I have met a huge amount of the exchange students here who are all outgoing and fun. I have had a bit more trouble in the first week in meeting the local students who seem to keep to themselves. After a week I have managed to break through the superficial reserved nature with my silly "American" humor. Last night I had them teach me Mahjong and I got my butt kicked at PES.
At first I was sure they either didn't want to meet me or were intimidated by my loudness. In the elevator when I would say hello or try to interact with them, they would usually turn into the corner, glance at me and then look back at the floor, often times pretending they couldn't hear me. This was extremely frustrating, especially when they did answer it seemed like they were very uncomfortable and would Run full tilt when the doors opened. I quickly learned from locals who's English is a bit better that everyone understands me but that they are shy, and don't want to be wrong when they speak so it makes them more hesitant. I was aware of the fact that looking into someones eyes is a bit aggressive here so I've been trying to not make direct eye contact. Greatest news of all is that they invited me to play on the hall basketball team!
Tuesday was $10(HK) vodka at Carnegie's in Wan Chai, and we lost Jeremy, Sam's roommate to a group of prostitutes. We were eating doner wraps when he disappeared and we weren't really concerned because HK is quite safe and he's a big guy. The next day when I saw him it looked like a tiger had attacked him and he was wearing a large cast. According to his story he found himself on the 8th story of a whorehouse, terrified for his life, and broke the window with a chair to climb out. He climbed down the side plumbing of the building and ended up in the street where locals saw him crying and called an ambulance...
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