Mandarin Class

Here is what I do everyday:

Weekend Review: Sept 13-14 2008

Mid-Autumn Festival

On Sunday evening I went to see the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay neighborhood. We watched a 220 year old Fire Dragon Dance, in which the dragon was made entirely out of burning incense. It was different from the other dragon dances I've seen in Chinatown, except the dragon was real slow in making its appearance, and Mom and I had already melted into puddles of sweat. We were "chee chee nup nup" (Cantonese for sticky).
We then walked to Victoria Park where crowds swarmed the special celebration grounds. It was so cute to see all the children holding their little lanterns that they picked out for the holiday. I equate it to the tradition of picking out a pumpkin for Halloween. The lanterns come in all different shapes and varieties. Traditional lanterns are made of paper and wire and are usually in the shape of bunnies or starfruit. More modern lanterns are like plastic blow-up toys, and many popular choices are Pixar's Cars and Buzz Lightyear, Disney's Stitch, My Melody, and Hello Kitty tops them all. There were dance and singing performances and elaborate lantern displays for families to enjoy under a bright and beautiful full moon.

Weekend Review: Sept 6-7 2008

A Reunion

I went with my Mom to see her childhood friend, whom she hasn't seen since leaving Hong Kong. I asked if they recognized each other after all these years, and they said it wasn't physcial appearances that sparked recognition, but something they felt when they saw one another. The three of us went for yum cha to celebrate. Although I couldn't join in on their conversation, I enjoyed watching them catch up on old times.

My Cantonese lesson of the day:
Ngo ho bao -- I'm very full (and I was after after all the dim sum!)

View of Buddha from the Ngong Ping 360 cable car on Lantau Island

1 Gravity-Defying Cable Car, 1 Very Tall Buddha, 268 Steps, 1 Old Fishing Village, 4 Souvenir Magnets = 2 Very Tired Lantau Island Sightseers

We spent the day doing sightseeing on Lantau Island. After a speedy subway ride, we took the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up the mountains to the Po Lam Monastery and Tian Tian Buddha. We enjoyed sweeping views of the mountains, where hiking trails are plentiful and development has not yet taken hold. The giant Buddha proves a great workout for building strong legs. I'd like to see Rocky run up these steps! We ate lunch at Tea Garden Restaurant, where I enjoyed a fried taro root cake shaped like a fish, and really really good tea. Then it was off to Tai O fishing village, a remote area so vastly different from modern Hong Kong. We walked through the markets selling all types of seafood. I enjoyed seeing how they dry the fish, some of them being salted and dried in backyards next to laundry.

mmmm fried taro root!

A family alter at a doorstep in Tai O

Drying fish...and laundry!

Hello, Hong Kong!

My first view of the mountains from Hong Kong Airport.

After 15 hours, 4 airplane meals, and 2 stuffed suitcases later, I have finally arrived in Hong Kong to begin my Fulbright grant year! My mom and I landed in the Hong Kong airport this evening, glad to be finally off the plane and on land again! This is my first time in Hong Kong, and for my mom it's her first time back to her childhood home after decades away.

Here are some of my first impressions of the city (in my delirious sleep deprived state):

It's multi-culturalism. All signs and announcements are made in both English and Cantonese. My mom talked to both airport workers in both languages, and she started giving English lessons to the taxi driver, who wanted to improve his English. She taught him the following:

1. "Pay me first, I will wait for you."
2. "Bi-racial." (the taxi driver said he calls racially mixed people "mixed pots." We taught him this other term)
3. "Racial discrimination" that was a hard one for him to say!
4. "Can you help me look for the number?"

She was even able to haggle the price down, maybe because she helped him so much! Cars also drive on the opposite side of the road due to Britsh colonial influence. One big surprise for me was finding a Pret A Manger, an organic sandwich chain I frequented in NYC, inside the airport!

Really really tall buildings. All the buildings are like skyscrapers, very different from a lot of the low rise 6-story buildings of New York. They are beautiful at night when all the lights are on.

Hot and Humid! That's the weather forecast for the rest of the week. Our air conditioners even have an extra feature to cope with it.

Tomorrow it's off to university to get acquainted!

Animaniacs Model Sheets

In the wake of cleaning up all my things for the big move, I found these in one of my old school notebooks from college. I loved loved loved this show growing up. I really like the loose quality of the poses. Enjoy!

And They Kept On Playing

Last week I decided to spend some quality time with my Dad before I head off to Hong Kong for a year. I went to watch him play with his softball team, The Amigos, part of a northern New Jersey senior softball league.
My Dad has been playing softball for a really long time. I remember going to watch him play when I was five, and since I wasn't really into sports back then, I brought my dolls along with me. So I thought it would be fun to tag along once again and cheer him on. The Amigos are all 60-75 years old, and they are still playing ball. They were so excited to have a fan come (I was the only spectator) and watch them play and take their pictures. They talked to me about their children and granddaughters in between kicking some butt against Union.
In senior softball, your team can only score a maximum of 5 runs per inning. I guess this helps keep the games more interesting and competitive. Sometimes they only play 5 or 6 innings a game if one team is winning by an insanely large lead. Some players could only bat, and they had pinch runners to help them out. There were also a few hits and fly balls that some of the older players just couldn't run fast enough to catch, but I loved the camaraderie and good will between teammates and between the teams.
My Dad hit four home-runs that day, and almost ran down his teammate in front of him as he rounded the bases. Oops! His teammates kept joking that he was showing off for me. After two games, the Amigos were the undistibuted champs. Sal, the team manager held a brief post-game meeting and then I took a team photo on the bleachers. We headed off to the car. I felt like the proud parent for once, and joked with my Dad I'd take him for ice cream. But it was only 12pm and we had not even had lunch yet. Early bird rules apply even to softball.
I would love to someday make a documentary about a senior softball or sports team. It just seems like such a great subject for a movie. I love that despite their age, the players still make a commitment to pursue the things they love in life. I'll have to file this away in my list of projects to do.

The Amigos watching their teammates from the dugout

The Pinch Runner, Bob

Dad brings in another run for the team

Here's my movie title: Amigos in the Outfield

Figure Drawing #03

More figure drawing at Spring Studio. Minerva talked about an exercise in which the artist draws a large "envelope" around the character to better understand the relationship (distance) of the parts in a pose. An interesting drawing exercise to try.