jat, ji, saam, sei, ng, luk, cat, baak, gau, sap

Today our day started with a Chinese Calligraphy workshop. We got a typical chinese paintbrush and learned how to hold it correctly (most of us went back to holding it like a usual pen after a while :P). We got some words to practise with and also our own name in Calligraphy.

On the left: I am born in the year of the monkey (let's be honest, best year to be born in, so everyone born in 1992, now you know your Chinese zodiac)
On the top: My Chinese name, pronounced like fo lai. you can also find it on the monkey picture, because obviously I would sign it.

After the Calligraphy workshop we had lunch where we tasted Dim Sum for the first time. It was an experience (I guess 'experience' is most fitting because I would lie if I'd say I liked it but it also wasn't bad) "Dim Sum refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food and tradionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates" - Wikipedia
It were all different kind of foods, eg Dumpling with Shrimps or other ingredients, Baozi (baked or steamed fluffy buns with different fillings), Sponge cake and a lot more. If you're interested you should google it. Chicken feet are also part of Dim Sum but we didn't get them :D
Afterwards, we learned some more Cantonese, I can know count to 10: Jat, ji, saam, sei, ng, luk, cat, baak, gau, sap.
and here's a short video, we practised with a beautiful song. I can count without looking at the paper now!

Then we got an introduction to the Mid-Autumn Festival which will be celebrated on Monday (no classes on Tuesday, yippie!! I know I haven't even started any classes yet but it's still great to get a day off :P) There a crazy story behind it about a man that shot 9 suns so only one was left and that was better for the people and so he got the gift of immortality which he didn't want because he loved his wife so much he doesn't want to spend immortality without her. So he basically said 'No Thanks' to the gift. However, the wife then took it behind his back. And then she travelled to the moon with a rabbit and nowadays you can still see their shadows in the moon and so at Mid-Autumn Festival you celebrate the Moon, you meet under the moon and eat mooncake, or the story in short form: Yaay we get a free day off school :) It was a very nice introduction, we made some traditional Chinese lanterns and got to taste Mooncake (I didn't like it, sry, but I tried)

In the evening I went to Central with the Dutch guy (Erik), Swiss guy (Jan), Kazakhstan guy (Jokhan) and Hongkong Buddy (Kinson). Not the best picture ever taken but who cares. Obviously Kinson was taking it, since there's no Chinese guy in the picure. We went to Soho, which was a crazy experience. It was packed and restaurant everywhere. It was on a steep hill and there was a path that was almost like a train, just for getting from one place to another but for walking, it also has a moving walkway. We decided to have dinner in a Italian restaurant (finally some European food again :P) Afterwards we went to a place to get a beer (Corona) and just chat which was nice and funny.



It was a nice day. Tomorrow, we'll have a Hongkong Trip with the International Office. I think we wil get to see tons of new, exciting stuff tomorrow :)
Good Night for now!