Last Memories of Summer 08

So, since I didn't get to finish writing about my summer trips of 08', I guess late is better than never. I have a bunch of pics I wanted to show you of the rest of my time in Hong Kong. First off, as you know, the olympics were held in China last year, and Hong Kong was definitely part of the celebrating. There were these 5 little mascots for the olympics, and they were soo cute! Here is a huge display for the olympics that was in a park near my hostel.
Ilhwa and I also made a day trip to Macau (famous for its Casinos!). We took a ferry to Macau, and then when we got off, we took a short rikshaw ride around downtown. Here are some of the buildings we saw: The first is the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino
Here we are in the rikshaw :) The driver was nice enough to take our picture!
There are also the ruins of Sao Paolo in Macau, and of course we had to go see that! It was so hot that day!

And Macau was also in the spirits of the Olympics!
Right after that picture was taken, there was a freak rain storm! I mean, it was more of a typhoon!!! We were stranded for a bit trying to shelter from the rain, but the wind was so strong that no matter what we did we got soaked :( But it was still a pretty interesting :)

Counting down to the Olympics!

Ilhwa took me on a wonderful date to a restaurant called Pearl on the Peak. This restaurant is on top of Victoria Peak, and overlooks the whole area of Hong Kong! It was absolutely amazing. The atmosphere, the food, and the company were STUPENDOUS!!! I really loved this place, and if it wasn't soo expensive, I'd go there more often!


This is the view from the top of Victoria Peak, with the night view in the background :) I used my new tripod to take this pic! (doesn't it look nice?)

From the other side of the harbour, near the star walk, I took this night picture. It really is amazing to see this, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone! But, just make sure you're prepared for some tropical humidity while you're there!

Ilhwa and I also decided to get couple rings!!! Apparently, this is something that's really common in Japan and Korea, and it is similar to the promise rings we have in the States. I really like mine :) :) :) :)
On the last night in Hong Kong, Ilhwa and I went out and got a nice drink and snack in a jazz bar. It was a really relaxing night, and I was so sad to leave :(
Well, that's it for my trip to Hong Kong! Hopefully I'll be heading back there again! Although... I do really want to go to Japan again too... Ahh, so many places, and so little time (and money!)!!!

Until next time!
~Whitney

Happy 08.08.08!!!

I haven't felt up to typing in a while... but I'm back with lots and lots of updates :)

I have been in Hong Kong now for a little over a month, and let's just say it has been very interesting... When my boyfriend and I got to Hong Kong, we came smack dab in the middle of rainy season. This is where it rains EVERY DAY... and it kept up like that for 2 weeks! So, needless to say, I didn't have the best first impression of Hong Kong, but I didn't let that stop me :)
Rainy Day:
After Rain:
One plus, though, was that the hotel that Ilhwa and I stayed at for the first week we came to Hong Kong was REALLY nice! So nice, in fact, that the day we checked out, the vice-president of China came to stay for a while!!! Wow :) One of my favorite parts of the hotel was the pool though, and mainly because of the view from it!

The pool was even designed so that you could see into it as people were swimming! I have to admit I kind of liked feeling like a goldfish :)

The hotel was also a very good place to have romantic dates :) (a pic of me on one of our dates, and then a pic of us both together)


After that first week, though, Ilhwa moved into a different hotel, and I moved to a Youth Hostel. To be honest, it's quite a bit nicer than I imagined. I decided to get a single room, so I could feel a little more privacy, and although there is not internet, I can always go to Ilhwa's hotel and use the free internet when he's at work :) Speaking of which, Ilhwa seems to like his work here in Hong Kong better than in Korea, maybe because they are slightly less strict here. But also they are really giving him a lot of great opportunities to excel and progress in his job, which I think is great for him!

Although my boyfriend has to work during the weekdays, we get the weekends all to ourselves! Basically, we have turned every weekend into vacation weekend :) We travel, relax, enjoy ourselves, and forget about work for a while. One of the places we visited was Repulse Bay. It has a beautiful beach and swimming area... but watch out for that salt water (yuck!). Repulse Bay also has an area set up for religious statues and monuments.

Among these statues was one of a giant dragon-fish... Apparently, though, if you throw a coin into the fish's mouth, you get good luck! Trust me, it's NOT as easy as you think!

But I did eventually get a coin in!!! :) We also travelled to a place called Stanley. It apparently used to have a very beautiful beach, but they paved it over to make a walking/shopping area. :( But, there was a lot of good souvenir shopping to be done! And it was such nice weather, how could anyone not enjoy themselves!

On the taxi ride home from Stanley, we passed this lake area that both Ilhwa and I agreed was absolutely stunning! It really looked like an unspoiled paradise!

On a different weekend, Ilhwa and I went up to Victoria Peak. This is a mountain from which you can look out over the business area of Hong Kong. It was absolutely breath-taking!!! Plus, we even got to walk through the clouds!!! It was a surreal feeling looking up and seeing clouds a few feet from my head, and I don't think I'll ever forget it :)

And of course, Ilhwa never forgets to treat me like a princess! He surprised me for my birthday with a very expensive (and delicious) cake!!! Oooo, just looking at it now is making me drool...

Before I explain my birthday gift, there's something else about Hong Kong that I should explain. Hong Kong is famous for their "fake" things... Of course, I'm sure they all come from China Mainland anyways, but when I say "fake" things, I mean purses/jewelry/watches/accessories from famous brands (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Rolex, etc.) that are knock offs. Some of these knock offs are really cheap, and don't really look like the real thing, except for the monograms on them... but then there is what they call Super A Class. Super A Class means that the "fake" thing is indistinguishable from the real thing to the normal person (the only people that could tell the difference are those that work for the real thing). So! Having that said, for my birthday present Ilhwa got me a Super A Class Louis Vuitton purse!!! Now, this purse was probably around $100, but that is a whole lot better than the $1,700 for a real one!!! :) I was ecstatic, and I still am! I don't know, it's just kind of fun to carry around something that at least looks so expensive.

I have so much more to write... but it is getting close to my dinner time now, so I will save the rest of the updates for next week! Don't forget to check again soon :)

~Whitney

A Memorial

Pauline Makowski

I wanted to say a few words about someone very important to me. Grammy, you were one of the good things in my life. You were everything an amazing Grandmother could possibly be. You spoiled me, no matter what Mom said :) It was always soo good to see you, to hug you, and to reminisce with you. I'll never forget your laugh, your smile, or any of the times we shared. Red Ruby will never be the same, but then again, your memories will always fill that place for me. You will be in my heart forever, and in the hearts of all those who knew you.
Rest in Peace.

Traveling Again!

Hello all!

Well, it's been a little while. Biomed classes really got me down this past semester! But, for this summer, I decided to go visit my boyfriend in Korea :) And guess what?? I'm in Korea now!! I got here on May 30th, and I'm happy to say that Ilhwa is doing great, I am extremely happy, and we are both so excited to see each other again. I am staying in this cute little apartment for the time being, and for the first week here, I was pretty jet-lagged... but I'm doing much better now :)

Ilhwa is in the reserve army, and my first week, he had some army trainings to go to. Apparently they have these every couple of months or so, just to make sure the reserve troops aren't getting too rusty. One night after his training, we went out for pizza, and I just thought he looked so cute in his army uniform!



He was so embarrassed to wear his uniform around the town, but because I liked it, he did it anyways :)

The following weekend, Ilhwa had a holiday from work (pretty rare), so we went away to a spa resort again for the weekend. It seems to me that places like this are pretty common here in Korea, but I'm not complaining!!! I love them! We even got to go into this area that had 4 private jacuzzis away from all the rest of the people, which was very romantic :)


I really enjoyed just relaxing there, as you can tell :) On the way home, we stopped by a buddhist temple. Aparently, Ilhwa's aunt is a monk there, so we went to go visit her. The temple area itself was gorgeous!



In my opinion, of all the temples I've seen throughout Korea and Japan, I think Korean temples are the most colorful and vibrant. Just look at that artwork! (PS- if you click on the pictures, you can see a bigger image). While we visited Ilhwa's aunt, of course they treated us with the typical Korean courtesies and kindness and fed us a TON of food :) It was all vegetarian (monks don't eat meat), but everything was absolutely amazing!!

Also, when we were there, the monks showed us some beautiful flowers they had picked. They were real wild roses, totally untouched by human hands until they were picked, and just look at how beautiful they are!!

It was all in all a great weekend :) And when we got back, Ilhwa and I went on a date to the movies. We had a while before the movie started, so we caught some dinner, and then found a Putt-Putt place on the top of the building!! Ilhwa had never played before, so I knew we just had to play, and he caught on pretty fast!

Maybe a little too well...

Since then, I've just been studying and relaxing, and meeting up with my old friends in Korea. I'm really enjoying this time here... But I have another surprise! Ilhwa is getting transferred to Hong Kong at the end of the month (for his job)! And... I am going to go with him :) It should be so much fun! I've never been there, and I have friends there as well (from my study abroad), so even if Ilhwa is busy at work I won't be lonely :)

That's all for now, but I'll be sure to post again soon!

~Whitney

Hmmm...

As they say in Japanese... 申し訳ありません <(_ _)>

It means something to the effect of deepest apologies... (and then a little guy who is bowing). I really have not upheld my end of the deal here. I wanted so badly to keep my blog up-to-date, but I just let myself get caught up in other things :( In the following weeks, I'm going to be trying to fill you in on everything that has happened to me since last July.

First off, I am back from Japan, and still don't feel quite adjusted to my life back here in the States. Sometimes I really miss the time I was in Japan... Actually, here are some 懐かしい (nostalgic) memories from my study abroad.

The first if from the Karate club I joined... this is the info they put about me on their website:

Hovan,Whitney Lynn: JTW留学生
ＪＴＷのプログラムでアメリカからやってきた留学生☆★☆日本語ばりうまっ!! この調子で博多弁を極めさせる野望進行中ですヽ( ´ー`)ノ向こうでテコンドー をやっていたらしく、空手もけっこうキマってます♪かわいいからって甘く見た ら痛い目にあうかもよ(笑)
http://www2.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/localuser/GK000013/member.html


Aww! So nice! Well, I'll be updating more later, so stay tuned! (I promise I'll do my best to keep up with this!!!)

~Whitney

School work update!

So, in the last post I let you know about the stuff I've had to work on to finish up this semester... well, here's an update:

Papers: 5, Presentations: 2
~ Paper on Japanese/Korean relations in Contemporary times: 7,000 words:
FINISHED
~Presentation about the same topic (20 minutes plus powerpoint):
FINISHED
~Paper about Enculturation in Japan as seen through storybooks: 3,000 words:
FINISHED
~Paper about the Universals of Child-Rearing from a Japanese perspective: 3,000 words:
FINISHED
~Scientific Research Paper about Basidiomycota and Phosphoproteomics: 15-20 pages:
FINISHED
~Presentation about the same topic (20 min, plus powerpoint):
IN PROGRESS
~Paper about the power and implication of the Japanese Tea Ceremony in life (both modern and past): 2,000 words:
FINISHED

Woo Hoo! Just gotta get that presentation done, and then I'll have some free time! So, bear with me a little bit longer :)

~Whitney

The Last Month

Well, for everyone that doesn't know, I'm almost done with my year abroad! I really have mixed feelings about it... I miss my family, my friends, and other aspects of the good old U.S. of A, but I also love it here! I have had the best time of my life, and I am soo happy that I got the chance to experience this, and I only wish it didn't have to end so soon! But, I already bought the $1,000 plus plane ticket back home, so no turning back now! Ha ha :)

I really have to apologize for not updating more often... I have been really working a lot this semester, what with having three part time jobs and increasing my work in my laboratory to about 20-25 hours a week, so I haven't had much to update on. I do have some things to update though!!! But unfortunately... you might have to wait a couple more days for them ;) I am in the final week of classes, and that means that I have TONS of papers to write. Here, I'll give you a little taste of what I'm dealing with:

Papers: 5, Presentations: 2
~ Paper on Japanese/Korean relations in Contemporary times: 7,000 words, FINISHED
~Presentation about the same topic (20 minutes plus powerpoint) FINISHED
~Paper about Enculturation in Japan as seen through storybooks: 3,000 words, FINISHED
~Paper about the Universals of Child-Rearing from a Japanese perspective: 3,000 words, FINISHED
~Scientific Research Paper about Basidiomycota and Phosphoproteomics: 15-20 pages, IN PROGRESS
~Presentation about the same topic (20 min, plus powerpoint): not yet started
~Paper about the power and implication of the Japanese Tea Ceremony in life (both modern and past): 2,000 words, not yet started

I have to say, since this has all happened within the last week and a half, I am pretty proud of myself! I still have work to do, and I am actually procrastinating right now... so I think I will get back to work. I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be making an update this weekend, so check back! (if anyone still reads this)

~Whitney