| I'm Lmy. ❃ |
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Monday, January 7, 2013
hello
sorry for not updating, been caught up in a lot of things but i'm back now
hong kong was lovely
all the pictures are up on fb but here are some others
    or to meet people or to get stuff for people but this time was pretty chill went wherever we felt like going after we woke up cycling in 20deg is awesome, and watching excessively vulgar men kite-fight was amusing   thing that i'm really happy about is that i got to spend a lot of time with family and people i consider family we didn't go shopping a lot surprisingly, just sat around/yumcha with diff bunches of ppl chatted a lot and spent hours at restaurants typing this i realise this sounds very 'huh got thing to do meh sit so long' but really that's what we did and it felt nice house was so squeezy and waking up to bunch of people conversing loudly took some getting used to but didnt mind cus it was v 热闹 also there was a lot of good food to eat every meal was super nom i feel hungry just thinking about it seriously, think of all the dimsum/ polo buns/ eggtarts/ french toast/ egg waffles/ milk tea OM NOM NOM NOM HIGHLIGHT of my trip was the 3 day trip to Shao Guan, China. it's in Guangdong weather was 0deg, 3deg when it's sunny and when we were in the hills i was freezing my face and fingers off stayed in a temple, had to wake up at 4 to chant prayers for ~2hrs that was pretty tough, to think that it's their daily routine (!!!) mealtimes were spent in silence (to appreciate food more?) and to my surprise the food was pretty delicious not as bland as i thought we were all piling on clothes and heat packs but their clothing was really thin, those monks r zai     enjoyed meditation sessions especially the night ones place was filled with the kind of quiet i've never experienced before, cool, light, calming the kind when all you hear is wind and night and that makes you feel ok with just sitting and listening want to replicate that feeling always also, a monk's life doesn't seem that bad in all honesty went to schools to play with kids    to put it plainly i really can't imagine living in those conditions, eating certain types of food repeatedly because the town grows certain produce, having to walk for long distances just to get to school even their principal's toilet (a supposedly better one) is not even the standard of our public (squatting) toilets other than an appreciation for our better state of material well-being, we experienced something which quite moved me china's spirit is found in these classrooms fighters from a young age, you fight for your education, you fight for livelihood in a country where the population is 1.3bil and counting you have to fight merely to exist it's not enough to be good, you have to be best while it could breed a culture that is overly competitive, i find the chinese' stoicism very admirable i didn't know china kids had to go for a few weeks of military trng while they are around our age anyway, we went too. although not as strict, it was still pretty tough     
drills, obstacle course training, cut weeds (saikang warriors????)
had a lot of fun though, and i conclude that i enjoy physical activites immensely
when they do not include perspiration or sun
which is why i am on the swim team....preferably having training indoors
 hung out with this bunch of people over the 3 days the hong kong kids are really fun funny fantastic and too bad it was only 3 days but we'll be back! i think always feel foreign in other countries and try not stand out too much still am a foreigner but feel that a lot less, grateful with the knowledge that there are people here who genuinely care and wish us well. while i never thought it would happen, the people i've met and stayed with these 3 weeks made me feel a lot at home, the kind of happy that lasts for a long time thank you hongkong you are one of my favourite cities 
 credits: skinofrazorfluxflickr / razorflux / xstacy |