It has been awhile. A really long time. Did you miss me? LOL Actually not only was I not blogging I lost track of many of the blogs I regularly followed. Truly the prodigal blogger. Am I back for good? I can't make any promises but I want to chronicle my next adventure for myself and my friends so I am dusting off the blog.
In a nutshell, I will be unemployed rather soon and that is okay. It is partly by choice. I could have done more to avoid it and I didn't. And I had plenty of time to look for a new job and I didn't. I have been talking about leaving NYC for a long time now. Well, the lease on my apartment is up soon too.
So what am I going to do? I am headed to Hong Kong. But not to work. At least not yet, that's a maybe, a "we'll see." I have sent in my application for a student visa and enrollment at the Chinese Language Centre at CUHK to study Cantonese. I am aiming for the Diploma, which is 3 semesters, a full year of full-time study. I am pretty sure I have enough savings to get me through the year plus do some traveling. I am not a big spender, so I think it is doable.
When I stayed in Hong Kong for 5 weeks back in 2010 I stayed at a service hotel in Jordan. It was okay but not something I want to do this trip. I am going to have to find a long term place. Being that I will basically be a Continuing Education student I have some but not all the privileges of a regular student. No on-campus housing. But I am okay with that, my days of dorm living are long behind me. I can however use their off-campus housing office. I have no idea of how helpful they will be, only time will tell.
I have just sent in my application so I don't know if I am accepted yet. Regardless I am going, I have a one way flight booked and my first two weeks of housing paid for--trying out airbnb for the first time. I have a plan B which is even more relaxed than this plan. Yes, I consider going to school full-time in Hong Kong relaxed. I haven't "just" gone to school since I was 16 years old. First I went to school full-time and worked part-time and when I got older I did the reverse. So being restricted by the student visa to only taking classes will seem like a vacation to me.
congratulations on the move and journey to Hong Kong! Really great to see someone really enthused about learning cantonese. Most seem to gravitate towards mandarin. I'll have to practice my ABC-canto on our next meetup with Chung King Jared or perhaps your canto is already better than mine which would not surprise me. Hope you continue with these updates on Canto-dreaming!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your big move, Diana! I'm so happy for you. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks mr c. I would love to practice Cantonese with you someday. Yes, I keep hearing how much more practical it would be to learn Mandarin but it really comes down to the fact that I like to hear Cantonese better.
ReplyDeleteduriandave, thanks so much. Any trips to Hong Kong in your future, perhaps we can meet up at some point.