New Years Resolutions

2015 has well and truly crept up on us. It's strange that the end of 2014 was causing a panic for me, and when 2015 came something felt like it had been lifted off my shoulders. It is so metaphorical, but when a new week, new month or new year comes along, something just seems to restart within us, well at least some people. I am those kind of people, when a new week comes along I feel newly energised and ready, and as 2015 rolled around it was exactly the same, I felt re-energised and ready to go. Before I tell you about my long list of resolutions which everybody seems to have, I will tell you about an app I came across whilst reading on mashable recently. The free app Coach.me on apple app store, I'm not sure what other devices they are available on, but it is like a small community that comes together with similar goals, which can be from anything to exercising, eating healthy to coding to learning the guitar. So many different options and it is quite a big community. I joined recently, and it seems both helpful and quite inspiring.

So lets begin with my new years resolutions:
1. Wake up early
I mean over the last year I have been an early riser anyway. My housemates, my family and friends always ask me why I am up at 8am, or 9am and secretly I am thinking why are you NOT up? There is at least 1 or 2 hours of your day which you could have done anything in. In 1 hour you could do so much, exercise, have a slow enjoyable breakfast, meditate, work. This year I want to continue this, I know this is my final year of University and I should make the most of it not being obligatory to wake up, but really after 9am it just feels like a total waste of time to sit and do nothing in bed. With this one, I also want to incorporate and remind myself to 'be present' in situations where I used to constantly listen to music, look at my phone etc, I want to be present, take that big breathe of fresh air and just live.

2. Practice coding everyday 
It is something I enjoy and want to practice everyday, I want to spend time doing the things I enjoy and is worthwhile. I mean there are lots of things we "enjoy" because they are easy, browsing others blogs, looking through social media etc, but these aren't actually enjoyable, just easy. This year I want to challenge myself a little and break through these mental barriers of not being able to do things, because I think I can't.

3. Exercise regularly and frequently
The last few months I have been trying extremely hard to keep this one, and I intend to keep it going. During the beginning it energised me a lot, recently I have been tipping off because my eating has been taking a toll on my energy, but I want to regain control of both my exercising patterns as well as my eating patterns.

4. SAVING MONEY
Shall we all just have a little sob to this one? So my 21 years of education is coming to an end, and do you know what that means? YES, my mother and father will no longer be supporting me (well I would hope they don't need to) So this year I want to beginning keeping on top of my spending so when the real world comes along I am not struggling, trying to figure out where I went wrong, why I don't have a particular amount here, for a particular thing.

5. Work HARDER and smarter
This is probably something I have struggled with for the last two years of University. I've just been strolling by, doing what I can and not what I have the ability to. Final year means I have to prove myself to myself and also my parents, and my siblings because they are little shits who are constantly bantering me.

6. Meditate
Through out last year I did contemplate on becoming a buddhist, and then I realised it is unrealistic because I live a life of excess and none of my family will agree (I also got a few laughs). It is not to say they influenced me into not becoming a buddhist, but I just don't believe my life aligns with the commitment that comes with being a buddhist, and I don't want to be half-arsed. However, I do want to take meditation and bring it into my lifestyle. I mean there is always room for more positivity and enlightenment in ones life.

7. Travel to a different destination monthly
This resolution sounds so extravagant, however I don't mean it to be. I just want to go to a place I haven't been once a month. This could be anywhere and however far, I mean this could be Dublin, which isn't far, maybe a few hours, but it is still somewhere new. I just want to open my eyes a little more and take a breather every once in a while.

I mean these aren't life changing resolutions I know, but they are small things I want to do to improve myself. I found 2014 to be an extremely eye-opening year for me, and I want 2015 and the coming years to be the same. The only way to improve yourself and anything else is to take notice of one-self. So here's to 2015 and it being another great year with lots of different places, faces and achievements.

Christmas 2014

I would say for the best part of my teen years I have spent EVERY Christmas Eve working for my parents. It really doesn't bother me as my family are all there, and sometimes not attending work means you are missing out rather than going. This particular Christmas was not any different. This time everybody just a little older and wiser. 

By now we are all very familiar with this face, and this is little Gracie! She loves a little pose, a little pout and to be centre of attention. The limelight is where she is supposed to be, constantly talking and eating.

I had to take the little moustache from her to have a little selfie moment of my own. Christmas Eve evening feast was not as exciting as it used to be! (Mainly because when you're 9 and waiting for your parents to return and letting you run around crazy till 5am was the idea of fun, now not so much)

So at 20 years of age, I have yet to have a traditional christmas dinner, but I guess this is tradition. HOT POT. Not my most favourite meal, but it does the job. It bonds people and is a chinese favourite, so why the hell not.

So the celebrations begin. Things are a little different now since we are all so grown! The youngest is 15 so we all gather and pretend to drink. There is less presents now and more talking as a family rather than adults vs children. It's an enjoyable catch up and this christmas was no exception.

Me and my twin of a sister. Soon to be a very different story. 

My cousin taking selfies and us being in the photo. How things definitely have changed since we were younger. I don't even think we have any images of christmas when we were younger!

And I am just one of those unphotogenic people, who do stupid faces at the wrong times, getting tired of taking a million pictures in a row!

 Brother and Uncle...... OH DEAR is right

Motivation #2

I always try to stay motivated, I try to read motivational posts and quotes, when actually I am just procrastinating. The best way to stay motivated I have found is just to set mini targets. Lately I have been feeling so under the weather, about the future about the uncertainty and just general stress as a third year. Sometimes you just need a refresher and other's around you to remind you this isn't the end, the world doesn't end when you leave University without an immediate start at a job, or in the career everybody expects you to enter. So in order to stay motivated, I have set myself a few simple targets.
Lists I make every sunday evening outlining the things I will complete that week, they are not suggestions, but a list of must do, will do's.
So if you are lacking motivation, which is usually due to the mounting work you have to do, and because it seems so monstrous you just avoid it. To avoid this build up, split it into different tasks. Even with exercise it maintains true. Setting yourself mini targets rather than saying "I shall complete this 5000 word essay TODAY" just sounds too daunting.
So keep motivated by keeping lists and making targets. Hopefully this will help me and somebody else!

The daunting, seemingly never ending amount of work. Messy desk, doesn't do my brain any good either. But so the week begins, week 1 of setting those targets and making those lists!

Passing Time

As a student it is hard not to be bored. I know people always say "only boring people get bored". Totally not true, sometimes you just are bored, even though you have a million and one things piling up to do, that you just want to and have to put on the back burner sometimes. So here are a few things to do if you fall into either one of these criteria's:
1. Student
2. Girl
3. A person who is constantly bored.

To pass time during University can be difficult and I have found myself trying to pass time in more constructive ways as of late, but there are still some activities that are purely a waste of time.
1. Youtube Videos
Has and will always be one of my favourite past times. I spend every morning, brushing my teeth, in the shower, doing my make up watching Youtube videos. When I am home and procrastinating straight to Youtube. Any genre that your heart desires.
My favourite youtubers are probably Clothesencounters, her quality of videos are amazing. Dtrix for when I just want to listen to people talk absolute rubbish, Megan Batoon for her dance videos and pun videos, and so many more. You have no idea how much time this can waste, but also be so satisfying.

2. Netflix 
Like every other individual in the western world. There is nothing better than sitting there and letting Dexter run through the entire series, sitting in bed and not moving an inch. I have spent one too many Fridays in bed doing this. Forgive me University results.

3. Speaking to your housemates/course mates for hours
Time just goes.. when you are speaking to your friends about absolutely nothing. It just goes. It isn't anymore productive than either of the top two, but at least it gets you out of your stuffy room.

4. Actually finding a hobby
A recent "hobby" I've picked up is gyming, I used to absolutely detest the smell, the look and the atmosphere of the gym, actually it is a nice place to get away. On days where you've spent all day lounging on the coach, or the entire day working in the library, it is a good getaway. A hobby can be absolutely anything, even making keyrings, if that is what your heart desires. If nothing actually interests you that much, constantly try something new. That will take up time in itself, but in a productive manner.

5. Actually work
This will past time quicker than anything else will. Sure it will bore you, but if you really want to pass time, THIS. Follow this rule. Because once you're done you will feel less bored doing what you actually want to do (e.g. laying in bed, that becomes exciting)

6 more months until the end. I am going to bask in the last "passing of time" and being bored before the real world is upon me.

Blogtober #31

Blogtober #31: Halloween Costume

So a little late, but better than never.

This year I just got lazy, didn't want to deal with make up, didn't want to dress up in the typical slutty/scary maid or princess or the LIST GOES ON. 

So.. I opted for Ninja, although half way through the night I, 

1. Lost the mask

2. Broke my nun chucks

3. Threw away my "belt"

The big reveal wasn't so big after all.

And here I am already drawing a close to Blogtober. It was fun to be able to write a blogpost everyday, although sometimes I would leave it untouched for a few days at a time (bad me). But I completed it, I stuck with it. And it's time to say goodbye to October, full of ups and downs and generally just life moving along. 

And lets all welcome November, the festive period is drawing ever nigh!

The final couple of weeks

So, Hong Kong was drawing to a close. The time flew by and despite my several moves over the 6 weeks, I felt kind of at home. It gave me sufficient time to explore and yet settle in. 

Here are a few more photos of the last days of Hong Kong.

 My last week was spent living in Sheung Wan, so to my delight I could take the tram home everyday. This allowed me to have some nice refreshing coconut water on my rides home. If you have seen any of my previous posts you will know my love for coconut water. It does not get any fresher than this!

 On my last evening in HK I indulged in some pizza. Seriously this was the largest slice of pizza I have ever eaten. This place is in Central in HK, worth a try, not that many different toppings (as I always expect from placing other than Pizza Hut & Dominos) This was seriously a whole medium pizza just placed into massive slices. 

 My co-worker intern Haotien, it will probably be a long time until I see him again. MISS YOU ALREADY! 

 Last lunch at The Hive Hong Kong, lovely people and free pizza. WIN! 

 A few pretty lights in Central outside the nightclub Dragon I. 

 The farewell dinner on the Thursday, ONCE AGAIN in Central. I had delicious fajitas. I am a Mexican girl at heart. 

 Another pizza, this time from Amaroni's, a chain restaurant across HK. Delicious and relatively cheap. The portion size is also MASSIVE, so make sure to share! 

 Pictures of the couple of sunsets I managed to see and capture. Kowloon and on Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island. 

The two pictures below are from a little place School Food in the large shopping centre in Kowloon Tong. The name may sound unappetising but my oh my was this delicious. Not the traditional Korean food that I have tried elsewhere but so full of flavours. 

At a very well known tourist attraction, Wong Tai Sin. It is not as spiritual as it looks but many chinese people also flock here to make wishes and pray to the different God's. The almost special attraction to this place is the palm and face readers, so many to choose from but BEWARE, NOT CHEAP. Worth going just for a few laughs with your friends I must admit, and just to get away from the high rise buildings for a while. 

An old photo from the Macau trip at Sky 21. It was a beautiful view until the torrential rain, thunder and lighting came!

Last Few Weeks Combined

So, it is already week 6! I have reached the final stretch of my internship in Hong Kong, and despite a few speed bumps it has been an amazing experience, the people you meet, the emotions you feel and the work I have done. Hong Kong is not new to me, but this whole experience has opened up my eyes up to a newer, more developed and more open Hong Kong, and I am now more open to it. So here is a round up of the weeks following the previous posts!

 Dinner at Victoria Peak 

Despite the terrible weather all day on this day, it cleared up enough for us during the evening for us to enjoy the view. It is incredible to see the lights of a city from a distance. It feels like for that little amount of time you are away from the chaos and mass amounts of people in Hong Kong. This dinner gave us an opportunity to enjoy friends companies as well as meeting new people. 

Claire looking like she is having an enjoyable time, secretly like the rest of us ready to devour the steak that we have been so patiently waiting for! "Steak fries" as they referred to them in this restaurant were delicious, just as most chips are! 

Bad quality picture, this camera on my phone seems very temperamental, it needs to enjoy a specific light setting before it actually comes up with a good quality picture. I ordered the same as Claire, not disappointed but not overly amazed about the steak. Although I did thoroughly enjoy the vegetables which I have eaten so little of as of late! 

For dessert we went for nothing less than a Chocolate fondant, I may have accidentally ruined Raman's first fondant experience (sorry!). The caramel biscuit was too hard, too sugary and generally just not very tasty. The fondant however flowed out nicely and the ice cream always a great compliment to the chocolate dessert. Overall quite happy about the dinner at the peak! 

So just in time for Cryster's last day, the bosses Simon and Kirsten arrived from their travels. They treated us to a little champagne at a small Korean bar/restaurant in Kennedy Town just off of Smithfield Road, the place is decorated nicely (I thought, until Rebecca points out rather it looks like a factory). This was a nice opportunity to talk considering our office time is mostly spent sitting behind the computer in silence. 

 Our final dinner together was in a bar in LKF, so very classy. This bar plays live music, so though it was enjoyable, it was MUCH too loud, the service much too slow and the food mediocre. Seafood risotto, my favourite! Filling and tasty but probably not worth another visit. 

Over the weekend I visited my family over in Shenzhen, it was a good opportunity to get away from hectic Hong Kong and see some sort of family. Considering I have been at University for 2 years, I have not spent this amount of time away from family. (The sad reality, 20 years old and never been away from family for more than 2 weeks! I am a big home sick baby). My grandma managed to dig out some photos they found from their home town that my grandad buried, it was a nice little reminder of him as well as a nice opportunity to see my grandma so happy to reminisce about the nice memories of my grandad.

 During one of the weeks for a couple of days we had the opportunity to assist a photoshoot and video shoot. This was both a fun, tiering and stressful experience. I had never been put into a situation and under the command of such a bipolar individual, EVER. This creative director was extremely confident, brash, nice, nasty and basically every way you could describe a person. Definitely had its up and downs, but at the end of it it was so rewarding. I hate a few problems during this and had to leave early on the second day however, any time spent experiencing is so worth it. 

So many "final dinners" for Cryster during this week, this time it was with Claire, Holly, Cryster and Christy. We had szechuan food, because we cannot resist ourselves some spicy food. This place was in Elements in Kowloon and it was delicious, not too spicy as Chilli Fagara was but also not bland spice! Perfect! And those little free chicks peas or nuts to the left side of the picture below.. YEAH they probably MADE the meal! 

I never thought I would love green beans so much, but everytime I eat them in Hong Kong I just LOVE them and I keep going back for more. No restaurant seems to get them wrong here. 

 Japanese restaurant in Sha Tin, I have been to so many restaurants in so many places I have basically forgotten all the names. Maybe upon my return I will update you guys with the list of various restaurants I visited. This place is famous for its fried tempura black pork, the black pork was delicious, it was nice and soft and the tempura on the outside is just thick enough to cover it so you do not feel like you have just drunk a cup of oil. Not the cheapest for the tempura, but worth a visit if you fancy a more upscale japanese restaurant, OR just love tempura. 

 Burgers in Sheung Wan, looks a little like GBK burgers and suprisingly quite rare to find unless you are on Hong Kong Island, as Hong Kong Island tends to cover the western food more. Pricey as a GBK burger would be, wedges are so so, I prefer more chip like wedges. Burger so so, but worth a visit if you miss your meaty burgers from UK. 

 Over this weekend I had another bit of a food extravaganza! First dim sum in Central and then for dinner in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong. I had been eyeing up this "school food" Korean there for a while. It did not disappoint, the mari (looks like little pieces of sushi were really delicious), the fried chicken salad delicious..just all round deliciousness. Korean food for me is NO 1, I just cannot get enough. 

 Before our trip to Kowloon Tong and before ditching the boys, we made our way to Wong Tai Sin, I did not think this was a place I would visit again but it was a nice surprise that I did because I did not see the gardens last year, this view of the man made fountain.. PICTURE WORTHY. 

After this what seemed to be an extremely long day me and Christy decided to go for a little movie screening. LUCY! I enjoyed it, I have seen many bad comments about the movie but it is one of those action movies with a pretty actress e.g. very generic. However I kind of liked the message it gave, (I will not spoil it for everybody) but it is a good movie, maybe not worth a cinema ticket, but who cares? 

A few days later, onto dinner with Christy. Thai restaurant in Admiralty, I have to admit I am NOT, I repeat NOT a big fan of Thai food but this place could almost change my mind. We had some minced chicken salad, fish cakes and a deep fried tofu curry. I enjoyed the curry, surprisingly! The fish cakes were ok, I have had MUCH better but overall it was nice! Fast, efficient service and good decor. 

 

A cheap dinner in Jordan I resorted to this place. In Hong Kong you quickly learn, cheap normally means bad service, unhappy waitresses but quick service and good food. A supposedly "famous" dumpling place near Temple Street. These dishes below and 2 more cost less than $50 HKD! Happy tummy = happy Christine. And lesson learnt, if you want good cheap food you sometimes will have to compromise on the atmosphere, people and service.

To end the 5th week, once again we went for drinks. This time at Bulldog opposite the coast in Kennedy Town. Hong Kong is not always sunshine and hot weather, considering the day I am writing this it has been raining for around 24 hours! But on this particular Friday we was lucky enough to catch this beautiful sunset. 

 And so, as my journey in Hong Kong almost comes to a close, it begins a new adventure in a new country. Despite having so much fun here, having met so many people and developed in my own way, I am almost ready to come home. England is and always will be my home, even if one day I leave for good, it has been nice to call Hong Kong home for several weeks.