First day of class

Today is Saturday and we had class in the afternoon from 2-7pm. In the morning I met up with several classmates for a jog in Victoria Park that is right by our hotel. The Park consists of a giant grassy ground normally used for soccer, but used for Tai Chi in the morning, a running lap around the park that is 600 meters long, lots of different work out stations to do strength training. There were close to 1500 people exercising, from walking to running to doing Tai Chi. There were several different groups of people practicing Tai Chi - a form of dance/karate. Some of the groups had Chinese fans and did more of a choreographed dance. My friend Katie joined them for a bit. After the jog, we tried the rock garden, where people were walking on rocks in their bare feet. The others were able to walk on the pointy rocks, but I could only muster the flatter ones. After a shower, Justin and I joined the rest of the group for a trip to a Pearl Jewelry shop. Luckily one of my classmates, Jane, had done a lot of research on the best pearls in Hong Kong and found a great shop that was a wholesaler. Our tour guide, Glory (male), took us there and knew the owner so we ended up getting an even better deal. They had beautiful jewelry! Freshwater pearls, cultured pearls, and China South Sea pearls. Most of us bought an item or two, I got a very pretty ring/earring set. After pearl shopping, we had time to grab a bite to eat and then back to the hotel to get ready for class. Hong Kong has great transportation, subways, busses, trams, and taxi's. We rode the MTR-subway- station out to the pearl shop and back again. They are very clean and can take you almost anywhere in Hong Kong, but best of all - they are AIR CONDITIONED!!! It was a nice break from the humidity.
Our first night of class was good. It is essentially a macro-economics class and we learned about GDP and the attributes that contribute to it. There were about 20 Hong Kong students in class. The were extremely kind and very smart about economics. They also came to class more prepared then any of us US students.
After class I joined Heidi and a few others for Sushi in honor of her birthday. Heidi introduced me to sushi a few weeks ago and I am now really enjoying it - mostly the cooked sushi. We found a great sushi restuarant in the Hong Kong World Trade Center. The area around the center reminded me of Las Vegas - lots of lights, shops and people. After dinner Justin and I walked around for a bit then turned in early. I have a case to read for class and we are both still not quite onto the time change yet.

Below are a few other pictures we've taken of the city:
Night views


From our hotel rooftop The grass/tree area is Victoria Park.