At a Crossroads…

Aside from our service-learning course, we have been doing other work as well. We recently teamed up with another NGO called Crossroads Foundation, located here in Hong Kong. Essentially, Crossroads is to provide assistance to those in need, most specifically, refugees.

Having just completed a semester on International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy in Switzerland, refugees came up during class. A lot. The whole world is talking about the refugee crisis. There are questions of security, of economy, and a heck of a lot of predjudice and fear. (Case in point, a certain country up and leaving a little something called the EU). While Germany rose to the occasion to try to accept a fair amount of refugees, the rest of Europe has balked from the thought of it.

With each report of any violence or crime, the stigma against refugees rises. The terrorist attacks in Paris only served to heighten these fears and tensions when word that one of the involved terrorists had come into the country as a refugee. Many in America, as well, jumped at the opportunity to speak out against allowing refugees into the country (once again no name but hint: terrible spray tan and a worse toupee). For those who are not aware, the process to become a refugee in the United States is insane. Background checks are just the beginning of it.

The point I’m trying to get to, however, is that Europe and many parts of the world are facing issues and dilemmas involving how to handle the refugee situation. Due to its proximity to conflict areas, Europe is receiving a majority of refugees, with many attempting to enter the country by any means necessary. The fact that so many people are willing to risk their lives and their families’ lives on dangerous boat rides across the ocean speaks to just how horrendous the living situation is in their homes in order for them to make the decision to flee (something that many seem to forget). Real people are fleeing their homes because they are in real danger. The world needs to do better.

What makes Hong Kong interesting, however, is that in the scope of the current refugee crisis, Hong Kong is nowhere near the issue, geographically speaking.

Quick geography reminder.

That does not mean, however, that Hong Kong does not have any refugees. According to the Hong Kong Justice Centre, Hong Kong has a relatively low amount of refugees, with around 13,000 people currently seeking asylum. It lists countries such as Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Burundi as those that contribute asylum seekers. Furthermore, the research I’ve done on refugees in Hong Kong paints yet another picture of uncertainty and suspicion regarding having asylum seekers in the country. There are articles with titles that stand out and paint a picture of the overall atmosphere such as “Hong Kong’s Refugee Shame,” “Hong Kong: Refugees Fighting an Unfair System,” along with “Donald Trump’s anti-Refugee Style of Politics Comes to Hong Kong” (yikes). Those are just a few of the articles (links included below) regarding the topic, with many more also published in the same vein.

In brief, and to save everyone from feeling like they’re reading a research paper, there’s many controversies surrounding the issue in Hong Kong. Examples include politicians worrying about “fake” refugees, politicians wanting to make detention camps, and issues such as poverty and bad living conditions that refugees face. Essentially, refugees in Hong Kong are facing many of the same issues that other refugees around the world are facing as well.

Crossroads, the organization that we worked with, aims to provide assistance not just to refugees in Hong Kong, but also around the world. The main tasks of the organization are distributing resources and helping link other organizations that want to make a difference. While I did not participate in this specific area, according to the Crossroads website (also linked below), the organization puts on “X-periences” where participants can spend a simulated day living the life of people facing a variety of global challenges.

Furthermore, Crossroads helps promote fair trade. They do this through the Global Handicrafts Marketplace, and the Silk Road Cafe, which can be found on the premises. Both use and sell products that were produced and sold using fair trade principles.

A glimpse of the Silk Road Cafe. (The muffins were quite delicious I might add!)

I was pretty excited when I found out how much Crossroads promoted fair trade. I’m not going to even lie and pretend that I am as mindful of buying fair trade products as I wish I was. However, I have been interested in the idea for years, ever since doing a project on unfair practices involving children to collect cacao, which is needed to make chocolate. I was happy to see the fair trade label appear very often on chocolate in Switzerland, and the best part was that there wasn’t much of a price difference. Furthermore, the fair trade label popped up on many products I saw when I went grocery shopping. While there are many reasons as to why globalization is beneficial, there are also many negatives that have come along with it, and fair trade aims to create a little more, well… fairness, in the world. If you ever want to feel guilty (but also want a fantastic opportunity to learn) about your morning cup of joe, I highly recommend the documentary Black Gold, which reveals the sheer amount of exploitation and greed in the coffee industry and further highlights why fair trade is so important. (Credit to Min-hyung Kim for introducing me to the film in his International Political Economy class).

An example of one of the many chocolate bars in Switzerland that had the fair trade label, found in the lower right corner. (Fact: living in Switzerland for any amount of time will forever ruin non Swiss chocolate for you).

While we had a chance to enjoy some of the yummy treats at the cafe, that is not where we actually worked while we were there. We had the opportunity to spend time both in the clothing department and the book department. This falls into the “distributing resources” category of work that Crossroads does. Essentially, clothing companies send in clothes that can be given to displaced persons in need. Books are sent in from all over as well. We helped sort and organize with other volunteers so that the items received could be sent out to refugees around the world. Clothes ranged from casual to business attire while books ranged from the New Jersey driving manual to The Cat in the Hat. It was amazing to see the sheer amount of materials that are sent to and out of Crossroads. The whole place is run by people who volunteer their time. Some are regulars, others come in groups to volunteer for a day.

A photo taken in the clothes department at Crossroads. Life hack: don’t force posed photos, or else you end up looking like Jack Nicholson in the Shining.

 

Looking back, I think that Crossroads was one of my favorite aspects of the internship. It served as a reminder of a few important points. To start, it helps humanize refugees. Even for those of us who are rational enough to realize that refugees are real human beings fleeing atrocious circumstances and not just terrorists trying to get into our countries, it is easy to get swept up in the numbers. These are people who often were living normal lives and had to give that all up just to ensure their safety. By sending clothes and items such as books, it helps give those who have been displaced some sense of normalcy and dignity.

Furthermore, this reminded me of the importance of going out and actually doing something. No, I by no means think I changed the world by sorting and packaging books or clothes at a refugee center, and am earnestly hoping to avoid the concept of the “white savior complex.” However, a certain term has been running through my mind; slacktivism. I first came across this term in Kathleen Montgomery’s Politics of Presence class. Essentially, this is the idea that we’ve gotten into the habit of thinking we’re making a difference when really we’re doing nothing. Yes, spreading awareness of a topic, especially through social media never hurts, but “liking” an article on Facebook doesn’t actually do anything to solve a problem. (Kony 2012, anyone?) Essentially, the point I’m making is that no, us going to Crossroads did not solve the refugee crisis (*cough cough looking at you political leaders of the world) and is not going to drastically change the lives of people who have been misplaced. However, it was something. And it was a reminder that there actually are people out there, like the wonderful unpaid staff at Crossroads, who actually give a care and are trying their best to do something, anything, to alleviate some of the pain from this messed up world we all live in.

I would be lying if I said I’m great about volunteering back home. Even worse, I often think I should be volunteering more, most specifically when the time to update my resume comes around. Which to be honest, is a pretty messed up reason for wanting to volunteer. However, Crossroads was a good reminder to me about why volunteering, though not always life altering, can actually be important. The next time there’s a problem that makes you uncomfortable in the world, don’t just share a video about it on Facebook. Get up and actually do something about it. You might not be “saving the world” but it sure as heck couldn’t hurt to try.

 

Articles:

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/03/26/donald-trumps-anti-refugee-style-of-politics-come-to-hong-kong/

Hong Kong: Refugees fighting an unfair system

The Crossroads Website: https://www.crossroads.org.hk/global-handicrafts/cafe/

Work work work work work :)

While I’ve had quite a few amazing adventures since being here, the internship experience is not just all play and no work. We’ve been doing a few different things since we arrived that I have mentioned before, but am going to detail a little more in this post.

As I mentioned before, we’ve been participating in a service-learning course. Essentially, service-learning is mutually beneficial community service. Not only is some aspect of the community improved, but the students who are doing the service are learning from the experience and reflecting on it. Oftentimes, community service courses are done in accordance with a specific major. An example of this would be Child Education majors putting together a program that helps young students in the community; by engaging with the young students, the Child Education majors would be learning something in the process.

Since we are here for a shorter period of time, our service-learning course is more general. My group, for example, is working with an NGO in order to work towards assisting elderly members of the community who have dementia, by helping to plan and organize a gym they could use. Exercise is excellent (well technically for everyone) but also for those who are suffering from dementia. Oftentimes, these individuals are cast aside and their overall happiness is not really accounted for. Exercise not only boosts endorphins but also is believed to actually be able to help those with dementia. It is by no means a cure, but is definitely an important defense.

Dementia can be found all around the world. However, Hong Kong specifically is having issues with is due to an aging population. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to find ways to combat the effects of dementia. This is where my service-learning group comes into the mix.

We started by doing some research on dementia and how physical activity can effect dementia, and discussed this with our classmates and professors. From there we met with the staff at our NGO for an orientation session. We were shown the space that we would have along with some of the equipment that was available and we even had the opportunity to try some of it out. I’m a little ashamed to say that the gym we are designing for elderly members of the community has been the most I’ve exercised since being here, although I keep telling myself walking around in the humidity here counts too. (Also telling myself that I’ll go to Shirk as soon as I get back to the States but we’ll see what happens).

After our first meeting, we met with an occupational therapist at the center. We wanted to make sure we understood how to properly use all the equipment and the limitations that elderly users might have. Safety first, of course. Most of what we were told matched up with what we had researched and already learned. Once again we discussed this during our service-learning class. A reflective process is what helps students really learn during a service-learning course. Therefore, the rest of our class has been briefed on our project and we, in turn, have learned about the other projects.

Most recently, my group has been working on a few key aspects of our project. To start, we started working on a floor plan for how we think the room should be designed in order to be the most useful and beneficial, while keeping in mind that the room is also meant to be a multipurpose room. We were able to use a computer program to draw up our ideas, which I personally thought was pretty cool. It took some trial and error to figure out how we thought the room should be set up, but I am happy with what we have come up with.

The beginning stages of our floor plan, featuring Julia. 

We are also working on a video that we plan on putting not only in our final project, but also sending to the agency for their use. This helped put some of our creativity skills to the test. Our reasoning for making the video is to help explain how the room works along with how to use the equipment in it. While we will provide printed instructions for each piece of equipment, we thought a video would be a clear and concise way to explain the gym not only to the members who are using it, but also to the volunteers who will be assisting and overseeing the gym.

Beyza and Rico measuring out the room so we could have an accurate floor plan. (I promise I actually contributed).

 

Making the video has probably been one of my favorite parts thus far. I was able to come up with some fun ideas with my group, and had a good time acting out the content of our short little film. Elderly members of the Hong Kong community will now get to watch me look goofy while I try to demonstrate using exercise equipment. If anything, that experience taught me that any hopes and dreams of having a Jane Fonda-esque fitness video are forever dashed. However, I had a good time making the video.

We recently worked on editing it, and luckily, our group member, Rico, who is a native of Hong Kong, will help us with a voiceover in Cantonese so everyone watching can understand. While a large majority of the youth in Hong Kong speak English, due to extensive English classes in school starting from a young age, a large amount of elderly Hong Kong community members do not speak any English. Due to my service-learning group being very international, (Canada, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the US), Rico has been fantastic about translating and helping with any language barriers.

We’re now in the final stretch of our service-learning projects. At this point, our main tasks are finishing up any work at our organizations and starting to prepare for our final presentation. This will take place on the last day of class, which, it’s crazy to say this, but is already next Friday. In the time leading up to the presentation, my group will meet with one of our professors to give an update on our progress and will then continue to work on finishing our video and putting the final touches on our presentation. I, myself, am pretty excited to see the final outcome!

It’s a Small World After All

We’re officially at the halfway point of our Hong Kong adventures, which is hard to believe. Part of me is pretty happy since I’ve been away from home for so much of this year, and I am definitely excited to be back home with loved ones (and American food). However, it’s a little crazy to think that my travels are coming to an end in a few weeks.

Since we’ve been here for awhile, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve become a little more accustomed to life here. I can now actually eat a meal with chop sticks and only embarrass myself on occasion, although believe me, it still happens. Especially when you’re put on the spot in front of local students and staff members to show off your chop stick skills and suddenly you have none. For the most part though I’ve improved and am proud to say we rarely ever use forks here. I’m still adjusting to the food, while I am trying new things, I also gravitate towards more Western foods here and there.

I’ve been lucky enough to take part in some pretty cool activities since I’ve been here. Visiting Hong Kong Disney was a very fun adventure. I think it’s safe to say we were all freaking out more than the little kids who we saw on the train ride there. And yes, there’s a magical Disney train that takes you to the park. I’ve only been to Disney World back home, but it was awesome to be able to experience Disney in another country. We went with Samuel, our buddy, and had a pretty magical day riding all the different rides and singing Disney songs. I’m proud to say that I went on the Small World ride even though I think it’s seriously the most terrifying ride in the park. Hundreds of dolls singing and staring at you is not exactly my idea of a fun time. However, this one seemed slightly less scary than the version in Florida, and actually had me thinking. The first Small World ride opened in 1966 (credit to Wikipedia). It’s pretty awesome that even back then, Walt Disney was trying to push the idea that we’re all in this together. Interacting with all of these different cultures makes me miss certain aspects of my own, yet at the same time pushes me to learn more about others. While some things seem strange to me and different, I have to remind myself that when it comes down to it, we’re just all trying to get by in this crazy life. Walt Disney was definitely onto something.

High school musical meets four ridiculously excited college students. (Forever proud we got this in one shot).

Our amusement park adventures did not end there. We were lucky enough to go on an excursion with the (formerly known as) Office of Mainland and International Programs (OMIP) but now Office of Global Education staff. Shirley, who works for OGE, and our buddies, Samuel, Sabrina, and Jax came with us to Ocean Park. Essentially, Ocean Park is a hybrid between an amusement park and a zoo. It’s insanely awesome. As luck would have it, however, the day we went it was pouring. After some heavy refusals on my part and a large amount of peer pressure, I succumbed and purchased a rain poncho. They’re close to Small World on my list of no no’s. Overheating in plastic all while looking like Papa Smurf; not exactly my cup of tea. However, I’m thankful I was persuaded to get one in the long run, and embraced my new fashion choice.

Finally giving in and embracing the high fashion that is a rain poncho.

The rides were incredible; I spent the day screaming my head off and enjoying every minute of it. The best part of going to an amusement park in the pouring rain is not having to wait in any lines. Once you get over being soaked to the core, it’s a blast. Seeing the animals at the park was almost as cool as the rides. To clarify, I’m a little iffy with how I feel about captive animals. I have loved going to the zoo since I was a child, and know it is a great way to teach about nature, however, I can’t help but feel bad for animals in cages and tanks. That being said, I lost all sense of chill (essentially I was like a little kid on Christmas) when I saw the dolphins at the dolphin show. Being a dolphin trainer was my ultimate goal as a child, and I act like a 12 year old who just met One Direction when I get to see dolphins.

The one moment we weren’t screaming our heads off.

The dolphins were awesome (obviously) but there was plenty of other cool animals to see. The shark tank proved to me that my other goal of a being a marine biologist was never meant to be. After getting up close to some of those sharks and seeing how big they are, there’s a part of me that never wants to go into the ocean ever again. However, the penguins were not scary and had one of the coolest exhibits I’ve ever seen. It literally did feel like Antarctica but the penguins had a very large enclosure and were able to swim under our feet. I love the Brookfield Zoo but its got nothing on Ocean Park. One of the coolest parts by far though, was seeing a panda. Having never seen one of those derpy, hilarious creatures before, I was floored at the chance of being able to see one. And yes, we spent an obnoxious amount of time singing Panda. When we finally got to see it, we were in a rush, and it was sleeping. All in all, a bit anticlimactic but I freaked out nonetheless.

“Panda panda panda panda” -Desiigner

We’ve been extremely lucky that OMIP (now suddenly OGE) has organized excursions for us. On a different weekend we visited the island, Cheung Chau, where we had a seafood lunch. Luckily for Emma and myself, there was an abundance of rice and sweet and sour pork, although we were pretty proud of ourselves for trying squid. When a fish with its eyeballs still intact was placed in front of us, I lost my appetite a little bit, but all in all, the lunch was a lot of fun. After, we hiked up to a random cave. Being abroad has taught me that I have a fear of enclosed spaces that I never knew existed. The first brush I had with this was the Catacombs in Paris. Being (God only knows how far down) underground with the skeletons of six million people is not quite the tourist attraction one might think it could be (the gift shop at the end seemed a little uncalled for). However, the cave in Hong Kong proved to me once and for all that small enclosed spaces are not my friend. Drenched in sweat and trying to pretend I was taking it like a champ, I finally made it out of the cave on the other end, a bit too dramatically I might add. I was proud of myself but vowed not to do it again.

The face of someone realizing they hate dark and enclosed spaces.

The face of someone rejoicing that they somehow made it out of the small and enclosed space alive.

After, we climbed for a bit on some large rocks outside of the cave and had a great view of the ocean. This is where I learned what I consider my number one lesson of Hong Kong thus far:

DO NOT BE STUPID WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR PHONE!!!

In a nutshell, I put my phone in the waistband of my shorts (and even told myself it was a dumb idea) and proceeded to attempt to climb back up the rocks. Essentially in slow motion, I watched my phone slip and drop down through a crack in the massive rocks. In that moment I realized I had completely messed up. The phone was nowhere to be seen and I assumed it was gone forever. In my head, I was already forming the awkward Facebook message I would have to send to my mom explaining that I no longer owned a phone. However, by some crazy miracle, chance, or something, I eventually saw my phone in a tiny little crack which it had thankfully fallen into instead of the ocean. One of the girls on the trip with us, Angele, aka the Canadian spider monkey, was able to somehow climb down the rocks again (seriously one of the most impressive things I have ever seen) and retrieve my phone for me before scampering back up the rocks. Safe to say, I was extremely thankful my phone, which had all my pictures of my Switzerland and Hong Kong adventures, was saved. (Also, sorry this is how you’re finding out, Mom).

The rocks! An awesome view but a terrible place for phone dropping.

Foreshadowing to the fact that I’m about to completely lose my phone.

Being in Hong Kong has definitely had its ups and downs. I shared a special meal with Emma, Citlalli, Aida, and Aida’s grandma on the Dragon Boat holiday, something I will always cherish. Even though there was a language barrier, it was a lot of fun and very meaningful. I had the chance to see the Hong Kong ballet, which was beautiful and absolutely moving. It made the dancer in me happy and sad at the same time. I had to remind myself constantly that a ballet is a classy event and you cannot yell (YAAASSS) at the dancers onstage, tempting as it was. The Hong Kong lights outside after the performance were gorgeous. It served as a reminder of another important lesson I have learned from being abroad for the past few months. Sometimes, being abroad has its awesome moments. Moments like seeing a panda for the first time, or seeing a beautiful mountain, or view of the ocean. But studying abroad is also being certain you’re about to faint because of the heat, getting frustrated because you’re lost and can’t find what you’re looking for, and feeling weird because you stand out. There’s a balance to it. I’m thankful for all the adventures I’ve had here and learn from each frustration we encounter. I’m hoping for an awesome next three weeks and am eager to see where they take us!

 

Hong Kong: The Beginning

Back in January, my life was completely different. Though I’m an international studies major, I had never previously left the country. Fast forward about five months, and I’m currently typing this from Hong Kong, having just lived in Switzerland for a few months while traveling all over Europe in my spare time. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to say I lived on three different continents in the course of a year, yet here I am.

I arrived back in the States May 17. While part of me was without a doubt sad to leave Switzerland, I was excited to get back to America. After all, you can’t find a Portillos in Switzerland and Mexican food, a personal favorite of mine, is almost as hard to find. However, my glorious week of stuffing my face with any and all American food I could find (Fiesta I missed you oh so much) was rather short-lived; the flight for Hong Kong was due to take off May 25, just over a week after my return. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have my reservations about leaving for Hong Kong so quickly. There were plenty of people (and pets!) that I had missed back home, and the idea of switching between cultures and time zones so quickly seemed rather daunting to me.

I had an amazing week back in America but before I knew it, the heavy Swiss clothes in my suitcase were replaced with lighter summer clothes and I was once again, on my way to O’Hare. I didn’t really know what to expect. With everything that was going on while I was in Switzerland, I hadn’t taken much time to research Hong Kong, and was not exactly sure what my program entailed. I mainly was going off of my communications with the other girls who would be making the journey with me, along with countless Facebook messages to alum of the program (thanks again Sana!)

A semester abroad does wonders for a person. For example, when you check in your bag at the airport and find out that your flight has already been delayed for five hours, you don’t panic nearly as much as you would have previously. When you’ve had to get yourself to Europe on your own, traveling with three of your classmates makes everything seem much simpler. I’ve known Emma essentially since the beginning of college, but had never met Citlalli and Aida face to face. I’m happy to report, however, that nothing serves better as an impromptu bonding session than sitting with each other at an airport for hours on end.

After the delay and an incredibly long flight (there’s no way to sugar coat it, sixteen hour flights are horrible) we finally arrived in Hong Kong. Even walking through the airport, we could feel the humidity setting in. Looking back, that served as foreshadowing for the type of weather we were in for here. The delay meant that we had missed our prearranged pickup time so we had to make our own way over to Lingnan, which for a group of people who essentially just skipped a whole entire calendar day due to air travel, wasn’t ideal. However, with much thanks to Aida’s knowledge of Cantonese, we finally made it to the university and settled in for the night. Well, if you consider getting 1-2 hours of shut eye settling in. Regardless, we had finally made it to Asia! I couldn’t believe it.

Something to know about Hong Kong. It is hot. No, not hot. That word does’t do it justice. It is humid and hot beyond belief. You know those days during the summer where it’s so humid that even the pool doesn’t sound appealing so you just stay inside as close to the AC as possible binge watching New Girl or Game of Thrones? (seriously get on it if you haven’t yet) -anyways, Hong Kong is like that. All day. Every day. Back in America, nighttime normally brings some sort of reprieve. In Hong Kong, it’s still above 80 degrees (and still humid) every night. So hopefully that sets the tone for what the weather here is like. Oh and of course I can’t forget the sporadic and heavy rain showers.

The morning that we arrived, we also began orientation. I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect. We met in the lobby of the hostel with our buddies- local students who were there to help us feel settled in. I was lucky enough to be placed with a student named Samuel. In short, Samuel is a rock star. By that I mean, he has gone above and beyond to make us feel welcome and to help us learn the culture here. More on that later though. Our buddies led us to a classroom (this was our first run in with Hong Kong humidity during the day) and we were given a quick run down of life at Lingnan and some general background about living in Hong Kong. After, we had a brief Cantonese lesson; I currently have “thank you”down but here’s hoping I pick up a little more by the time we leave. Following this we were led to a luncheon where we were presented with an assortment of foods. I am definitely not the pickiest eater in the world, and food is essentially my life (ask anyone who’s had to deal with me while hangry) but I’m not super fond of seafood and pork. Which of course, are both popular here. However, I sucked it up and tried some new foods and actually really enjoyed them. Coconut sponge cake is amazing and I plan on either making or searching like crazy for it when I get back home. Eating the food though was a little difficult. Samuel (being the rock star that he is) patiently helped us learn how to use chopsticks, although I guarantee watching us struggle had to be extremely entertaining. However, the lunch served as a good reminder of how important trying new things is- even if you’re not sure you’ll like it.

Following this, we continued with a tour of the campus and a shopping mall in town, along with the other international students in the program who came from Canada and Turkey. It’s interesting calling myself an international student. In Switzerland, I didn’t attend a university. I went to class at my program’s office with twenty-nine other American students. I still learned a lot from them since we all had different backgrounds, but I somehow never really thought of myself as an international student. Here, I 100% am an international student, and honestly I wish every student at IWU could say the same. At Wesleyan, I have heard countless students complain that the international students only hang out with each other and only speak their own language. I genuinely wish that the students who feel that way at some point have the opportunity to take class in a culture where everything is unfamiliar to them. I am fortunate enough to get along really well with Emma, Aida, and Citlalli. However, I recognize that for us, it is the most convenient and safe feeling to hang out with each other. They speak my language, we have the same culture, and we even know most of the same people. International students at Wesleyan not only are experiencing a whole new culture, but are taking class and writing essays (which we native speakers complain about having to complete) in a language that isn’t their own. Even here, I am spoiled and get to take class in English. It’s honestly no wonder students gravitate towards people who have the same background as them. If American students at IWU actually took the time to get to know international students instead of just complaining about how they hang out with each other then maybe these students would’t feel like they only had other international students to hang out with. And as international students, reaching out doesn’t hurt either. Something that I want to work on while here is venturing out of my comfort zone, yet even I find it so much easier to talk and hang out with my fellow Americans. I think IWU would only benefit if students both international and native made more efforts to understand each other. Just some food for thought.

We had a few days off before class actually started and we didn’t do as much exploring as we probably should have. Remember the paragraph about the humidity? A combination of that and jet lag kept us from having too many crazy adventures those first few days. However, a trip to the movies to see the new X-Men movie served as an activity for us. Furthermore, we met up with Samuel for Korean BBQ… essentially you got to pick all you could eat from a menu, cooked it yourself, but then were charged if you didn’t finish all the food. It seemed odd to me at first but in fact is a good way to ensure there is less food waste.

When class finally started I was happy to see that a few of our friends from orientation along with some local students would be joining us. We are taking a Service Learning Course that is taught by two professors: one who is a local woman, and the other, a professor from America. Essentially, Service Learning is the idea that community service can be mutually beneficial and can serve as a means of learning and growth for a student, while also aiding a community. For my group, which consists of myself, a guy from Hong Kong named Rico, a girl from Turkey named Beyza, and another girl from Canada named Julia, we will be working with elderly people who have dementia and ensuring they know how to use exercise equipment at their nursing home. I would be lying if I denied that the assignment threw me off at first. As a political science and international studies major, dementia patients are not my area of expertise or usual interest. However, I know that you can learn something out of each situation you end up in, and am eager to see what I garner from this experience.

I’ve slowly started to get more used to life here in Hong Kong. We’ve even begun to have more fun adventures, which I’ll detail in another post, as this one has gotten a little lengthy. My congratulations to anyone who’s made it this far (hi Mom!) but journaling and keeping track of my travels is something I enjoy, so I’m actually looking forward to contributing to this blog. Just one last thing, I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has helped and supported me in getting here. Being out of the country for half a year is by no means easy, yet I’ve had many wonderful people who have helped me be able to have this experience. I am truly grateful to be here and am excited for what is yet to come!

-Gina