Well I learned a terrible thing today, I can't converse with a taxi driver in Chinese. I used to be able to get by but not anymore, plus the taxi drivers english is getting worse now that the Olympics are over which actually makes them worse drivers somehow. They don't know any of the locations which can make it difficult to get around if you do not have a map handy.
I'm in Beijing for the last two days of my visit and unfortunately I do have to mention that the pollution/smog around the city has returned since the Olympics. We are having some nice weather right now but I am really looking forward to returning home even if it is cold in Boston. I have been able to have my favorite chinese dish (gong bao ji ding) twice while I have been here so I have done everything that I wanted to!
I can't believe that is was only 2 weeks ago that I was in Hong Kong for my first reception. Time has flown by, but at the same time it feels so long ago. But with only two visits tomorrow then off to Philadelphia the trip has come to an end. Until next fall...enjoy some asian food
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Singapore
Well I have arrived in Singapore only to find out that North Korea had finally launched its rocket. For those of you who have have not heard about this, North Korea was planning on launching a Satellite into orbit, however most of the regional countries and the U.S. believe it was more of a test of their ballistic missile system. A lot of people were worried in Tokyo while I was there. The government had brought in surface-to-air missile systems to shoot down any debris from the launch if it ended up over Japan, luckily none did.
Apparently North Korea launched the rocket while I was sitting in the airport in Tokyo. I didn't hear about the outcome until I arrived in Singapore. For me there was no need to worry, this has far more policical implications for the North Korean's than military implications.
Singapore is as beautiful as ever. I arrived in my hotel late last night and had a full day of visits today. As is typical in Singapore it is a beautiful day until about 2pm when there are torrential downpours for about an hour at most and then back to beautiful weather. I am definitely enjoying the warmer climate, I believe it is high 80's today? Not much time for sightseeing this visit. I'm off to my last Admitted Student Reception this evening then another full day of visits tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be as nice. I'm enjoying my last week in Asia but looking forward to returning home at the end of the week!
Apparently North Korea launched the rocket while I was sitting in the airport in Tokyo. I didn't hear about the outcome until I arrived in Singapore. For me there was no need to worry, this has far more policical implications for the North Korean's than military implications.
Singapore is as beautiful as ever. I arrived in my hotel late last night and had a full day of visits today. As is typical in Singapore it is a beautiful day until about 2pm when there are torrential downpours for about an hour at most and then back to beautiful weather. I am definitely enjoying the warmer climate, I believe it is high 80's today? Not much time for sightseeing this visit. I'm off to my last Admitted Student Reception this evening then another full day of visits tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be as nice. I'm enjoying my last week in Asia but looking forward to returning home at the end of the week!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Oi Shii!
Ok, my last meal in Tokyo was...of course! Sushi! But this was different...
Today was my last full day in Tokyo and I have loved my time here. This afternoon I hosted my third Admitted Student Reception which was a success once again. Not only did I have about 8 students and their families in attendance, I also had one of my guidance counselors and one of my best friends mothers in attendance. My friend Takuo is from Japan and everytime I come to Tokyo I meet up with his mother and she brings me to some local japanese restaurants. But this time was special, Tak's mom came to my reception in a traditional Kimono:
Today was my last full day in Tokyo and I have loved my time here. This afternoon I hosted my third Admitted Student Reception which was a success once again. Not only did I have about 8 students and their families in attendance, I also had one of my guidance counselors and one of my best friends mothers in attendance. My friend Takuo is from Japan and everytime I come to Tokyo I meet up with his mother and she brings me to some local japanese restaurants. But this time was special, Tak's mom came to my reception in a traditional Kimono:
Tak and his mother in traditional Kimonos (just kidding, but these are traditional kimonos)After the reception Tak's mother took me out to Tak's favorite sushi place in Roppongi, right near where Tak grew up. Apparently everytime he comes back to Tokyo, Tak eats here. If I thought I ate alot of sushi at the conveyor belt restaurant then I was wrong! I ate about double that tonight! Tak's mom ordered me an assortment of sushi that I have never tried which included: mini squid, monkfish liver, scallops, red snapper, squid, shrimp, tuna, mackerel, horse makerel (apparently there is a difference), flounder, salmon roe, eel, sea urchin, Tak's favorite sushi (help me out here buddy I can't remember the name) which includes crunchy fish roe, Arcfish (I couldn't understand the translation), sea urchin (a different type that is cooked), I know there were a couple more but I can't remember them, but you can see that I ate alot of sushi! And then topped it off with a scoop of Green Tea and Red Bean ice cream.
I think my trip to Tokyo has been really good. I enjoyed the high school visit and the reception and I really enjoyed exploring Roppongi hills, oh yeah and the sushi wasn't bad either...
Off to Singapore in the morning!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Konnichi Wa
Yes! I did it! I had dinner at a sushi place that had a conveyor belt! I'm in heaven!
For those of you that don't know what I mean, I have heard about these sushi restaurants in Tokyo where you sit down at the "bar" or counter and there is a little conveyor belt that wraps around the bar. The sushi chefs prepare plates of sushi almost at random and just place it on the conveyor belt and you take whatever plates you want. Each plate has a different color in order to tell the price. It was amazing! Not only was the sushi awesome, but I was able to try some different types. I had the usual salmon, and tuna but I also had pink shrimp, squid, and a couple types of fish that I have never had before. The great thing about this is, if you are brave enough, you can just grab something that you have no clue what it is and try it.
Ok, I may have an obsession with sushi. I have had it for every meal except for breakfast since arriving in Tokyo. I had it for dinner last night, I even had it for lunch at my high school visit, and then with the sushi tonight for dinner...I plan on going back for dinner tomorrow too. What can I say? For those of you that remember my last trip to Tokyo, I was sick for the last day of the two day visit and I never had sushi. I was really disappointed so I'm just trying to make up for lost time now.
Today I only had one school visit but it was cool because it was Japan Day at the school, which is an all girls school so they were all wearing traditional kimono's. One of the girls I met with was wearing her grandmothers handmade kimono, it was beautiful, they really are very elegant. I guess we are pretty lucky at Northeastern University, I didn't get to visit this school in the fall but we still received 5 applications from them, more than any other school in the U.S. received from them.
After my visit I decided to walk back to my hotel (I'm staying at the Grand Hyatt hotel, which usually is way out of my league, but because I am hosting my reception there, this is a one time exception, this is also the hotel from "Lost in Translation"). It is only about a 20 minute walk but it really allows me to explore the city a bit. I love Tokyo, it is such a beautiful city. The streets are very narrow but so beautiful because almost all of the streets have some sort of flora, but this time of year is especially beautiful because the cherry blossoms are out and amazing! There are so many trees lining the street, it is awesome!
I am also staying in Roppongi which is one of the bigger expat communities so there are plenty of signs in English around here. I walked around the area for about 2 hours before I had dinner.
When I am in Asia I eat a lot of Asian cuisine (obviously, see all of my previous posts) but breakfast is always different. Occasionally I will have breakfast in the hotel before I head out in order to have a good meal but most times I try to find a coffee shop around the hotel and 9 times out of 10 its a Starbucks, believe it or not its one way for me to be able to stay within my budget because I can usually get my breakfast for a fraction of the cost of a breakfast in the hotel.
This blog has focused a lot on the food and travel aspects of my job but one thing I don't think I mention is the people I meet. One reason why I love my job is that when I walk into a school, even a new school that I have never been to before, the guidance counselor and I are like old school buddies. At all of the good schools the experience of talking with the counselors is what makes my travel so enjoyable. Lots of visits will include a meal where we talk about more than just education and sometimes it even turns into drinks after work. It only gets better after each visit. As I am now on my third trip to Asia there are some counselors that I really look forward to seeing again and catching up with. Many of the most friendly are in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, this may be why I love visiting these cities the most.
Well its time for bed for me, but tomorrow morning is another day of walking around Tokyo, an Admitted Student Reception and of course sushi!
For those of you that don't know what I mean, I have heard about these sushi restaurants in Tokyo where you sit down at the "bar" or counter and there is a little conveyor belt that wraps around the bar. The sushi chefs prepare plates of sushi almost at random and just place it on the conveyor belt and you take whatever plates you want. Each plate has a different color in order to tell the price. It was amazing! Not only was the sushi awesome, but I was able to try some different types. I had the usual salmon, and tuna but I also had pink shrimp, squid, and a couple types of fish that I have never had before. The great thing about this is, if you are brave enough, you can just grab something that you have no clue what it is and try it.
Ok, I may have an obsession with sushi. I have had it for every meal except for breakfast since arriving in Tokyo. I had it for dinner last night, I even had it for lunch at my high school visit, and then with the sushi tonight for dinner...I plan on going back for dinner tomorrow too. What can I say? For those of you that remember my last trip to Tokyo, I was sick for the last day of the two day visit and I never had sushi. I was really disappointed so I'm just trying to make up for lost time now.
Today I only had one school visit but it was cool because it was Japan Day at the school, which is an all girls school so they were all wearing traditional kimono's. One of the girls I met with was wearing her grandmothers handmade kimono, it was beautiful, they really are very elegant. I guess we are pretty lucky at Northeastern University, I didn't get to visit this school in the fall but we still received 5 applications from them, more than any other school in the U.S. received from them.
After my visit I decided to walk back to my hotel (I'm staying at the Grand Hyatt hotel, which usually is way out of my league, but because I am hosting my reception there, this is a one time exception, this is also the hotel from "Lost in Translation"). It is only about a 20 minute walk but it really allows me to explore the city a bit. I love Tokyo, it is such a beautiful city. The streets are very narrow but so beautiful because almost all of the streets have some sort of flora, but this time of year is especially beautiful because the cherry blossoms are out and amazing! There are so many trees lining the street, it is awesome!
I am also staying in Roppongi which is one of the bigger expat communities so there are plenty of signs in English around here. I walked around the area for about 2 hours before I had dinner.
When I am in Asia I eat a lot of Asian cuisine (obviously, see all of my previous posts) but breakfast is always different. Occasionally I will have breakfast in the hotel before I head out in order to have a good meal but most times I try to find a coffee shop around the hotel and 9 times out of 10 its a Starbucks, believe it or not its one way for me to be able to stay within my budget because I can usually get my breakfast for a fraction of the cost of a breakfast in the hotel.
This blog has focused a lot on the food and travel aspects of my job but one thing I don't think I mention is the people I meet. One reason why I love my job is that when I walk into a school, even a new school that I have never been to before, the guidance counselor and I are like old school buddies. At all of the good schools the experience of talking with the counselors is what makes my travel so enjoyable. Lots of visits will include a meal where we talk about more than just education and sometimes it even turns into drinks after work. It only gets better after each visit. As I am now on my third trip to Asia there are some counselors that I really look forward to seeing again and catching up with. Many of the most friendly are in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, this may be why I love visiting these cities the most.
Well its time for bed for me, but tomorrow morning is another day of walking around Tokyo, an Admitted Student Reception and of course sushi!
Sawatdee Kaa!
Well as I'm sure you know I'm long past Seoul by now but let me catch you up on my travels. Last time I wrote I was in Seoul just about to host my second Admitted Student Reception. It wasn't nearly as good as Hong Kong, but that was to be expected Northeastern University doesn't have the reputation in Seoul that it has in Hong Kong, at least not yet...
There was one good thing about the reception though...all you can eat sushi (please see my last post about sushi)!!!! After everyone goes home is when I usually get my chance to eat during a reception and there was plenty of food after the Seoul reception so I feasted on a ton of sushi and shrimp, along with everything else, but lets be honest, I focused on the sushi, I may have eaten too much. Once that was over, I was off to Thailand and this was quite the adventure. On my flight to Bangkok, right before we were to take off there was a sick passenger so we had to go back to the gate and then all of a sudden a huge verbal argument broke out in the aisle right next to me! It was almost comical and I wish I understood Korean so I could know what they were yelling about, it seemed to be about the persons luggage in the overhead compartment. I'm sure it would have been much less interesting if I could have understood it. Its much more fun when you can come up with your own subtitles to a conversation.
You know I always forget how much I love Bangkok. When people ask me what my favorite cities are, I always say Hong Kong and Singapore. Maybe because I have been there more than any other cities but for some reason I always forget how nice the people are in Thailand, how beautiful the country is and how awesome the weather is, plus when I am in Bangkok I stay in an apartment instead of a hotel room and it always costs much less than a hotel room in other countries.
This trip to Bangkok is a short one, just one day. I only had time to visit two schools but was done by 4pm so I had the afternoon/evening to walk around a bit. The area that I stay in is the Embassy district, so there is a lot of cool buildings and restaurants. Tonights menu is phad thai with prawns, mmm. Unfortunately I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning so its an early night. Off to Tokyo in the morning.
There was one good thing about the reception though...all you can eat sushi (please see my last post about sushi)!!!! After everyone goes home is when I usually get my chance to eat during a reception and there was plenty of food after the Seoul reception so I feasted on a ton of sushi and shrimp, along with everything else, but lets be honest, I focused on the sushi, I may have eaten too much. Once that was over, I was off to Thailand and this was quite the adventure. On my flight to Bangkok, right before we were to take off there was a sick passenger so we had to go back to the gate and then all of a sudden a huge verbal argument broke out in the aisle right next to me! It was almost comical and I wish I understood Korean so I could know what they were yelling about, it seemed to be about the persons luggage in the overhead compartment. I'm sure it would have been much less interesting if I could have understood it. Its much more fun when you can come up with your own subtitles to a conversation.
You know I always forget how much I love Bangkok. When people ask me what my favorite cities are, I always say Hong Kong and Singapore. Maybe because I have been there more than any other cities but for some reason I always forget how nice the people are in Thailand, how beautiful the country is and how awesome the weather is, plus when I am in Bangkok I stay in an apartment instead of a hotel room and it always costs much less than a hotel room in other countries.
This trip to Bangkok is a short one, just one day. I only had time to visit two schools but was done by 4pm so I had the afternoon/evening to walk around a bit. The area that I stay in is the Embassy district, so there is a lot of cool buildings and restaurants. Tonights menu is phad thai with prawns, mmm. Unfortunately I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning so its an early night. Off to Tokyo in the morning.
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