The first week in my Putonghua classes was spent mostly practicing all the strange noises that my American mouth is not trained to create. Making nonsensical sounds over and over again as a class with a slightly over-enthusiastic teacher made me feel like I was in a rehabilitation class after a massive stroke or horrifying car accident. (Think "fee fi fo fum" x100)
In other news, I traveled to China's cheap attempt at Las Vegas this weekend, a city on the south coast of China called Macau. We took the TurboJet ferry there on Saturday morning, which took about an hour. Macau was a Portuguese settlement and was controlled by Portugal until ten years ago, when it was handed over to the Chinese government. Like Hong Kong, though, Macau maintains an independent currency, legal system, and basic government structure.
There is beautiful Portuguese architecture, such as churches, statues, and museums, interspersed among a relatively dirty and busy Chinese city. Macau feels like an underdeveloped Las Vegas. Just like Las Vegas was grimy and unpolished fifteen years ago, Macau is still undergoing growing pains. There are giant new casinos, cranes, and construction projects all over the city, but the current offerings of casinos feel empty and soulless. I've never been to Las Vegas, but I feel like there are things to appreciate aside from gambling: world-class restaurants, art museums, Cirque de Soleil, Broadway productions, the Bellagio fountain, and lots of other entertainment. In Macau, it just feels like they transplanted a bunch of glitzy buildings from Las Vegas, but only brought the slot machines and gaming tables.
Also, everything seems unpolished. The one museum we visited was empty, un-air conditioned (it was 95 outside), and staffed by Filipinos that knew nothing about what was inside.
On a more positive note, a dude from Miami and I went to the MGM Grand, which felt much more legitimate, and used the concierge service to get recommendations for a good Portuguese restaurant. They made reservations for us, booked us a taxi, and we spent our hour and a half of free time with our feet in the water at the beautiful infinity pool which looked out on the Friendship Bridge and the South China Sea. When we returned, the women was standing in the lobby waiting for us, greeted me as Mr. Fancher, and they escorted us to our taxi, which cost us $2 US each.
It was my first time trying Portuguese food. I had African Chicken, which is supposedly a renowned Portuguese dish. The origin of the name baffles me. My friend had octopus rice, which was also quite delicious. A big benefit to living in Southeast Asia is that my money takes me a very, very long way.
Before we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong, we saw Taiwan's display for the international fireworks competition.
I'll end this post with a little gem I found in the middle of Macau. Perhaps this sign means something completely innocuous, but those symbols look vaguely familiar... Notice my utter disgust:
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First off, I'm very disappointed that you only qualified for INTERMEDIATE Financial Accounting. C'mon man, go big or go home. Second, how do you know Las Vegas was grimy 15 years ago if you've never been there... And third, brilliant picture. Looks like your semester is starting off significantly much cooler than mine. I've got no ridiculously cheap restaurants and no casinos to practice my unbelievable skill at. I did go downtown once, and your description of Macau seemed eerily on target, there were really glamourous buildings right across from shabby unoccupied, stopped-in-the-middle-of-construction appearing ones. Not sure if I'll return anytime soon. In other news, I got lost driving yesterday and ran into the biggest farmer's market I had ever seen, a place I'll have to check out in the future when I actually have cash with me.
ReplyDeleteYo!
ReplyDeleteWelcome Josh! Victor! The accounting class is actually the second-to-last one I need for an Accounting minor. And, I suppose I'm speculating that Las Vegas was grimy 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou should visit the Coke museum and get some free soda, and then go to CNN and try to be their chief linear algebra correspondant.
Also, compared to Hong Kong, you should feel priveleged to have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. All I can eat here is fried noodles/fish/egg/babies alongside a generous amounts of the whitest Wonderbread I've ever seen...with the crust cut off. Oh yeah, and "sausage" with breakfast = hot dog meat...
The swastika is a Buddhist symbol in most asian cultures. In Japan it's called a Manji and is related to peace. If you ever look at a Japanese map, you'll see little swastikas dotting the map, denoting temples.
ReplyDeleteThe nazi party basically took the symbol and flipped it around, turning it into what you recognize as a swastika.