until paradise dies

christina. a travel blog of some sort.

[untilparadies]

22 April 2018, Sunday

It only occurred to me half a minute ago that I have this travel/study blog. It’s been more than a year since i’ve updated.

I’ll try to summarise everything in bullet point form.

In January 2017, my favourite person passed away.

In Feburary 2017, I returned to Beijing and then flew back to New Zealand.

In Semester 1 of 2017, I took four papers. ASIA202, CHIN343, RELS216 and RELS102. It had been RELS328 until I gave up and dropped that paper. Couldn’t do it.

In March 2017, I made new great friends.

In April 2017, I met a guy.

In May 2017, I went to a horror night and became another year older.

In June 2017, I went to Wellington because my exam ended so much earlier than everyone else. I then flew back to Singapore.

In July 2017, I attended my good friends’ graduations. I began my final semester as an undergraduate, taking five 100-level papers and sat in on two others. We fell out.

In August 2017, we talked and this ended before they began. I saw Mask Tuxedo Kitty for the very last time. I cracked my first double-yolk egg. My friend went to Hokitika at the end of August for her placement, and that fueled my desire to go to a place I never knew of.

In September 2017, the cherry blossoms bloomed along the river banks. Five years. I persuaded a classmate to go skydiving with me. 

In October 2017, my friend’s heart broke.

In November 2017, my friend came down from Wellington. The four of us went on a road trip from Dunedin to Hokitika to Franz Josef to Wanaka to Queenstown. We didn’t get to skydive. I had fun. Location: The Cabbage Tree, Mary Mac. Things happened. I went home.

In December 2017, I found “this boy will have holes in his pockets” that a friend gave to me for my 19th birthday. Five days later, I went to Malaysia and I saw her there. I received my Diploma and BA certificates on 22nd December. I completed my undergraduate in New Zealand and failed to attend any of my friend’s graduations. I apologise.

In January 2018, the three toilets in my place renovated. I stayed at Orchard for two weeks. It was cold. I went to Hong Kong again. Things changed. Cubone and Special Pikachu and Bulbie.

In February 2017, I ate Tonkotsu ramen for the very last time. Cats. Beach. Booked tickets on Saturday and left for Melaka on Sunday to visit a good friend I’ve never met. It was great. Tanlines and waxing. My heart and other black holes. I flew back for my Honours year. We fell out.

In March 2017, my friend went to Hong Kong. Filmed for a documentary. Drank a lot and realised that my alcohol tolerance is high. Saw a dog walk itself, and I felt it on a spiritual level. Ruined coat. Pineapple. I still had hope. Beach. Signal Hill. Skirt.

I hope that good things will happen this year.

[untilparadies]

27 Feb 2017, Monday

I’ve realised that I’m really bad at documenting frequently.

I’ve finished my year of exchange in Hong Kong (thank goodness). Went to Seoul in December and Beijing in late January. Now I’m back in New Zealand and I think I’m settling in again. Everything seems so small again.

I went to the supermarket just now to buy some things and I heard this guy say to his friends “Stop asking me to buy stuff when I have sixteen cents. If you can find a fucking lolly for 10 and diary, I’ll buy it and split it between five”. I thought that was so funny and kind of clever.

My room is really hot. I can’t believe it’s already 2017.

[untilparadies]

15 Jul 2016, Friday

Since I’m half way through my summer break (spending it back home in my own overly messy room but with a more comfortable bed), I thought I’d share some of my thoughts of having spent an entire semester on exchange in HK.

Honestly the most important factor that determines your mood is the weather. Although I’m a university student in New Zealand, I’m an international student and I live somewhere along the equator when school’s out. This means that I’m used to extremely warm and humid weather, but I don’t think it prepared me for HK’s winter.

The thing is, I have been to HK quite a few times, many of those visits were in winter. Being there for a few days to a week is definitely different from being there for an entire semester, through winter, spring and then summer.

Oh my goodness I happened to be there during the coldest winter in 60 years and it was zero degrees celcius. Since my school is located in the New Territories and along mountains (......), it’s even colder there. There’s no centralised heating or air conditioning in HK, which is one thing to note. Another is that since I’m in the mountains, I rarely ever saw the sun (or anything outside my window) for as long as three weeks. It was just mist and nothing and the dreary weather does something to your psyche. It’s just so hard to cheer up when the weather is determined to pull you down.

Weather for winter was pretty good though, apart from not having heating (you pay $1 per hour if you want that). It wasn’t that bad since I had an electric blanket but when I’m spending time in my room, I still had a winter jacket on.

The next thing is language. I don’t speak Cantonese but I do speak Mandarin. Most of the time I spoke English on campus since all of my classes were in English. I really did try to learn Cantonese for an entire semester but I think I’m just hopeless at the dialect. Ahhhh. I mean, I tried, and I got a C for that subject, but hey, I tried and that’s what matters.

Food is pretty darn expensive in HK, every meal I have never comes below $100HKD (eg. Japanese ramen is around ~$110HKD after additional charges). There is a canteen at my college (hostel), but it’s closed on Sundays so it kinda forces me out.

School can be stifling. The work honestly isn’t that hard nor is the workload heavy. I was pretty surprised that the difficulty was equitable to that in New Zealand. I expected it to be a lot later since the syllabus in Asian countries are usually more tough (I’d know. I was educated there :’).)

Transport is pretty ok as long as wherever you’re going is near a MTR station. The only time I ever took a bus was when I went to the outlet mall at Horizons (?). I don’t know if I’ll ever dare to venture out to the unknown by taking mini buses alone.

I usually spend time in the following areas - Shatin, Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and Shenzhen.

When I discovered that my school was just a few stations away from Shenzhen, I took the opportunity and went as many times as I possibly could without stretching myself too thin. I mainly went for food, movies and KTV. Food was half the price for the same thing compared to HK, movies were half the price and KTV was extremely cheap.

I don’t know if I enjoyed my semester because there were really a lot of frustrating things that happened during my stay there, so every time I went out of HK, I felt as if the weight was being lifted off my shoulders. I am heading back in September for another semester though, so I’m gonna be positive and what not.

[untilparadies]

7 Mar 2016, Monday

It’s been a while since I’ve updated. I can’t say that I’m super busy or weighed down by work but there’s something about this city that’s unsettling and oppressive.

I’ve been going to Shenzhen every Friday now. It just seems like a good way to wind down from the week of (not so busy, tbh) school. I tend to lug milk back in their boxes and damn do I work hard. I just feel that food is so much more affordable in mainland than here, because the same meal can be over 100HKD while in Shenzhen it’s going to set you back about 50RMB.

That aside, I’m going back to Beijing at the end of March and hopefully I’ll be able to see the signs of Spring. I don’t remember ever being in Beijing in Spring.

[untilparadies]

21 Jan 2016, Thursday

I’ve been trying to figure out if I am happy here and if this is actually a good decision on my part. Maybe I idealised everything too much.

Maybe it’s just the weather because I’m in the mountains and it’s misty and gloomy every single day and I feel like I haven’t seen the sun in two weeks.

[untilparadies]

10 Jan, 2016, Sunday. Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

I went for my first meal alone at a restaurant (actually I googled “best places to eat alone in Hong Kong” so it won’t be that awkward). It was Ichiran with partitions so people won’t see you while you eat. It was okay. Quite pricey at 113HKD (including an extra tamago and service charge) and I don’t really think it was worth it. I’ll order more things next time.

That aside, I went all the way to Admiralty and Causeway Bay today for some retail therapy because I felt sick and lonely but honestly, it wasn’t that therapeutic. I probably have to go out for meals on Sundays since the college canteen is closed.

Tomorrow will be my first day of classes and I’m hoping for the best and that the weather won’t be too gloomy.

Basically for this week I’ll be applying for my HKID, getting my bank card, uhh eating another ramen out at Shatin, uhh survive? I don’t ask for much. Let me make new friends.

[untilparadies]

7 Jan 2016, Thursday. NT, Hong Kong.

I arrived at 5:30am and hung around the airport before I made way to my college and reached at exactly 8:59am. Needless to say I was beat. I stayed up for the entire day and felt like crap but I managed to get quite a bit of things done. I am so thankful to my exchange buddy because without her I doubt I’d get even half of what I did yesterday. Anyway, I was miserable on my first day. Hopefully my days will get better!

[untilparadies]

Sun 11 Oct 2015 // DUN, NZ

The flowers of Spring have been making me really contented lately.

[untilparadies]

Fri 9 Oct 2015 // DUN, NZ

I’m really extremely thankful for the people that I got to meet in 2015. This may not sound much, but for this past semester, I was really happy. I don’t remember the last time I felt like this. Maybe this is too much to ask for and things will change in just a few months, but I’d really like to keep these people in my life.

I think Spring is finally here.

[untilparadies]

backlog 2015 april 26 // seasider // nz

when i saw this place, i really thought that i have reached the ends of the earth. if you think about it, it really isn’t an exaggeration - i am literally situated in a city that’s located at the border of the world. there’s this chinese phrase known as 天涯海角, literally translating to the ‘edges of heaven, corners of the oceans’. that was the phrase that popped into my mind then.

[untilparadies]

Thu 13 Aug 2015

DUN

Last November I wrote that the chilliness in the air smelled like Beijing.

I walked out of my flat last morning and when I inhaled, it smelled like a smoggy day in Beijing. I looked at the weather forecast just now, it said ‘hazy’.

This place confuses me.

-

On the 26th of July my flatmates and I went to a park. Probably for kids. I never knew it existed.

-

I have a lot of things planned for myself but I don't know if I can succeed.

My mind is all over the place.

-

I woke up with sore joints and my muscles were screaming every single time I moved a few days back. I had a nightmare. I think I was chasing after something. There’s absolutely no reason for the soreness aside from the chasing in my dream so it was pretty fucked up.

[untilparadies]

Mon 22 Jun 2015

I’ve been back for 12 days and I’ll be flying off in another 8.

It doesn’t feel like I’ve really done anything aside from sweat a lot and feel sticky.

Basically, I have my breaks all planned out. Hopefully this will go well.

November: Beijing December: Vancouver January: Hong Kong February: Beijing/San Ya March: Taiwan April: Macau June: Tokyo/Osaka

I just want to do well. It’s not that hard, right? I mean, I’m doing well. I’m doing a lot better than before. I’m more healthy. I guess. Gonna get a pair of shoes before I leave.

The thing is, I miss Beijing but I don’t know how I feel about being there alone.

Anyway, my friend came back from Tokyo a few days ago and she got me a Tsum Tsum plushie toy thing. 

Say hello to my deer friend ~

I thought it looked like a rat. My grans thought it was a pig.

I have quite some things I’ll have to settle. I’m sure things will go smoothly.

[untilparadies]

Mon 27 Apr 2015

Took a seaside scenic train yesterday. It was okay, but I’m not quite sure if it was worth the 90nzd.

Was woken up by the shrill fire alarm at 3:41am this morning. The volume was no joke. I opened my door and slammed it shut because the impact of the sound was so loud.

Why do stuff like this happen to me.

[untilparadies]

Thu 16 Apr 2015

想想自己什么时候沦落到这种地步了，自己心里也难受.

希望一切会顺利。希望我能通过。

求您了。我一生的心愿。

真的。

Please.

[untilparadies]

Wed 25 Feb 2015

I finally flew back to this small city on the 23rd.

I was no longer scared like the first time, all that's left were contempt and disappointment and maybe a lot of regret.

My room no longer smells like oranges. It smells like musky carpet. My housemates are alright but I'm not sure how it will be if I spend a whole year here. I'm not a sociable person. Honestly I'm already the outcast lol, not that I'm feeling really sympathetic towards myself.

I have a few goals for this year.

1. get my student id wtf 2. drink all the milk tea flavours from chopsticks 101 3. eat fruits every single day 4. learn to cook simple dishes 5. learn how to use the electronic appliances in the kitchen 6. buy a blender! fruit smoothies aye

February is ending soon.

May all be well.

[untilparadies]

Thu 13 Nov 2014

/backlog/

I often find myself wondering aimlessly around the campus.

I guess I must be really lonely.

[untilparadies]

Sat 1 Nov 2014

It's currently 2:30am and I'll be leaving for the airport in a little under three hours.

I know I'm going to miss the weather when I go back to a tropical country. I walked out of my college at around 8 in the evening today and when I took in a deep breath, the smell reminded me of Beijing. Maybe it's the chilliness? It doesn't smell like exhaust or anything. Maybe it's just me.

I'll miss this warm room. Perhaps I'll miss this place too. I'm really bad at taking care of myself and I get lonely so, so easily.