Day 21

I love Saturday!

Today I went back to Cuppa Coffee and skyped family and friends for a while. It's nice to get away and out of the apartment and just relax. My favorite coffee I get there is called a coffee toffee. It has coffee, vanilla flavoring, and toffee flavoring. SO good!

When I came home I was in a cleaning mode since my roommate was sick and I did not want to risk catching her bug. I sanitized everything and washing my sheets. As I was waiting for my things to dry I was able to Skype my boyfriend which was really great :)
After we talked for a while, I headed over to the casino so I could exchange some traveler's checks. I realized the reason they do a 7.5% exchange instead of 8% is they exchange to the Hong Kong dollar, not the pataka. Very interesting. Doesn't make too much of a difference and I really don't have anywhere else that will cash them, so  I guess 7.5% exchange it is!

On my way home I went exploring in little neighborhoods that I had never been in before. It was really cool to be in part of the local part of town. Once I found my way back to the main strip I popped into a souvenir shop and got some gifts for a few people back home and continued on my way. I decided to take the back way to my apartment and got some food at a street vendor.. However, I had absolutely no idea what I bought. The man didn't speak any English and I obviously don't speak any Chinese.. oops! The way it worked was you took a tray and selected your food from a cooler that looks like an ice-cream cooler and then the man put it in a deep fryer and gave it back to me when it was done. Only problem was I was not able to identify any of the food items! Since I wanted to know at least one thing I was eating, I bought an ear of corn from the vendor next door. At least I know I like corn!

The next stop I made before coming home was to the bookstore and grocery store in my building. I bought Mercy by Jodi Picoult. It sounds pretty good, a little sad. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will be as good as my last book.

When I got home, one of the male student teachers came over and invited me to go over to the Hard Rock Cafe with him and listen to some music. I decided I could just eat the food I just bought for tomorrow's dinner and joined him. It was a lot of fun. I had never been to that part of town and it was really beautiful, sorry- I forgot to take pictures :( The band wasn't a big name, but they were singing popular music like Jason Mraz, Lady GaGa, P!nk, and other big names. It was so nice to have American food! I had a honey mustard chicken sandwich with coleslaw. It was delicious! I saved half for my lunch the next day. I don't think I will be eating there very often, however. My meal was about $200 Pataka.. Yikes! I knew it would be expensive since it was inside the casino, but still... that translates to about $20 USD.

After we returned for the evening, I was lucky enough to find Eagle Eye on TV and in English! I thought that was pretty awesome. Nice way to relax and enjoy my Saturday :) Hope you enjoyed yours as well!