So some of you probably could tell, but I'm back from my tour of filial duty in China.

Would love to update about my adventures and such, but I've got lots of things coming up. I'll try to check in, but I might not be able to go on LJ much over the next few days, especially as I leave for Philadelphia again next Tuesday.

So I'll leave you loves with this memento of my trip overseas:


My penguin, though a bit chubby, is clearly > the world.

"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said. "There's so much emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom."

Awwww. Also, dear Mikey, it's "so many emotions".

"Jamaica's Usain Bolt has just broken the world record for the 100m!"

The television is on in the guest room as the gold medal is claimed by the world's fastest man in one of the most anticipated and exciting events of the entire Olympic Games, but it's the farthest possible thing from my mind as I look down at my phone.

It's my last night in Hong Kong, and my brother has, once again, ditched me in order to meet up with his old friends in Shatin. Nate's phone number stares up at me from my mobile screen next to his little freckled cartoon face representation, mocking me with the way it seems to say,

( 'You don't have the guts to dial this number.' )

The blonde bartender whisks by and sets down our drinks, and Nate closes his hand over mine as I go to retrieve my wallet. "I've got it," he insists, "You can get the next round."

We're with a few friends at Shelter, a trendy high-end bar on the 27th floor of a commercial building in Causeway Bay.

It's nearing the end of a night that began with cocktails and dinner with a few friends from school, (including the niece of Li Ka-Shing, Asia's richest man, holy shit), followed by an impromptu shopping excursion with only Nate and I (noticing my awe at the Times Square shopping centre, Nate had said, "Let me show you where real Hong Kong kids shop" and we were off like a whirlwind into the night) where he simultaneously teased me about me never having had my ears pierced and tried to persuade me (unsuccessfully) that there was no time like the present to have it done, and ended with a decision to meet another friend for a few drinks.

Shelter is the kind of place that needs no advertisement - there's no sign out front, no line at the door, no directions from the street - you either know it's there or you have no business being there in the first place.

We meet Nate's friend Jason, who introduces us to a tablefull of gorgeous young people, enjoying Hong Kong's nightlife. Through the haze of conversation and smoke snaking lazily from the lit cigarettes held between the perfectly manicured hands of Hong Kong's richest and most beautiful (I'm sure I've seen the girl in the corner in one of my mother's society magazines) - somehow, inevitably...

( The topic turns to relationships. )

There's this boy, whom, for the sake of the story, we'll call Nate, who lives in Hong Kong. But he goes to school with me in the States, and we know each other because we were placed together in the same MGMT 100 recitation group when we transferred into Wharton. This, due to the nature of that course (we won't get into that now...), automatically meant after that semester we were pretty damn close.

I also kind of have had a massive girly crush on him for a while now.

Now, I always suspected his family was pretty well off. I mean, anybody who can afford to send their son overseas to a private Ivy League university isn't exactly struggling to make ends meet. However, I wasn't really sure to what extent it was. And, since my parents aren't exactly affluent, and I pretty much receive a full ride scholarship to go to school, people who do have money both fascinate and intimidate me, because I've never known that kind of lifestyle.

But remember when I said I was staying in the lap of luxury at my uncle's?

Well. I was massively wrong. It's nothing compared to what I experienced today.

Since I was in town, Nate met me after he got off from work and took me out to a nice Japanese place. We had good food and sake and a ridiculously good time and he insisted on paying, which was very kind of him. Afterwards, we took the minibus back to where he lives so he could get his car and drive me home, as I was a little tipsy on the sake and he was concerned at my taking the subway back by myself.

A few things clued me in on how exactly rich he really was. First - just the fact he owns a car, which, in Hong Kong, is pretty rare. Second - the area in which he lives is relatively new and quite high-class.

Third - his actual condominium. He invited me up and I met his mother, who was gracious and beautiful and showed me around. The place was spacious even by American standards, which is practically unheard of in a city where they build the buildings higher and higher to make up for sheer lack of horizontal space. I mean, they had an entire room dedicated to when his mom plays mah-jong, ffs!

Every room also had panoramic, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling views of Victoria Harbour - the most famous skyline in the world.

This is what the view from his living room was, except 40 floors up and stretched infinitely out to either side.



(Full view)

I can't begin to describe the rest of his home. I don't think my jaw ever left the floor. I just stammered and stared in awe and talked to his mother (hopefully not like an idiot) while he left to say hello to his (of course) live-in servant. As we were leaving, his mother asked him which car he was taking out. Nate's response, "The 'lesser' one."

Then he drove me home in his Porsche.

*mind explodes*