Third Gen Native

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.

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.

I think it’s time to have a serious identity post, and I know I’ve been hinting at one recently.

There was this girl in Wong Gok with her friend and she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Her skin was absolutely perfect and she was classically hot (like in the body type, I suppose). Her fashion was REALLY on point, even wearing pants (it wasn’t too hot today (except she was there (so it was pretty hot (omg)))). Her face was really nice too and she wasn’t like the Hong Kong pale af, but she had a REALLY REALLY REALLY nice smile. I didn’t talk to her at all, but this serious identity post is asking WHO IS SHE? haha... Her voice wasn’t that great though, but I guess she was funny too because she was talking on the phone and her friend next to her was laughing. Come to think of it, I was wondering if she was a HK person or a Westerner because usually the perf girls have suuuper pale skin here. 

ANYWAY back to identity, I have realized that I’m really bad at both expecting what people will say, and using the words I already know while listening. When people ask if I want sugar with my tea, for example, I should have known that. I think I just need more practice! I will hopefully get it when I’m on Mong Kok for practice on Wednesday.

Additionally, yesterday, I met someone who will help me get in some Kowloon games of badminton. His game was very very cheap on sunday ($30!!!!) and I think that was the cheapest game I had ever been to, even with RSL Supreme.

I wanted to share my feelings from one SEASON ago in AMERICA. I went to a protest of the people of the city BOSTON, which I hadn’t ever been to, but I had been there a month and understood their struggle of GENTRIFICATION, at least the concept. I participated in one of the marches (in the city of BOSTON, starting in the south side of BOSTON, I guess, in the rich area, and I thought it was really big so I even bought a souvenir. As I marched with the people, I knew what they were fighting for. I stood alongside the citizens as they fought against GENTRIFICATION and everything that symbolized it, including the BUILDINGS that represented the CONCEPT of GENTRIFICATION. The RICH PEOPLE would watch and wouldn’t directly oppose the marchers, but try to guide the thinking, as they represented GENTRIFICATION. 

As I marched with them, I realized how much I couldn’t relate to their struggle of GENTRIFICATION. I had always been able to HAVE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING and I even BOUGHT A HOUSE with my dad, and it was completely legitimate. I think it reminds me that although I believe that I can understand the daily lives of the people of BOSTON, through the ACCENTS and food, I will never understand the oppression they go through from the RICH PEOPLE. I was reminded about this when my friend told me about how I never wrote about my Asian American issues in America, even though I was a proponent.

It’s technically July first, but whatever.

Today was great. I hung out with some of the exchange people and they’re quite nice and friendly. I guess I got to reflect on how bad my taste in food is HAHAHA but at least I enjoy a lot of stuff. Anyway, I would like to say how much this trip is making me appreciate my friends at home. I appreciate my friends who know the struggles of being a person of color, and I appreciate having the opportunity to go to a country where I can have somewhat of an assumed presence. I also appreciate that I have people with me who I can admit to that I am NOT what that assumed presence is. I am NOT a native Hong Konger and I’m interested in learning the language but I have loyalty and such to the United States.

It gives me great security knowing that there are so many people like me, both in the US and here. Hong Kong is a global city and this is what the world is like, like it or not. 

Back to fun stuff. I played badminton with some exchange people (super fun haha) and we ate at a Japanese restaurant that was surprisingly really good and reasonably priced (whaat? I thought only local restaurants were like that!). Still, I feel like there are so many more places to explore, beyond where there are municipal centers for badminton. I would really like to make a trek out to Sam1 Jeng2 for their roast goose siu1 ngo2. Sometimes, I feel that I am falling into too much of a routine. I think it’s time to go to the New Territories.

It’s crazy. I hung out with my friend Anthony today, and he reminded me that it has almost been a month since I started my time here in Hong Kong. I think that it’s very interesting that while I still find Hong Kong full of mystery, I also feel like it has been welcoming in its own way. I have learned a lot of Cantonese, and I almost feel like I belong. I feel like I haven’t felt this way about many places, but in a way, I believe that I feel this way because I fell like I SHOULD belong. I think that this realization has taken much longer in many other places. I really have no problems calling this place home, which is very crazy. In a place where I can be a foreigner and feel so at home in so many ways, this is truly a global city.

I feel like I am lost and found simultaneously. I feel like time has been flying by faster that I can ever imagine, yet I also feel like I can really appreciate the finer moments. I think Hong Kong has become a paradox in many ways, and I don’t think I can explain any feelings I have had. I think coming here has helped me flesh out a part of my identity, something that I thought I had nothing to do with, and find that I can fit in if I want to. 

I think I have come to terms with a few barriers that I will never overcome, such as understanding all three languages well (Mandarin, Cantonese, English), but maybe that will change some day.

I feel a unique experience here. In comparison to the other exchange students, I make a judgment that for them this may be either a very normal place, or a very exotic place, or a place to adjust to and live a life like normal, but for me, I think it has been all of those things and more. I find that even in adjusting to try to live life like I would in the US, I find out more about what it’s like to be a local. 

I also think my identity plays a little bit of a role into my actions here. For example, am I a tourist, or am I a vacationer, or am I a local? I feel like buying tee shirts like I <3 HK would be useless. It gives nothing about how I have lived in Hong Kong, or how I feel, yet I also feel like I am not local enough to just live life without appreciating what differences there are here. 

This is becoming a long e-mail like post. 

Holy moly, I have to start using bread earlier or else it will expire. I made a successful healthy (but really underseasoned) dish this morning. I still haven’t really touched the rice yet. Anyway, after lab, we went to Happy Valley racecourse to watch horses. We ate at a mall caa4 caan1 teng1 style restaurant and I really enjoyed the tomato beef noodle soup, even though the ingredients weren’t individually impressive. I’m sure it wasn’t very healthy, but it’s okay. I think I have also realized how much my spending habits differ from the other exchange students, it really has a wide range, but I think we also have very different experiences as well. I think that I have taken a lot from the Cantonese people I have met and the online Cantonese course, but I think my method of mozying around and trying stuff out is really what native people do, I suppose, unless I somehow learn Chinese for the OpenRice app. I think more and more often that it is essential to learn Chinese in the context of learning Cantonese because not knowing Chinese prevents me from learning and reading so many things. I guess I’ll think about it, but at the same time, I think it would be good, yet time consuming.

The entry was free so I ate an apple pie and bet a little (I lost lol), unlucky number 4 I suppose. It was a lot of fun being in HK Island, and I think that I can still appreciate its value in the context of Hong Kong, which I didn’t think I could before, because I used to imagine HKI as a very white town with only white people, but now I think I have realized that it’s just a place with more whites and more English, but with its own nooks and crannies. As I go more and more often to HKI, I wish I could stay in GLT and WK more. I think I have made myself too busy, personally. I haven’t really had time to practice my Cantonese.

Let’s just start from today, haha. I went to Hong Kong Park for training, which is in Admiralty (gam1 zung1). Training was really difficult and since there was a skill gap, coach Georgie Phan singled me out and I did practice by myself for practically the entire time, him feeding me intermittently. I am really struggling now, I guess. I realized a few very fundamental things, with his help, and I think I am able to better apply my learning from back home. I got a few shots in Hong Kong Park on my way there.

Yesterday, my friend, Ting Ting’s coach cancelled on her so we essentially had a pickup game really quickly, and it was lots of fun and at no cost to me, which was really generous of her. I am really going to have to work to cook more, because I go out really often. I would like to cook some of the vegetables I bought, as well as the mushrooms and rice. Also, she lives close so maybe we can hang out sometime, haha. I might want to take a night in, or a day in, because right now I am virtually forced to eat out. She’s chill so maybe we can be better friends. On the way home, I happened across a mother, father, and child, and the child was reciting the dei6 tit3 zaam6 so I think I will begin to learn them in order and recite them.

The day before, I had a language meetup and badminton. Badminton was playing against Bell and Cindy with Solo, and we played some regular doubles and some mixed against them. I think I am beginning to appreciate that they are a cute couple, haha. They won a game and it was really victorious for them. Back at the language meetup, I had a really good time, as usual, and afterwards I went to the meal with everyone, which was really good. I think it’s more fun and casual and I could pick up on a few things but it’s less of a teaching environment. I really appreciated that they picked a really cheap dim sum restaurant ($78 for dim sum in CENTRAL wow). I really liked the environment, although it wasn’t as crowded as some dim sum restaurants are. I met a few Americans there. 

Tuen Ng festival and hella spending

Holy moly, I spent so much money today... some of it was unnecessary. I think I have learned not to eat expensive western food here, because it mostly doesn’t live up to what I’ve eaten.

Anyway, start off today at 11:15, when we met to go to Tuen Ng at the Stanley Beach. We went and there were so many people lined up to take the 260 straight to Stanley. We ended up stopping at a few stands at Stanley Market before going to a caa4 caan1 teng1 and getting some curry beef. We ended up chilling at the beach for a while next to the water with the dragon boat races, which was really relaxing. Afterward, we headed to Stanley Market, where I got a bowl for soap and a journal for something that I haven’t decided yet. We went to a live concert and beer drinking contest LOL! That was fun; our Canadian friend Michael went up to drink some, we sort of pressured him. Afterwards, we had dinner at a Western-type bar place, with $100 crabcakes, I expected a lot, but it didn’t really fit my expectations, honestly. I think I’ll stay away from the Western restaurants. At lunch, there were so many white people, I would think that I was back in the states. I actually didn’t want to speak Cantonese to the staff because I really wasn’t sure if there were any Canto people there.