Happy New Year

EXAMS ARE OVER!!!!

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy New Year. I am leaving for Yunnan tomorrow (the 1st) and should be back in HK on around the 20th. I will try and post if I can while I'm abroad but we'll see.

Hello 2007!!

Matt

Merry Christmas

Just a quick note to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas. It is hard being away from friends and family but hopefully all my HK buddies will fill the void.

Also thanks to my family for the OBSCENE amount of presents they have sent me (as well as the money, always appreciated!)

I wish everyone at home a happy and safe new year.

See you soon,
Matt

Chinglish # 1

Took this picture off the streets of Yangshuo. It's advertising some caves that I visited later in Guilin.














And I thought Japanese "engrish" was bad.

Exams....blugh

Exam season.

Lets just say its no different from UQ. I have had two so far, both so-so...at least it doesn't count towards my GPA!! My econometrics exam today which was just horrible...will say no more about it :-@!!!! Anyway I have two more til FREEDOM!! I have one this Friday and my final on on the 30th. Hopefully these will be a little better.

Also it is official. I am extending for another term. I picked up my new ID card today and there's no going back. However a lot of people are leaving, some of them already have. I would like to keep in touch with all of them but I know this probably won't happen. It's really sad...it's like graduating from school again! So farewell Gary, Krystal and Laura...perhaps our paths will cross again.

Anyway I have booked to fly back home at the end of June so hopefully my parents haven't kicked me out, the car hasn't been sold and I still have a job!!

Now I need to keep studying...this is a great procrastinator!!

Matt

China trip

Now that I have a little time in between exams, I can catch up on my blog. What has happened in the last few weeks? One word - China!!!
That's right!! I finally had a chance to head into the PRC proper. Last week me and Jason (my neighbour) decied on the spur of the moment to head in land. I have finally obtained a multiple-entry visa which means the whole country is mine for the taking!

Since neither of us wanted to head anywhere that was too cold or too far from HK, we headed for Guilin in Shangxi province. Shangxi is west of Guangdong province which is the province bordering Hong Kong. Depending as always on the Lonely Planet (hey, I knew nothing about where we were heading!!) we went straight to the town of Yangshuo which was apparently "more beautiful" but "less touristy". Well it was half right. It sure was beautiful - cheak out the pics...

However instead of being the laid back backpacker hangout I was led to believe, the place was crawling with handreds of Chinese tourists. However the place is still aimed at westerners so the streets were full of bars and tons of restaurants of every cuisine you could think of, Japanese, French, Italian, Scottish (?), Indian. Therefore eating was not *that* cheap (although cheaper then Hong Kong) but I didn't really mind. Since I am in the middle of exams I was looking for a place to chill, not to get down and dirty. So it was a wonderful little getaway. we went river cruising, climbed a few hills, nothing too hard.

The final day we cheaked out Guilin which normally gets all the good press. We had the whole day as the train didn't leave til 20.00. However here is a little warning...there is NOTHING repeat NOTHING to do in Guilin. Why it is so famous is beyond me, it was just another dirty southern Chinese city.

Oh yeah, the train. The train from Guangzhou to Guilin was about fourteen hours but since it was overnight it was quite managable as long as you pay for a bed. I can't think of nothing worse then sitting in some seat for the whole journey... Still it is much cheaper then flying and very 'cultural', it okay when the little children sneak a look at the "laowai" but when the adults do as well...well I'm sure they've seen a westerner before!!

Well it was a good trip, can't wait til the next one in January!

Matt

and finally everything kicks in...

I'm coming into the last week of semester and I have never been so busy. So on a Saturday when all the arts students are out getting drunk I'm procrastinating here on my blog...

Firstly some pictures of the pandas from Ocean Park to keep Mum happy...















Cute huh,

well you didn't see the hordes of people crowded in the room all trying to get that perfect picture. They must get sick of it...but I think they're similar to koalas, all they do is eat and sleep...not a bad life really!

Anyway back to the work at hand. So far before I finish this semester I have 1 presentation (in chinese), 2 essays and 4 exams. But the last one is on the 30th so I have plenty of time. I was thinking about going to the Philippines next week but I'm still tossing up whether to go or not...it will be fun but I don't really want to spend the money. I might stay closer to home and 'rediscover 'Hong Kong again. There is a lot I haven't done yet and it would be nice to be an tourist again.

Anyway I have just finished my Chinese speech so just to show how clever I am i'll post it here.

你好。

我姓Schultz, 叫Matthew Schultz.我的中文名字叫马修。我是澳大利亚人。八月我到香港来。现在，我是香港大学的学生。我的专业是经济和人类学。我很喜欢外国旅行。上个月，我到马来西亚，中国和日本去。旅行很好。我也喜欢香港大学，但是我的宿舍不太好。

我们家有五口人。我有爸爸，妈妈，有一个双胞胎的弟弟，还有一个弟弟和我。我爸爸是律师。我妈妈是护士。我双胞胎的弟弟也是学生。他学工程专业。认识你们我很高兴。

谢谢。

As you can probably tell its just a self introduction speech but I'm pretty impressed by how much I remembered after just a few weeks. I think its mostly right but I'll get my neighbour to check it tomorrow when he gets back.

Just to show how REALLY CLEVER I am here's the same speech in Japanese.

はじめまして、マーシュ・シュルツと申します。どうぞよろしく。わたしはオーストラリア人です。八月に香港に住んで来ました。今、香港大学で勉強しています。私は経済と文化の学生です。旅行するのが好きです。先月にマレーシアと中国と日本に行きました。とても楽しかったです。また、私は香港大学が好きですが大学の寄宿舎が好きじゃないです。

私の家族は五人です。お父さんとお母さんと二人の弟と私です。一人の弟は私の双子です。お父さんは弁護士でお母さんは看護婦です。双子は大学生です。彼は工学を勉強しています。

どうぞ、よろしくお願いします。

If only I was truly trilingual....anyway I won't be putting up the english. Go find a Chinese or Japanese person!

Now that is out of the way, I'll stop procrastinating and do some proper work. I'm currently writing a paper on how the IMF screwed over the third world...so boring....

Anyway, take care!
Cheers,
Matt.

さようなら、
マーシュ

再见，
马修