Orientation: Day 2 (a.k.a. the tastiest day yet!)

Today was a long day--several breaks were scheduled (4, in fact) but not one actually happened. In the morning the OMIP (Office of Mainland and International Programmes, the people who've been conducting orientation) collected our passports to make copies of them. I also learned that to simplify matters, we will be charged a flat fee of 150 HK dollars (about $19 US) for air conditioning. Very excellent news. Next we changed locations to an auditorium also filling with freshmen. They were all singing and chanting in Cantonese; the exchange students just sat. Anyway, then we were introduced to several professors and listened to the president of the college and the president for student affairs? or something like that.

Also: we watched a video about the University and learned a dance that caused everyone to almost smack his or her neighbor in the face.

Then we went for "Exercises and Photo-taking for All Lingnanians attended by the Presidential Group." I'm not sure what the exercises were or who the Presidential Group was. All I know is that we stood out in the hot sun for a LONG time. It's amazing I didn't burn or melt. I might have to get an umbrella for the sun (well, I guess the word for that is parasol, but then I think of some frilly, poofed-out contraption) like I've seen numerous people carrying around.

After some people from a balcony snapped some photos and we performed our dance again, the exchange students and some of the freshmen went to an air-conditioned room with long white tables and waiters in suits and bow ties. The time table said High Table lunch, and indeed, in the back of the room facing us stood a high table with a fancy table cloth and seats for our guests. We sat down and waited for a bit, wondering what the silverware and dinner rolls and little plates with butter and a butter knife could be for. I had fun watching the Mainland students around me eating their rolls with a knife and fork.

Finally the guests of honor arrived and we had to rise as they entered to the opening lines of "Pomp and Circumstance" (before the graduation march part). Next the waiters delivered soup; some people were given a saltier sort of broth and others a creamier one almost like chowder. I tasted both because the girl to my left (who actually lives on my floor, I met her in the lift this morning) let me try some of hers. Unfortunately, I couldn't learn what type of soups they were because even the Mainland students were as clueless as I was.

The waiters also brought two types of main dishes, served randomly to different people. I got the tastier one, bamboo skewers with bits of seafood and vegetables, with rice, broccoli and cherry tomatoes on the side. Oh, and speaking of bamboo, I learned the spongy stuff I ate yesterday was bamboo. I could recognize all the seafood though: scallops, shrimp, mussels, and teeny-weeny octopi. I felt kind of like the walrus and the carpenter in "Alice in Wonderland" when I ate the octopi because they were so cute. They also disappointed me a bit, nothing exotic, just general seafood flavor. Yummy, though.

For dessert we ate the same mango custard gelatine concoction as yesterday and since we hadn't been stuffed with as much food I could enjoy more of it. We rose as our guests left, then sat. Then rose for a toast, then sat. Then rose to leave, then left.

Oh, actually I lied earlier, we did have a break after lunch. I hung around outside and talked for a bit before a few hours of boredom listening to the Office of Service Learning, Information Technology Services Centre and the Hong Kong police (don't do drugs, don't join the Triad Society) and waiting while everyone's passports were returned. Then all students from the U.S. went to speak with a member from the consulate. He told us how to get an absentee ballot and to not kick the doors of taxis.

Because returning passports and speaking with the U.S. consulate representative took extra time, all the American students arrived late to our Cantonese classes, which had been waiting for us. They taught us restaurant words today, but I think I'll have to stick to pointing or bringing along Cantonese-speaking friends. Especially since someone used the wrong tone with the word for chicken and our tutor laughed and said no, no, no that is a very bad word. She also told us that it is very insulting to call a girl the word for pork chop, but lamb chop is a compliment.

Afterwards, we had a tour of the Fu Tai shopping center (after a brief tour of the library. you can pay for printing with octopus cards!) with our group from yesterday and took the dirt path shortcut.

For dinner I ate the tastiest Chinese food of my life.

I'm sorry if all my descriptions of food become boring. But I love food, so I'm going to keep doing it anyway. So. We ate at a restaurant in the shopping center that I wouldn't have gone to otherwise because of the non-English menu. At first our guides tried going through the menu and describing everything, then we decided to just share dishes for the table and let them choose the ones.

The dishes were:
Scrambled eggs with shrimp and noodles (or were they sprouts?)
The tastiest, melt-in-your-mouth tofu of my life with assorted veggies and bits of beef (this one was kind of saucy and had to be spooned onto the rice)
Eggplant with other vegetables (also needed to be spooned out)
Spicy fried pork with onions and green peppers. Definitely spicy. Definitely tasty.
And my favorite of favorites--chicken wings with bits of melon. It was kind of sweet, but not in a dessert-ish type way.

I was complimented on my chopstick skills :)

Oh, and the tea! Red tea with honey, and absolutely the best!

And all of this deliciousness was mine for $4 US and some excellent guides.

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Structural difference to note: Have I mentioned the short height of the steps? It won't be long before I trip up the stairs.