Diverse Places, Diverse Feelings

So, I never remember to post. I don't think I really like to write all that much. No wonder I can't keep a journal.

So now it's the end of April. That marks the end of month 11 out of 14 that I am to spend in Hong Kong...the first time around. Time has gone by so quickly, but at the same time has been passing at the speed of a snail, especially after February. If I had one recommendation for anyone who wants to study abroad, it would be to do so for a maximum of 9 months. Anything more becomes tedious. I sometimes literally think that I have become mad these last 2 months. I'm sure my parents can attest to that fact after all of the random phone calls that I've made to them. That's not to say, however, that I dislike my current situation. In fact, I love Hong Kong. I will always look at it as a comfortable, familiar country where I can relax and find the rhythm, the ridiculously fast-pace rhythm.

Hong Kong is a city of such diversity, not only in race or cultures, but in activity and lifestyle as well. I can, in one day, visit a remote fishing village that time has not touched for many decades, and attend a world class opera in the middle of the city. I can see students, backpackers, businessmen, and pleasure seekers from all over the world. The local Hong Kongers with their colonial history and world-view, the mainlanders (visiting and otherwise) who come for the luxury and openness of the Special Administrative Region, and the Filipino maids seeking a more prosperous future. I often sit back and wonder how I will be able to leave this vibrant, eye-opening city to return to South Carolina and the US.

However, I remind myself that I still have 3 months here. Three months to check things off of my "To Do" list. I need to have high tea that The Peninsula, the most famous hotel in the city known for its tea service. I need to hike around Lamma Island and eat its legendary seafood. I need to go back to Mainland China and see the Terracotta soldiers and visit Shanghai. I need to visit everywhere. I want to go home, but I hate to leave Hong Kong and my life here. That's the funny thing about time I suppose, it can simultaneously be too fast, and too slow.

January and February Adventures

Ok, so I admit it. I'm a terrible blogger. I always knew I would be. I couldn't even keep a diary when I was younger and that was with the inspiration of the Dear America series that was so popular in the early 2000s. Now that we've established that, I can give a short recap of my adventures since mid-January.

My stay in Guangzhou with one of my native mainland Chinese friends was amazing. At first, I was supposed to go with one of my IBCE classmates, but due to some visa troubles, she had to drop out of the trip. I was hesitant about pressing on, but I am so glad I did. I will never forget that week. I think my favorite part of the entire vacation was the fact that I got to live with a family, not in a hotel. I've realized that as comfortable as I like to be, hotels can seem so sterile when I'm trying to really discover the flavor and culture of an area. The Hyatt in Guangzhou, China is no different from the one in Columbia, SC when I really think about it. Staying with a family allowed me to see, however briefly, what its like to live as a local in the area. In the morning I would eat breakfast with the parents before leaving with my friend to go visit her favorite haunts and the most famous attractions of Guangzhou, tourist or otherwise. We would sometimes eat at local, not contrived tourist, restaurants, or , even better, her father would cook a traditional meal at home. He's a great cook; I've never enjoyed Canton style food so much. For the first time since I've started my study abroad experience, I can honestly say that I've experienced local Chinese life and culture.

My second trip this semester happened a little more recently. Late last month, my friend Sheimaliz decided that she wanted to go to Taiwan for her birthday. Granted, she had been saying this for a month, but we finally decided to go.......a week before the trip was supposed to take place. This is probably the most spontaneous thing I've ever done. I was so nervous while booking the ticket, wondering "What if people drop out? What if I could have gotten a better deal? What if I don't like the trip? What if......" Then I realized that maybe college is the time that I'm supposed to be a little spontaneous and loosen up because honestly, how bad can it be? Let me tell you, it wasn't bad at all. It was so much fun. We stayed at a hostel (another accommodation first) called Chocolate Box which was totally cute and a lot better than I thought it would be. My 5 travel companions and myself shared a room and when sightseeing through Taipei together. I ate the best street food in Asia (bao zi, a steamed bun with veggies or meat inside, was amazing as was the bubble tea), went to a public hotsprings, took the world's fastest elevator to the top of the second highest building in the world (Taipei 101), and visited museums and memorials. Taipei was a lot like Hong Kong, but less westernized and Mandarin speaking (here, unlike in Hong Kong, they expect you to learn some Chinese before you visit. Not one person started off a conversation with me even though I knew many of them could probably speak English. I was pleasantly surprised with this expectation.)

Now it's March and midterms are over. I'm finally settling into the grove of Hong Kong again. Maybe now I'll write more blog posts.

Happy New Year!

Ok, I know. I'm terrible at updating. It's been almost 6 months and no word from me. So, to rectify this let me give a brief synopsis of what I've been up to since my last post. After Macao my group went to Beijing where we stayed 5 days and had an amazing time. I climbed the Great Wall, saw the Forbidden City, and ate Peking Duck. Then we came back for the first semester of school. The school year was filled with long nights of studying, meeting new people, and having tons of fun around Hong Kong. In November, I went to Thailand for 4 days and had an awesome vacation with friends. We sunbathed, got massages and manicures, swam in the Indian Ocean, ate some of the best food I've ever had, and got an opportunity to see the local culture. I would definitely recommend Thailand for anyone who likes to travel. It was a beautiful country filled with kind people and a rich history and culture. After returning from Thailand, I had Thanksgiving dinner with my IBCE classmates and started taking my final exams. With God's grace, I passed all of my classes. Then I returned home for winter break and had a relaxing time with family and friends.

Now, I've been back in Hong Kong for a week and I have started to reflect on how my perception of the world has changed. Going back to the States felt like an out of body experience part of the time and I didn't know how to feel about it. Of course, I was happy to be home and there were many things that I missed about the US. My family, friends, being able to drive myself places, the convenience of knowing where everything is, and the comfort of my favorite foods. But I also found myself missing things about Hong Kong a lot more then I though I would. I missed the city, the hustle and bustle, the world culture, and the freedom.

Perhaps the oddest experience in returning to the States was staying at USC for a few days with some friends. I was on the same campus, staying in the same dorm with the same people as freshman year. It was great to be able to reconnect with people at school, but at the same time I felt as if I did not belong there. Even my friends told me that I didn't exactly look like I went to the school anymore. It's bittersweet how quickly a person can adjust to their environment. I know this time next year I'll be more comfortable in Columbia than I will be in Hong Kong. I guess it's good I learn how to adapt now.

I've also come to realize that I most definitely will live abroad for a few years sometime after graduation. I never noticed just how closed off from the world the United States is. It seems that in other countries, it is common to see people from a range of different cultures and countries coming and going, each leaving a mark of the city they inhabited for that period of time. This doesn't seem to happen in the States. Sure, it's a melting pot, but most everyone adopts an American culture. I need to live in a global city.

This revelation does not mean, however, that when I returned I found Hong Kong to be utopia. My diet has once again shrunk because of my food options here, people stare at me when I'm walking around, and the city is way too crowded. Actually, I believe that it is more crowded now than when I left. Every time I try to take the subway, I'm literally jammed into the car, hoping that don't suffocate from the mass of bodies around me. My theory is that the city is crowded because a lot of people have come for Chinese New Year which is on the 23rd of this month. Maybe the city will be less hectic in February.

The topic of Chinese New Year brings me to my last point. During this holiday, I am escaping the city of Hong Kong (which has 7 million people) to an even larger city (of 13 million). However, this gives me the opportunity to live with a friend's family and experience a traditional new year. It also allows me to practice Mandarin seeing as how her parents do not speak English. I'm very excited to see how then turns out. Pray for me as I make my trip to and from China. God bless and Happy New Year!

Portugal+Hong Kong+Las Vegas=Macao!

So last Saturday marked Part 2 of my class excursions around Hong Kong. This time we went to Macao, the Las Vegas of the East. For everyone who doesn't know, Macao was a Portuguese colony for 442 years until Portugal handed it back to China in 1999. It was the first and last European colony in Asia. Macao is an hour away from Hong Kong by high speed ferry. The ferries are actually really nice with economy and first class tickets and really comfortable seats. I slept during the first ride, missing most of the ride to Macao, because we had to leave at 8:00 am, a ludicrous time for anyone to even contemplate being awake. I was, however, conscious for the last 10 minutes of the trip and was able to see the skyline of Macao filled with large signs and casino buildings.

After we docked, we had to make the dreaded trek to the customs office. At first, a few of us tried to go into the Hong Kong residents line thinking, "Oh, I'm a student and I'm here for a year. I'm about to extend my visa and TECHNICALLY I'm a non-permanent resident of Hong Kong. Perhaps this is the line for me." It turns out we were wrong and stood in a 30 minute line for nothing. We then switched to an equally long line for visitors. In all, it took an hour for my little group to get through customs. This doesn't include the other 80 people in our tour group. We didn't end up leaving the immigration building until 12:30. Think about it, I was doing nothing but traveling or standing in lines from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm, a full 4.5 hours. After we were all rounded up, we went to a casino to have a buffet dinner filled with Western and Chinese food. 很好吃！(This means "how delicious"). We gorged ourselves and then took a chartered bus ride to Macao Tower, which is basically a large observation tower with restaurants and shops. However, this observation tower is special because it has the highest commercial bungee in the WORLD!!!! I didn't do it that day because I wasn't feeling well and it cost a lot of money, but I am planning on going in January. I figure it's the appropriate next step up after my cliff diving experience. I'm so stoked for this.

After the tower, we went to the more historical, Portuguese side of town and saw St. Dominic Catholic church and the ruins of St. Paul, both beautiful examples of 16th century Portuguese architecture. In front of St. Paul, we saw an impromptu Lion dance which was completely random, but really awesome. Walking down the streets was also fun because of all the Portuguese style bakeries and restaurants, all of which were giving out free samples of their food. The best place to go for this is the Rua do Regedor which is known for its eateries. All of this was outside and the temperature was somewhere around 100 F so we decided to cool off and look at the insides of casinos. No worries everyone, we weren't allowed to gamble. Turns out casinos aren't that interesting if you don't bet money, so we decided to head back to Hong Kong early. This meant more ferry rides and more immigration offices. All in all, a good day.

Even more exciting was my visit to Chinese University's vice chancellor's house for a barbecue. One of my classmates had gone to a presentation where the vice chancellor was speaking. He proceeded to send him an email and secured an invitation to a "presentation" for himself and four classmates. He decided to invite me as one of the four. We got all dressed up in business casual attire and headed out. When we arrived, we found out that the presentation was for Chinese students who were studying at Oxford for university. We also learned that it wasn't actually a presentation. It was a casual backyard barbecue that he was hosting for the Oxford students. So basically we got a chance to eat really good food and chit chat with the vice chancellor and a host of other interesting people. Later in the evening, he insisted that all of the groups sing a song. Some of the Oxford kids were in an a cappela group, so they had an awesome performance. This was followed by my group singing the University of South Carolina Alma Mater (yes, I know all of the words). I then was pulled up to sing a song in Chinese with the vice chancellor. Afterwards, he invited us to come back for the Mid Autumn festival and Chinese New Year. Now I know, an email goes a long way to making good connections.

Our group with the Vice Chancellor

I'm On Top of the World!

So last Saturday started the first part of a series of outings that my summer class has organized for the students. The first field trip was go to The Peak on Hong Kong Island. For those of you who are not aware, The Peak is a tourist attraction that sits on a large mountain on the island and overlooks the city, Victoria Harbour, and the Kowloon side of the harbour (or harbor, I'm starting to mix up British and American spelling). Anyways, it's probably the largest tourist attraction in Hong Kong. When I first heard about it, I though it was going to be kinda lame. After all, there is only so much you can do at the top of a mountain. Maybe look out at the city for a few minutes, snap a couple of pictures of the scenery, and then go home. In addition to that, our smaller IBCE group was planning on going, but decided that the fare to get to the island and the ticket to get to the top of The Peak was too expensive. All in all, I thought it was going to be a wonderful Saturday wasted, especially since I had to go as a part of a large tour group and wear a group shirt (not cool). However, it turned out to be an awesome day, and I recommend The Peak to anyone visiting Hong Kong.

The Peak Tower

The Peak Tram with Hong Kong in the backgroud. This is what I saw on the trip up and down



Cost ceased to be an issue because it turns out that the cost of these trips were included in the fee for my summer classes. So in a way, I was obliged to go. The day before the trip, we had this huge group meeting to talk about how the field trips were organized and what we should expect. If I haven't mentioned it already, my summer classes are no longer limited to the 20 people in my IBCE group from USC. Now, we are in classes with other students from various countries (mostly Japan, but some are from the UK or other countries in Europe). The larger group was split into 23 smaller sections, each with 5-7 students in it. Of course, they ended up splitting people up so that we can get to know everyone. But it was OK because I ended up being with some of my USC friends as well as several really cool Japanese students. Our group leader was also great. She is local graduate student who made a cute panda out of paper and placed it on a stick so that we could find her throughout the day. Just another example of how cuteness is a strong part of modern Hong Kong culture. The day of the trip, I had to be up and at the train station by 8:00 am. A ridiculous time for anyone to be ready to go anywhere. We took the MTR to TST and walked around, looking at the skyline of Hong Kong before boarding a ferry to get to the island. Afterwards, we took a bus to the bottom of the mountain on which The Peak is located. By this time, we were all dying and fighting off dehydration with gallons of water that we brought with us. The temperature must have been around 35 degrees Celsius (or 95 degrees Fahrenheit). Luckily, we got to stand in a covered platform to wait to go up the mountain. To get to The Peak, you have to take a tram that sort of looks like one of the San Francisco trolleys. The incline that the trolley has to take to get up the mountain is so steep that deep grooves have to be placed in the floor for those people who have to stand up in the car. Even then, it looked like some people were going to fall. Luckily for me, I've adopted the local mentality towards lining (or queueing) up, which is basically ignoring the concept altogether, so I got a seat. I didn't realize just how far up The Peak was. My ears ended up popping on our way up the mountain.

Once we reached the top, I was surprised by what I saw. I was expecting an observatory deck so that we could look out at the city below, but it was much more than that. I should have expected the many restaurants, ranging from Burger King to a really nice, upscale restaurant at the top of the tower. I should have expected the many, many gift shops and other stores like jewelry stores or nice clothing stores. This is, after all, Hong Kong. Life doesn't get much more capitalist than it does here. I would say the materialism in Hong Kong beats out anything that I've ever seen in the United States. There are stores absolutely EVERYWHERE. But that is a rant for a different day.

We stopped to eat at a restaurant as soon as we got up the mountain because we all were starving. We then went on the first part of the tour which was......Madame Tussauds wax museum. I had never been to a wax museum before and my first impression was, "wow, this is really creepy. It looks like they can just come alive and kill me." This was quickly followed by the question, "Who decides that their life's work is to make wax statues of famous people?" After deciding that Madame Tussauds was probably crazy, I started to enjoy myself and take picture with the rich and famous, both dead and alive. I got my picture with Princess Dianna and the rest of the royal family. I was also able to take a snap shot of me with President Obama. My friends and I had fun as Madonna's background dancers, and I played a round of golf with Tiger Woods right after beating Yao Ming in basketball. It was an exciting tour to say the least. All I have to say about wax museums is that you have to go with friends who have a good sense of humour and can take creative pictures, because that's really all you can do. Here's some pictures of my adventure in wax.

David Beckham!

We're Obama's real daughters

I'm a part of the royal family too!

Backup dancers!

The Top of The Peak

Afterwards, we went up to the top of the building to look out at the city from the observatory deck. It was a spectacular view of Hong Kong. I'm really starting to enjoy myself in this city and have become accustomed to living here. Taking pictures of the skyline only took about 15 minutes, and afterwards my group decided to head back to campus. I was ready to crash in my bed because I was tired and sun drunk, but my day wasn't over yet. I had set up a meeting to meet a contact I have in the Hong Kong City ballet. I had been trying to meet him for weeks now, and he inviting a friend and I to have dinner with him later that night. We went, and with was really cool talking to him. He is even trying to get us two tickets to see their production of Swan Lake. I'm super excited have and excuse to dress up and do something cultural. Besides, I love ballet and have never had a chance to see Swan Lake before. I hope it all works out.

Tomorrow is part two of the field trips and we are all going to Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia. No worries though, we are not allowed to gamble on this trip although it is legal. We are going to see the remnants of the Portuguese colonization and to eat what I suspect will be amazing Portuguese food and pastries. I'm very excited.

Two Weeks of Everything

So I know that I was complaining last week about being completely bored and having nothing to do in Hong Kong. Well that boredom is now over and will not return for quite a while. These past two weeks have been crazy, busy, and interesting. And is seems like the next three weeks will be much of the same.

Last week, Hong Kong had its annual book fair in a large convention center on the main island.  If you know me well, then you know that I love to read, so when I heard that Hong Kong had a large book fair I jumped at the opportunity to go. Previously, I had only been to book fairs that were sponsored by elementary, middle, and high schools, so I had no idea what to expect. I expected something large and a crowd. It was, after all, being held in a convention center. However, I did not expect it to take up almost the entire building  (which seems larger to me than any other convention center I've seen to date). There were people for miles and vendors took up almost every inch of space (although now that I think about it, that pretty much describes all of Hong Kong). For some, it may have appeared to be chaotic, uncomfortable, and frustrating. For me, it was pure bliss. I can't think of many things that can top a huge room full of books. Of course, this being Hong Kong and everything, most of the books were in Chinese. They did, however, have an entire section dedicated to book in English. This was where I hung out for about three hours. There was fiction, non-fiction, bestsellers, niche books, how-to books, tour books, anything you could imagine. I personally could have spent a fortune, but feared incurring the wrath of my parents, so I reigned myself in and limited my purchases to one book. A cookbook filled with quick recipes. Excellent for any college student attempting to cook for themselves for the first time. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I'll write when I do. Of course, I couldn't keep myself from good reading for long, so I did go to the book store today to buy two new books for my literary pleasure, The Shack and Dreams of Joy. These should last me about a week. Maybe I should invest in a Kindle or something.

Book Fair!!!

This Monday a couple of friends and I decided to check out the museums in Hong Kong. We only had a chance to go to a small part of the science museum, but what I saw was pretty impressive and really interesting. There is currently a special exhibit about Albert Einstein, his life and works. I understood the biographical part of the exhibit, much of which I did not know before. For example, I did not know that he married his cousin. Unfortunately, when the exhibit attempted to explain the theory of relativity I was completely lost. All I could figure out was that it had something about time bending space or something like that. I suppose this is why I hated physics and decided to not be a scientist. The rest of the museum was just as fun and entertaining, and a lot more easy to understand. For me, the best part is a tie between the hall of mirrors and this 3D interactive game where I got to destroy blocks with a ball. Think of it as a 3D interactive Brick game. Unfortunately, but the time I finished the game the museum was about to close. I only got to explore 3/4 of the ground floor. There are still 3 floors to go. Luckily, I got a year pass so that I can visit any Hong Kong museum I like. This includes the science, space, art, and history museum. I'm going to be so smart when I get back to the States.

The group at the museum

Last, but certainly not least, this Tuesday we went to Sai Kong, a part of Hong Kong known for its beautiful beaches. The day was perfectly warm with clear skies and puffy white clouds. Getting there took forever because it is a relatively remote part of the New Territories. We had to take two buses, a taxi, and then walk for 45 minutes before arriving at the designated beach. It was completely worth it though. The water was a perfect Caribbean blue and warm. The harbor was surrounded by verdant mountains. It looked like a post card. However, we decided that the beach wasn't enough for us. We needed something more adventurous, more daring. Something like....cliff diving. That's right everyone, I went cliff diving off of a 25 ft. high wall of rocks into a deep pool of water. It took us another 15 minutes to walk from the beach to the pools of water and waterfalls where we could dive. Let me tell you, it was not easy to get to the ledge to jump. We had to scramble across rocks that were inclined and burning hot from the sun. My legs are still burning from scaling the boulders. But the fact that I can say I jumped makes it worth it. The jump itself, however, was terrible. I've never experienced the force of water impact before, and now I understand why people would hurt themselves from jumping off of bridges. The 25 foot jump hurt, especially since I landed on the back of my thighs. They still sting. I'm not going to dive again any time soon. After the jump, we returned to the beach for a while before heading back to the main town. Getting a taxi to take us back was an interesting adventure. We actually had no idea how to get a taxi back until we asked one of the locals at the beach. We asked our friend, who's parents are Chinese so she speaks Mandarin, to ask the local how to get a taxi. We were nervous at first because we didn't know if he understood Mandarin or just spoke Cantonese. She struggled a little to get him to understand. Eventually he got what we were asking and then promptly and very clearly replied "Do you speak English?" I have to admit, it was kind of embarrassing. But we did return to the town and our dorm so everything worked out fine.

 The Beach!!!!

 Me Jumping!!!

The Group!!!!



Tomorrow, the entire group is going on a school excursion to The Peak in Hong Kong so I will have tons of new things to write about in the upcoming week.



Three Weeks of Close to Nothing

So, it's been about three weeks, but I'm back. To be perfectly honest, nothing interesting happened in those first two weeks which is why there haven't been any new posts. Now I actually have enough stuff to talk about.

First off, I would like to talk about how my life and sanity has been saved by finding........an international grocery store. This may sound like a small matter to most people, but in a country where noodles in soup seems to be a staple of life, a grocery store with western food that I recognize and trust is a big thing. It's at the grocery store, Taste, that I found Post Raisin Bran and Terra chips. It's at Taste where I found Oscar Meyer turkey bacon and Swiss cheese. ( Although any form of cheese is super expensive here. Asians don't really eat cheese, or most dairy products for that matter, making it more than twice as expensive as it would be in the US. Imagine paying $20 for a small hunk of Swiss cheese. It's ridiculous. This is why I settled for the less expensive Munster for my sandwiches.) I can now make all the western food I could ever want in my dorm's kitchen (although we don't have an oven, so maybe not all the food I want.)

The next exciting thing that happened was this Monday when my church friends decided to invite me to go bike riding with them. Apparently there is a place two metro stops away from me where people can rent bikes and go riding on a specified bike/running path that runs along the Shing Mun River in Shatin. The views were gorgeous and the company was great. I ended up sweating quite a bit during the 20km (12 mile) trip. I definitely plan to go again.

Part of the river view from the bike trail. There are tons of mountains in the area



Tuesday was a dull day until 9:00 when one of the batch one students of the IBCE program (I'm in batch two, the two batches overlap during the summer) told us about this half-price sushi deal at this nice place called Sushi One. The restaurant obviously gets all of their fish fresh daily, so to avoid having to throw out the fish that wasn't used that day, they make all of their sushi and sashimi half price from 10:00pm to midnight provided that each person spends $80 HKD. By the way, that's really easy to do with sushi even if it isn't full price. They had some of the best salmon sashimi I have ever tasted. It was amazing. I highly recommend it for anyone who is in Hong Kong and craving sushi.

That's really been all that's happened in the past few weeks. Other than that I've just been going to class and doing homework. This week I had to give an 8 minute speech about myself in Chinese. I made it to 7.5 minutes which is a great accomplishment in my mind. This was without reading from a script, just a notecard with my outline in English. I consider this a great milestone in my Mandarin-speaking education.

I was going to go to Shenzhen, China again today, but two days ago I got bitten by some small creature (I think it was a spider) and now my left foot is swollen like a balloon and I can't comfortably wear shoes. Does anyone have a good cure for this?