A special treat waiting for us!
Their names are architecturally-inspired.
So it's rather like Diddy Riese ice cream sandwiches... take your pick!
So this is the window in the back where you get your order.
Happily got mine.
They specially printed the Education for Sustainable Linving Program logo!
The wrapper is edible too (made of rice paper), so no waste!
It’s been a long and exhausting weekend for us at Opportunity Green, as we worked long and hard to throw a fantastic conference for everyone. A lot of lessons have been learned on my end, watching how the intensely crazy registration panned out for us and getting a behind-the-scenes look at how things were running. We didn’t expect so many people to show up to the event, so it was challenging to handle the overload in capacity, but it’s great that we got so many interested people to attend. All in all I had a rewarding experience, getting great feedback from participants who were so thankful and appreciative!
Working the registration table for speakers, sponsors, and press!
I’ve also had some fabulous conversations come out of these past couple of days, as I randomly chatted with other volunteers, a few sponsors, and some of the attendees. It’s wonderful that people are so friendly and most were very patient with us. Granted, registration delays were probably expected for those who showed up without being registered online already. Things also worked so well because we had dedicated interns diligently working from the wee morning hours til late in the evening, volunteering our entire weekend to make this event happen. Of course, the OG full-timers were working even harder, sleeping less, staying longer, but never complaining about how exhausted they must have been.
Many a time we had to be resourceful, giving, and downright creative to get the work done, but as one of our staff pointed out, we never lost our cool. It never occurred to me just how useful that must have been in keeping everything running smoothly, but it’s true! I suppose that’s a large part of why the participants were so enthusiastic about their experience at the conference, because they never saw any of the fires we were putting out throughout the day. That’s exactly how things should be! It will get hectic and overwhelming at an event of this scale, but with everyone working the event being level-headed and patient, we got through just fine.
Now it’s time to enjoy the trappings I did manage to get from the conference (like these awesome bamboo USB drives from MINI USA and a lovely Whitelines notebook) and let my body recover. Everything aches or throbs and my mind is so cloudy I keep on making typo errors, but I’m glad to know that tomorrow I will have no more physically draining activities. Rather, I’ll be working hard on my sample entries for Change.org, as I apply to be a freelance blogger for them while I look for a job and try to get more involved in the green space.
At the office one day, we get a surprise visitor!
I was trying to get him to look at me - it's hard!
His name is Troy and he's a whopping 13!
I made my temporary pet clams a little pool to chill in.
Close-up of one of them.
They're everywhere! So many potential pets!
Nestled in the hillside of Hong Kong is Victoria Peak, one of the highest vantage points in all the region. It is well-situated in an area that allows for spectacular views on both the north and south sides (though really it has a great panoramic view), which is probably why it has become a tourist destination. Atop “the Peak,” as it’s known, sits the Peak Tower, a funny goblet-looking building that houses a shopping complex and offers unbeatable views from its rooftop. And so, one sunny day, I went to seek out what the Peak had to offer.
The view going up.
I took the MTR to Central Station and began to follow the sparse signs to get to the Peak Tram. After climbing up a very steep hill, I finally found a sign that assured me I was going in the right direction. Right around that corner was the tram station, tucked away under one of the many high rises in the area. I got myself a ticket and waited for the tram to arrive, marveling at the steep grade of the hill. I don’t think even San Francisco has such a steep incline!
The tram eventually made its way down, gently halting before letting off its people. I got in and grabbed a window seat, wondering what the grooves in the ground were for. It wasn’t until we were climbing up the mountain that I realized without those grooves, people would slide the entire length down the aisle. Along the way were some stops, which showed us just how vertical we were. Eventually, we got high enough to begin seeing some wonderful views. Everyone stared out the right side of the tram car to enjoy the landscape before us. After a few minutes, we reached our destination and filed out into the gift shop of the Peak Tower. Clever move on their part.
So many shiny things!
I, however, ignored all the flashy items and headed straight up. I came across the Bubba Gump’s that is up in the Tower and decided to settle for a quick lunch. I got a table with a fantastic view of the harbor and enjoyed a lovely meal there. As soon as I could, I took the final escalator up to the roof, where a gentle breeze filled the air and beautiful photos ops were everywhere. I took some pictures myself and asked another tourist to take some for me as well. Below me lay a clump of buildings on Hong Kong Island. On the opposite end was a view of the ocean dotted with islands, stretching out into the horizon. Along the face of the hill was a windy road for cars to drive along and in the distance, housing for those privileged enough to get such nice property. There was even a little garden for strolling that I wish I had the time to go visit!
I wanted to stay longer to enjoy the peaceful view and bright skies, but I had a ferry ride to catch, so I took a quick spin around the perimeter of the roof and headed back down to catch the next tram down. My visit, though brief, was still satisfying.
The south side view, in case you were wondering.
Queen bee: she's the one with the yellow dot.
A lovely neighborhood to spend your undergraduate years in. 🙂
So anyway, I loved the residential life experience mainly because of its openness. Where else can you keep your door open whenever you’re in, say hi to your neighbors for no good reason without getting weird looks, and hang out in the hallways and lounges for fun? Everyone is free to be wherever they want, whenever they want and they’re not judged for it. Imagine laying around in the hallway of an apartment complex. It just feels wrong. Yet doing so in the middle of the night in the res halls was perfectly normal (and could even make you some new friends).
Pow wows in the hallway... not so much uncommon.
Bruin Cafe is a popular place for students to get grub! photo credit: ASiUU on flickr
Not very durable, are they?
At one point it started to sizzle. Not good.
The metal tip just snapped.
I am now on my third charger for the same laptop! Yikes.
In the struggle to find a job to even begin a career with, I’ve had quite a lot of time to think of where I want to go in my professional life. I’ve known for a long time that I want to start my own company (or maybe even many). In fact, I’m going to say I will start my own company. I just haven’t quite settled on what it will be yet, though I’ve been thinking eco-consulting for awhile now. But I’ve realized that that is not what I want to do ultimately. It’s a milestone that I will cross at some point, however well or poorly it goes. But ultimately? I’d like to be an angel investor, making sure the solutions I see in life are executed.
Of course that means that I will need to somehow become super rich first. When I told Ninja that what I really want is to be really rich, he was like, “Duh, don’t we all?” When I went on to explain why, however, he understood that I wasn’t making just a shallow comment. I want to make a difference in this world and there are so many places I can see myself doing that, if only I had the money! I would really just love to spend my time thinking of solutions to problems I see and then finding the best people to execute them. I’d set them up with the resources they need and give them whatever guidance necessary to get them on their way. From there, I’d hope they’d be able to take over and run a profitable and socially-conscious enterprise. If I could do this, then I’d start a company like Mary Qin, Inc., to be a holding company for all those little niche companies I could create.
I’d go about getting a sensible public transportation system, sharing riding system, or something set up for the Los Angeles area to ease the traffic and pollution problems. I’d get an electronic receipt system going so we stop wasting paper on receipts that most people are unlikely to look at and most will just lose anyway. I’d also get that system linked to our credit cards so that whenever we check our bills, we can see the receipt associated with each charge. No more hunting through piles of paper! I could finally get a vocational school for athletes going both here and in the UK, so we could cultivate athletes who are ready for all stages of life. Then I could set up a research think tank where people can submit ideas for researchers to carry out. I guess Google’s kind of already doing this, but it would be free for people to send in ideas and no guarantee on if their submission is chosen (whereas Google’s is contracted). Really I’d love to tackle my “hopelist” and parts of my “ideaslist.”
So here’s to getting a job, being extremely profitable, then setting up a foundation or something to implement the solutions I so dearly want to see.
I got the 3D ones so they can stand on their own (the other ones are flat and only have two legs).
To continue my story about shopping (and sandals)…
Since my trip to Chatuchak, the big weekend market, didn’t yield anything to show for all my troubles, I decided to go to the Bangkok Night Bazaar for a second go at getting some Thai memorabilia. I instantly liked the place better – even though it had a smaller selection, it had more of the things I like. I managed to find some adorable little elephant keychains that would be perfect gift items. I came across a stall with the type of lamps that I’ve always wanted to get once I have my own place – it was a pity I couldn’t purchase them yet! I treated myself to a purple stone ring and a pair of earrings and I even got Panda a leather wallet (which I felt he needed as a symbol of professionalism).
I first saw a white one of these at Pinkberry's.
It tickles a lot at first. I had to take my feet out a few times and just giggle it out!
Was there a clump of yummy goodness there or something?
Just like grandpa's house, complete with white cloths to help the birds sleep!
I love that Chinese people use porcelain bowls to feed their birds!
Right next to that was the Flower Market, true to its name with a lot of flowers and plants in general. Actually, a lot of what they sold were just plants, but hey “Plant Market” hardly sounds as appealing, right? This place was a treasure trove, with brilliantly-colored flowers, plants shaped to look like little green creatures, bouquets bursting with all kinds of species, huge lily flowers, and even lotus flowers, complete with buds! My favorite were the vases that eat flies. I’ve always wanted a Venus flytrap, so any “carnivorous” plant will do! Oh, and I also liked the kitty who was sitting in one of the shops. 😛
A bit of a walk away was the Goldfish Market, which was more of an amazing animal market. It was mostly aquarium type animals, but I did find some adorable little kittens and even this crazy HUGE beetle that was about the size of a child’s fist. It was still true to its name though, with a huge variety of goldfish for sale, often put out in rows and rows of plastic bags, ready to be taken off the rack. Some were the normal goldfish you think of, but many were these cute globe-shaped ones, so plump they were practically spherical. I also came across some unassuming shells that turned out to be hermit crabs! I’d totally spend my weekends on this street if I lived in Hong Kong. I wish I could have gotten new pets, but alas, international travel with live animals is either a big no-no or is at least extremely troublesome.
Next up was the Ladies’ Market! At first I was afraid I’d miss it, but once I got to the street bordering one end of it, I discovered how silly that idea was. There was NO mistaking the dense market that suddenly appeared. I happy began my shopping spree, getting dresses and flip flops for myself, a tie for Panda, cuff links for the men at C&S, and compact mirrors for the ladies at C&S. I did a decent job bargaining (or at least I felt like I did) and I found some great stuff, so I was very happy by the end of it! Just for kicks, I dropped by the Jade Market and Night Market, but by then I was back to just window shopping. I did go by this one area that sold adult toys and such, which was completely random. I also managed to get a Lonpos set for only 10 HKD!!! After waiting a year and a half, it was completely worth it. The only other set I had found previously was around $100, so this was a fabulous deal.
All in all a great shopping experience! 🙂 My wallet even agrees, albeit reluctantly. ;-P
