Sandy's diary in Manchester (March, 2002)

Just click on any of the following underlined dates and you can get to know what's going on with me that day.

March 3, 02 (Sun)

March 8 Women's Day?

Today was not 'March 8 Women's Day' but there was celebration of the day in the Town Hall with lots of outdoor and indoor stalls set up by different organisations and parties. The Chinese Women's Society who had helped me with my dissertation also got two stalls there and I helped them as a volunteer in return. One of their stalls sold handicraft goods while the other promoted the Chinese calligraphy by writing one's name in Chinese on a beautifully-printed piece of paper on which the animal of one's birth year was shown. It turned out that Chinese calligraphy was a good business as in just five hours around a hundred pounds was earned. :)

What I earned today was new friendship and another experience as a volunteer in the UK.

March 6, 02 (Wed)

A first-time visitor to Manchester from Korea

I met a girl from Korea who was studying at the University of Edinburgh when I was on my way home this evening.  She wanted to find some overnight accommodation after attending a seminar at my university.  However she finally decided to go back to Edinburgh that night after what I told her about my impression of Manchester. Looking back, I should have said something positive to her (well, in fact I just told her there was nothing special to see or visit in Manchester) so that she might stay here for one night to see what this city was like.

March 11, 02 (Mon)

A wrong train trip

I was so absent-minded today that I took a wrong train back home. One of the trains I used to take was for Blackpool North, which normally would stop at the station where I got off when back home. But, the one I took this afternoon didn't stop until we arrived at Bolton. Luckily it was not far away from my home and I took a train back to my station. A five-minute train back home turned out to be almost an hour-train trip, however!

March 15 - March 18, 02 (Fri - Mon)

Trip to Poole

Got a chance to visit my ex-department secretary this weekend, who lives in Poole, a seaside town in South England. I hadn't been to any place in South England before. The weather was not too bad, though I also didn't have much expectation. The main thing we did was walking, which was indeed a nice activity and was good to us. We walked around a lot of places including Sandbanks, Studland (where we saw naked people running on the beach... wah, eye-opening!! ha! ha!), Corfe Castle, Bournemouth (a big city) and Salisbury (the church there was grand). 

Different from my previous trips in the UK and Europe, this trip didn't involve any shopping nor did I take many photos. But it was nice to walk along the harbour. I enjoyed it and I could feel comfort and peace in my mind. Suddenly an idea sprung to my mind that I should do more walking in future, whether in the UK or in HK. Living in a delicate house like my ex-department secretary's also pushed me to work hard to have my own house in future. 

Of course the main purpose of my trip was to see my ex-department secretary. Those who have read my diary before might remember I was sad when she left for a new job. She was still nice to me in this trip and I'm afraid I have gained a few pounds on my face because of her hospitality and the meals she made for me. Oh, yummy yummy... A 6-hour train journey each to and from Poole was worthwhile! haha...

March 18, 02 (Mon)

Good customer services

I seldom had any problem doing any online purchase until recently. I bought some CDs on Tesco's online shop but the delivery was lost (partly due to my unclear address). Were I unlucky? Not really. I was refunded my money. So, Tesco's customer service deserved my appreciation of them here... :)

March 19, 02 (Tue)

Gosford Park

Haven't watched a film for a while. Today I watched a film with my British friend whom I had met on a special occasion the other night (when the fire alarm in our residence got off in the middle of the night!). It's called 'Gosford Park'. Not too bad. 

March 20, 02 (Wed)

A scary film

Another film today. This time I watched 'Thirteen ghosts' with one of my best friends here.  Obviously the film aimed to scare the cinemagoes to death and it did successfully scare me and my friend when we dared not see those horrifying and disgusting scenes and ghosts. A very simple storyline. Well, I didn't have any nightmare that night, however.

March 22, 02 (Fri)

Moving again

How many times have I moved home? This should be the third time.  I was told my room would be rented by another person when my contract ended today (I wonder if that was true as it seemed unlikely that someone would move in the middle of the term). So, I gotta move with loads of my stuff. I can't believe my stuff has tripled what I had brought from HK! 

I was invited to a friend's dinner tonight. I didn't know it meant to be a religious meeting until I arrived there. Some of them tried to talk me into Buddhism but I still preferred to believe in nothing other than myself...

March 23, 02 (Sat)

The 11th Postgraduate Linguistics Conference

As one of the organising committee of last year's conference, I couldn't help making a comparison when I attended the conference this year. I was surprised that all the organising committee this year were PhD students. Where had the MA students gone? The number of students presenting their papers was also smaller than that of last year... Anyway, I still think the conference is a good chance for postgraduate students to practise their presentation skills and meet other fellows in the field. It is also a good chance for me to see how people present their papers.

March 28, 02 (Thur)

A long flight journey

Didn't sleep much the night before. Woke up early to do the final packing-up. I was afraid my backpack and my suitcase weighed more than me.  Especially the backpack, which could be more than 15kg. I couldn't run and I had to be careful, or I'd fall backwards. Imagine a picture like this: on a sunny day, a girl in layers of clothes with different sorts of stuff in each pocket pulling a packed suitcase while carrying a backpack on her back plus a big South Park toy which was in bobby clothing.

Did I feel sad about leaving a place where I got lots of good experience and memories? Yeah, I did, especially since I got to know some nice people here. I paid a visit to them before I left.  I'd remember the Linguistics department, the student hall where I used to live, the Kebab shop in which the owner gave us a warm welcome, the supermarket which a friend of mine and I went to every weekend and every road that had my trace.

On the other hand, I also felt excited about returning to Hong Kong. It had exactly been one and half a year since I left there. Staying in the UK for too long would make me dull and lose enthusiasm and energy. I need some stimulus and Hong Kong is a place where you can get a motivation to work, to embark on something.

As I arrived at the Manchester Airport early, I had to wait for a few hours before getting on board.  I hadn't tried Lufthansa before.  What do I think about its service with my flight?  Well, if food is a major consideration, it definitely got a fail coz on an hour flight to Frankfurt, no food but only drinks were provided.  It isn't important?  Hey, I didn't have my lunch before and after getting on board...

It was another few hours' wait before my flight to Hong Kong.  When I was wondering who'd be sitting next to me, I was asked to move to another seat so that a family can have a reunion by sitting together... so in the end, I got a British guy on my right hand side and a Chinese guy on the left hand side. I was bored and I couldn't sleep, just switching to different channels on the TV screen... then later on I forced myself to close my eyes even though I found it difficult to fall asleep. So, closed eyes, opened eyes, had a meal, pressed different buttons of the remote control, closed eyes again, opened eyes, had a meal, turned my head around for an exercise, closed my eyes again...

Finally, when I opened my eyes again and had my breakfast, it was announced that we'd soon arrive in HK...

March 29, 02 (Fri)

I'm back (to Hong Kong)

After a long journey, the small potato returned to Hong Kong from Manchester. The first feeling? Hot, humid. It's like I was living in an oven, and it was crowded with many Chinese people around you with a lot of noises (esp. because of Easter Holiday). It was a different world from the UK.

The feeling of seeing dad & mom again was not as deep & strange as last time when they visited me in the UK. After all it's been just three months since I last met them in England.

There was a strange feeling when I entered my home: it was full of doraemon (a Japanese cartoon character) stuff (obviously they belonged to my elder brother!), and many things were new and it was not the home which I used to know. I didn't have much time to get myself familiar with this 'new' home and was soon taken to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

The first evening in HK was nothing special. Feelings about everything in the surroundings, however, were strange. The TV programmes were new to me; most of the actors and actresses were those I knew before going to the UK but still I found it strange to see them on TV. Perhaps it was because I hadn't watched TV for a long time (very occasionally for football games when in the UK).

It was like everything seemed to happen yesterday; there seemed to be a 'vaccuum' period in my life - I've got no memory about HK during my stay in the UK...

March 31, 02 (Sun)

I'm a visitor to Hong Kong!

Finding someone who shares the same thoughts as you is not easy and I believe it's the fate when you get to know a person.  That's what I felt today when I had a gathering with a friend whom I got to know in the UK. We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant first and then walked around on crowded streets from Tsim Sha Tsui to Prince Edward, which is a long distance and then back to Jordon. I felt like I was a visitor as shops looked new to me and I seemed to be updating myself with what was popular in HK...

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