My Little Travel Blog

This weekend was amazing. This post will be purely informational because right now I'm too lazy to come up with anything resembling 'insight'right now:

On Saturday, a bunch of us exchange students and some local friends decided to spend the day at the beach on Lamma Island, one of the outlying island of Hong Kong. So, we met in Central early in the morning, and after some delays took the ferry to the island. This was my second time going to one of the Outlying Islands, the first being on my Class Picnic day when we went hiking on Cheung Chau. I have to say, I love the outlying islands! They are toooootally opposite to Hong Kong island; open space, relaxed atmosphere, not so busy, traditional buildings, and just a great vibe! Of course HK island is amazing too, but its nice that in less than an hour by boat, you can reach a beautiful traditional island. Anyway, once on the island, we had to walk about 25 minutes to get to the beach where we planned to 'party'/relax. Along the way went through the ancient village, very very very traditional, ate a bit of dim sum, and then got onto the beach. It was a tiny beach, but it was just what we were looking for! You could swim, relax under the palms, listen to music, meet the other foreigners/tourists on the island, and get good food and drinks for amazingly cheap prices right there. I felt a bit smug sitting on the beach getting a tan (not really, I'm too pale) relaxing under a tree and chatting with some HK locals, knowing that in Iowa it was probably freezing with nothing fun going on. Its a wonderful thing to be able to go to the beach in mid-October! I really don't miss the Iowa winter at all. So after a wonderful relaxing day at the beach I was sleepy, and went home a bit early to get some rest. Because after Saturday comes Sunday!

Sunday was another fabulous day. After a lazy morning of messing around and doing homework, I went bowling with some classmates in Tuen Mun (where my school is). If you remember from my last post, bowling is different here (look back if you want details...) But still, we decided that since we never got to actually bowl during our P.E. lesson, we'd do it ourselves. So, me and 5 of my best friends from school went bowling. For some, it was only their 2nd time ever bowling, and nobody was very good, so I was actually the best bowler there! Amazing! Actually I think I was just having a lucky day, becuase I've never scored so high in my life (I got 145 in one game!) But who knows, maybe I've just subconsciously figured out how to bowl well...

So after about 3 games, we went next-door the bowling alley (which is in the 2nd floor of a big 'multipurpose centre') and played snooker. I am terrible at snooker. Nothing more to say. I think I got one ball in the whole game. I prefer pool a million times over. 'Twas fun though. So then after snooker we went and walked around the mall, relaxed, had a snack, and then went for dinner at a local Hot Pot place! This was my 3rd time having hotpot here, and it is really one of my favorite ways to dine now. A big pot of bowling oil is placed in the middle of the table, and you just order various meats and vegetables, throw them in, wait a few minutes, and then go fishing for whatever looks good! It's exquisitely social, the restaurant is loud and casual, and the quantity of food in incredible. You just keep ordering more and more until you think you will burst, but thats just the was its done. Anyway, I managed to sample some very intersting things most of which I have no idea what was, but one thing I know is that I ate toad. Yes, toad! And it tasted good! Actually I would say its nothing too special, just some generic tasting meat, but its the thought that you're eating a chunk of toad meat that is quite exciting. Another thing is that hot pot meals take a loooong time, usually about 2 hours total. So by the time we finished all the deliciousness it had gotten quite late. I took the minibus home, did a bit of homework, and slept.

And that was my weekend! Hooray!

So now the day is further along, and I figured I would shock everybody by posting AGAIN! I'm really gonna try to keep this thing up.

My unusual(ish) day:

Okay, so today in school I really only had 2 lessons. 2 lessons of Geography in the morning were normal, then 2 free periods, then Use of English, but it was Oral Presentation day so I just read my own book the whole time (my class number is 32, I'll be presenting tomorrow), and then it was lunch time. But today was different with the lunch schedule because we have P.E. on Day 7's and today was a Day 7. And it was a special Day 7 becuase my P.E. class is doing bowling now! Hooray, I love bowling.

But this is Chinese bowling. Anyway, I got lunch with some of my 'mainland immigrant' friends (I hope thats not too politically incorrect) at the local szechuan restaurant. Great food, spicy enough for even the strongest tongues of Hong Kong, made by a real szechuan man. I ordered my noodle soup 'lightly spicy' and my lips were enflamed by the end. Great, authentic food. Then we took a taxi to the bowling alley! I was just thinking, in America, it would be unthinkable for a school to expect all students in a class to travel several miles to get to P.E., paying for the transport themselves. Luckily, I was with 3 friends and we split the taxi cost so it was actually a good deal. Just a little more per person than taking the Light Rail (our other option to get to the alley). Plus 10x faster and not stiflingly crowded. So we got to the alley, and since it was bowling and we don't sweat we were all still wearing our normal school uniforms. Blehhhh, I hate that stupid white shirt and blue pants. But nobody stares; its normal to see everybody wearing their school's ridiculous vision of a perfect student's outfit. So then it was time to bowl, or so I thought. It turns out that bowling isn't thought of in Hong Kong as it is in America. First of all, this bowling alley was brightly lit, no music was playing, and the lanes were about 3/4 the length of American ones. Not at all the relaxed atmosphere of Colonial Lanes in Iowa City. So everybody got their bowling shoes from the counter (they didn't have my size, so I just squeezed into some size 10's. Chinese foot-binding is still alive!) and then we lined up silently as the teacher commanded us about how exactly to hold the ball, approach the lane, swing it back, follow-through with our swing, and shift our weight throughout the whole process. Of course all instruction for P.E. is in Chinese, so I just pretend to listen intensely, and then my fabulous friend Wing Wing translates quickly after the lecturing is done. This may seem quite reasonable for the P.E. lesson, except that we never actually got to bowl. We just kept 'training' for the whole 1hour and 10 minutes. Ridiculous if you ask me! Another thing is that here, bowling is something many students, aged 16-18, had never done before! This was their first time ever in a bowling alley! It's just not a common pastime here I guess. What else? Oh, yeah. They treat bowling like rocket science here. According to the teacher, there is a specific set of movements you have to do to have any success in bowling. There is no such thing as 'having fun' while bowling. To Mr. Ng (the PE tyrant as I like to think of him), bowling is a serious sport, never to be considered a fun, social thing for friends to do.

But, he did warn us not to put our hands near the ball-return machines, lest we get our fingers caught between two balls. I must give him credit; this warning would have saved my right pinky a lot of pain, had it been given to me in Denmark about 8 years ago.

So bowling was a bust. Booooring. But after that let-down, some friends from my class invited me to play snooker with them right next to the bowling alley. It cost about 5 US$ for one our, for all of us! Very cheap! And I guess thats the end of my day. We played a good game of snooker (none of us are any good) and then went our seperate ways. I just walked to the minibus terminus and took my usual 44a to Sheung Shui station, from where I rode my bike 15 minutes home. And thats my unusual(ish) day.

All comments, positive, negative, and unrelated, are welcome!

Ben

I'm in school right now! I have a free lesson during which I can use the internet, and I forgot my homework in my locker, so I'm gonna blog!

Okay, to start, I'd like to apologize to the world for practically abandoning this blog. My bad. I'm really gonna try to update it weekly from now on.

"Why did you decide to come to Hong Kong?" This probably rates as the #1 question I've been asked here. Schoolmates, teachers, the other exchange students - everybody wants to know. At the beginning of this journey, I would tell people that to me, Hong Kong is an exotic place, totally different from anywhere I've ever been before, that I am fascinated by the unique HK culture in which Chinese and Western ideas clash constantly, or that my version of escapism is to run away to the most densely populated place on earth.

But, these answers are becoming less and less relevant as time goes on. My real reason for choosing Hong Kong is becoming more apparent to me every day I am here.

The real reason I am in Hong Kong is because I have a fascination with people. In Iowa, or anywhere in the USA for that matter, I can see a person, and guess a lot about their personality, likes, dislikes, background, and values. Their hair, clothes, speech, and attitude are usually dead giveaways to what type of person they are, and I find this to be quite boring. Though each person is clearly their own individual, they all belong to certain groups, whether by choice or by birth. So, just by looking around, I can garner a lot of information about the people who surround me. Hong Kong is totally different in this respect. Becuase is it such a tiny place with a huge population, it has many more 'types' of people than Iowa. Also, the types are completely different. I just love the feeling of walking around and having no idea what the people around me are thinking, feeling, or doing. Just by looking at them, I have no idea what sort of personality they have, for the most part, and I am still trying to figure out the 'types' of people here. This is something I never expected to be so enthralled with, but it is quite amazing to me to be surrounded by so many people I feel I just can't relate to in any way. From the MK (a local sub-culture) guys with their dyed hair and strange fashion sense, to the stressed businessmen on the MTR screaming into their mobile phones, I feel like there is just some understanding about life we don't share. And its a good thing. Its what makes being an exchange student here so wonderful. I have the opportunity to live among these people, and learn about their culture from the inside out.

This is the most precious thing I think I will leave Hong Kong with. The knowledge that this crazy world has many crazy cultures that make many crazy people, but that I am just another crazy person out of the 6 billion on this earth. Even more so, the knowledge that the world is truly my oyster, and that by simply going, in person, to experience various parts of the world, I can expand my horizons more than I ever knew before. So, the reason I have come to Hong Kong isn't really any of those simple thing I mentioned before. It is becuase Hong Kong is the perfect place for me to start what I hope to continue in some way for the rest of my life; learning about people, their cultures, their lives, and especially what makes them truly unique. With so many people here, my task is quite simple; I am provided daily with thousands of examples of people created here, living the way they feel is right, and doing what they feel is right, that I could never find anywhere else. Because the change from Iowa to Hong Kong is so clear-cut (almost nothing is the same), I am really discovering that this is a passion of mine; being surrounded by these 'different' people.

Well, that all sounds pretty deep. But its true. I can't possibly put into words all the things I've learned here in these quick 7(ish) weeks, but I can now definitively say that the reason I am in Hong Kong is to learn about the world and its people, and to start my adult life. I feel much more independent and mature than ever before, and I have really just begun to think about what is important enough to me in life to pursue in the long term. I hope my self-discoveries continue througout the next 8 months here, and they can be applied to whatever I do in the future.

I hope this doesn't all come across as sappy. But I'm just having such a great time and this blog seems like a fine enough place to organize and share my thoughts.

Look forward to the next blog post! It'll be about hk, not me. I promise!

Ben

Okay, so maybe you thought I abandoned this blog. WRONG!

Everybody who will read this already knows my basics by now, so I'll get right into a decent story.

On Monday morning this week, it was raining. Nothing unusual, a typhoon out in the ocean was causing some drizzling; not anything major. Anyway, I usually ride my bike to Sheung Shui station (about 10-15 mins) to catch my minibus to school. Since it was raining, I couldn't ride my bike, so for the first time, I attempted to take a public bus. My host dad told me which number to take, so I thought it would be no problem, and it would even be quicker than biking.

It should have been quicker...

I got on bus 270A, the correct bus, but I forgot about the direction. It didn't even cross my mind. I just got on and waited for the announcement lady to say 'Sheung Shui Station' and for the words to flash up onto the screen. After about 15 minutes, I thought there might be a problem. It should have been a really short ride, but I didn't know how short. I waited a little longer. Too long.

When I saw the bus continue straight on past a sign stating that a right turn would take me to Sheung Shui and going straight would lead to Kowloon, I realized something was very wrong. I called my host dad, and we sorted it out on the phone. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to Kowloon. No stops along the way to escape. Not a chance of being on time to school, and I still had to make my way to Tuen Mun somehow once I arrived there.

So, as instructed by my Dudu, I got off at Kowloon MTR station (the terminus for that bus) and then took the orange line mtr to Nam Cheong (10 mins), then the entire West Rail Line (45 mins?), then the Light Rail from Tuen Mun to Kin Sang(10-15). I don't even want to know how much it all cost...

Actually I was only about 2 hrs later than usual to school and I missed the morning assemble (yay!) and my first two lessons, both geography. But, the experience was worth it. Getting lost in HK is safe, and its not hard to find your way to a train station, which connects you with everything. Plus now I know how to take a bus from my home to Kowloon!

Recap of transportation:

Bus: 1 hr
MTR: 10mins
Train: 45 mins?
Light Rail: 10 mins
Minibus: 35 minutes

On the way home I took my normal minibus about 35 minutes, and walked home.

Crazy day to say the least.

So now it's Tuesday and I have no school because Typhoon Koppu has moved in. Level 8 warning means no school! Hooray!

And yes, now I know where the bus stop is to catch 270A going TOWARDS Sheung Shui.

Ben

Well, its been a long time since I've updated, but now I have all the missing information!

First of all, I know my departure travel details. I leave from Cedar Rapids to LAX on the 19th, via Dallas, and then I'm handed over to AFS personnel. In this first step to my departure alone, I will experience two 'firsts'; my first time flying alone, and my first time in California. Hooray!

The next big pieces of info I've received are my Host Family and School Placement. I will be living in Fanling (about 17 miles north of central HK) with with a host mom and dad! I am so eager to meet them and learn more about Fanling, because the Internet lacks in English information about the town.

My school is Tuen Mun Catholic Secondary School in the town of Tuen Mun, about 15 miles from my home. I know my classes will be split between English and Chinese, but I really don't have any more information about the school. Its website provides no english translation and they haven't directly contacted me, so I have yet to find out the specifics. This will round out my types of schooling pretty nicely - at some point in my life I will have experienced public schools, private school, homeschool, military/government school (ok, so that one was really pre-preschool), and now financially aided religious school. Quite a list.

So now I have 3 days left in the following: the Western Hemisphere, North America, the USA, the Central Time Zone, the Midwest, Iowa, and Iowa City. And I can't wait to leave! Goodbye everything! In one sense I'm going home; back to the hemisphere in which I was born. Weird.

I still have to pack my suitcase and carry-on and make sure everything is within the strict weight guidelines, and then I'm pretty much set to go!

Ben

Just got back from a 2 week college road trip/family visit in the northeast. A little bit about each place visited:

Kalamazoo College (Michigan): Really went there for my sister, of no interest to me

Juniata (PA): Same as above

Swarthmore (PA): Snobbiest seeming school, beautiful campus, of no interest to me

Columbia (NYC): Great school/campus, definitely applying, probably not getting in

NYU: Unfriendly admissions people, no 'campus' feel

Wesleyan (Connecticut): Disappointing town, terrible info session lady, not good

Vassar (NY): Great campus, great school, definitely one of my favorites

Hampshire (Mass.): Very interesting alternative system, intriguing and very different from other places visited

Tufts (Mass.): Horrible info session guy; too smarmy,decent campus, nothing great or terrible

Cornell (NY): My favorite campus and school, everything great

In the end, Cornell was my favorite and Wesleyan my least favorite. Also had a lot of fun w/ cousin/aunt/uncle/Nana in NY.

Still waiting for my departure and family info for Hong Kong, and the conference call w/ AFS was a bit useless because the person who could give specific information about Hong Kong was absent. I spoke to the other American going there though, so that part was great.

Until more info arrives,

Ben

Well, now I really have to start planning for my departure. School ended on Thursday, and I have about 2.5 months left until I leave Iowa! Not so long.

Now I get really excited whenever I fill out more paperwork for AFS; it reminds me that I will soon be leaving for Hong Kong!

Ben