#thirdgennative

I have had a really interesting past week. I know that I have to start finishing some things up, like selling a violin and saying goodbye and doing things for the very last time, but another part of me would like to start doing things for the very first time. I think it is really important that I remember to do things like go to the stationary shop again, and to take pictures of Mong Kok, where I spend a lot of my time, but I feel like what I am remembering the most as of recent is not only the places I have been, but the places I have been and the things I have done with people. I’ll start with today, because it is the freshest.

I went into lab for a few hours, starting at 12 (woke up late LOL) and I did some lab work until going to Fortress Hill (first time) with Candy! I think today made me realize how much my perception of how I think things will be affects where I go and what I do. I always imagine HKI as a very white place, almost literally America, and I feel like that is why I avoided it mostly. Today, we played the Beethoven Spring Sonata (No. 5) and I realized how much I love performing and how much I miss performing in a smaller ensemble. Yesterday when we played, it felt like practicing for music camp all over again, which was an amazing feeling. I feel really good but I also realize how much I have been missing practicing, and how much I will practice when I get home, when it is even more convenient. I also realized what a cool person Candy is. Anyway, after playing at her really cool place, we went to a congee place near the metro station. I had never had congee before this, but it was REALLY good. We had some sort of thin, brown noodles, some oil stick (jau4 tiu2 lol) covered in the white ricey wrapping (wow kevin), congee with egg, and some dau zoeng OMFG everything was so good. The congee was so hot and delicious!!! I am an instant fan of congee now. I love Hong Kong. I think that is my first time blogging those words. I always think them but I never say it. I had no clue that so many foods in front of me in the United States came from Southern China and Hong Kong. I think that I have a heightened appreciation and awareness of things that come from close to where my family comes from. Afterwards, we went to an escape room where actually most of the instructions were in Cantonese or Chinese LOL so I listened but didn’t understand teng m meng. It was lots of fun! I think it was very interesting to work together and think in some ways that we haven’t before. I don’t think I personally figured anything out but it was still so much fun :D This was all with Kazami, Michael, Caroline, Nitish, Siana, and Candy. We ate dessert at the place HeSheEat, which is actually pretty expensive, but worth it. We shared literally all of the food and it was a great experience, tasting everything. The dessert was quite good. The company was zung zeng even better. 

Afterwards, a few of us went to miu gai (Temple Street) with Michael, Caroline, Kazami, and Nitish, and bought lots of stuff. I think that I will want to buy a brush or two (or more) from the stationary shop that I went to before, and maybe some high quality chopsticks too. I also need to pick up the Mahjoek tile with Moy on it. I really can’t wait, honestly. I also have a painting of Hong Kong, though. I feel like I have been exhausting myself so much in these past days trying to get stuff done.

Mentioning yesterday, it was also very good. I went to Sam Seoi Bo (sham shui po) and I ate this really good bowl of ngau laam ho fun. It tasted a lot like pho. I also drank a small cup of dau zoeng omg I LOVE IT. Afterwards, I went to play violin with Candy (still Spring Sonata). We got two recordings but they weren’t that good haha. Today’s recordings were much better LOL. Anyway, we got some Cheung Jau mochi (durian!) and I think I don’t love it but also don’t hate it. It seems pretty neutral in my mouth. Omg. it was such a packed day because afterwards I played my last Sunday badminton and played mah joek afterwards <3<3<3

Saturday was filled with Hello Kitty and badminton cooking. The Hello Kitty place was actually a place I had visited in my first week, in Jordan, while I was looking for a badminton center to play. I remember taking a picture of the menu, but actually going in and eating was a different story. We took so many liberties to take pictures, and it was honestly just a really fun and different experience that I wouldn’t be able to have anywhere else. Afterwards, we went to a Mahzoek place and put in an order for a tile with my last name on it. It was so much fun, and he even reduced the price for me and I think it will be on a gold tile. I should really pick that up tomorrow. Badminton cooking was so much fun. The meal was with Nitish, Qi, and Solo and the meal was Sichuan inspired but it was actually not spicy because Solo knows that I can’t handle spicy food. 

Friday was a trip to Dai O and the Big Buddha, all on Lantau island. It was so much fun. In Dai O we got to hang out with some of the CityU people who will be coming to America in the fall (and one in spring) semester. We actually ate dessert before a snack before eating lunch. For dessert, I had this really good grass jelly and dau fu faa1 dessert. Afterwards, we went to eat the gai daan zai that was smoked on charcoal, and it has such a different smell. It was great. We all shared it and it was only about $5. I really love that all of the people I am friends with here is willing to share food. I think that I will miss that a lot when I go to the U.S. I will definitely miss the people, too. I find it really really great that so many people, who didn’t even choose each other, can get along so well. 

Thursday was pizza with Candy.

It’s Christmas in July!

I am really enjoying myself. I feel energetic every day, but I feel really thankful at the same time. Actually, I feel like in addition to my identity being reinforced by coming here, I feel like this trip has made me really thankful for everything my parents have done for me, and how much I have both materialistically and through family, socially, and emotionally. I realize that even without this really great experience, my family would be supporting me back at home during the summer. I am so lucky to have such a large family, and such a large support system back home. Most importantly, I am really seeing how lucky I am to be an American citizen, and how great it is that I have lived in the greatest nation for my entire life (nearly, as of now :) ). Beyond the superficial things like a very good exchange rate essentially everywhere, the life in America actually is really great. People work really long hours in Hong Kong. America isn’t cramped for space. America is in better political stability. In America, I don’t ever have to worry about sanitation. (I actually don’t have to worry about sanitation here but I thought I’d say that anyway). This is me coming from a perspective of someone living in a mostly Westernized country (Westernized for 99 years, 96.5 years if you count Japanese control during the WWII period).

I think that with my identity, I have a lot of feelings about being here. Honestly, Cantonese is such a complicated language. Not only do you have tones, you have tones that can change based on the situation of the words they’re used -____- it’s kind of annoying but also kind of fun LOL.oops, that wasn’t about identity. I feel really skeptical of people who are in America and feel like “going back” to any sort of culture within Asia is appropriate. I think that that part of myself has really been shut down, because it’s been shown that I reaaaally am not a native Hong Konger, as shown in my blog title (Third Gen Native). That being said, I am really glad to have been able to look past the (superficial? at least in analysis) shallow characteristic of food to see lots of the culture that I no longer claim to be a part of at all. I am really really starting to appreciate the identity of Asian American that has both been forced and pressed on me, but also the identity of an Asian American in solidarity with other Asian American. For the past year, I have been learning about how to tell white people that Asian people are not the same. I do still have that strong belief. For the past year, at the same time, I have been learning that being an Asian American is a genuine experience. There should be people in America who join each other, drink some boba tea, eat dim sum, and go out for curry once in a while. Those should be the same people who play badminton with their international grad students and PhD students, and the same people who party it up with some Latin@/Native American/black/even white friends. America is the place to be, and now I see it.

Anyway, back to recent events :D

It’s been a week since my last post and so much has happened! I have made hella mistakes and gone hella places. It’s four in the morning and I’m up only because of the huge sunburn I have all over my chest. I am trying not to haaate myself for getting it in the first place and just focus on recovery. I’ve been drinking lots of water and I guess my food intake has been the same. 

Why do I have sunburn? On Saturday, all of us exchange students went on a boat trip in Sai Kung with my friend Kieran! I actually got sea sick and threw up everywhere, so I wanted to recover. I always heard that the middle of the boat and closer to the bottom of the boat shook the least so I laid down on the lowest, middle most surface, but that surface also had the most sun. After a month and a half of essentially no exposure to the sun (thanks, umbrella), my body was NOT USED TO THE SUN AT ALL so I burned easily. It didn’t help my nutrition that the food was unbearable omg. At least we got to take some great pictures. It helps that everyone is good at it.

Shoutout to my friend Qi for recommending the Aloe/other sunburn treating products because otherwise I’d be suffering through much more pain. I will always wear sunscreen from now on, AND MAKE SURE TO PUT MORE ON IF I TAKE OFF MY SHIRT.

Back to Sunday, though. I decided not to go to Cantonese practice. I don’t know why. Instead, I walked around Wong Gok and Jordan some. I also realized how freaking impossible it is to find a bathroom, and how glad I am that shopping malls exist. I bought a few stylish shirts from Baleno that make it REALLY easy to match. I also ate a PIZZA baau haha! It was pretty good! I really like the HK brands. They’re so stylish and I like the colors waaah!!! 

Backtrack to Friday, I was sick. Come to think of it, I still feel sick. Maybe it’s from the single shot I drank (lol wtf is wrong with me. At least I found out that alcohol doesn’t taste good at all. It tastes like straight ethanol and I’m still trying to shake the taste) or from the dehydration from a large area of sunburn. I think that the bottom part of my torso has healed well/wasn’t affected as much, but I can’t say the same for the top part.

I’m going to try to sleep now .-.

Haha double post!

Okay, today, I took a long lunch break and bought a Muscle Power 22 (not light) for $100!!!! What a steal! That’s less than a Wilson Match Point back in the States!!! Anyway, it’s 2U and it’ll get some getting used to. I know I told mom+dad that I wasn’t looking for a racket but it was 1/4 of the price of what it was when I first came here, and it comes with string at the right tension. 

I think I may have missed a post by deleting it mistakenly. It’s the morning and today I am really tired from badminton last night (today is Monday), but I still feel very fortunate to be here. I have come to realize how much I love everything here, and how easy it is to very really great food, like how yesterday I got my first checkered waffle (gak3 zai2 beng5 I think). It was really good and the person who sold it to me even gave it the condensed milk and peanut butter so that I didn’t run the risk of self destructing by putting soy sauce on it or something. It was really great and kinda oily haha, but it’s okay because it tasted suuuper good. Anyway, yesterday, I went to Cantonese practice and instead of getting the Cantonese, I asked my partners for the Chinese and I realized exactly how intimidating it is. Afterwards, we went to the dim sum place as usual, and I thought I heard a guy was here for 2 months but he seemed like an intermediate, so I think he had some Cantonese language skills before he came here. I noticed that he was way more willing to speak up, but I still have trouble listening. I think it is best not to compare myself to other people though, because I know I’ve come a long way, lol.

Going around yesterday (Wong Gok of course haha) made me realize a lot, though. Firstly, it made me realize what a freaking banging deal I got on my fan. For $39, I’m pretty sure I got an unbeatable deal. lolol other than that, I realized that I have taken so many things for granted. I will never visit an area like this unless I come back, and that’s really cool. With less than a month left, I think time is willing to slow down again and I am really enjoying myself. Anyway, I have been looking around at clothes often and there are so many stores here that I don’t have access to in the U.S.

Today was good! I went out not really knowing what to expect but I eventually decided to stop at Wong Gok and hopefully make my way down to TST. I explored a little and I went to a stand to bargain for a passport holder. After some bargaining in Cantonese, I realized that the sales lady was Filipino and I was better at Cantonese (!! go me). LOL. I walked a loooong way with lots of sweating and a worn back to go to YMT, Zou deon, and eventually TST. I explored TST a lot and I checked out some shops.

Before TST, I revisited one of the Adidas outlets in Wong Gok and saw that the price of the cheapest shirts decreased to $100 per. I promised myself for some reason that if I saw it for anything less than $100 then I would buy it.

I think I took a really roundabout way to get to TST because it took a super long time, but at least I got to try the young coconut juice for $15. I got the smaller one rather than the $20 one because I was trying it for the first time. I drank it and it tasted very organic. It was pretty sweet but for some reason it felt weird to taste, so I actually didn’t finish all of it. When I threw away a very small portion of it, I was really glad I didn’t get the bigger size/maybe older coconut.

First was Cotton On, which I had gone to with the exchange group before. I saw some shorts that I liked but I decided not to get them for some reason. It’s probably just that I have similar shorts at home. I think that Cotton On is a really good store and I’m glad I went to it to check it out, at least.

I also checked out bossini because they were having a super sale. They had a lot of button ups on good sales, and I almost bought a long sleeve shirt that was stylish but I couldn’t tell the price. I think if I see sales, I should give those stores a shot. In this compact store, I also realized how bulky my setup was, with my racket and backpack, and with my sporty clothes on, I felt out of place in lots of fashionable stores. It makes me think about if I stick out on a regular basis.

I also realized I wasn’t hydrated enough sometime during the day

on a related note, I got a 700mL water bottle for $3 omg that is the goal now, but $4 is still incredible

ANYWAY you’re probably wondering about the cliffhanger I left before with the adidas store. I saw a store with a sign saying $98 shirts or $150 if you buy two, in TST. I didn’t purchase it just because I realized that those shirts were nothing special at all. It was the same store that I went to with Anthony. There were also badminton track jackets for $128, which was really attractive but I don’t want to bring that with me because it is heavy. I thought about buying a few rackets but the ones that were powerful were flexible and the salesman tried to tell me that if I wanted more power, I should go with the flexible ones -___- I’m not stupid. They were selling team string for $198 which is pretty good for a reel but I’m not risking it with a brand I don’t know so well. The rackets were a really good price but I know I shouldn’t get a racket unless it’s an unimaginable price. I am currently negotiating a Muscle Power 22 for $150!

I ate my first salad today, and it was okay. the dressing was really fatty and I think the tomatoes may have had artificial coloring because I haven’t ever seen tomatoes that red. 

Anyway, I just took a nap and today, there is a typhoon coming but it is 22:18 and I don’t think there has been a typhoon. I was lucky today because I got off of work! LOL I ate McDonald’s for dinner, fish filet (jyu2 lau5 baau2). Also the cashier kept on speaking in Cantonese with the ice cream asking what kind I wanted even though I thought I didn’t understand and she got me to say tung2 for cone :D I am so happy I figured that out. 

Additionally, yesterday I played on a badminton court by myself just to train, and I managed to book it in Cantonese (mostly, other than old or new booking??). I was really proud of myself. I think I just have to keep practicing and grow my skills until I am invincible with my powers.