White Christmas, the Musical on Broadway
The Lights are always bright on Broadway!
Literally hundreds of Santa Claus around Time Square
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Back in New York City... and Montreal!
First of All, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody!!
Everybody tends to agree that 2008 was really a bad year for most people, whether it was financially, health related or just the general spirit of that year... 2009 looks bleak for investors but I think we might all end up being surprised of the outcome...
Yes, been back to Montreal for the holidays... outside the gloomy days, icestorms and the -16C temperature. But overall it's been great seeing everybody!! Especially since I felt my departure was a bit rushed! Sometime I feel a bit shameful of not having enough time to see everybody but at one point the only thing you can do is your best and that's it!
I know I whine a lot about Montreal when I talk about it, but there are many good things about it despite its weather.
1st - Food in Montreal compare to Hong Kong is amazing, sometime I'm seriously questioning the quality of the food I eat in HK, whereas in Montreal it's several time better! Of course I'm aware that I grew up there and that my view is purely subjective but then again isn't it the whole point of this blog?
2nd - The people in Montreal are friendlier and a lot less self-centered than anywhere else I have been before. People are polite, they wait in line, they help old people or disabled people, and they dont push people in the subway just because they are too lazy to come to work in advance in the morning.
3rd - Everything here just make sense, the shop organized in a coherent fashion and they are full of stuff that you might need! Stores are big and goods are really cheap in comparison !
4th - The roads are wide, building are spacious and there's not much people around so you dont wait anywhere if you go to the bank (unless they are giving out welfare check) or any normal restaurants!!
But I'm glad to finally go back to Hong Kong!! Resume my life with my amazing bamboo and my 1 1/2 apartment!!! Law school is really a great part of my life and way more interesting than I could have hoped, so I'm really thrilled to start this new semester!!!
The road back will be long haha, Montreal => Washington => New York => Tokyo => Hong Kong
At least everything will be by plane so I can't really complain!!!!
I have to go start packing for now and slowly prepare this frozen scenery for a more hospital climiate :o)
All the best for 2009 dear friends,
Francis
Everybody tends to agree that 2008 was really a bad year for most people, whether it was financially, health related or just the general spirit of that year... 2009 looks bleak for investors but I think we might all end up being surprised of the outcome...
Yes, been back to Montreal for the holidays... outside the gloomy days, icestorms and the -16C temperature. But overall it's been great seeing everybody!! Especially since I felt my departure was a bit rushed! Sometime I feel a bit shameful of not having enough time to see everybody but at one point the only thing you can do is your best and that's it!
I know I whine a lot about Montreal when I talk about it, but there are many good things about it despite its weather.
1st - Food in Montreal compare to Hong Kong is amazing, sometime I'm seriously questioning the quality of the food I eat in HK, whereas in Montreal it's several time better! Of course I'm aware that I grew up there and that my view is purely subjective but then again isn't it the whole point of this blog?
2nd - The people in Montreal are friendlier and a lot less self-centered than anywhere else I have been before. People are polite, they wait in line, they help old people or disabled people, and they dont push people in the subway just because they are too lazy to come to work in advance in the morning.
3rd - Everything here just make sense, the shop organized in a coherent fashion and they are full of stuff that you might need! Stores are big and goods are really cheap in comparison !
4th - The roads are wide, building are spacious and there's not much people around so you dont wait anywhere if you go to the bank (unless they are giving out welfare check) or any normal restaurants!!
But I'm glad to finally go back to Hong Kong!! Resume my life with my amazing bamboo and my 1 1/2 apartment!!! Law school is really a great part of my life and way more interesting than I could have hoped, so I'm really thrilled to start this new semester!!!
The road back will be long haha, Montreal => Washington => New York => Tokyo => Hong Kong
At least everything will be by plane so I can't really complain!!!!
I have to go start packing for now and slowly prepare this frozen scenery for a more hospital climiate :o)
All the best for 2009 dear friends,
Francis
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ni Hao, ni hao ma?
Hello everybody!
It's been indeed a long time since I wrote here. Life is busy, that sums it up pretty well. Assignments are coming in, only 5 weeks left for the 1st semester! It's amazing how time is flying so fast ! Been here already for two months now! Law school is really great, after 4 years of economic theories, it is really refreshing to be doing something that has real life, day-to-day, application! Also I've started to learn mandarin, it's a bit easier (at least for now) than I had expected, I guess trying to learn cantonese two years ago scared me off a bit, but now I have more interest (personal and profesional) to learn. Hong Kong is still warm around 30C even though we are almost at the end of October! Hopefully we'll get to see drop in temperature sometime soon, I'm getting tired of sweating around in HK.
Today I went to Shenzhen in mainland China! It's really amazing how much everything has improved in less than 2 years! It's becoming very modern, you could have sworn that your werent in the PRC anymore, which is quite an amazing feat in itself! It's really strange how different it still is from Hong Kong, you get a very different feeling even though most shops are similar and the language is most of the time the same. I've posted a small video and some pictures of the Dongmen area, which is the shopping district of Shenzhen!
It's been indeed a long time since I wrote here. Life is busy, that sums it up pretty well. Assignments are coming in, only 5 weeks left for the 1st semester! It's amazing how time is flying so fast ! Been here already for two months now! Law school is really great, after 4 years of economic theories, it is really refreshing to be doing something that has real life, day-to-day, application! Also I've started to learn mandarin, it's a bit easier (at least for now) than I had expected, I guess trying to learn cantonese two years ago scared me off a bit, but now I have more interest (personal and profesional) to learn. Hong Kong is still warm around 30C even though we are almost at the end of October! Hopefully we'll get to see drop in temperature sometime soon, I'm getting tired of sweating around in HK.
Today I went to Shenzhen in mainland China! It's really amazing how much everything has improved in less than 2 years! It's becoming very modern, you could have sworn that your werent in the PRC anymore, which is quite an amazing feat in itself! It's really strange how different it still is from Hong Kong, you get a very different feeling even though most shops are similar and the language is most of the time the same. I've posted a small video and some pictures of the Dongmen area, which is the shopping district of Shenzhen!
That's all for me for today!
Francis
Francis
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Back in Hong Kong
Hello Everybody!
I know, I know, it's been a really long time since I wrote on my blog! Been back in Hong Kong for ever just a month now! Everything has been going to an incredible pace: friends, law school, and daily life are all taking huge chunks of time which I must say are not easy to manage yet... but I'm slowly getting there! I finally found my apartment after 3-4 weeks of intense research in the most expensive city on earth for the housing market (at least according to last month's Time magazine). So now, I'm enjoying my amazing 1 and 1/2 in the middle of a district known as Prince Edward which is really great considering the apartment market in HK. I feel like I have finally arrived, hard to describe the feeling but I just feel I've been adrift in the past few weeks, now things are looking up so HK is starting to be more exciting! The weather is pretty bad though, it's very very very very humid and warm... on most day the temperature can reach 35-36C (up to 48C if you count the humidity index!!!) So it's pretty intense and it's draining most of my energy each time I go outside. Autumn has started which mean that the weather will get colder (well by colder I mean similar to early June in Canada). Law school is really interesting, way more interesting than I would have imagined, hopefully my motivation will remain the same :o) I'll try to post some more pictures as soon as I can. For now, I got to go to bed... Tomorrow another crazy week is starting !
I know, I know, it's been a really long time since I wrote on my blog! Been back in Hong Kong for ever just a month now! Everything has been going to an incredible pace: friends, law school, and daily life are all taking huge chunks of time which I must say are not easy to manage yet... but I'm slowly getting there! I finally found my apartment after 3-4 weeks of intense research in the most expensive city on earth for the housing market (at least according to last month's Time magazine). So now, I'm enjoying my amazing 1 and 1/2 in the middle of a district known as Prince Edward which is really great considering the apartment market in HK. I feel like I have finally arrived, hard to describe the feeling but I just feel I've been adrift in the past few weeks, now things are looking up so HK is starting to be more exciting! The weather is pretty bad though, it's very very very very humid and warm... on most day the temperature can reach 35-36C (up to 48C if you count the humidity index!!!) So it's pretty intense and it's draining most of my energy each time I go outside. Autumn has started which mean that the weather will get colder (well by colder I mean similar to early June in Canada). Law school is really interesting, way more interesting than I would have imagined, hopefully my motivation will remain the same :o) I'll try to post some more pictures as soon as I can. For now, I got to go to bed... Tomorrow another crazy week is starting !
35C today, not bad for September 28th!!!
Repulse Bay Beach
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
The Last Domino
Hey guys!
Long time since I've posted anything new on my blog.... 2 weeks and half remaining... everything seems to be so unreal... I'm slowly getting prepared. I'm still fighting with the loan and bursuary bureau and I have yet to have a definite answer regarding the whole thing. Luckily my friend Laurence got me to think about taking a student loan at a Bank and now I feel a whole lot safer money wise. I'm really wondering how everything is going to be... if my program will suit me, if HK will be as great as I remember it. It's hard to explain that I dont want it to be the same but human mind is always using memories to build up the anticipation. So yes, I dunno how it's gonna be, everything is coming really fast and I have yet to realize the new challenge i'm undertaking. Let's see how the Honky in Hong Kong will do for this new year, shall we? It's all confusing, frightning, exciting at the same time, and the only thing I can do is to try not to freak out by overthinking everything. There's a great deal of uncertainty in everything, the more you are willing to risk, the higher the yield. Of course this is a bit dramatic, HK isn't another planet, or a definitive path that must lead to sucess but rather just a chapter, not necessarily an important one. I need closure with HK, with last year and I need to start a life for myself in HK... If I'm not able to do so, I might as well come back to Montreal.
So ready or not, Hong Kong, here I come... I dunno where it's gonna take me, but at the end of the day I'm sure I will have made the right choice.
So to all my HK friends who are reading this, be ready, because I'm ready to attack everything that will be thrown at me :o)
-F
Long time since I've posted anything new on my blog.... 2 weeks and half remaining... everything seems to be so unreal... I'm slowly getting prepared. I'm still fighting with the loan and bursuary bureau and I have yet to have a definite answer regarding the whole thing. Luckily my friend Laurence got me to think about taking a student loan at a Bank and now I feel a whole lot safer money wise. I'm really wondering how everything is going to be... if my program will suit me, if HK will be as great as I remember it. It's hard to explain that I dont want it to be the same but human mind is always using memories to build up the anticipation. So yes, I dunno how it's gonna be, everything is coming really fast and I have yet to realize the new challenge i'm undertaking. Let's see how the Honky in Hong Kong will do for this new year, shall we? It's all confusing, frightning, exciting at the same time, and the only thing I can do is to try not to freak out by overthinking everything. There's a great deal of uncertainty in everything, the more you are willing to risk, the higher the yield. Of course this is a bit dramatic, HK isn't another planet, or a definitive path that must lead to sucess but rather just a chapter, not necessarily an important one. I need closure with HK, with last year and I need to start a life for myself in HK... If I'm not able to do so, I might as well come back to Montreal.
So ready or not, Hong Kong, here I come... I dunno where it's gonna take me, but at the end of the day I'm sure I will have made the right choice.
So to all my HK friends who are reading this, be ready, because I'm ready to attack everything that will be thrown at me :o)
-F
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