a day of walking, and meeting some chinese people

tomorrow we're going on an adventure to Hell's Gate National Park. should be fun, but i'm a bit nervous. apparently we'll be riding bikes across the bike, where we'll encounter animals and, i guess i'll make some new animal friends along the way.

so tired right now; had a swim at the pool after we came back from a day of walking and exploring downtown nairobi. we got to take out some money at the atm machine, and got about 6,000 shillings. hopefully it'll last me a while. we were able to get a deal with a travel agency for our tour tomorrow at a pretty good deal. we also went to the supermarket to stock on some food for tomorrow-i'm wakign up early to make a hella of a lot pb&j sandwiches.

at the supermarket i saw a chinese man walking around, who later came up to me and asked me in mandarin, 'are you chinese'. i responded yes, and after couple of seconds, got lost completely. that must how anton feels whenever i speak chinese around him. so i asked him if he spoke cantonese, which he did. i saw another man, probably his friend, and a woman with him. they were on a business trip from Dubai, seeing how the market in kenya was like for some sort of power generator i think? we chatted for awhile, and i told them about the AITI program, and MIT. one of the gentleman actually has a daughter interstted in architecture at MIT. after that, i gave him my contact card, and he gave me his business card. it was really cool to meet these guys, and to have a conversation with chinese people. i got a little homesick afterwards, missing my parents, and wishing they were here with me, exploring and seeing the things i was seeing.

we also had lunch at javahouse again, which was pretty good. i tried out their chicken curry, which i think the one in america is much better. oh, and i bargained with the taxi driver today to drive us back to the apartments. got him down from 500 to 300 shillings. hmm. maybe i should think about stuyding business instead...nah!

tonight we watched shanghai knights or whatever it was called with jackie chan and owen wilson. it was pretty good, watching an american movie in africa. i felt so tired tonight...must have been from the swim and walkign all around today. oh, we almost lost cory at the market, but he was just wandering around buying a cloth/painting from someone? i'm amazed how strangers just come right up to you, in your face telling you to buy stuff from them. i think after this trip i'll have mastering the art of ignoring others. just completely shut them out whenever i need to.

anyhow, finished creating the survey for the forum, fixed up some stuff for the slide on eclipse, did some reviewing on abstract classes, and, finished, or i should say, sped through the section of threads in my book.

i'm beginning to feel that i have right now is just basic java knowledge. i understand the what, but now i want to understand the how. how does this all fit into creating programs that i find intersting. how do i know what classes to make, or interfaces to create? i think i'll ask michale that tomorrow. i have some ideas for some applications for the phone, but just need a way to get started. other than that, michelle is coming tomorrow, and i wanted to congratulate the MIT Class of 2009! i wish i could have been there to see everything, especially to see my good friend, and older brother, Kevin Luu graduate. he's helped me so much, i don't even know where to begin to list the things he's done. can't wait to see him again and catch up on the good times.

well, off to bed. it's about 10:30p.m., and i plan to wake up around 6:30 to pack some sandwiches, and suit up, or armor up for Hell's gate. let's just hope it's anything but hell tomorrow. wish me luck!