Home for the holidays =)

After a fairly smooth trans-Pacific flight with Matt, dropping him off safely in SF, then 36 hours of flight cancellations/delays and two trips back-and-forth to Aunt Karen/Uncle Peter's house, I'm finally back in NJ =D

Traveling started Saturday, December 19 (Macau time), when Matt and I wrestled our bags downstairs and caught a taxi to the airport. There was only a slight delay at the bridge, when a police-escorted convoy was passing through, apparently going to pick up PRC President Hu Jintao at the airport for the tenth anniversary of Macau's handover celebrations. Still, we got to the airport in plenty of time to get through security and all, only to wait an extra 20 minutes at the gate because EVA hadn't finished boarding their previous flight! We also picked up lunch for Matt at the airport cafe, since we weren't sure how the "diabetic meal" on the plane would be (it was just as well - they asked Matt if he wanted orange, apple, or tomato juice, none of which are exactly good for diabetics unless they need the sugar boost!)

Taipei airport was relatively easy to navigate once we picked up a luggage cart, though I have yet to find those massage chairs (maybe when I go in January). Matt picked up a t-shirt (since he's never been to Taiwan and is not likely to come back anytime soon) and we sent status update emails home, then just hung out at the food court for a while, where "authentic Taiwanese snacks" (more like appetizers) and Diet Coke were both conveniently nearby =P Thanks to the free wireless, I was even able to check-in for my Delta flight from SFO to JFK. Again, being unsure of the EVA "diabetic meal" quality, we picked up dumplings-to-go for Matt's dinner, then headed for the plane so we could board early and get settled in for the 11-hour flight to SFO. Besides a short stretch of turbulence (which will probably hit CA as a big storm in the next few days), it was an uneventful flight...I got a couple hours of sleep between watching the kung-fu parody In His Majesty's Secret Service and most of the Disney guinea pig movie G-Force, both of which were pretty funny.

Things started going downhill once we touched down in SF and I called home only to find out that my flight had already been canceled because of the massive blizzard bearing down on the tri-state area. Matt and I got through customs surprisingly quickly (30 minutes has got to be some sort of record), then he met up with Marlyann, so I was free to head for the domestic terminal to see what I could salvage to get home. Unfortunately, Delta informed me that all of their flights to anywhere on the northeast coast (aka anything between Maine and Maryland) had been canceled for at least the next 12 hours, so I couldn't even get into Boston or DC and Amtrak it home from there. The best they could do was put me on the standby list for the 1:45 PM flight Sunday afternoon and confirm a seat on a Tuesday two-part flight, connecting through Minneapolis.

It seemed like a good time to switch to Plan B, so to speak, so I called my aunt/uncle and they graciously came to save me from spending a night in the airport. Instead, I shared a comfy sofabed with the family cat =P Sunday morning I checked the standby list and was #3 of 3, but the website said 6 seats were available in coach, so we decided to give it a try. As I found out when I got to the airport, however, the flight had already been overbooked, so they even had to ask for additional volunteers to change their travel plans in order to get all the ticketed passengers on the plane. No one got off the standby list.

Fast-forward a couple hours, and I was still in the airport hoping to see if I could get on the Sunday red-eye flight, which would get me to JFK 24 hours after I was supposed to get there. I had also changed my confirmed seat to a direct flight 9 AM Tuesday morning because I didn't think 40 minutes was enough time to make a connection, and I definitely didn't want to get stuck in Minneapolis. Around 6 PM, I was #8 on the standby list, so things were not looking good...I went back to the Delta counter to ask if there was anything else available. The guy looked at me and asked kindly, "Didn't I talk to you yesterday?" (It was true - he had helped me Saturday night.) Consequently, he was noticeably more persistent than the other agents I had talked to: after about 10 minutes of searching, someone's cancellation opened up a seat on the 9 AM flight Monday morning, and I grabbed it.

Thus, after one more night with the cat, I got on the BART around 5:30 AM to get to the airport by 7:00, got through security, and was finally in the air by 9:15 AM. By 6 PM EST, I was back in snowy, icy NJ...cold, but glad to be home =)

December birthday bash

A few weeks ago, Sam, Susan, and I realized that no fewer than five of our friends in Macau all had birthdays in mid-to-late December: ETAs Austin and Holly, Grinnell fellow Brian, UM GA Karen, and UM student Henry. (Actually, we later realized there were a couple more, but those were the main ones we were celebrating). Unfortunately, late December is exactly the time that we will all be split up traveling with different family members/friends, so we decided to plan a preemptive surprise joint birthday party, aka big family-style dinner + cake, then go out for drinks afterward.

The evening started off at Azita's parents' restaurant, a small place near the border gate with 7-8 tables, and we took up two of them! Susan and I went early to sneak in the cake (a 1-pound fruit and cream confection from St. Honore's), then the others came in dribs and drabs, eventually totaling 17 people. Azita's parents were super-nice...her dad is apparently the only chef in the kitchen, so we felt bad about getting so much food, but I guess it wasn't any more than that number of ordinary customers would have ordered. We even tried to help by pre-ordering some things so he could prepare them earlier, but then we realized that wasn't going to be nearly enough food...we ended up getting about 15 different dishes ^^;

Some of the many delicious things

The devious part of the night was that we had told all the birthday people that it was a "big holiday gathering" to celebrate the end of the semester before we all split up to travel, but once everyone was there, we whipped out the birthday crowns!

Karen and Brian putting on their crowns

Niko (an exchange student from Finland), Austin, and Emily

The second part of the birthday surprise was the cake, and also this massive card that St. Honore's had thrown in for free. All the birthday people took photos with the card, but we eventually decided to save it and all sign it for Holly, since she wasn't at the dinner (she was busy at debate team). After we looked like we couldn't eat any more dinner, Azita's mom brought out the cake, with just enough candles so each of the birthday people got one to blow out.

Happy birthday...

Dinly and Henry with their candles

Karen taking a stab at cutting the cake (pun intended)

Azita insisting that Henry "read" the card

With many thanks to Azita's parents, we departed for NAPE, the "party zone" of Macau near the statue of Kun Iam, on the waterfront of the channel between Macau and Taipa. We ended up spending most of the night (until we went home around 1 AM) at this relatively new bar called House Cafe, which was shiny and white and clean, but the drinks were only ok (for the price) and the smell of perfumed potpourri inside was overpowering. Luckily, it wasn't that chilly out, so we put a bunch of tables together and basically took over half the patio area. Perhaps the most amusing thing was a big screen that was playing fairly old/awkward music videos...it would have been a lot more fun if there was karaoke to go with it heh.

I didn't get much sleep once I got home because I had to proctor the ACT this morning, but no time for a nap now because I have to get some gift-shopping done before my friend Matt flies in to HK tomorrow. I know I've failed at blogging catch-up so far (I thought I was doing pretty well to have at least one post a week) but I'll definitely be working on it over break, between baking cookies and doing all that other holiday stuff back at home =D

Cooking for myself part 3

Tonight, I arrived home with three big bags of groceries, and Sam asks, "Oo, cooking something elaborate tonight?" My answer was no, because the groceries were meant to last me the whole week. I initially didn't have plans to make anything fancy because I was just plain hungry, but I guess it did turn into quite an undertaking. The result, however, was quite yummy =D

Yet another characteristically colorful plate

In case you can't see what's there, the plate has chewy udon-like noodles (they're a little thin to be real udon), pepper-marinated steak buried under slightly caramelized onions, lightly broiled Chinese vegetables (the name on the label is just 菜 心, literally meaning vegetable hearts, but I think think the English name is Chinese broccoli), topped with some stir-fried yellow pepper slices and sweet pea pods. In the bowl is a salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, more yellow pepper slices, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and slices of dried apricot, all in a light Italian herb vinaigrette.

I've gotten pretty good at the make-everything-in-one-pan approach...tonight I fried the meat, adding the onions about halfway through, then cooked the noodles, then finally the vegetables, so both the noodles and the veggies had a bit of the savory beef flavor. Working in this order, it was also much easier to clean the pan heh.

However, one of the frustrating things about cooking in Macau is that it's not that much cheaper than eating out. All things considered, this meal probably cost me about 25 MOP (about $3 USD) to buy the ingredients, plus at least half an hour of prep/cooking time, whereas I could have gotten a big bowl of noodles with meat/veggies or 20+ dumplings for the same amount. On the plus side, cooking for myself is admittedly infinitely healthier, so I guess I'll keep working on it =P

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

As in the USA, the Christmas decorations started popping up around Macau just after Thanksgiving, along with the holiday carols playing in every Watsons store (FYI: Watsons is a HK pharmacy chain kind of like Walgreens or Rite-Aid) and in many other public places as well (e.g. Senado Square). Only about 10% of Macau's population is Christian, and most of that is Roman Catholic because of the Portuguese colonization, but it still seems to be a huge deal here just judging from what I've seen so far. Some photos below:

Decorations in the Venetian

Even the gondoliers have Santa hats!

Hanging icicle lights and tinsel along the roads
(this photo taken from a bus)

One of the many fabric/wire Santa figures
(think back to the bunnies from Mid-Autumn Festival)

Setting up more stuff in Taipa

At the airport (the deer actually move up and down like carousel ponies)

Something random but semi-related...you know the song "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."? Well, Susan and I have been on a roast chestnut kick recently - they're relatively healthy, quite tasty, and they make great handwarmers on the bus ride home =P We started off buying the 8-9 MOP bags from Sanmiu, but found those were always not very fresh, even to the point where we had to throw out half the bag because they were moldy or charred or otherwise inedible.

Thankfully, we discovered one vendor in Senado who roasts them fresh in a rotating urn...the chestnuts are consequently more expensive (a small bag is 10 MOP, medium is 20 MOP, and large is 34 MOP for some strange reason), but we feel they are worthwhile because we can actually eat all of them, and they're actually good! It's gotten to the point where Susan and I will call/text when we happen to pass by Senado, just to ask if the other person wants chestnuts ^^;

The hardworking roaster/vendor

Yes, they're annoying to crack, but they're worth it.

De-shelled and ready for consumption...I used to pretend that eating chestnuts was like eating mini-brains =P

In other news, we have just three weeks left in the semester but so much more to cram in...my students just handed in their final writing projects (topic: write a cover letter pretending to be a fairy-tale character applying for a real life job), the final exam begins at the end of this week (administering it in class over two days), and the students still have to do final presentations (they worked in groups of 3-4 to create an advertisement for a product, either real or imaginary). Oh well...back to grading!