Hong Kong Days 18 & 20: (19 comes later)

Sorry it has been a while….

On Thursday, I met Kenneth and his friend Ivy to go shopping for clothes. It was so nice of them to take me to show me where to find inexpensive clothes that the locals buy. First we went to this local restaurant –yes there were dead chickens in the window and chicken feet in the soup. The soup was good though and none of us ate the chicken feet. We also shared rice, some good leafy/stalky/green vegetable, some delicious fried fish in some cheesy corn sauce and some chicken. I guess this restaurant is famous for its chicken. I did not eat the chicken though because it had bone and I struggle with eating off the bone here. The fish was sooo yummy though =). Then we went to garden market. It was hard to shop though because of many reasons. First, Kenneth stayed with us because Ivy wanted him to –I understand because she did not really know me- and I do not like to shop in front of guys (Benjamin is ok, but others when I am shopping for myself I get nervous). Second, these shops don’t let you try things on. No shirts. And only rarely pants. Third, Ivy is very pretty and small and definitely had a different sense of style than me, I was very embarrassed to choose things that I liked. Fourth, all of the clothes –especially pants- made me feel like a fat American cow. The problem is, I am small in the usa so I kinda expect to be a small or medium here, not a large…it makes me self-esteem kinda low =P haha. I wanted to buy a blue shirt and green skirt, but we decided to go to a mall near Prince Edwards first. That mall was crazy. It had so many shops all scrunched into small areas. Again only a few shops allowed you to try on pants. I almost got a green pair, Kenneth told me to buy them, but ivy told me that they were too tight. I probably should have gotten them but ivy psyched me out =) later I remembered that here the style is loose while in the usa the style is tight-fitting. Anyways I did not buy anything and it made me depressed. We went back to garden street but it was closed. So that ended my first attempt at hk clothes shopping! It was still fun and interesting to talk with ivy and see other styles. It is hard for me to accept that people here do not share the same fashions as in the US.

Today after work (I worked on Saturday to make up for the day I went to ocean park), I went back to garden street and got a lot of clothes for not a lot of money. The most expensive thing I bought was a skirt for 60 hk dollars (so this was like 8.50 us dollars or something like that). I tried to get different things, but some are pretty typical. I got a dress that is cute and a strange “peasant long shirt thing.” Mike and I got separated from the rest of the group, which was ok because they all went to ladies market and I wanted to go to garden street. It was good to have mike with me, he made me feel safer as we wandered around trying to find garden street –we got out of the wrong exit. Finally we found it and I sent him away to do his own shopping so that he would not be bored and so I could shop in peace haha. It was good that we both have cells so that we could meet once we were finished. He bought a lot of cheap dvds. And then we just ate kfc because it was quick and easy. Around Mong Kok there were soooo many people just wandering around. Today was also a very sunny day that was hot and not rainy. Too bad I had to work. The other math students were going to go to the beach, but everyone slept in too much.

I am much too tired to write about Friday. I will do that tomorrow before I go to the beach. Goodnight!