Happy New Year :)

As the title suggests, happy 2011 folks!

This new year is a little different for me compared to previous years because it was my first new year spent overseas! 

It's my fourth day here in HK now, and I would like to think that I am adapting well. On the brighter side, though the weather's a little chilly and the air is pretty dry, I'm sure I'll manage with lots of moisturizer. I've been enjoying the food too after my second meal and I saw a great deal of cheap and nice stuff to buy at Argyle Centre in Mongkok today; super looking forward to start shopping soon. Cute furry boots/coats/bags/everything here I come!.

On the less bright side, my throat's not really getting much better and I'm really worried that it'll transform into a full-fledged cough. Oh, and my laptop's mouse-pad is starting to look like it's going to give me some problems soon too; I can only move the cursor sideways but not vertically. Blah.

Prior to my departure, I had quite a few meet-ups with friends; Sam, Mike, Xuanie and Rongster (Audrey was sick), the KTOWY peeps and the primary school clique. I missed my barrage date with G, Bun and Jolb  because I turned sick closer to my flight, sorry girls :( It was great catching up with everyone (as usual) and some of them called my name a few times more than they would in the past since they wouldn't be seeing so much of me around for the next few months. Aww.

Some photos from the meet-ups - 

ECP Chalet with KTOWY peeps:

  

we played a gift exchange 'game' later on.

all the c'uppers'

and the 'poohers'

 

our logcake from cold storage.

 

frolicking Santa!

 

the obligatory full-group shots, taken with self-timer

Merry-making; wii after.

With Rongster and Xuanie at Orchard Central:

Macarons from Jewel Artisan Chocolate; cut up for sharing.

The macarons were delicious! I really liked how they were so bold and creative with the flavours; my favourite was the bottom-most right one with salted egg yolk. It was neither too sweet nor savoury, just yummy and perfectly to my taste. Shiok!

Paradise Dynasty for xlbs after! 

Before I move onto HK, I want to thank everyone who came down to send me off at the airport on Thursday. I truly appreciate everyone's efforts for making it down to the airport even though you may not be living very nearby. And the ones who sent me farewell messages too. Thank you all for making me feel so loved. Lub you all deep deep! 

And now, my new year's eve in HK. 

The first half of the day was spent in school for orientation; there was no rara games (thank goodness), but everything else was in place. I learnt that 75% of the exchange students are from Europe/UK, so we were really the minority amongst everyone else. I really enjoyed speaking Putonghua to all the student buddies/volunteers and other exchange students whom I spoke with; most of them are really nice people, not to mention helpful too. There was one particular girl, however, who wasn't too friendly; I mean, even before I could say hello, she took one look at me and then turned away curtly to start talking very aggressively to flirting with the angmoh guys. Annoying max. I wonder if there's a local term for SPGs, or something similar.

The student volunteers/buddies brought us out to the market area and we bought pillows (!), together with a few other neccesities... and a pair of covered shoes for me.

In the evening, we headed to Tsim Sha Tsui with Gladys to meet her friend, and KH too! Split ways after dinner and KH brought me around. Thought of watching the fireworks initially at Tsim Sha Tsui but look at the crowd -

Crazy or what!

And this was only 9pm. Can you imagine how much more crowded it'd have gotten by midnight?! We went to KH's friend's roof-top party in the end. And it was awesome! At 49 storeys above sea level, there was a barbecue, some drinks, many friends of KH's friend, and a cute 5-month old golden retriever pup running around. And, we had a rather good view of the fireworks too.

My noisy pictures are not doing the view any justice. I'm sorry :(

Anyway... fireworks!

And to distract you from the shitty quality of my pictures, here's a cute little doggie and I!

Baileys!

She was running around the jaccuzi pool in circles and I don't know what exactly happened, but she fell into the pool later. Everyone (her mummy and daddy especially) started panicking but they eventually got her out of the water, rubbed her dripping fur with a warm towel and sat her in front of a ceramic heater. Learnt from her mummy later that that was her first 'swim', 

We went back to KH's friend's place for games... and he ended up drinking a lot, because I kept losing and he agreed to drink for my forfeits lol. One guy got drunk and he started talking funny; I couldn't make out some of the gibberish that he was saying because they were mainly in canto, pity! 

Ended the night with Pictionary (HK version!) and our team lost. I think I'm the reason lah, 3 times in a row and we had to drink as forfeit. Oops.

文記車仔面(mun kee cheh zai min); mine and KH's. According to him, this is similar to yong tau foo. You put a check on the items/ingredients that you want for your bowl on the order chit. There's pig's blood curd, fried fish skin and beef balls in my bowl of noodles with beef stomach (I think) soup. Yum! Thank you for bringing me around for such awesome stuff!

reluctant...

Met up with Gladys and Zhenhui at Mongkok after lunch and we walked around a fair bit; first at Argyle Centre (旺角中心) followed by Ladies' Market (女人街). I bought me a pair of furry boots for HK$150 and we ended up in a roast meat place for dinner; the owners were really nice, and one of them, an old granny kept checking if things were okay for us. The 油雞 (Oiled chicken) was Fantastic! See...

we don't ever have 油雞 that taste this good in Singapore.

My feet were aching like crazy and I guess so were Gladys' and Zhenhui's, decided to call it a day and we went back to campus. I took a shower, lathered on the most generous amount of moisturizer all over me and here I am, freezing a little in my ridiculous outfit now -- knee-length pants, knee-length socks and my hoodie... you may laugh to your heart's content now. 

:)

Oh, and I met my room-mate today too! 

This is the view from my window when I wake up in the morning; I'm living on the 10th floor by the way. I can see the sunrise too, isn't that awesome.

and my side of the room. Didn't have a pillow the first night so I rolled my coat up and used it as one.

I'm darn sleepy now, and it's nearing 4a.m. (again!). I hope I didn't bore you with my lengthy post, good night people! And once again, Happy 2011! :) 

Lots of love.