Where in the World..?!

Day 8 & 9

25 June 2012

• Met my last missing co-worker, Carol, who came back from an annual leave in Taiwan
• Had lunch with my other intern friends at A La Dente (Western food) consisting of a salmon salad, a bed of mashed potatoes, green beans, and carrots with a piece of steak, apple pie crumbles with a scoop of vanilla
• Amanda and I headed to Causeway Bay to shop at Forever21 after work; I bought a laced purple dress for 159$ and a polka dot shirt
• We set out on an adventure to find Gong Cha and found it after SOOO LONG
• We came back to the hotel to buy our movie tickets to see Amazing Spiderman this Friday night! (:

26 June 2012

• Woke up really late (7:50) and still left around 8:05 for work
• Right when I got into the office, my HR VP talked to me about my opportunities in HK/Asia in general — I’m REALLY HOPING this will be something that happens because I see myself immersing in Asia right now
• Had lunch with Amanda at Starbucks — oh how I’ve missed my mushroom and cheese pockets
• Hung out at another Starbucks after work with my iPad and teasing a friend about his accent. Love him as a little brother I never had
• Ate AYCE korean barbecue nearby and it costed 158HKDs — sooo full now.

Day 7

24 June 2012

• I finally got to sleep in for about 8 hours today and woke up at 11.
• I met up with Amanda and Michael to eat and shop at TST.
• Ate at a Chinese restaurant near Harbour City, 100 Canton Road. My chicken & mushroom congee, barbecue pork rice noodle, and the bean curd (tofu fa) were so good.
• We met with Jenny, our new friend, at the shopping centre and we shopped at Uniqlo and H&M.
• I bought 2 dresses that were $149HKDs (~21USDs) each from H&M. 
• Bought fresh mango juice (man go jap) on Haiphong Road worth $15HKDs. Definitely getting it again.
• Went to eat dinner with my roommate and a couple other friends at a nearby Japanese restaurant. I ate bibimbap with pork and 2 rolls of salmon sushi, which equalled up to 65HKDs (~9USDs). I <3 the American conversion.
• Still had room in our stomachs to get dessert from McD’s nearby.
• Now trying to sleep early tonight for another week at work..

Days 5 & 6

22 June 2012

• Joined in on an end of Q2 birthday lunch at work. The food was boooomb. They served salmon sashimi, fried rice, noodles, chocolate cake with grapes, lots of meat, tapioca ball desserts with raspberries, etc.
• Met the CEO, David Jacob. He’s extremely nice and pretty attractive for an older guy I must say…
• Hour after lunch, I attended a work/life balance workshop where I learned how to make a macaron out of clay for a key chain and a flower pen.
• I went out with my roommate and her group to Wan Chai & LKF. It was my first night out since I arrived, and it was pretty fun until I got really sober.
• Wan Chai is super sketchy and trashy by the way.. LKF was still trashy but I’d prefer there. We went to Graffiti in LKF, which replaced the Irish Pub that I remembered two years ago. The DJ sucked.. SO much. Went to Al’s Diner and danced on top of the tables until I got more sober..

23 June 2012

• Woke up early at 10 to get ready to head to Sai Wan for the early afternoon.
• I met up with Justine, who I met along with my other exchange student friends two years ago.
• Couldn’t find the stupid sushi place we were originally supposed to go so we settled for another place nearby. Still good. Good company too. (:
• Headed back to my hotel by 3:30 and walked back down to the lobby for Lamma Island.
• The boat road to Lamma Island was HORRIBLE. I think half of our group got really sick.
• The food was amazing though: crab, lobster, fish, veggies, scallops,  fried rice, etc.
• Decided to eat at a mango dessert place in Causeway Bay, which was a nice reminder of my study abroad friends. We had an interesting night to say the least with our conversations about “sets”.
• Then we karaoked at NEWAY, which was probably the best karaoking experience I’ve ever had. We got long islands and 2 sodas to drink while singing in our own private booth. It costed about $197 including tax for about 3 hours of singing.

HK Day 4

21 June 2012

I actually woke up right when my alarm went off at 7and didn’t get up every hour! No more jet lag!

My morning at work was the most stressful I ever felt in a working environment. I had a moment when I was thinking that I was a horrible intern and couldn’t do anything right. I also accidently broke a freaken binder’s rings. HK binders are so dumb; they need to invest in the easy user-American friendly ones. My supervisor talked to me right before lunch basically saying that I had been making mistakes. She meant it as constructive criticism and told me she will help me along the way. She also told me to think of my job as long-term focus rather than a temporary short-term. This is so I can make myself valuable and make me better prepared for my future job position. It made me feel a little better, but I still felt disappointed in myself. I just need to remind myself that I need to maintain a good attitude.

I was happy to have lunch with a couple friends that work in my company’s different departments. I really didn’t want to be at my desk thinking about the mistakes I had done.

The afternoon turned out a lot better. I think I just needed food in my system. I got off work around 6, which wasn’t too bad.

Got back to the hotel area to buy some sausage buns for breakfast and decided to eat Thai food for dinner. I ate yellow curry with chicken and rice. Sooooo yummy! Then I headed to a quick grocery shop to buy a mint chocolate chip drumstick to eat on the way back. My friend told me I looked like a little girl just smiling ear to ear after buying my ice cream.

My roommate and I also bought 2 large boxes of pizza hut to get delivered to our room. It was delicious! Fatties for the win!

Skyped and face timed with my parents. It was a nice reminder of home. (:

HK Day 3

20 June 2012

-Still had horrible jet lag and woke up every single hour before heading to work
-Tried taking the city bus to work, which ended up being a lot more convenient
-Had lunch with my HR Senior Officer and took me to a delicious udon place within walking distance from work
-Had some interesting bonding time with her about girl stuff haha
-I still had a half hour left of lunch and decided to walk around the plaza and bought myself cookie dough ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s on the way back to work
-Overall a very busy day at work as I now have a lot more responsibilities and accountability put upon me
-planned to go to Happy Valley but accidentally knocked out and hung out with my roommate at the hotel room
- Chose to order 114$ HKD worth of McDonald’s and got the food delivered to our room. All I really wanted was the free blue cup so I can collect all the colored cups for ordering large meals. Fat.
-Now on my computer all night until I have to wake up for work again..

Day #1 & #2

18 June 2012

• Arrived in HK approximately 7AM.
• Had a nice chat with my taxi driver on the way to find my hotel. I think he tried telling me some kind of brief history about Britain ruling HK, but then I got lost and did the clueless head-bobbing pretending I knew what he was saying.
• Met my roommate who is extremely nice and awesome.
• We take the MTR (train) to Causeway Bay, and I discover a BRAND NEW 6-STORY FOREVER21. This has forever changed me.
• Told my roommate about the HK Pizza Hut dining experience and chose to eat there. We Americans are accustomed to Pizza Huts just being whatever and low-class, but here in HK the Pizza Huts are legitimate sit-down, fancy restaurants.
• Met my two other fellow interns who work at the same company, Marsh.
• Slept early to wake up on-time for work.

19 June 2012

• Woke and stayed up at 5AM due to jet lag.
• I anxiously got dressed in my business formal clothing before heading downstairs to meet the other interns and the coordinator.
• I must say, the Marsh HK office is NIIIIIICE. I work separately from the other two interns because we work under different supervisors from different departments.
• I luckily have the chance to work in one of the tallest buildings in HK, which is CENTRAL PLAZA on the 26/F in Wan Chai. Look it up on Wikipedia.
• My HR team/supervisors are extremely friendly and nice. I went to have lunch with them and was surprised that I understood most of the Cantonese. Funny that we ate “westernized” food for lunch (rib-eye steak, salad) rather than authentic Asian food.
• I got my own access card, work desk with my name on it, and the whole shebang. Marsh should just might as well hire me now. JK. 
• Overall a very good first work day. It’s my first exposure to the corporate world and I love it.
• Ate hot pot for dinner. It was so good until the meal ended up being 3K amongst our group of 10. Never doing that again.