The bank and I become acquainted

After some brief orientation activities with Student Services and making plans to meet at half after twelve for a trip to Town Centre I decided to (finally) visit the bank. Good thing I left plenty of time, because from 11:15 until 12:30, that's where I was. Waiting. Luckily a cheery and repetitious tune played in the background.

I couldn't deposit my traveler's checks at that time because the teller wanted to see the receipts as well and I'd left those in my room. I wouldn't have had time to sign them all anyway.

I'd been waiting in line with some Korean friends, so they joined us on our Town Centre trip. We all wanted to get cell phones. I hadn't wanted to get one, but I'd fast realized I'll need one to meet up with people after orientation days and so I can worry less about getting lost on grand excursions. Plus our guides yesterday said: "You need a cell phone." It wasn't too expensive though; I chose a prepaid plan that only covers Hong Kong and an un-snazzy phone (but at least it's magenta).

But first I found a bank that could cash some of my traveler's checks.

We found a bakery for lunch. I bought...I don't remember. A bun with pork and something baked into it. And a smaller piece of almond and something bread. Then for breakfast tomorrow I bought some kind of walnut pastry. And for dessert someday I have a cranberry flavored squishy puffy thing. I wasn't in the mood for water, so I tried cantaloupe juice. It tasted fine with the baked goods, but I wouldn't drink it by itself. I think I would have liked it better if I liked cantaloupes more.

Then more wandering.

We took a minibus back to campus. We'd taken a bus (and sat on the second level!) to the Centre, but the minibus is much faster. Only thing is, we have to remember to press the little red button on the side or he'll drive right past the stop. We'd forgotten that, and the driver had to quickly change through a few lanes and execute some minor swerving. We felt pretty awful.


And then: the bank again. This time to deposit most of the money I'd gotten from the traveler's checks and to pay the air conditioning fee.

I wandered about Fu Tai afterwards; I'm hoping sometime soon I'll manage to walk confidently in the correct direction after exiting. I bought some guava juice to make my dinner of leftover rice more lively. It's delicious, but VERY sweet, so I'll know to dilute it a bit next time.

And when I unlocked my door: I met my roomate! She's actually from Mainland China, although she's a full-time student at Lingnan. Her major is translation, so she's excited about the opportunity to improve on her English. She offered me some food from her native town, but without any English names. I tried these small, greeny crunchy fruits and a slightly larger reddish fruit that tasted like a sweet apple, only not--that much I did learn. I also ate a prepackaged crispy twisted bread type thing with nuts that tasted a bit fishy. But the only English on the label says, "Famous Chinese Snack Food" and "Hard Nut." I tried going to the website, http://www.gfx.com.cn but it didn't help. Any ideas? It tasted a bit fishy (just in the literal sense), but that might be my imagination.

Anyway, so then I talked with my roommate for awhile and learned about China. We're waiting for her boxes to arrive, but they might not get here until 11. And now I'm watching "Heroes" with Chinese subtitles. Hiro Nakamura just arrived in New York City after some scene with Mohinder and Eden that I missed because I was typing the previous sentences.