tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-325406602011-04-21T14:12:57.964-07:00a great memory for things in the pastrobinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.comBlogger701100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-7685199630526876532006-12-28T12:58:00.000-08:002007-07-08T21:15:15.399-07:00

gotta say, i've been back for a week now, and i'm still loving it. might have to something to do with being unemployed and spending a week at my parents' place, where i have no responsibilities other than occasionally doing the dishes. and i loooove doing their dishes - it means i get to rearrange the kitchen utensils to my taste! hong kong feels like a dream and i absolutely cannot believe that

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-28585961551009695882006-12-28T12:40:00.000-08:002008-12-08T22:33:25.835-08:00

Got a decent sleep on the train (just like the one in ‘Nam!) and arrived in rainy Chongqing at about 7am. We had no hotel cause we were going to try to catch a boat down the river, so I dragged the boys off to the Hilton for breakfast. Decided to golocal 2nd class cause according to the LP, the only difference between first and second class was the number of beds and the three of us wanted to

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-88668188703269155572006-12-23T22:40:00.000-08:002008-12-08T22:33:26.231-08:00

This was my big day!!! Seeing the great Buddha of Leshan changed my life. Well, not really, but it was kind of great. I needed to see it cause the New Horizons textbook we used in Japan featured a lesson about it… “The Great Buddha of Leshan is 71 metres tall…”. We took the bus two hours of town and I thought Rodrigo was going to die. We were on a mini bus with no working heat or television. Not

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-49914384871438933712006-12-22T12:20:00.000-08:002008-12-08T22:33:26.637-08:00

In the morning, I ran down to Starbucks, grabbed a coffee and cabbed it over to see Mao. Much like Rodrigo, I sort of fell into line with a tour group and ended up in the mausoleum compound. I was the only visible foreigner and felt mightily out of place. Most people were very excited and rushing to purchase flowers to place in the entrance hall. No one is allowed to stop moving while in Mao’s

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-36143875618666044102006-12-22T12:15:00.000-08:002008-12-08T22:33:26.753-08:00

In the morning, Frederik went to visit the Wall at Badaling, Dennis relaxed and Rodrigo and I made a mad dash for Mao’s mausoleum. We thought we arrived too late and were taking photos in the square while being accosted by a little girl selling flags when we noticed a line forming on the other side of the building. When we ran over, the guards were shouting that it was the last group going in and

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1166761864334541332006-12-21T20:21:00.000-08:002006-12-21T20:31:04.340-08:00

The Summer Palace was beautiful, especially with a stomach full of KFC coffee! Ugh, I’m looking forward to home-cooked meals. It was sunny and cold, and Rodrigo, Frederik and I found real cappuccino on the palace grounds. We also found a building under construction that was shielded by tarps – not your traditional blue though; the tarps were covered in an image of the building underneath. Just

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1166761158947213402006-12-21T20:12:00.000-08:002006-12-21T20:19:51.820-08:00

The next morning, we decided to head out to see the Great Wall. It’s something that I felt I had to do, but that didn’t hold a lot of interest. I mean, it’s a wall, right? I’ve seen walls, new and old. But holy cow – what a freaking wall! I have to say that Simatai was a highlight of my exchange trip. It was amazing. We hired a cab for the entire day for about $120 Canadian and packed ourselves

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1166735294683095882006-12-21T13:04:00.000-08:002006-12-21T20:19:35.380-08:00

am finally home in vancouver! i've finished writing up our china odyssey... here goes...Day 1We started in Beijing where the weather was sunny, crisp and cold. When we arrived at the airport, Dennis and I realized that we had no means of communication with Rodrigo and that he didn’t know our flight number, our cell phone numbers or the hotel information. That should be an indication of the

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1166160464565440812006-12-14T21:19:00.000-08:002006-12-14T21:27:44.576-08:00

ahhh... it was nice to be back in hong kong after our chinese odyssey! i'm now sitting in the hk airport, very near to the benches where bill and i spent one gloriously ill night on our way out of 'nam... memories! china was great - loads of adventures, interesting toilets and of course, the life-changing Great Buddha of Leshan. hit up my favorite dim sum AND hot pot restaurants yesterday and had

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1165495534720909702006-12-07T04:39:00.000-08:002006-12-07T04:45:45.766-08:00

congrats to the sauder mba class of 2007! we did it! wish i could have been there for the gala, but was on my way up the great wall of china... you win some, you lose some. actually spent the day in the company of some of sauder's best - rodrigo, dennis, sammy and joyce! had a little hotpot party of our own. beijing was amazing - loved visiting, could never live there! highlights (i'll do a big

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1165106404023193752006-12-02T16:36:00.000-08:002006-12-02T16:40:04.036-08:00

ah. ahhhhhh.....no more pencils, no more books! off to beijing. little worried about the temperature. it's hovering around 0 degrees there. it's about 20 here and we're all shivering and wearing sweaters. i noticed it last week. the tourists are all in tank tops and shorts and the locals are bundled up like crazy. hope i can handle real winter. am gonna miss my little room here, but cannot wait

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1165069717488382592006-12-02T06:28:00.000-08:002006-12-02T06:28:37.500-08:00

DONE! and off to beijing in the morning...

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1164865359702026822006-11-29T21:18:00.000-08:002006-11-29T21:44:55.843-08:00

the avenue of stars - view of hong kong islandanders, me and blue clifford at the temple of 10,000 buddhas in shatinthe girls after pasta night at lotte'si know, i know, no posts for a while... i've been taking advantage of the good weather to really enjoy my last week in hong kong! rodrigo arrived from shanghai on friday and we did the ladies market, walked through kowloon, stopped at knutsford

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1164061496094047892006-11-20T14:23:00.000-08:002006-11-20T14:24:56.106-08:00

note to self: phone interviews at 5am - not a good thing. back to bed. maybe i'll wake up in two hours and forget it ever happened.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163717579910338862006-11-16T14:50:00.000-08:002006-11-16T14:52:59.923-08:00

it's 640am and i just finished a phone interview. i think i did ok - at the end of it, when they asked me the time, they were shocked at my cheeriness. haha! fooled them! i'm not cheery at all, i was just smart enbough to borrow frederik's french press before bed last night... one more at 8am - we'll see how it goes. man, these selection processes are rough... initial phone interview, panel phone

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163587231610308372006-11-15T02:33:00.000-08:002006-11-15T02:40:31.626-08:00

today was a bit of a waste....but i'm getting really excited to go back to canada!just spent my whole day messenging with friends in NA and realized how much i miss them! then i spent an hour with alle, clarissa and a whole pile of m&ms, talking about christmas traditions in different countries... now i want to see the trees at the 4 Seasons and go to the botanical gardens! and i want a

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163491694534220752006-11-13T23:57:00.000-08:002006-11-14T00:08:14.560-08:00

running on six hours of sleep today... i'm too old for that. i like to get a solid eight. went out with about 20 people to sky platform, a restaurant on the roof of our suburban town hall. nice view, overlooks the river... is only actually about 4 storeys up. dinner was a nice western style set menu, then we went outside and sat on the patio until we got kicked out. any brought some italian

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163407214774529802006-11-13T00:22:00.000-08:002006-11-13T00:40:14.786-08:00

went over to kowloon tong - what a great place - to meet with ivy about our dell in china project for marketing yesterday and discovered a great store full of useless but super cute housewares! what a great mall. ivy also convinced me to try a chinese cold remedy called pei pa koa. it's loquat extract.... and delish! we'll see if it actually helps... went to cooking class with some of the girls

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163311150170176332006-11-11T21:58:00.000-08:002006-11-11T21:59:10.170-08:00

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1163310379576661422006-11-11T21:34:00.000-08:002006-11-11T22:05:25.360-08:00

i can't believe that i'll be leaving hong kong in less than a month! looks like i'm finished school on the 2nd, so will probably leave the next day or so for beijing. am planning to travel around in china a bit - head across to tibet from beijing, then back to sichuan and down through guanzhou before hopping over to japan for a few days. should be a lot of fun! i'll get to see sammy and joyce up

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1162967836410770602006-11-07T22:01:00.000-08:002006-11-07T22:45:55.746-08:00

ugh. not feeling too hot today. there is a cold going around here and i think i caught it. boo! am taking a day off sightseeing to recover. sitting in my room, doing laundry and reading academic papers about women in management. the reading is making me think that naptime is a-coming soon!did some more sightseeing on monday. was all set to spend the day in front of the computer when i got a call

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1162729007381144442006-11-05T04:15:00.000-08:002006-11-05T04:20:31.430-08:00

me as ange-lindsay...ahhhh... sunday night. 730 pm. full of seafood and veggies. ahhhhh.....had a great weekend. once again, it's gonna sound like i don't actually go to school at all, but remember people, i'm on exchange... cultural events are an important part of my trip! i can't believe that i'm basically leaving here in 4 weeks. feels like i just hit my stride. spent friday in shenzhen,

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1162360072782689162006-10-31T21:40:00.000-08:002006-10-31T21:47:52.796-08:00

well, i've been having such a rough week that there's been barely time to think, much less write about it. i mean, between shopping on saturday, going to the pool on sunday, walking on the seawall on monday and halloween yesterday...really! student life is hard work. turns out the pool on campus is really nice! walked up there on sunday for a lazy swim and some poolside lounging while the boys

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1162014420767313182006-10-27T22:28:00.000-07:002006-10-27T22:47:00.780-07:00

one of the exchange students at our school was only here for half of a semester and rented a boat for his last day in hk. we all hit the supermarket for food and bevvies, then headed to the pier in TST. it was a pretty eclectic group, mostly european with a couple of canadians and asians thrown in for good measure! when the boat left the dock, we realized that we had 3 stowaways on board! three

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1161842848418038712006-10-25T23:06:00.000-07:002006-10-25T23:15:36.316-07:00

just thought i'd post a photo of our meeting with patty, javier and katherine...man, that was so crazy.and a little shout out and some TLC to my grandpa who has had a big week! glad to hear everything is going well! sit back and let my mom and dad take care of everything.... (that's what i like to do!)

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1161791234359683042006-10-25T08:43:00.000-07:002006-10-25T08:47:14.560-07:00

so, anyways, shanghai, shanghai, shanghai... it was great, but i'm not writing about it anymore... richard marx...finished up my papers this week! am free of work for a while and have a much lighter schedule! ahh...took advantage fo that to go to cooking class with marc and anna and anna's mum tonight. it was great fun! we made deep fried fish and eggplant in broad bean sauce... well, we watched

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1161576951885163182006-10-22T21:08:00.000-07:002006-10-22T21:15:51.896-07:00

wow. it's almost the end of october! crazy! haven't been out, other than for food in a couple of weeks. can't wait for wednesday. after that, i'm free!!! at least for a little while. considering going on a little trip this weekend but am probably just gonna stick around here and explore parts of hong kong that i haven't seen. i can't believe how much of this area that i still have to explore.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1161242243710913882006-10-19T00:11:00.000-07:002006-10-19T00:17:23.720-07:00

the other day matt asked me if i was actually attending classes in hong kong, or just sightseeing. i realized that i don't write much about school. i figured that today i would write a little something about school, since it's midterm season and i'm in the middle of three hell weeks. and yes, they are hell weeks because i didn't do any work in advance. damn that dennis! so smart - doing all his

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160901699582261982006-10-15T01:37:00.000-07:002006-10-15T01:41:39.596-07:00

Woke up a bit early for my liking, ate a fairly strange breakfast at the hotel and headed for the train station. Got ourselves some tickets to hangzhou, a city 2 hours away from shanghai, rumoured to be one of China’s most scenic spots. The boys had big hopes of continuing on to suzhou, which is famous for producing(?) beautiful women. The train was pretty good, took about two hours. Dennis had a

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160900781176484862006-10-15T01:21:00.000-07:002006-10-15T01:26:21.186-07:00

at four pm today it was 27 degrees with 86% humidity. help.so, this morning we went over to the island for the rat race...dennis was a couple of minutes late. usually, i'd be mildly irritated, but today it was fortuitous! at tsim sha tsui station, i looked out the window and thought "that girl looks like katehrine" (who is in my class at UBC). she then got on the SAME train, SAME car, SAME door

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160701630340166902006-10-12T18:06:00.000-07:002006-10-12T18:07:10.350-07:00

Since arriving in Hong Kong, I’ve seen ads everywhere for mooncakes. I knew they were something associated with the mid-autumn festival, but couldn’t figure out what they were…. Well, now that the festival is over, mooncakes are cheap and plentiful…. And turns out they are the fruitcake of China! I’ve got a whole box of them sitting in my room and I can’t GIVE the things away! Jeez. So if anyone

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160634508913879382006-10-11T23:18:00.000-07:002006-10-11T23:28:28.930-07:00

hhhh…. So nice to have my own shower! Could have stayed in it for an hour, except that the extremely chlorinated water made me kind of feel like I was showering at a public pool. Met up with the boys and we headed to Carrefour for breakfast. I was really excited to go cause we study it so much and I’ve never seen one in person! Turns out to be a pretty good store. Got some food court snacks and

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160575845582038812006-10-11T06:57:00.000-07:002006-10-11T07:11:08.536-07:00

Ahhh… Shanghai. City of perfect temperatures and friendly taxi drivers. Mecca of dumplings and Starbucks. Headquarters of chicken extravaganza and blood-sucking mosquitoes. The fun we had…Last Thursday morning, as I lay on my 2-inch thick mattress, dreaming of something lovely, I was rudely awakened by Dennis text-messaging me. Ohhhh…. Had to get up at 530 to catch an 830 flight up to Shanghai.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1160459288763596292006-10-09T22:42:00.000-07:002006-10-09T22:49:42.596-07:00

i'm back from shanghai! we had a fantastic time! i have so much to write! today is crazy busy though, so it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. until then, some pics. poor streetnanjing roadtea bazaarpudong me at the city god's temple

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159926614132623062006-10-03T18:45:00.000-07:002006-10-03T18:50:14.156-07:00

last night's class was full fantastic moments, largely due to our marketing prof! he got through everything to do with marketing in less than one lecture, so that he could get back to ranting about whatever strikes his fancy. love it! he did take a couple moments to talk about his cerruti suits, and how he can only wear fake goods during the day, certainly not when out with his rich friends.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159593317023617602006-09-29T21:50:00.000-07:002006-09-29T22:23:56.096-07:00

met with one of my project groups yesterday to go ask our prof about his expectations for our major project and incredibly, he outlined the entire thing for us, with examples and everything! what a great start to a great day! the karaoke singer here is wesker, one of the guys in the full time mba class. he's from hong kong and professes to be a beer drinking champion. he's been trying to get us

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159418169471924212006-09-27T21:20:00.000-07:002006-09-28T08:20:57.743-07:00

went to the races last night at happy valley, a race track in causeway bay. we were quite the international group - from canada, germany, france, taiwan, korea, japan and australia. one of the guys with us is a professional gambler and taught us all sorts of horseracing slang. he also managed to get us some tips on the actual races. i diversified a bit - how could i not bet on a horse named "

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159284804712189262006-09-26T08:30:00.000-07:002006-09-26T08:36:25.573-07:00

so, in case anyone was wondering... my titles are generally fantastic quotes from my professors or people i meet along my travels. this particular gem came from my CRM prof this morning. ooh! exciting stuff! the yoshida kyoudai are coming to the auditorium in the mall in my neighbourhood! and now that i've written it down, i feel that i may have mentioned it before. whatever. i'm going. and the

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159261786797074042006-09-26T01:55:00.000-07:002006-09-26T08:28:34.503-07:00

spent all of yesterday cooped up in my room trying to write papers and just hating it. too sunny to be indoors. by dinnertime, i was super grumpy so i decided to see another film-fest movie. went to see pai gu, a documentary about a bootleg dvd seller in shenzhen. on the way there, we were all talking so much that we almost got off the train at the wrong spot, and ended up being just late enough

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1159082227343570272006-09-23T23:58:00.000-07:002006-09-24T00:17:07.363-07:00

homework day. went for lunch with my little chinese friend olivia. she's from guanzhou and is doing her master's in geology. she's using me for my english skills... i'm using her for - nothing yet, but i'll think of something! the cafeteria ladies are getting really friendly. the cashier likes to follow me around and try to speak english and the beverage lady tries to teach me how to say orange

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158991020405429722006-09-22T22:44:00.000-07:002006-09-22T22:57:00.416-07:00

so, no fun for me this weekend. i'm all about class. cross-cultural management on a sunny saturday afternoon... almost as good as the beach. went to shenzhen yesterday and spent only a modest amount of money. i'm really proud, cause the only things i bought were things that i had planned to buy before even arriving! yay me! the air up there is so bad that after six hours of shopping in the smoky,

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158752106733218022006-09-20T04:34:00.000-07:002006-09-20T04:36:40.376-07:00

our class has two teams participating in this race:http://www.centralratrace.comwish me luck! ahhh!

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158749978400112962006-09-20T03:37:00.000-07:002006-09-20T03:59:38.476-07:00

i completely forgot to mention that on my way home from shenzhen last friday, the sky opened and the ocean fell out of it... as i was walking home from the station, a lady grabbed my elbow and asked me if she could share my umbrella as far as the parking lot. turns out, her husband works at the university and she was picking up the car. as one good turn deserves another, i guess, she drove me

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158381544440523442006-09-15T21:23:00.000-07:002006-09-15T21:39:11.090-07:00

marc, anna and i decided to hop over to mainland china today for a little shopping. legend had it that just beyond the lo wu border crossing lay a mall brimming with (donovan, stop reading now!) fake designer goods, cheap as cheap can be. took us about 20 minutes to get to the border with only one small train mishap.... for which i take full responsibility. we decided to meet ON the train but i

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158109791771885232006-09-12T18:04:00.000-07:002006-09-12T18:10:17.953-07:00

ugh. last night was typhoon warning level 1. woke up this morning to heavy rain and a rainfall amber alert that specified that anyone living in a wooden hut should get the heck out. we just don't have announcements like that in canada. took a picture out my bedroom window but it doesn't do the weather justice. and this is no typhoon, just a tropical depression. can't wait to walk to class. i see

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1158076902238358612006-09-12T08:42:00.000-07:002006-09-12T18:03:51.700-07:00

here's a photo of the campus from the train station. back to class today, after spending all day yesterday running around picking up my china visa. school was good.... crm class this morning was all about data warehousing and data mining. learned that accurate information is impossible to gather in china. then learned the same thing tonight in a different context in marketing in china class. the

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157874235615927162006-09-10T00:28:00.000-07:002006-09-10T00:43:55.713-07:00

ahhhh... today the temperature is such that i can open my windows and sit around wearing a t-shirt and short pants almost comfortably. usually, i'm all about rushing home to turn on the air-con and change into shorts and a tank top. it's sooo nice. we're having a week of overcast weather that should include a fair amount of rain. monsoon style rain. yesterday, dennis and i had our saturday

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157776884103858392006-09-08T21:13:00.000-07:002006-09-08T21:42:56.136-07:00

we have no classes on fridays, so dennis, mia and i decided to hit soho for some exploring. stopped off at the travel agency to get our visas for china on the way. the travel agency we took our stuff to was in a shady area.... lot of clubs with names like "tycoon" and "paradise"... ew. soho was fantastic once again... found many new shops and chatted to some of the designers. check out the links!

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157644932529340882006-09-07T08:57:00.000-07:002006-09-07T09:02:12.540-07:00

so... the course is actually cool. a series of case studies dealing with issues that leaders face. a very practical application of leadership theories and strategies. our whole crew is in the class, so it'll for sure be an interesting ride. after class, the boys went out for drinks and food. mia and i hit the sev for carlsberg and chocolate and retired to the dorm for gossip and relaxation. i

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157598283752579872006-09-06T19:56:00.000-07:002006-09-06T20:04:43.973-07:00

dennis and i met mei's friend allen yesterday. she's a lawyer from guanzhou who is doing her llm at cuhk. she seems really nice and has invited us up to china to visit her and mei's families. she also mentioned cheap shopping, but that barely interests me... pfft. shopping. who needs it. ME!!! that's who!!!!strategy class was a bit crazy. couple of guys with strong opinions, no one made a lot of

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157505839867829882006-09-05T18:05:00.000-07:002006-09-05T18:50:52.370-07:00

ah... got the first day of school under my belt. tuesday is my big day - 2 lectures, 3 hours each. crm(customer relationship management) in the morning, which frederik has decided is a class in which we will learn how to kiss ass. the prof was talking about data engineering and data mining and suddenly had a very cognos-looking star schema up on the screen! i almost ran away! IT class is haunting

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157383587890583312006-09-04T08:19:00.000-07:002006-09-04T22:05:43.226-07:00

nothing like a moonlit walk through campus to make you feel at home. tonight we found a bar on campus... sadly, every single patron was an exchange student. mostly undergrads - who are lovely people, but look like i could be their mother. i had one beer and decided to head home, seeing as i have a 930 class. the walk down (the bar is at the top of the cliff, my room is at the bottom) was gorgeous

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157353183563929512006-09-03T23:58:00.001-07:002006-09-03T23:59:43.570-07:00

the crocodile hunter is dead. i don't know what to say.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157335779032222912006-09-03T18:40:00.000-07:002006-09-03T19:12:34.406-07:00

i'm not finished my internship report. i wish i was finished my internship report. being in another country and with a new semester starting tomorrow, i have no motivation to do it. i know i'll be happy once it's done and handed in. it has occured to me that my feelings about this are much like my feelings about showering in the dorm....every morning i spend a ridiculous amount of time

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157201787414356182006-09-02T05:51:00.000-07:002006-09-02T06:11:42.886-07:00

michele, mia and i hit the town today for street markets, dim sum and more shopping. had to order a couple of dim sum items blind because the restaurant had no english or photos on the menu. ended up with galic pork - a bit much, and a mixture of pork, shrimp and egg yolk served on a scooped out piece of zucchini. interesting. i'm completely elated - having found the hk version of main street!

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157168601977332252006-09-01T20:19:00.000-07:002006-09-01T20:43:22.190-07:00

dennis and i hit one of the on-campus canteens for breakfast yesterday... i got pork buns and dim sum, he ended up with a giant breakfast of eggs, ham, toast, pork buns and a mysterious noodle dish. it's hard to eat a lot in the heat, but we seem to manage two meals a day in the air-conditioning. the food on campus isn't bad, and it's pretty convenient. i think we're going to be eating a lot more

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1157072643800157152006-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:002006-08-31T18:07:14.920-07:00

ah yes, shatin... town of a billion inter-connected shopping malls. my happy place....hit up an orientation seminar yesterday and discovered that the university watersports centre is pretty much across the road from our residence. i want to go kayaking!there are 400 exchange students at cuhk this year and most of them seem to be american or european. we're in the process of finding the other MBA

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156983469826134782006-08-30T16:54:00.000-07:002006-08-30T17:17:55.466-07:00

they're back! i had them in 'nam, again in tokyo this summer and yesterday, i got them in hk. stupid heat edema gives me disgusting swollen feet when i'm out in the heat without enough water. i would have posted a photo but i think some people would be less than pleased. bill - i'm sure you can just close your eyes and picture them! went to the mall for breakfast yesterday and drank an americano.

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156899732005376522006-08-29T17:38:00.000-07:002006-08-29T18:06:41.476-07:00

so, the mac has done it again! she had no problem finding the internet here, whilst the kids with pcs are stuggling to figure it out... ate lunch in one of the staff canteens yesterday. pretty good food - got some singapore noodles for $20. was quite interesting though as the staff eating at noon were primarily construction workers. they weren't quite sure what to make of me, but were nice enough

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156812756617723022006-08-28T17:43:00.000-07:002006-08-28T17:53:37.613-07:00

dennis is here! rodrigo - don't worry, i'm taking good care of him!so, yesterday i was kind of lazing about my room enjoying the cool air and my new books when i realized that the orientation people probably sent dennis to the orientation dorms instead of over to the jockey club. the realization that he was probably surrounded by a bajillion other foreign students led me to think that he was

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156743673032199882006-08-27T21:04:00.000-07:002006-08-27T22:41:13.126-07:00

Ngo n sek tang gandong waSei sow ganSo far that's the extent of my cantonese. "I don't understand cantonese" and "washroom". both useful. woke up sunday morning feeling a billion times better than i did on saturday when i wrote the last post. the bunch of us headed back into town for the second and final day of orientation. on the schedule for the day - talks about eastern philosophy, poverty,

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156737487649105912006-08-27T20:52:00.000-07:002006-08-27T21:03:39.530-07:00

Ok. So I’m writing this in word and will post it once I get internet in my room. Monday is gonna be my magic day – I’ll get a student card which will get me air conditioning and internet access and dennis will arrive! Ooh – Kelly from across the hall just came by and refreshed my air-con credits. She uses her card to give me credits and I give her cash (1 hk dollar/hour - .15 canadian dollars)…

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156472168396932722006-08-24T18:50:00.000-07:002006-08-24T19:16:08.483-07:00

i have arrived. ahhhh....am currently sequestered in my air-conditioned hotel room so that i can live out my jet-lag in peace. actually, i've got a three hour internet card and am putting it to good use. just remembered that i need to print out a map of the university... how did i think it was a good idea to get on the plane with no contact info/maps for anything...?so, the last 30 hours or so

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156261130980804432006-08-22T08:25:00.000-07:002006-08-22T08:45:37.220-07:00

so, 1 sleep 'til i go!!! woke up this morning at 655, no alarm. got packing immediately. now it's 822 and i'm done. i'm fairly surprised that my bags are not stuffed beyond capacity, just nicely full. split up each category of clothing anad accessory between the two bags just in case one gets lost (they are being checked straight to hk even though i've got to change planes in shanghai. throwing a

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1156129759573003852006-08-20T19:56:00.000-07:002006-08-20T20:11:19.323-07:00

So, my room is a disaster and i'm doing everything i can to avoid packing. i've carted most things i'm leaving here down to the storage room, and sent my sewing machine off to the babysitter's - thanks jess! decided to get a hotel for my first night in hk... actually, my mom made that decision for me and it has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. i love that my mom is making decisions for me

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1155876722545849062006-08-17T21:50:00.000-07:002006-08-17T21:52:02.546-07:00

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1155875229315963962006-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:002006-08-17T21:28:34.696-07:00

so, tomorrow is my last day on the job, and i think i'm really going to miss it. i know that i've only been there for ten weeks, but it feels like i've been there forever. in a comfortable way, not in a stuck-in-a-rut kind of way. over the past couple of weeks, i've really felt like one of the gang (what a nerd) and i like it! yesterday i trained some of the hr managers in the company on a new

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1155703446769301652006-08-15T21:33:00.000-07:002006-08-15T21:45:23.853-07:00

holy crap! i'm leaving a week from tomorrow. one week. that is not a lot of days. not nearly enough. being the nervous traveller that i am, i'm starting to freak out. realized it tonight when patty asked me when i was leaving and my answer came out all loud and warbly. i hate this period of time right before i do something new. i'm such a pessimist that i expect the worst and get myself all

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1155518176590779032006-08-13T18:09:00.000-07:002006-08-14T22:13:35.840-07:00

second last weekend before leaving town. had a guest here from the UK so we did our best to be uber-canadian. this involved shotgunning beer, hitting kits beach, wreck beach (i declined) and a little hop over to richmond for the night markets. nothing like having meat on a stick in one hand and a bowl of noodles in the other while trying to navigate the crowds. we did note that the stalls are far

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32540660.post-1155257871538436012006-08-10T17:51:00.000-07:002006-08-10T19:58:13.256-07:00

as the title suggests, i'm just a little ball of stress right now. less than two weeks to go before i leave, haven't started packing. who am i kidding - haven't even THOUGHT of packing. did my shopping today - shampoo and such. this is so different than leaving for japan... i brought everything i could think of last time. this time i'm only bringing two medium bags of clothes. not saying i'll

robinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05909269966181151655noreply@blogger.com0