Instant coffee nastiness

I couldn't seem to stay awake today, so I resorted to the instant coffee. The instructions told me to mix it with 180 mL of hot water--less than half a juice box's (375 mL) worth. Eughck...Yes, it was awful enough to warrant a new noise of disgust. I gulped it down anyway and left for class with combination coffee-toothpaste-Chapstick breath. Lovely.

People were coughing through all of my classes. First thing tomorrow I'm buying vitamin-C loaded juice, even if there's no scientific evidence that it'll help. And maybe some vitamins. And a mask. And latex gloves. And a large plastic bubble. Okay, okay, I'll stop being paranoid.

In Mandarin class today we learned how to sing "The More We Get Together" and a traditional folk song. Both in Chinese, of course. Actually, the entire lesson was very hilarious, but in a "you had to be there" sort of way. Sorry.

After class we went a few towns over for hot pot. It wasn't the traditional Chinese hot pot, more of a fast-food type place, but it was still really fun. Each person was given a small iron cauldron-type-thing filled with water, mushrooms, other vegetables, tofu, and noodles; thin slices of raw beef wrapped in plastic; wooden chopsticks and a plastic spoon (packaged in a spork and napkin type arrangement); a tiny cup of sesame sauce; and a cup of Pepsi. Then an employee came by and placed the mini-cauldrons on top of tripod-type structures (really they weren't at all like tripods but they functioned like it) and lit the cans of Sterno underneath. When the water started boiling we added the beef and when everything's cooked we extinguished the flames with ...ahh...oh! candle extinguishers! For dessert we ate these crispy, sugary pastry things (fresh and toasty warm!).

We returned in time for the Joint University Mass Dance; dance teams from other Hong Kong universities came to Lingnan and performed. Along with the Lingnan dance team, of course. Bank of East Asia sponsored, so people passed out shiny programs and those inflatable sticks that you smack together. "Pong Bong Stick" the wrapper says. Anyway, I loved looking through the names in the program. Of course, I'm not sure how many are actual English nicknames and how many are special-for-dance-club nicknames. I mean, Fish BALL? Really?? However, I did see someone with a variation of my name, and further up the page, my sister's! Amazing! Then I thought, wouldn't it be really amazing if I saw my brother's name? But no, that would be too much of a coincidence. But yes! Two pages later below Angela and James!

And tonight's gift from the hostel committee: perfume satchels (potpourri)! It smelled nice until it gave me a headache.