minibus drivers back to Kennedy Town. one last time getting off at the last stop on the 西環 (Sai Wan) bus line. one last night in 香港. one very memorable trip.

HK Day 18 (Sun Jul 15)

sunday morning i had wanted to attend Sifu Jon's class at the main gym, and Anna had said she'd be interested in checking it out. However, i couldn't quite get myself out of bed from sleeping late the past couple of nights (and not really enough the ones before that), and also wanted to make sure i was rested enough for GM Leung Ting's class that evening. plus, i had wanted to treat Anna to lunch since it was possibly my last meal with her (it was).

we got sushi with Colin and his friend Jason. i don't think i mentioned it in my last post when we ate there, but the place's cooked salmon belly sushi is amazing... we ate kind of late, and were all pretty hungry so ordered a ton of sushi. maybe too much :P. i was definitely more than full by the end. next, we went to Mong Kok to do some shopping.

so i knew one probably existed but never bothered to look into it, but the minibus from Kennedy Town to Mong Kok is twice as fast as the routine i had been following (5 bus to Central, then the Tsuen Wan MTR)... and cheaper! we took that to Mong Kok to do some shopping. Colin bought some cool casual shoes and i was tempted to get a pair too, but refrained. i figured if i really still wanted them, i could come back the next day since i'd be in the Mong Kok area anyway (hoping to prevent an impulse buy. EDIT: failed).

after shopping in the hot hot sun we got a respite in a Hui Lau Shan (of course). Colin and Jason were going to head to Flower Street and Anna and i walked with them 'til Anna's other friend Mark found us. He also wanted to get some shoes (running) so Anna and i went with him and Colin and Jason went on ahead. (my main motivation was staying closer to Yau Ma Tei since i had class that night). Went to some shoe stores, then we looked at some cell phones. Apparently a Taiwanese company has a cool new touch-screen phone that's meant to compete w/the iPhone. it was pretty darn cool and had some nifty UI tricks that could make using it less of a hassle. it also made me realize how unimpressive my phone is, but oh well. :) someday i might get a cutting edge fancy phone. i'm a happy camper as long as it's functional enough, has decent enough UI, and has good reception (ie--NOT AT&T/Cingular).

we parted ways and i had about an hour left before class. i was kind of hungry but not really, so grabbed a mcchicken sandwich and coke :P.

at the school, i was waiting outside for a bit since the door was closed (and the window in the door was covered up still, though i could see light through the top of the door). finally, the security guard in the building told me there were people inside and i should knock. i didn't want to interrupt anyone since i was early, but it was very darn hot in the hallway, so i decided i could blame the security dude if it all went south... it didn't. Sifu Leung Kwok Wah opened the door and there were a few students there with him. got changed, did some stretching, then did some chi-sau with another student. Sifu Jon arrived so i chatted with him a bit and then started doing some chi sau with him. And then, , Great Grandmaster Leung Ting arrived. i enjoyed very much seeing my si-gung in his "natural" environment... it was, after all, the LEUNG TING GYM that he started around 40 years ago, and the very same space that the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man had opened a class. He mostly taught in Cantonese, so Jerry was kind enough to translate for me and Danilo (another non-Cantonese speaking instructor). When explaining something mainly to Danilo and me, GGMLT spoke in English, and when just talking to me, he used Mandarin. i learned some good stuff, saw some great stuff, and had a simply wonderful time being there at the international headquarters learning from the Grandmaster himself.

afterward, i went to eat with some of the other instructors. once again, i was blessed that everyone made me feel like i belonged there. afterward, we said some goodbyes, as it was my second to last night in HK i would not be seeing some people again.

HK Day 15 (Thu Jul 12)

so where did the time go? is my 3 weeks really almost up? i definitely feel the pressure to make the most of it, but that usually results in me doing very little. :P had this discussion with Eric the other day (yesterday?) about how we tend to start missing a time before it ends, but that usually helps in not regretting not making the most of it later (even if i don't actually succeed in the endeavor...).

so what happened yesterday... i think i tried to get a bit caught up on responsibility (though probably didn't), then went and met Mak Yu in Mong Kok. we got dim sum (yum!) in Mong Kok, then walked through 女人街 and i took in the various shops on the street. i'd been good about not buying anything (except for WT clothes on the first day) but then i saw it. a BIG yoshi! so i had to buy it (pic to come. EDIT: pic on right; DS Lite in pic to help with scale :P). i already have a medium (okay 2) one and a small one, but had only seen the big one on eBay and web sites and not in the states. this left me with less than 200 HKD left, so fortunately we made a stop at the bank and i exchanged my "just in case" USD for HKD. there, Mak Yu pointed out the new plastic $10 HKD bills that just came out this week. they are pretty cool. they look pretty much like the existing bills, but just made of diff't materials (so sharing a pic is kinda pointless).

after i felt a little richer, we walked toward Yau Ma Tei and made a pit stop at Saint's Alp! (some will get why that's significant, others will not.) i'm happy to report the Almond Milk Tea tastes as good as the one from the old, no longer existing Bleecker St. store in NYC. again, pic to come.

afterward, picked up a milk tea to go and brought it to the IWTA office for Sifu Robin, who was working hard as usual. my left shoulder, while better, was still pretty sore, so Sifu Robin proceeded to use some cupping technique he had learned, followed by a rather intense massage on the sore spots. it helped quite a bit, with side-effects being three dark bruise-like circles and certain points be very sensitive to any pressure. but at least i can fully form a bong-sau and hold some pressure... :P

after i was healed, did a little training with Sifu Robin before we parted ways and i headed to the Leung Ting Gym for GM Cheng's class. Got to do some chi-sau/goh-sau with my si-sok-gung. :D got some good corrections and things to improve from that, and the class overall. at the end of class, GM Leung Ting stopped by briefly.

After i left the gym, i met up with Mak Yu and a couple of her friends for some Hui Lau Shan in Mong Kok (substitute for the dinner i had skipped). i was, however, dead tired from the ~4 hours of training that day, so i wasn't very good company. since i was such a loser, we called it a night and i got to get home to rest.

HK Day 13 (Tue Jul 10)

a week before i leave i decided i should finally do some more touristy stuff. going to Lantau Island with Anna on Sunday was a good start, and so i followed it up with a day going up to "The Peak" and then going to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Mak Yu offered to be my tour guide, which was much appreciated so i didn't need to use my brain or try to communicate with people. :P at the line for the tram to the peak, we noticed that we were the only Chinese (Asian) people in line. yup... a sure sign of a tourist attraction. or maybe it was just 'cause we were there in the middle of a work day.

up at the top we went through the various levels of the building they had to see what shops they had, etc. Anna's friend Rob had mentioned there was an EA (Electronic Arts) setup to let people play games, but he had not described how awesome it was! (he had just said he couldn't believe his brother wanted to play video games at the top of the peak--but seriously, who wouldn't?!) Mak Yu and i played a game of Fight Night Round 3 and then NBA Homecourt (on xbox360 kiosks) before continuing on with more cultured events.


the view from the peak was quite breathtaking. it was a nice and clear (and too hot) day. after walking around the shops some more and grabbing a bite to eat, we took a bus down to central to take the ferry across to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).

In TST, we walked the Avenue of the Stars, kind of like Hollywood's walk of fame. At first most of the names were totally foreign to me, but then i saw some familiar names: Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Bridgette Lin, Andy Lau, Stephen Chow, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, Raymond Chow, etc.. Also saw the big Bruce Lee statue that they have. By this point we were sweating pretty good and decided to get some refreshments so went to get (you guessed it Eric!) Hui Lau Shan.

At Hui Lau Shan, i was kind of disappointed in the mango/strawberry/jelly drink i got. Perhaps i've finally overdone the mango stuff? Or perhaps it was the strawberries that counteracted the goodness of mangoes? I will have to try again later this week to see which is the case. :)

After Hui Lau Shan we went to the IWTA office to meet up with Sifu Robin. We got dinner at a local restaurant in Mong Kok (see photo of me with Sifu Robin below).


After dinner, we bused over to Baptist University for Sifu Robin's class. Before class started, i had the chance to do some goh sau with Sifu Robin. Since attendance in class was lower than usual, we also had some time during class to train now and then. It was extremely helpful for me since Sifu Robin is very skillful and well-trained. He's helping me become more aggressive and improve my "offense." i also had the chance to do some chi sau and goh sau with one of his students, James.

i'm not very dead tired from constantly sleeping too late. i think i'll take it easy tomorrow and rest up a bit, and maybe go out later. we shall see. 'til next time!

HK Day 10 (Sat Jul 7)

slept in a bit this morn, then went with anna to get lunch. tried this new thai place near her apartment which was alright, then followed it up with some yummy mango desserts. :P

she had some afternoon appointments so i stayed in and caught up on some stuff and worked on some music. also got started on laundry!

when anna got back, i gave her a brief WT lesson before we went to meet up with Robin, Jon, Inez, Ming, Doris, et al for a barbecue in Lion Mountain (EDIT: i think it's called something else... Nine Mountain park? OH--and we saw wild MONKEYS!) Park. I had met all of the aforementioned named people in Hungary four months ago, so it was great to see everyone together again. Besides them and me and anna, there were another 9 people, all WingTsun students/instructors.

after a bit of time getting the fire started, we got to finally cook and eat! my fave was bratwurst (that i picked out) since it reminded me of eating them during my childhood in Wisconsin when my dad would BBQ them. i was seriously full after 20 or 30 minutes, but everyone else seemed to keep eating. and eating. and eating. from around 7:30 PM 'til around 11 PM! i wanted to eat more, but simply had no where to put the food.

lots of pics were taken (esp. by MakYu), so i'll try to post some when i get them.

EDIT: here's a group pic that was taken that i had Makyu send me first before i got the rest of the photos:


i'll also fill in details more when i get pics. :P

EDIT: I must comment on how lame wimbledon.com is; it lets you download large video files (300 MB - 1 GB+) , but only when you attempt to watch it do you realize you have to PURCHASE the rights to watch it. LAME. try being a little more user friendly and have us BUY the rights before we waste time downloading the file.

HK Day 8 (Thu July 5)

So i've officially been in Hong Kong over a week! my sense of time is a bit skewed, but a week does seem about right.

i arrived at the IWTA office around 12:30. i was pleasantly surprised to see Sifu Leung Kwok Wah there, in addition to Sifu David, Sifu Robin, and si-tai. i spoke with Sifu Leung for a while, catching up a bit since we last saw each other back in March. i also chatted with Sifu David a bit, while Sifu Robin was busy as usual with the many things he takes care of in the office.


a little while later, we left for a dim sum restaurant, where Grandmaster Leung Ting would be joining us. no matter how many times i've met my si-gung, it still is always a little surreal to see him and talk to him. after dim sum we walked down the street and parted ways with Sifu Leung Kwok Wah and GM Leung Ting. Robin, David, and I returned to the office briefly before David and I went to get some coffee.

Sifu David got a latte, but i ended up getting a mango smoothie. :P we chatted a bit (about all things WingTsun, of course) before ordering a hot milk tea for Sifu Robin and getting the check. It was pouring out when we wanted to leave, but fortunately the cafe was a couple doors down from the school and the path was covered.

After giving Sifu Robin his milk tea, Sifu David and I trained a little bit; a most helpful session for me! It is too bad he has to leave HK so soon. :(

Around 6 PM Sifu David had to leave to meet a friend for dinner. Sifu Robin had much to do so he and i ordered some food and ate in the office. Afterwards, he had to head to teach at Baptist University while I went to attend GM Cheng Chuen Fun's class at the main gym.

It was good to see si-sok-gung again, and i was happy that he hadn't forgotten me. :D we chatted a bit and i was thankful for the corrections he gave me in what i was doing. the 2 hour class was also the best workout i've had since getting to Hong Kong. Sifu David stopped by to say hi to si-sok-gung toward the end of class. After class ended, Sifu David and I were supposed to hang out and wait for Sifu Robin, but he has been under a lot of pressure and not sleeping enough so he needed to get some rest. Since it was late, Sifu David and I decided to get something to drink and chat and leave training for tomorrow.

We went to Hui Lau Shan and i got, surprisingly, a mango drink! Despite having had a lot of mango stuff already, i still enjoyed it very much, especially having worked out. Had some more good conversation, and reflected on how happy i was to have met such a good friend and si-hing in Sifu David.

calling it a night, i made my way to the mini buses once again, and can happily say i now am very comfortable getting back to Anna's apartment late at night from Mong Kok. :D

HK Day 5 (Mon Jul 2)

so today, for the first time since i got to HK, i slept in!

i woke up around 7 or 8 but refused to get up, so went back to bed. i finally got up around noon.

spent time with the laptop and with Mel (via GoogleTalk) (kind of like life back at home!) for a bit, then finally took my lazy ass outside and got a mango dessert thing (a sweet mango, pomelo, soupy thing) for a late breakfast/lunch, then went to a bakery (Saint Lowlands) and got a couple of breads (for breakfast tomorrow). Returned to the apartment and started working on the script and then a song. Got hungry so ate a hotdog bun i got from the bakery :P.

went out to get Korean BBQ in Causeway Bay with Anna, Colin, two of Colin's friends, and Leslie. Hadn't seen Les in a while, so it was good to see him again. Afterward Les had to go "price something" (for work) so Colin, Anna, and I went to get foot massages and see if Les would be done to meet up to do something else. An hour later, with more relaxed feet, Les wasn't done yet. We went to Hui Lau Shan (Mel's fave) and got these sweet mango (and i think pomelo, again) drinks. Since it was getting kind of late, we decided to get the drinks to go and call it a night.

HK Day 3 (Sat June 30)

A weekend day! Not that it really makes a difference to me, but it means my friends who lead normal lives are free. Anna had some plans saturday morn, while I stayed in, updated the blog, and talked with Mel on the phone. :) Also, it was the least gloomy (almost sunny) morning I'd seen!

After Anna got back, we (took some time and) decided to go to Havana (in SoHo) for lunch. We had cuban tapas for brunch (not lunch--lunch doesn't exist there on weekends). After a nice meal, we were ready to go when we noticed it was pouring out. Not so fun. We headed back to Anna's since someone was supposed to come fix the A/C in her living room (yes!). We made a stop at a local place that had good mango desserts! Anna had a mango, pomelo slushy type mix while i had a mango and 豆花 dish.

After getting back to Anna's apartment, she got a call saying the guy couldn't come 'cause it was raining (hrm... reminds me of luggage story at HK airport from earlier post). Since the weather was ugly out, we stayed in. We shared some music with each other (her more than me since I don't have that much with me. Anna's a big American Idol fan, so I heard the names of some former Idol-contestants many times... also heard songs from various artists, including those that have been to jail...

After the excitement of that died down, I had a stimulating time whittling down my gmail inbox to under 40 messages! It's been a very long time since the number's been that low. Anna had plans to get dinner with a couple of friends and invited me along, so we waited for them to call. And waited. And around 8:30 PM we decided we'd just find something to eat when, with impeccable timing, she gets a call. We decided to go with Staunton's Bar & Cafe in SoHo. A later phone call revealed that we'd be getting picked up in a cab and that we'd been vetoed on going to Staunton's.

In the cab I met Trudy, Phil, and Colin (today i noticed stickers on cabs that say SEATS 5--so i guess we were legal!). As we drove, Anna suddenly asked "where are we going?" when she sees a bridge. Apparently we were going to Kowloon (unexpectedly leaving Hong Kong Island, which I had earlier joked that Anna never did). We went to 798 Unit & Co., a NY style gastropub (as i was told). We had a variety of delectable foods that we all shared, making quite the awesome meal.

Afterward, as the rain kept falling, we walked to the MTR station to go back to Central. Colin and Trudy left to make a stop at Trudy's apartment while Phil brought Anna and I to Azure to meet some of his coworkers for drinks. Next was clubbing at Volar followed by clubbing at Prive. Lastly we got food at a "famous" restaurant since it was one of the few that was opened late at night ('til 4 or 5 am). Not being very hungry, I happily drank a cold (HK style) milk tea.

A not-too-long cab ride later the fun day ended.