Getting a move on out!

Well I am off to Guangdong. I was originally going to stay in Hong Kong longer, but as I am going to return to Hong Kong at the end of my trip for several days, I feel as if I should get a move on early. There are buses departing for Guangdong hourly from near the Wan Chai metro station, cost: 100 HKD (~$20).

I went out with some fellow hostel-goers last night (Alex from Australia/England, Melissa who is currently living in Shanghai, Mo who is from Scotland and another guy from Canada) and got in about 2am. Surprisingly I woke up early this morning at 9:30, and decided I was over Hong Kong, though the company has been great!

The Olympics in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is home to to the Equestrian portion of the Olympics. This morning I was reading in the China Southern Post that 40,000 tickets to the events became available through a company called China Travel Services. These tickets are only available in Hong Kong, you MUST come in person to one of their offices to buy them.

Low and behold, I happen to be in Hong Kong, so first thing this morning I stopped into their office in Central Hong Kong and bought tickets to two events, a final event (where medals are awarded) on August 14 and a dressage event on August 17. I bought two tickets, so if any of you want to fly out for the games let me know!

On another note, the picture above was taken with a new lens I purchased for my camera, a Nikon 18-200mm. My dad knows how long I have had my eye on this particular lens. I traded in my two lens that span this same spectrum a 18-55mm and a 55-200mm. It was just two otherwise. Final cost for the new lens 5,000 HKD. This translates to 659 U.S. Dollars, this is roughly the price of a used lens in the US, so I think I got a pretty good deal.

DELAYED!!!

The epic journey begins, at the pace of a hurd of turtles and has quickly down-shifted to the pace of a turd of hurdles... going nowhere fast!

Currently I am sitting on my Seattle flight to San Francisco, on the tarmac in San Fran. While we landed 25 minutes ago we have moved gates three times and have yet to park at a gate. The pilot just came on to tell us they are moving us back to our original gate, WTF? Anyways, this delay is on top of the hour plus delay out of Seattle for weather. Whether my Hong Kong flight was delayed too, I don't yet know, but I am pretty sure that I just saw my Hong Kong flight take off.

I am challenging myself to look at this as an adventure and not fret about it. If you know me your know that I like to plan to a "T," so this is a big challenge for me. It's like a choose your own adventure novel. To travel to Hong Kong turn to page 72, or for travel to Chinatown in San Francisco turn to page 33. Here's hoping it's Hong Kong.

UPDATE #1
Looks like it is page 33 after all and lucky me, I get to spend the night in San Francisco before hoping to LA in the morning for a 1:00pm flight to Hong Kong. In the mean time I am going to try and find my bag.

UPDATE #2
The customer service representative put in a meter for the airline to pull my bag at 2:00, however when I finally left the airport at 11:15, they had still not located yet, but I was told that someone was actively looking, so I headed back to the hotel to get some shut eye. When I came back at 6:45 the next morning, no one had found my bag yet, then came along Oscar. I am convinced that Oscar has special powers, because after 15 minutes of looking, Oscar found my bag!!!

After throwing out a couple bottles of liquid, I opted to carry my bag on board. I am convinced had I not spent all night pushing for my bag, it never would have made my Hong Kong flight, because it never would have made it to LA, when they found it my bag was sitting in the International Baggage Area.

I learned a lesson though, take a picture of your bag before you check it. It did wonders in helping Oscar find my bag!

Moving on Up... Moving on Out!

This morning I walked through the heart of campus - Red Square - and it was eerily calm. No students on Healy Beach, no one tabling for their clubs, a neon pink sign hung over the student run coffee shop in ICC loudly proclaiming "closed."

It's official class are over, finals completed, the campus is deserted, the only people left are graduating seniors and school administrators. Later this week proud family and friends will flock to campus. Many of my friends are graduating in the coming days. Forgetting for a moment that I, myself will be no where near the intersection of O and 37th streets that mark the gates of campus, these people who I have laughed with and cried for, these people who have become my family will be setting off on journeys of their own. I won't be able to call them up and say "Let's go get a beer at Tombs," instead they will be frequenting saki houses as they teach English in Japan or hanging out late into the night at anyone of the many clubs that dot the island of Manhattan. One has even gotten a job doing modeling... okay, okay... she is going to be doing computer modeling, but Pam for all the joking know that I couldn't be prouder to call you my friend.

This week is filled with bittersweet thoughts. I can't tell you how excited I am to pack my bag and climb on a plane to cross the ocean and begin walking the streets of China. But tonight I wasn't packing my backpack, I was packing up my apartment. There was no excitement, no anticipation. Instead I went through all the old mail I had hastily tossed into my desk as I ran off to class. I sorted through the papers, tests, and notes that marked the passage of another year of college gone. I took my pictures off the walls and packed my worldly possessions into boxes. Tonight is most likely the last night I will sleep under this roof, surrounded by these walls and as I lay in bed typing this I realized that I am not quite ready to let go, I am not quite ready to close my eyes and let this last night float away in a dream.

This was my first apartment, my very first truly mine apartment. While I may have had to share it with a handful of spider crickets and it could feel like a deep dark cave on the sunniest of days I will be sad to see it go. Tomorrow I will pack my boxes into the car and after I hand over the keys on Thursday, with tears staining my eyes, I will take one more step towards the beginning of this journey.

The Belated Holiday-2007 Recap

I originally wrote the following post at the beginning of December, though in a blink of an eye I was buried in finals and then tired from finals. Before I knew it the holidays were over and it just seemed frutile to send out Christmas cards. But alas an opportunity to share it with all of you arrose, this my innagural post of my first blog. I will write an update on this letter shortly, so keep your eyes out. Without further ado may I present December 2007…

Happy Holidays from the Nation’s Capital! I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you moments from my life this year. For this has been an exciting year for me, as I have had many new experiences and created some wonderful memories along the way. The spring semester was marked by the continuation of my study of Chinese and everything China. In addition to participating in a graduate Chinese History course, I countined my internship at National Geographic and began working in the Science Library at Georgetown.

I spent Spring Break in New York City, Baltimore, and visiting the many museums here in DC. As the semester continued, classes were puncuated with the success of Georgetown’s basketball team and my trip to Atlanta in April to cheer Georgetown on at the Final Four. Although I had nosebleed seats and we lost to Ohio State((who in return were beat by Floridia in the final game), I had an amazing time hanging with fellow Hoyas and partaking in all the activities.

May brought an end to the semester as well as an end to my eighteen month internship with the Cinema Ventures department at National Geographic. Although I was sad to see it end, I was ready to head home to Seattle for a nice long break. On the way home, I met my dad, aunt and uncle in Las Vegas. After taking in the many offerings of the city, my dad and I road trip-ed to Mexico and back, stopping along the way at the Grand Canyon’s new Skywalk. I quickly got over my fear of falling through the 5 inch glass and was running and jumping before I knew it, 4,000 feet above the Colorado River.

Upon arriving in Seattle I dealt with all the joys and frustrations of moving back home, but I am really glad that I spent the summer at home. I got to re-know my brother who is now 16 and taller than me, which I still think is not right. But we’re even because Nate is still jealous of me; within two weeks of arriving home I convinced my dad to get a puppy. Within days Nathan and I, too, were road-tripping it across the mountains to meet a breeder. While Nathan insisted on driving on the way there (after all, he argued, he needed the practice for his upcoming driving test), he was content to snuggle with our new ball of fluff, Duke, on the way home. While Duke at 12 weeks old was content to nap in Nathan’s lap on the ride home, the now 9 month old Samoyed is gigantic!

I officially attained adulthood this summer, when I turned 21. We had a fabulous dinner at Coho’s, a restaurant my family frequents at home in Redmond. My extended family threw me a b-day scavenger hunt. I spent all day with different members of my family doing things I had never done before; I had breakfast with my Aunt Maria and my two cousins, Monica and Alex, at the golf-club near their home, I visited a hands on music museum with my Second-Cousin Rhonda, toured Seattle on Ride-the-Ducks with my Aunt Lisa – a very good quacking accompanist – and had dinner back at my Aunt’s house where we played my family’s favorite games: euchre and whomp-um. All in all, it was a good birthday.

August saw a vacation with my mom and brother where we went on a cruise to Alaska, sailing through the Inland Passage and then rode a train to Mount McKinley and Denali National Park. The wildlife abounded, but it was the adventures of hiking and biking on my own, kayaking and zip-lining with Nate, and a float plane flight over the glaciers to a salmon bake in a secluded area only accessible in summer by float plane and boat with my Brother and Mom and six hungry bears that was extremely memorable. In all, it was an amazing trip and a great way to cap the summer off before heading back to school.

I arrived back in DC and after staying with a friend for a couple weeks, found my very first, really-truly-mine apartment. The coming weeks saw an infestation of spider-crickets and mice, but after a visit from the exterminator I was once again happily inhabiting my apartment alone. Regardless I am very proud to say that I am paying my own rent with a part-time job with National Geographic. I was excited to be met with a job offer on my return to DC and I now work part-time in the Marketing & Sponsorship department of NG Entertainment. We released Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (available at IMAX theaters) in October and I was honored to be given a line credit as Intern to the Associate Producer. I will forever be inscribed on the silver screen.

In my free time, I was just recently cast in the GU production of the Vagina Monologues and I religiously attend Georgetown home basketball games to cheer on the Hoyas. I am now in the midst of finals and will be heading home before I know it. This holiday season has been filled with friends’ parties and lots of studying, and even a little snow. While I have greatly enjoyed this year, I am very excited for 2008. I have just gained my dean’s approval to spend this coming fall abroad studying in Harbin, China, at an affiliate university to GU. The program is difficult, but is highlighted by a one-on-one tutorial with a professor where they will guide me in writing a research paper in Chinese. I will return to Georgetown for my last semester before I graduate from the School of Foreign Service in the spring.

I hope the year has treated you as well as it has me. With much love,
Ashley Howard.