Sunday Funday!

Thus far during my time in Macao, I could probably count the number of gweilos I have seen/met. The Spanish call us gringos, the Thai's call us farangs and the Chinese call us gweilos, meaning pale ghost or foreign devil. In reference to foreigners. Rest assured, I have not actually been called this (to my face), but I new most cultures have a term such as this for westerners, so I asked someone. Anyways, this all changed on Sunday.

One of the IFT English teachers I had met earlier in the week told me about an open sailing day that a local sailing was putting on Sunday. It was open to the public and anyone could come out and learn to sale the dinghies, a small one or two person sailboat. I thought this sounded like a great idea, spend some time in the sun, go sailing for the first time in my life and meet some people all for free?! What a deal! So I hopped a bus to Hac Sa, which is one of two beaches in Macau. Hac Sa is pretty much the southern most point of Macau, situated on the southwest corner of Coloane. I got there at 10:00 am and got of the bus not exactly sure where I was going, I just knew it was at that beach. I looked way down the beach and saw some sailboats about a half mile or so down, so I had a wonderful walk along the beach on my way down. This wasn't your picturesque Caribbean beach, with beautiful soft white sand. It was super grainy sand with a lot of debris and stuff washed up in it. People were still out playing around, it just wasn't super crowded.

I finally made my way to the sailboats and approached the first gentleman I saw and introduced myself. His name was Dennis and he was a pilot from France. He offered to take me out, so I took him up on it. He didn't get too technical showing me the general stuff such as tacking and jibbing. It was a good time, but it wasn't too windy so we did not get very much speed. After we came back ashore, I headed up to the base camp.

Up there I met many expatriates from al over the place, England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, it was great! There were three gentleman that run the Macau Youth Sailing Association. They started it a year ago, because there was no sailing at all in Macau, so they started it with the hopes of educating youth about sailing. It seems to be doing well, there were about 20 kids out sailing when I arrived. The group of sailing enthusiasts was made up of teachers and pilots of all ages. It was great to meet people, some taught grade school at the international school, some taught english and some taught at the Universities in Macau. One lovely woman, Leander, actually runs the career center at St. Joseph's University, so we had some chatted about student affairs and higher ed, it was great. I really appreciated this groups hospitality, they shall be a great resource during my time here! Through them I already have some leads on climbing and a few other local activities.

Until next time

Brent

What a weekend!

Wow, not sure where to start, but I'd say chronologically will be the best bet. Saturday started off with breakfast at a place down the street, which was very crowded. This is always a good indicator of a local place to eat. So I went in and sat at a six person table

from a woman eating alone and next to a couple at the other end. The menu was entirely in chinese and had no pictures, which I usually use to order. This being the case, the soup the lady across from me was eating looked good and the drink the gentleman at the end of the table was drinking looked good as well...so when it came time to order I just pointed at her dish and his drink, not really sure what I was getting myself into.

The drink I had ordered had a light brown color, with ice cubes in a tall glass...very similar to coffee with cream and sugar, so I guessed it was iced coffee. I was certainly wrong with guess, it did not turn out to be anything crazy, it was just tea with milk and sugar, but I was absolutely not expecting that flavor and it caught me off guard. I once I changed my frame of mind, from coffee to tea, I enjoyed it much more. The soup had noodles, beef and an egg and was very good. All of my table mates had finished and left and a new group came and joined me. I will be getting that again for sure. I kept my receipt so I can just show it to them and say I want this. I am trying to learn some words, so maybe I will be able to order soon.

My next mission was to find the climbing wall in hopes of meeting some climbers that would like to take a weekend trip to Yangshuo. The wall had been moved from it's original location to a new one. Tom, one of the English teachers I had met on Friday, said he had seen it near the military barracks in Taipa. He thought it may have been moved inside of the barracks but was not sure as he had only seen it from a distance. So I took a bus that dropped me off near the barracks, and headed that way. I could see the wall on the far side from where I was approaching and I was excited, however, it did appear to be on the base. (Ha! I was wrong) As I continued to walk toward the tower I came upon the front gate with two armed guards. I approached one and he motioned me to the small window on the side of the building which I had missed. I went to the window and the guard spoke little to no English. I asked him if the climbing wall was open to the public at any times? He just stared at me. I tried to rephrase the question and he just shook his head at me, said no and flipped his wrist at me as if shoeing a fly away. This was not cool, but whatever, I asked him if he knew of anywhere the public could climb and he did the same thing shoeing me away. Obviously he had no clue what I was saying, so I just gave up. I continued to walk around the compound hoping to get a better look at the wall through the fence. Much to my excitement (and embarrassment, Hahaha!) it turned out the wall was in a public recreation center right next to the base, so I went through all that for nothing.

Anyways the wall is sick, this thing is legit! It is a 15 meter (49.2 feet) competition-standard sport climbing wall. It was modeled after the wall used in the 1996 World Climbing Championships in France. Notice the spectator seating from which I took the pictures. Unfortunately no one was around climbing at the time I found it. I looked around to find out some info but could find nothing. It was open and I could have bouldered for a bit, but I was going to wait until I had someone there with me, because that would not have been smart to do on my own.

I then walked across the street to check out the City of Dreams Casino/event center. It was cool, the highlight was watching "The Dragon's Treasure" (for free!) inside of the bubble, a 100 foot wide dome shaped movie screen. It was a 20 minute fantasy movie with no story line or words, just really sweet imagery and special effects.

The rest of Saturday was spent wandering around the main island of Macao trying to get my bearing some more. I checked a couple more world heritage sites, watched a Chinese lion dance (see pic below) and people watched. Highlight of the day was the girl in one of the parks whose shoes had squeakers in them like a doggy toy...so every step she took it went squeak, squeak, squeak (btw, squeak is a funny word to write/type). I wanted to wanted to follow her with the flip cam so I could post some video, but I felt that was a little too creepy. I'm not too sure what the mom was thinking because I imagine it was driving her crazy, but as a spectator it was awesome and I hope to find a pair for myself.

Well...I had intended on including everything I did on Sunday in this post as well, but I had a little situation arise this morning. I went out of my room and closed the door in order to keep the cold air inside. Upon my return I found that it was locked. Well crap! Apparently it can somehow be set to automatically be locked from the inside and I somehow managed to do this. FYI my room is within my apartment, so I was still in my apartment, just locked out of my personal room. So, I called the Pousada, or main housing office, and they informed me that I would have to come to the main campus to get a new key. It is only a five minute walk from my apartment, so that would not be a big deal, except for the fact that my wallet, clothes (I was only in my boxers) and shoes were all still in my room. Luckily I had some short dry from doing laundry, my roommate had some shirts hanging out and I wore one of there sandals as well. I looked funny, but I made it to the Pousada and got my key and was good to go.

I must be off to work now, but more updates to ensue on Sundays happenings. Went sailing, met a ton of people, huge rain storm, clothes shopping. Stay posted.

Brent

Great success! Day one of internship complete and new friends

The first day on the job went well. As one might expect it consisted of a campus tour, filling out some hiring paperwork, a trip to immigration to apply for my visa (The Canada Air customer service agent in Kansas City was right…and I was wrong…you can only stay in Macao for 30 days or less without a visa. Hong Kong is still 90 day. Not sure where I read 90 days for Macau, I’ll have to do some research.) and an introduction to the office. The campus is beautiful and rather small, it sits on a huge hill, next to an old fortress. I will give you a photo tour one of these days. While walking around on my tour many of the faculty and staff welcomed me, my supervisor had sent out an e-mail the day before with my photo explain of my arrival, so they all recognized me.

I was introduced to the office and everyone in the registry today, they were very nice, I am looking forward to getting to know all them. As I learn more about the function of the office I will tell you more. My main job will be working with the international affairs team. I will be preparing for the arrival of the 25 exchange students coming in the fall. Today consisted of basic data entry, preparing there files and checking out which documents the students have sent in and which ones they have yet to send. I perused their webpage and other documents to see what information they make available to students. I have some recommendations for them, which will hopefully turn into projects for me.

I went to the campus canteen (dining hall) for lunch and had lunch with an English professor from America; he had some good tips and info for my stay in Macau. He also introduced me to a couple other English professors, one from America and one from Canada. WE had some good convos and will be keeping in touch. I am going sailing with one of them on Sunday, which will be fun.

After work I went for a run. There is a wonderful lake about five blocks or so from my hostel which many people run around. There is also outdoor exercise equipment, which is really sweet.

Earlier in the day a student told me IFT had one American exchange student. I wanted to meet with her to hear about her time here. They said she lived in apartment 14A in my building, so I went to see if she was home. I rang the doorbell, and a little Chinese girl answered the door and I though oops wrong apartment. It turns out she was an exchange student as well, from Mainland China. No one else was there, but she invited me in and we chatted for a while. Her name was Cindy and she lives with I believe four other exchange students, one from America, one from Singapore and two from Sweden (Yes!).

They have been living together for the entire semester and have became very close. I am excited to meet them all, but they will only be here for a few more weeks, as their semester is coming to an end soon. She had studied abroad in America (Minnesota) and really enjoyed it. She loved how polite and courteous Americans are. She said she did not have culture shock when coming to America but returning home she did. I also came to find that she goes to school 15 minutes from Yan Shuo, which has the best climbing in China, so she will be able to hook me up! Super stoked.

Anywho, I am off to explore for the day. Hope to find the climbing wall, and go to the beach. We’ll see what happens.

In good health,

Brent

Sometimes I don't know where I am going but I find my way.

Don't think that is some profound statement or

anything, take it literally. I truly may not have known where I was going/been lost today, but I still knew exactly what was up. Today was a day to explore and check out the island. I kicked it off by grabbing some baked goods to munch on from the cake shop(bakery) next to my hostel, while I headed to who
knows where (I had a general direction in mind.) On the way I passed a large scooter parking lot. Scooters are the the most common form of personal transportation.

My first stop of the day was the ruins of St. Paul's, which refers to the facade of the Church of Mater Dei, built in the early 15th century, later destroyed by fire in 1835. The ruins are one of 25 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Macau. This was a VERY touristy area, there were a ton of people there.

My next stop was right next door at the Museum of Macao. The museum was pretty neat, but the architecture was the coolest part. It had been built into the Mount Fortress, the city's principal military defense in the early 1600's. It was a large fortress high on a hill in the middle of the city, it still had cannons and all. I really want a cannon.

I was then off again heading in

the direction of the Casinos I saw towering in the distance. On my way I

saw a street vendor selling Portuguese egg tarts, which I read were a must have, and I must agree. It was a delightful snack, it had a sweet custard like taste and texture, with a hint of egg. This lovely woman posed with her egg tart for a picture. I then continued on passing through the hotels and heading to the Macau tower. I did not go up in the tower because you have to pay, I just was not in the mood for that today. I will however be returning to the tower to bungee jump. It has the worlds tallest bungee at 233 meters.

I did not feel like walking the three or so miles back so I partook in my first public transportation venture, I had not problems, got on the right bus the first time and made it back. I took a break and changed shoes, boat shoes were a bad ides for all that walking around. Then I headed to Taipa with my roommate William, as he had class at the Taipa Campus and I wanted to explore that area. Taipa is one of two neighboring islands that are part of Macao, the second is Coloane. The first

item I wanted to checkout was the climbing,however upon my arrival at the address there was a large construction site. I was told that it had been moved, but they were not sure where to. I was unable to find it, so that will be a project for another day.

To the left you will see a picture from the Taipa Village, a restored Portuguese village. Each of the green houses had a small museum on the history of the village. This was fun, but looming in the background was the Cotai strip and and it's large casinos which I had to check out.

Here is a new casino being built, you can see the boom cranes working on the top to puts it's size into perspective. It is upwards of 70 stories. While this is all brand new state of the art construction, if you look closely you will see the entire scaffolding structure around the building bamboo, I have found this common practice.

Next I had arrived at the

Venetian Macau, this too was an

enormous structure. I went in to

explore this monster. I am pretty sure

I had a better chance of getting lost

inside of the Venetian than in Macau

itself. The entrance (below) was

phenomenal, fountains and statues

and art and gold...3,000,000 sheets

of gold leaf used on the interior decor.

I did not gamble yet, I don't really have

the funds to be dropping on chance

right now, but I imagine I will give a

shot once.

Once through the

casino floor, I had made my way to the Canal

shops. They look like you are outside, however

these shops are actually

inside. I really felt like I

was in Venice...not that I

would know...it's the closet

I have ever been. There

were gondolas with singing

gondoliers, and man could

they sing. Street

performers doing magic and

comedy and opera. If I am

looking for any entertainment, I will just come and shop here. You really

felt like you were outside. The ceiling had been painted to look like the sky, and I am not sure

if it was my mind playing tricks or some special effect, but as you walked through it seemed as

if the clouds were actually moving. There were 330 stores, most of which I had never heard of

and most of which I could not afford. It was still awesome checking this beast out. After about

20 minutes I finally found my way out and took the bus back home.

I leave you with two

random photos of the day. Come up with

your own captions!

Brent

Traveling/Day 1 continued

I finally boarded the Turbo Jet Ferry that took me across the bay Macau! Read a good article about the Shanghai Expo, it is going to be awesome (the Macao building is shaped like a rabbit, so funny). Upon arrival in Macau I went straight through immigration with zero problems. I walked into the main galley of the ferry terminal and was looking for some students from IFT who were to be waiting for me with my name on a sign. There had to be nearly 50 different people waiting to pick someone up with a name on a sign...luckily every single sign I looked at was in Chinese, making it easy to find my name. I had to wait for a bit as I could not find the at first, but finally I spotted them in the the back of the galley with a sign that read Welcome Brent Riley McCauley.

I approached them and they new I was the one right away because out the 300+ people in the waiting area, I was the only American and the only blonde. "Hello Brent Riley!" they said (they must have pulled it from my resume), I informed them they could just call me Brent and they laughed. My hosts names were Larry and Lizzie and they were great. They immediately took my luggage and we headed to the taxi. They were both second year students, same as sophomores in the US. Like in the US they graduated High School at/around 18 then went to college. Lizzie was studying Tourism Event Management, while Larry was studying Retail and Marketing Management.

They were wonderful hosts, they took me to my hostel then gave me a quick mini-tour of the campus, where we grabbed lunch. Lunch on campus was really good. I had orange pumpkin soup, rice, boiled eggplant and dried pork chop for 16 Pacata, which is the equivalent of $2.23. Pretty awesome deal. After lunch Larry showed me around the neighborhood, we stopped by the supermarket to pick up some water, went to the bank to exchange x money and picked up a sim card and bus pass. I then returned to the hostel (which is a normal apartment building, I'll give you the tour later).

Back at the Hostel, one of my roommates was there. William is a 4th year student studying business management. He seemed somewhat reserved at first, but I came to find that he did not want to disturb me while I was unpacking. I told him to forget about it and we chatted for a while. Later in the evening I met my other roommate Terry. FYI Larry, Lizzie, William and Terry are all Chinese students, they just go by their english names.

Today I have a free day and the best part about living with tourism students is they can set up a whole day of activities. William sat down and went through me the entire map of Macao, showing me just about everything, or at least plenty to keep me busy. So I am off!

Brent

Greetings from the future!

and hello from Hong Kong! The traveling was long, but I was lucky to have wonderful people to chat with along the way. Flying from Kansas City I had the wonderful opportunity to sit next to Hilaire, a personable gentleman currently residing in Toronto. (Hilaire, forgive me if I post some incorrect information, I am trying to do my best remembering our conversation) He was born and raised in Douala, Cameroon.

Hilaire was trained in Air Conditioning in Cameroon and had a desire to learn about electronics at an American University. So, he sat down and searched through a large university guide to find that the University of Central Missouri (Central Missouri State University at the time) offered an electronics and air conditioning program, so he applied and went to CMSU in pursuit of a degree. This was a move from the largest city in Cameroon with nearly 2 million residents, to small town Warrensburg, Missouri with 20,000 residents. HE said it was different but he loved it. Post graduation he took an IT position in Warrensburg and worked there for approximately 13 years. He then moved to Toronto, where he currently lives and works.

We had some interesting conversations; one being that his dream is to start a partnership program with Missouri agriculture schools to bring students to Cameroon to teach farming techniques. He will be traveling to Cameroon later this year to purchase land for the program to be based on. This would be a wonderful opportunity for both US students as well as Cameroon. This is absolutely in it's infancy, but if you would be interested in helping educate farmers in Cameroon, let me know and I can get you in touch with Hilaire.

I also spoke with him about my desire to pioneer and grow the field of international fundraising and development. He had some wonderful insights, which I greatly appreciated, as he was an international student at an american university himself. It was common sense, we talked about fundraising in general and what it would take to educate international students on the foreign concept of giving to your university, but I really enjoyed his insight into the Cameroon culture. It was very similar to what I learned about the Dominican culture during my trip to the Dominican REpublic earlier this semester. Like in the DR, the family model is large and extended you support all of your family from your brothers and sisters to your aunts, cousins and uncles, possibly even a friend that is considered part of the family. Family is always first! His uncle supported him through college, so now he works to send money back to support his family back in Cameroon as well as here in the states.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to sit next to this wonderful gentleman, best of luck Hilaire!

Upon exiting the plane, there were some adds for the HSBC Bank, here is one that I liked.

Item to note, even if you are just traveling through Canada, you must go through customs at your first stop in the country. I was not expecting this, but luckily I had plenty of time with a two-hour layover. Customs was fun, I felt like cattle being herded through the chutes. I probably walked a half-mile just traveling back and forth in the queue. This was rather unnecessary because there was no one in line, but I got yelled at when I tried to go under the ropes, so continued my trek though Canadian customs without a problem and got in some quality speed walking.

Another item to note, when going through customs in Canada, even though your checked items may be meeting you at your end destination, you must still pick them up at your first stop in Canada and drop them off as if you checked in again…I nearly learned this the hard way. I had just walked through a check point, and luckily noticed a lot of people with luggage, so I went back and asked a customer service agent and sure enough I was supposed to pick up my bag. Sooo I had to go through a fun process of being taken through a bunch of backdoors in the airport by a really nice Canadian dude that had some great stories. Finally we got to my bag and I was once again on my way. That would not have been fun to arrive in China only to find that my bag was in Toronto.

On the flight from Toronto to Vancouver, I sat next to Aida. She is an elementary school teacher born and raised in Vancouver. She will begin working on her Master’s next year while teaching. She informed me of a few things I should do when I have my eight-hour layover in Vancouver on my return flight in late July. She recommended taking the brand new high-speed rail system downtown to see the Olympic village and such. She recommended I go to the

After Aida’s recommendations I went to sleep…trying to adjust my sleeping schedule, as Macau is a 12 hour difference from the east coast time zone. The landing and transition to my connection flight to Hong Kong was a little fuzzy, as I was pretty drowsy. I

managed to wake up before getting on the Boeing 777, which was good thing because my seatmate for this flight was an energetic four-year-old named DJ.

He was with his family flying to see their grandparents in the Philippines. He is the youngest of four children. We had a good time…rock paper scissors, sesame street, food fight, you name it, we did it. By the end of the trip DJ had dubbed me big friend and made sure that I called him little friend. It was nice to have him for entertainment, seeing as the in-flight entertainment system was malfunctioning…my reading light was malfunctioning…and the electrical outlet was malfunctioning. So we had to rely on each other for entertainment, and as you know I can relate to a four year old pretty well. We did receive some form of voucher to compensate for he lack of electrical service in the cabin. Not sure what its worth but it better be good.

Had a long but fun wait in the Hong Kong airport for my ferry to depart. Highlight was the aerobics session going on in the waiting area. Watch out p90x, this new workout is going to put you out of business!

Random note to the gentleman: Apparently the every other urinal rule does not apply in Hong Kong…twice I was the only one in a restroom with 20 urinals and someone came and stood right next to me. I think I’ll put together some educational materials.

More to come tomorrow morning, I’m about to crash. Time for bed.

Finally!

The time has finally come! I am sitting in the KC airport waiting to head out in 45 minutes. Had a small scare at the check in counter, Air Canada agent, Kathy, asked me for my visa to Hong Kong and Macao, which I did not have. in preparing for the trip I had found that you do not need a Visa if you will be staying in Hong Kong or Macao less than 90 days. She tried telling me that it was actually less than 30 days(I'm pretty sure they just use google to find their visa information and she found some outdated information) I informed her of what I found and asked her to look again. Sure enough I was correct. She was still skeptical and warned that I should probably get a Visa prior to entering Macao. I believe I'm OK, so either way keep your fingers crossed.

Not looking forward to the 28 hours of travel time ahead, but it should be fun. I am looking forward to whom my seat mates will be, hopefully some interesting conversations will ensue. The jet lag will be rough, but I land in Macao at 7am so hopefully I will be able to sleep the 8-10 hours prior to landing. That's hoping for a lot, so I'll see how it works out.

Stay tuned, I'll let you know if I make it into Macao or not...

Brent

What will I be doing?

Well, that is a good question. I will be spending my summer as an intern at the Institute for Tourism Studies in Macao China. Watch this video to learn a little about IFT, it is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQx4917Iblc What will I specifically be doing...I am not exactly sure. What I do know is I will be working with the registry primarily with international affairs. From what I can gather on their website, this will be working with international students interested in attending IFT. Of course updates are soon to come upon my arrival!

Brent

Fun trip home!

Here we go, my first blog post!

Left South Carolina to head back to Missouri today, which was a great trip. I met a wonderful woman, Danna, we had some great conversations. She is a Blue Diamond (makes a LOT of money) for MonaVie, a multi-level marketing business, which distributes beverages in which the key ingredient is the acai berry. She was a lot of fun to talk to, and I'm rather gullible at times, so I'm thinking about it. I'll keep you posted on the situation.

Highlight of the trip was the Arts in the Airport in the Memphis Airport. The Memphis Symphony Orchestra had a couple quartets performing in the airport. One string ensemble and one wind ensemble, it was fun listening to this beautiful music being played in the midst of hurried travelers passing by. Check out videos of both the ensembles below.

The String Quartet

The Wind Quartet

Wow, so videos take a somewhat long time to load so I may or may not be posting many videos. We'll just have to see what the Internet is like in China. For now enjoy some classical music and I'll see you next time.

Brent