International student retreat

Organized by the University of Houston, the international student retreat has more than 40 participants. They are from different universities, University of Houston, Lone Star College and Trinity University. This was a three day camp in Grapeland, which is two and a half hour from Houston.

It is a very beautiful campsite. It is located in a forest of tall and straight pine trees. There is a shining blue river running beside the camp.


In order to travel to the camp, we need to drive from Trinity to University of Houston and from Houston to Grapeland. The total ride was six hours. It was very tiring but it was nice to see a green and humid landscape than the yellow and dry landscape in the North. After we arrived to the camp, we worshipped a bit and got to know other participants. It was interesting to know that the 40 plus participants came from almost 20 countries. What a diverse group!

The second day was the most exciting day. We had a wonderful worship time, singing not only English but Spanish and even Swahili songs from Tanzania. In the afternoon, I went to horse riding and this was the first time I took a horse ride through the forest. I also went to river canoeing, the lake was very beautiful. It had a great view. At night, we went in the jungle and ate around the campfire. The most amazing thing was that the dark sky was filled with twinkling stars. I do not think any camera could ever capture the breathtaking moment of the stars in the sky.


This was a great camp and I enjoyed a lot. Also, I am very happy to meet a lot of people from different countries.

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One Day at Austin

To my surprise, Austin is such a dynamic and interesting city to visit.

Austin is the capital of Texas and it is a metropolitan city. My roommate Katie, our friend Thuy-Anh and I arrived at the Capitol building in the lovely Saturday morning. The Capitol was built in the 19th century and I like its design. The front yard of the Capital is also nice. Although it is not a big yard, it has nice statues and places for people to sit. It is a relaxing place to visit.

Then, we went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. The museum was an interesting place. I knew a little bit more about how Texas became a state under United States. There are some interactive exhibitions as well for example introducing the American female singer back in the early 1950s.

Before dinner, we went to a restaurant which is called Oasis. It is famous for its sunset view by the river Travis. It is the view one must go and see by themselves.

Austin is a lovely city. It has modern buildings like those in Hong Kong, but it has more space between buildings. Also, I love how people enjoy and love their place as I saw a lot of people jogging or hanging out with their family on the streets.

I really like Austin and I hope I will visit it again soon.

Bull riding

This was the first time I saw bull riding in live so I was very excited.

When I arrived to the stadium, the first thing I noticed was not the game itself, but the enthusiasm of people. It was very common to see people dressed up with cowboy hats and boots, and I thought I must buy one of the hats before I leave Texas! Also, I love the response of the audience when they cheered out loud for the contestants. The atmosphere made everyone excited.

Another interesting thing was that a priest prayed before the game. Although some of the audiences were not Christians, they would still pray together for the safety of the contestants. Generally speaking, religion is more important here in people’s lives, comparing to Hong Kong, where we seldom have religious rituals in large public events.

The game itself was fantastic and intense. Sometimes, I worried about the safety of the contestants. After all, the bulls are very dangerous if they decide to attack someone. At the same time, I really admire the contestants because of their excellent skills and bravery to confront the bulls. Before I watched the competition, I did not understand why people would engage in such a dangerous activity. I noticed that the honor of winning a game is greater than what I have expected, so this maybe the reason why people ride bulls. Or perhaps, it is simply because of the large sum of reward the winner would get!

The Cattle Drive

Texas Longhorn Cattle Drive was a brand new experience for me.

The Drive was an opening parade of the annual San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and was held last Saturday. The Parade started at 11:00p.m. and took place at Houston Street.

We arrived around fifteen minutes earlier before the parade. People on the street were excited, some of them were cheering, some of them were singing country songs.

The parade started with a group of Hispanic dancers. Their colorful traditional dresses were impressive and their joyous movement and smiles stirred up the excitement of the crowd. The cattle drive was then followed. I have never seen so many cattle running down the street. I could imagine in the old times where people, who were riding horses, led cattle through the hustle and bustle market.

It was fun to see one of the traditions of Texas, which were completely different from Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has scare land and most of them are used for commercial or residential development, there is rare opportunity for people to see livestocks, even trees and fields. It is good to see that Texans value their tradition which embraces the relationship of human with animals and nature.

I look forward to visit the rodeo which will be held next week.

All about food

Today is my eleventh day in the United States. I am enjoying every moment here in San Antonio and there are definitely a lot of differences here compared to where I come from – Hong Kong.

“To satisfy one’s appetite is the sacred doctrine of people,” is a Chinese saying showing that food is important. Food in America, especially in San Antonio is a new taste for me. In the last weekend, my friend’s mother drove my friends and me to a Mexican restaurant in downtown San Antonio. I ordered corn chips, nachos, and chicken tortilla soup. The nachos tasted like thin pizzas that I ate in Pizza Huts in Hong Kong, and I especially liked the guacamole on them. The tortilla soup is salty, and it tasted like the chicken soup made by my grandmother. I really love Mexican food, but unfortunately the soup was too much for me and I could not finish it.


It is rare to see a Mexican restaurant in Hong Kong. One popular style of food you will find in any traditional Chinese restaurant is Dim Sum. Dim Sum means little, tasty food, for example if you order shrimp dumplings, they will give you a plate with three dumplings on it. We usually have carrot cakes, pork buns, curry squids, etc. We like to share the food together with family and friends, so that we can try more dishes.

The food in San Antonio and Trinity is quite diverse and tasty, so I love it very much. The thing I miss the most is rice, because most East Asian places have rice for lunch and dinner every day, including Hong Kong. Therefore, it would be nice if I could have some rice in Mabee Dining Hall.