Into the Last Month

Walking the boardwalk by Chris and Myana's place

My memory of this week is unclear for some reason. I didn't have many castings, actually only three all week, so I mostly just hung out with friends. I revisited SML with Robinson and Gert, sang way too much karaoke at Halo, partied at DI, stayed out in Man On Shan, and found waves at a beach.

Ocean park and a Beach at DI

Last Friday I decided to do Ocean Park round two with friends. Last time I was there with my family we went on a Sunday at 10am and stayed till about 3pm. It was crazy busy and crazy hot so we mostly just saw the animals and avoided the long lines at rides. This time we went around 4pm and stayed till closing at 10pm. Cooler air and almost no people made it so much better. Ocean park is split into two sections with a focus on animals
in the bottom section and a focus on rides and water animals in the top section. This time we went on all the rides we wanted with barely a wait. Such a difference from the 2hr lines I saw last time.

Recap of the past month

I was down near Aberdeen for a casting so they decided to come with me and do a quick boat tour before I had to head back into the city for my next casting.

It's been a day over one month since I last
posted in this blog. I was extremely busy for a week and didnt have time to post and that was all it took to break the habit of posting. Once the habit was broken it was impossible to start again. I wanted this blog to be a way of sharing my experience with people back home and something for me to have to remember this trip by so I feel bad just abandoning it completely. I did however, start a photo album on facebook and was posting pictures during the hiatus from this blog. That made me feel like I was at least sharing pieces of the trip.

But to get this blog rolling again I will post pictures of the highlights of the last month and if I start slacking on my posts again just give me a shove. I'll thank Taylor D. for the Tweeted shove that inspired this post.

Ready for a long post with a lot of pictures?

Exploring Causeway Bay

A very open shoe store. Daiva is on the sidewalk

This week was another slow one and a pretty lazy one at that. Daiva and I decided to explore around our neighborhood a little more as we find that we tend to stick to the same paths. We have our path to the MTR station, to the grocery store, the agency and don't normally have the need to deviate from said paths. So this week we decided to explore a little more. There wasn't a lot that we found, just stores and a little market. We checked out Victoria Park as well but it was over crowded and not as 'park like' as I was expecting. It did have a jogging path so maybe during the week when it's less crowded I'll try that out. If I'm brave enough to jog in this heat that is. 

One month down

My second cousins!

This past week has been more free time than work. With only four castings for the entire week I had plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the rain that continued through most of the days was less than inspiring to go site seeing. Instead, this weeks focus shifted from daytime to night. Dragon I, Halo, Fly, and Volar all got visited and many meals and drinks were consumed.

But I realized that I've been here for a month now and have done barely any site seeing! I'm planning to change that soon, especially with the arrival of my sister and mom next week.

Tonight, instead of heading out with the usual crew, I had a dinner with my mom's cousin's family. They took me to a Thai restaurant called Soho Spice. Meeting new relatives was lovely and they were such friendly people that I'm sure I will be seeing them again soon. The two daughters (my second cousins?) are the same age as me and we got along really well but they leave tomorrow for a month in China so hopefully I will see them when they get back!

Speaking of China, my work visa came today and apparently to activate it I need to leave the country then come back. So unless I get an international job in the next two weeks, I have a little trip to make. I'm thinking a trip to Macau would be fun! Or going up into China could be interesting.

Mongkok and Dragon I

On Saturday Daiva and I headed to Mongkok to check out the Ladies Market. Mongkok station and the area surrounding the market was insanely busy but inside the market wasn't too bad. It was mostly just tourist items, iphone cases, jewelery, and knock off purses. I enjoyed looking around but didn't find anything to buy. We did head to an H&M on our way home where I found a dress though. We also found a store right near our apartment with really cheap but actually kind of nice clothes.

It's getting hot out there

Some pretty building I could see from an outdoor MTR station

 It's been a week since my last post, oops. It's been a pretty busy week with a couple castings each day and two jobs. The temperature here has been an insanely hot 34 degrees most days. Add that temperature in with the humidity and you get very uncomfortable walks.

July 1st

This was the major protest about a block from where we live

Yesterday was July 1st. Known as Canada day and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day. While Canada is a happy holiday with Canadian pride, the holiday here sparks protests. There were hundreds of police around the city and streets were blocked off for the protest marches. 

Downpours and Art

It's been a pretty uneventful week so far. Monday involved two castings and a quick trip to the super market but after my shopping trip on Saturday I was on limited funds and determined to stretch out my groceries until my next pay day. That ended up working out fine because I got my pocket money today  since tomorrow is a holiday and the Dream Models office is closed. 

My Apartment

View from the kitchen. Bedroom through the slightly open door. Apartment door not visible but to the left.

Jessica Code Job

Friday I had my first job! It was for Jessica Code magazine. Here`s a couple snaps.

New roomate, Kowloon, and Models Dinner

 I have a new roomate named Daiva. When I say roomate, I mean it. We have bunk beds. Losing privacy is never fun but it's nice to have a friend here. We went grocery shopping together the other night and had the same casting yesterday so we got to travel together. I'm glad she was here in time for the weekend too! I'm sure we'll do some exploring and maybe a little bit of shopping of  I give in to my urges.

Finding Hogsmeade inside a mall

I woke up to very very heavy rain.

Well I haven't gotten lost yet! Made it to a casting yesterday and one today on my own. Yesterday's casting was very simple to get to thanks to a very English friendly MTR. 

This morning started out very emotional talking to my parents at home and getting a few texts from Jack as he was allowed his phone for about 10 minutes. But then it was off to a casting for a shoe catalog. Now, those who know me know that I have very bad circulation and my feet tend to change colours. In the cold they are purple and when they're warm they go bright red. Well, its very hot here and after making my way to castings they tend to turn their lobster shade of red. I hoped they would go unnoticed but people at the castings keep asking me if I'm sunburnt. Then they look at me incredulously when I tell them its simply because I'm warm. I do hope that they didnt count against me at the shoe casting. There's photoshop for that right?

Craving the crisp air of BC

Yesterday I went to the agency. Luckily it's only a 15 minute or so walk, although even that had me sweating by the end of it. One of the agency members came and took me there and I was able to find my way back on my own. I received my new book, a cell phone and took a bunch of snapshots and videos. After I had a casting for a magazine. My booker took me to the casting since it was my first one. I'm so grateful that she did because it was very difficult to find, even she had to ask for directions at one point. That casting went quickly and after I went back to the apartment and ended up falling asleep at 5pm.. I haven't quite adjusted to the time change.

Today I have a casting at 3 o'clock for Agnes B. Catalog. I have to find this one on my own but it seems pretty simple as its close to a MTR station (their subway system) Wish me luck!

I'm hoping I get over this homesickness soon. I miss everyone at home and the familiarity of it. Being alone in a giant city that speaks another language is very overwhelming. Three months is looking pretty long right about now. But I'm trying to stay positive, I know it'll just get easier from here.

Traveling is not my favourite thing

View from the Airport Express Train

But I made it! I'm currently laying on my bed in my new apartment. I've met two out of the four roommates so far but they are out right now. I have the rest of the day and tomorrow free then I have to be at my agency Monday morning and I already have two castings to go to on Monday afternoon.

A Monday Evening With JBell

Last Monday I got to do another shoot with the very talented Jonathan Bell. We shot film in addition to the regular photos which was a nice challenge for me. Plus I got to pretend to be some wild urban witch and that is always fun although when I walked between the store and where we were shooting, I definitely received some strange looks from strangers. Then there was also someone thinking there was a fire because we had Smokey the smoke machine. Do people not use those in parking lots much? Anyways on to some behind the scenes photos and the video.

Makeup done by Alexa Rae

Styling by Stephanie Hartwig

香港

I'm leaving in about three weeks to spend three months in Hong Kong.

Yep, Hong Kong.

I got offered a modeling contract with Dream Models there. My agent just called me about it last week so I have yet to actually sign the contract and go over details thus that's all I really know right now.

This of course makes these next months crazy as I was planning to move to Victoria with Jack in September. I have only a few weeks to tie up things here then to pack up my room in preparation to move and to pack suitcases to spend three months in Hong Kong.

Otherwise I have two weeks left at work, two and a half more weeks of school and many things to do. This is probably the only post pre-trip. I promise to post as much as I can from Hong Kong as I'm pretty K at work will fear I'm dead otherwise.