Why is it so hot in the winter?

I went to buy a pair of transition lenses yesterday. I feel like such an adult, getting a new pair of glasses without waiting for my current pair to break. I feel a real need for a pair of sunglasses for site because it can get really bright and I am outside a lot. The site foreman says he's never seen a site like this one in his 30 years of experience. Not sure why I am always so lucky like this, doing things that normal people might not ever get a chance to do. Sigh... Site staff at government sites don't need to do routine inspections and deal with contractual stuff at the same time like I do. Sometimes I really feel out of my depth.

I was back at the office again this past Sunday to work on a different project. The office security guard was like, "Is it better now? Didn't see you yesterday." I was not impressed. I was, in fact, climbing all over the site on Saturday inspecting a ton of holes. That's what I do these days, inspect holes. There are 6 drilling rigs on site right now and I cannot spend more than an hour in my cabin before having to go out to inspect something. The contractor's project engineer was like, "this is not working out. Maybe we should move our offices up to the higher platforms and just sit there." The special part of this site is that it is on the side of a very steep slope. So they have erected a ton of steel and bamboo scaffolding everywhere. Everyday, I have to go up and down these temporary stairs. I think I'll get used to them soon but they are still scary because you can see the bottom while going up the stairs. When I first arrived, I remember wondering why the foreman walks around with his head down. Now I understand that you have to look where you put your feet, otherwise you will definitely trip over something.

I think I have definitely lost weight since going to site. I weighted myself at the gym on Sunday and was really surprised. I have been bringing my own lunch, which consists of a sandwich for the past couple of weeks. This got boring so I am trying to think of ways to change it up. I am also stocking up on some granola bars because I usually get really hungry again at around 3 or 4pm. I have also been sleeping more.

Site experience

First week on site with no external meetings. My boss finally came around to visit the site after working on this project for the past year. I think sometimes HK is just so small that you feel like you can go some place anytime and then end up never going. I think he now has a better appreciation for the site. Even said that he would visit regularly since it is a challenging site.

I attended a class on construction contract claims last weekend. I have a sudden interest and appreciation in all things related to construction contracts and construction management. I really had no clue where to begin with all these terms and conditions in a contract. But after attending a couple of classes, I am starting to get a feel for the general aspects of standard contracts used in HK. I've been meaning to read through the contract for this project in detail but haven't gotten around to it yet. There is actually quite a lot of routine stuff to take care of.

Routine inspections take up a lot of time. For any site, you do your routine inspections, take notes and photos, and then enter them into the computer for filing. The added challenge for this site is the topography. It takes a while to get anywhere and back down. And since the site is just starting, a lot of things are still being developed and things are changing on a daily basis. Everyone is trying to figure out which forms to use and how to get things done.

And since we still haven't managed to hire a resident engineer for this project yet, I have to do all the paperwork as well. There tends to be a lot of submissions by the contractor in the beginning of a project. I think looking through these things are usually a shared effort by the office and site staff, with the office staff leading. But my boss is too busy. So we (I) have come up with a compromise where he talks me through each submission and tells me what to look for. I check the things that he has asked me to check and follows through on the rest of the it. Previously, I had tried to read these things on my own but my total lack of experience makes it hard for me to comment on anything. I think once you see things happen once, then you know what is important.

I think this will be an interesting year. Part of me really wants things to settle down and become more routine. But another part of me is excited by the different types of challenges that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Once my site gets an actual resident engineer who has years and years of experience, I would no longer have to (get to) deal with these higher level issues. I would definitely be less stressed and have more free time but it would also get boring. Anyway, hopefully I won't mess things up too badly before that happens.

Life on Site

Thought I upload some pictures of what my site looks like. The site is very big and we have only "taken over" less than half of it, the easier half. The site is on the side of a hill. Part of it was a previous college that moved away.

I currently live in the little container to the left. But I think they are giving me a new (and bigger) one.

View of the site from Bowen Rd. Further development has a nice view.

This is part of the other half of the site that needs to be cleared. We're digging most of this mountain away and more.

Reflecting on 2012

First post of the new year! I just reread the first post I wrote in 2012 were I reflected on what happened in 2011. In a way, 2012 was vastly different from 2011 in that I really adjusted to life and work in HK. I spent a lot of time in the office that year, probably 1.5-2.0x more than I should be...

Highlights of 2012:
January. Visited Oat and Mahalia in Thailand and had a pretty relaxing trip.
February. Ran the HK Standard Charter half marathon. There were too many people and I was way out of shape.
April. Parents visited. We went to Thailand and Singapore and did a lot of sightseeing.
May. Coworkers started leaving. The team became pretty bare boned at one point.
June. Started working super overtime. Went to Guilin for a long weekend.
Sometime between June and October: 2 all nighters in consecutive weeks. Hit milestone at gym. Got below the daily fee rate!
October. Went back home for a month to take exam and then road trip to Seattle with friends!
December. Went to Shenzhen for a weekend trip. Went to Taiwan for Christmas

I think overall for 2012, I did a good amount of traveling and made use of the distance between HK and other places in Asia. Hopefully I can continue this for 2013. I got a 1 year visa for Mainland China sometime in June so really need to make use of that a few more times.

I also changed roles really rapidly at work. When I started, I happily adjusted to the role of assisting other engineers in my team. I learned a lot and made a lot of progress as far as learned technical knowledge. But as soon as my coworkers started leaving, I had to pick up a lot of work that I didn't have to deal with before. To complicate things even more, a bunch of fresh graduates arrived just as everyone was leaving. So not only did I have to pick up a lot of coordination (non-technical) work, I also had to train other people. Just as I was able to walk steadily on my own, I had to guide other people along in unfamiliar territory. We always ask people how long they have been working and it is really comparable to babies and toddlers. A few months makes a world of difference.

Tea and coffee

Just picked up a Christmas present sent to me by my cousin today! It's a thermal travel tumbler that comes with a tea infuser. I put it to work right away and it keeps drinks hot really well. I've always thought that these things with the tea infuser on top would mean that you have to pour a large cup of tea. But the instructions say tell you to just turn it upside down. Genius. Anyway, it is at the office right now so I can't take a picture of it. My tea and coffee collection has increased significantly since going home and then recently to Taiwan.

Got some lavender and roses from Taiwan. Got coffee and chai tea from road trip. And also got tea from friends as gifts. I also have some coffee left that i got from Guilin. So I really need to work on this! I think I will bring the heavily caffinated stuff to the office and leave the non caffinated stuff at home.

Christmas up in Taiwan (part 4)

Last day in Taiwan! I got up to a gloomy and sprinkling morning. The plan for the morning was to visit the Longshan Temple and the CKS Memorial. I went to the memorial first which consisted of a lot of open space. So not so good for rain. The memorial itself was under renovation, which gave me a good excuse not to walk over there. The temple was filled with a ton of people so I managed to stay on schedule and got back to the hostel at around 11am. Talked to family for a bit while they were in wrapping presents.

In the afternoon I went in search of food at Yongkai st near the Dongmen mrt station. That is a really nice neighborhood! I had beef noodles at a small shop. It was really good. Lots of beef and freshly made noodles. There are some streets that are full of little coffee shops that looked like a really nice way to spend an afternoon. If it had continued to rain, I think I would have just stayed in one. But it was sunny out so I kept going. It would be really nice to live in a neighborhood like that!

I headed to the Daqiaotou area to find that it started to rain again. The outside of the mrt station was not very impressive either. Big intersection under an overpass. I nearly turned around to go back to those nice coffee shops. I kept going though and found a lot of older shops selling very cheap candy and tea. I picked out two big bags of candy and cookies and some dried rose and lavender. I made it to the harbor area and found a rainbow. This blogger app doesn't do we'll with photos. It doesn't seem like I can insert photos within my text. They just all go to the end. I'll just upload them in order.

The iPad is not a good substitute for a camera. It's too much work to keep taking it in and out. It also does not have flash and just doesn't do well in certain occasions. I should really get another camera.

Then for my last stop, I went all the way out to Tamshui, which is at the end of one of the mrt lines. It took a while to get out there and back. Glad I went though because its also a really nice area with a nice stretch of coast. There were also lots of stalls with food. I ate some fried pigeon eggs on a stick (I think they are pigeon anyway, those little eggs that are spotted?), fried potato on a stick, and have another bubble tea. I didn't make it all the way out to see the fishermans wharf and fort Domingo, which are some of the listed attractions due to the lack of time. I am writing most of this while on the train back to the city center.

All in all, the trip has been pretty interesting. There are definitely more things to explore, just in Taipei itself. I feel like this is a city like HK where there are a lot of hidden corners and interesting neighborhoods. There are definitely more night market foods to try out. Speaking of night markets, I was eating my stash of food on the steps of this temple last night (there were a lot of other people doing the same thing), when I was approached by the temple's cat. It came right up to me and demanded food. I gave it the last piece of my squid.

Looking forward to going on more trips around Asia while I'm still in HK. It's so easy to go places. And HK people travel a lot. There were people speaking Canto everywhere I go here. I assume they are from HK. I think travel restrictions are less stringent now between Taiwan and the Mainland. There were people at my first hostel from Beijing. I think this is really good to promote understanding and exchange between the two places.

Got to the airport and was disappointed that the return flight would be operated by HK Airlines instead of EVA. No hello kitty meals!

Christmas in Taiwan (part 3)

Spent Christmas morning on the train to Taipei. Got to the city at around noon and found my hostel. I booked one right next to the main train station for its location. They were also one of the only ones that were offering single rooms. Turns out my room is quite big but probably because they just don't have very many people.

I got a 2 day metro pass, which may have been unnecessary but it saves on having to think about having enough money for the train. My first stop was Taipei 101. I was worried that the day wouldn't stay so nice. As soon as we went past these mountains on the train, the sky became blue. It was very gray and gloomy in Hualien. The line was not long at the tower but the outdoor part wasn't open due to setting up of fireworks for New Years. The indoor part was okay. The elevator was very impressive though, extremely fast.

I came back to the hostel to move my stuff into my room. It wasn't ready before. And got an email from my mom saying that I passed the seismic part my exam but not the surveying part. I had found out a couple of days ago that I passed the 8 hr thing. So didn't manage to pass it all in one go but I was really thinking I had failed both the seismic and surveying. So I guess this is good. Only need to focus on one exam next time. Before I took the test I really thought I would pass the surveying and not the seismic. I would rather have to study the seismic again though because that is more applicable.

I went out to make more use of my metro card and took the mrt to beitou, where they have hot springs. I thought about going to a hotel or spa type place but the prices and packages weren't well advertised and u didn't want to go poke into every one on the street. The public one is very cheap. Only $40 TWD, which is a little over 1 usd but I didn't have a bathing suit and buying one there was expensive compared to everything else. So I just walked a long the stream and put my feet into the water. There were some other people doing this as well. I can see how this could be very relaxing. The sulfur smell wasn't too bad here.

Then I went to the Shilin night market and eat guava, stinky tofu, squid, and a jelly drink for dinner. It's much better to go to these things with 3 or 4 people because then you can try out more food. I really wanted to try out more stuff but was full very quickly. I then walked around the Ximen pedestrian streets, which had a lot of little shops and such.

I think I did a good amount of stuff today. More historical sites tomorrow I think. My flight leaves around 8pm and I have about $500 TWD to spend. Should be enough if I don't buy anything expensive. There are a good number of HSBCs here. Too convenient! I just realized I can withdraw money out of my HSBC account in the US as well.