What Happened to the Bucket List??

So I officially left Hong Kong on December 23rd in hopes of making it back home for Christmas. Thankfully I made it home on time with no problem. Unfortunately I wasn't able to completely check off everything on my bucket list. :(

Big Buddha at Lantau Island

Chung King Mansion

Macau

Light Show

Mr. Wongs Restuarant

Tsim Sha Tsui Museum

Visit the African Community in HK

Hiking Lions Rock

Ocean park

Ozone Bar

Although I am a little disappointed that I couldn't check off everything from my bucket list, this is great motivation for me to go back to Hong Kong! 

Hong Kong, look out! I'm coming back!

Road to Enlightenment

Late entry

The Road to Enlightenment

With less than a week to go in Hong Kong, why would I assume that my adventures would ever come to a stand still. I don’t know if there is something about my personality or whether God has an interesting way of making my life worth while, but I certainly run into a lot of abnormal yet inspiring people.

After walking through the 10,000 Buddha temple, I thought it would be interesting to visit the bee farm at the end of path because let’s be honest how often do you get to visit bee farms, especially in Hong Kong. So my three friends and I walked through a side path into private property following an arrow that pointed toward the bee farm. By the time we got close enough to enter the bee farm, we were approached by an old man who owned a Bookstore called “Starock Bookstore.” With great excitement he invited us into his house and immediately started giving us a tour. At first we were a little hesitant because some random enthusiastic old guy invited us into his house, but we were comforted by the fact that if anything were to go down, there were four of us and only one of him. He divided his house into different exhibits each displaying his unique artwork. First he took us into his bed room, which had exhibits 1 & 2. Unlike most Western artwork, his pieces of art were poems written in traditional Chinese calligraphy blended with bright colored paint. Each poem possessed a unique story that paved the way for the next, but was uniquely written in a way that if you hadn’t read the poem prior the plot would be unaffected.  Although I wish I remembered the story of each poem, most of them spoke about stars and the journey of stars through their life.

Just to give a little background about this old man, he calls himself Little Star. He claims that he is completely free of religion and political associations. He spent most of his life traveling but now he has settled down and spends the remainder of his life writing. 

After taking us through his bedroom, he took us to his dining room where he showed us the third and last exhibit. After the last exhibit he told us about his books. He mentioned that he’s been writing books for many years.  Within the first few years that he started writing books, he gave over a thousand books to travelers from oversees. Right now he only has a few copies of his books. Similar to his poems, each book was completely exclusive in its message than the first one (each one was different).  By the end of the tour he happily exclaimed that since we went through the whole tour he was going to give us one of his original works. By this point I was a little hesitant to spend more money, especially since I have already frivolously spent a lot of my money on food, but without even having to ask he said that he was going to give it to us as a free gift.

Before giving each of us our poem’s he asked what our occupations were. Since we were students he chose four unique poems for us. (The story behind that question is that he has specific poems based on the occupation of the person receiving the poem. He has written poems for engineers, doctors, and a myriad of different types of people.) Next he asked us who was the oldest as a way to show respect for seniority which is really important in the Chinese culture. Interestingly enough I was the second oldest. The reason this is interesting is because as crazy as it may sound to have a favorite number, mine just so happens to be the number 2.  You can never be lonely when you are with another. Also, I am the 2^nd born of four children, and I was born in the 2^nd month on the 28^th day of the 2^nd year of the 1990 (2/28/1992).

Not to say that I am superstitious, but it was scary how each poem related to each of us individually. My poem told the story of a star going on a journey. My star would be fighting against the evil one. The message for me based on my stars journey was not to give in to the evil ones and not to conform my values.  The reason this is interesting is because as Christians we are always in spiritual warfare against our enemy.

When  I told my best friend about meeting Little star, she told me not to get caught up in the message. Her words were, “of course it makes sense. It’s like reading a horoscope; the message can apply to anyone.”

Of course I’m not going to get too caught up in the message, but this is definitely and interesting story that rarely happens.

Outrunning Fear

Outrunning Fear- The Lorentz Chen Story

This is a project that a group of friends and I worked on for our Multimedia Communications class. It tells the story of overcoming obstacles through free running.  It has a powerful message about confronting fear head on. I hope you enjoy it.

Special Thanks to : Joy Yu, Gina Malina, and Adrian Carl

Checking Off the Bucket List

 The Light Show

The Hong Kong Laser Light Show is definitely a must see when you visit Hong Kong. There is a show every night, so you have no excuse for missing it. I guess that was my excuse for procrastinating so long to see it. The show is composed of lasers shooting from the top buildings, as well as the lights and flashing company logos, all coordinating with music. The best place to see this light show is from East Tsim Sha Tsui near the Avenue of starts. 

In all honesty, the Light show wasn't the most spectacular thing I've ever seen, but I'm glad I got to say I saw it. I hope someday in the near future they will coordinate it so more buildings will participate. I expected to see all the buildings in the financial district of Hong Kong island illuminating in synchronicity, but only a few buildings showed up for the show. I'm not that disappointed because I know there is still a lot of room for improvement. 

Chung King Mansion

To get to this melting pot of African and South Asian culture you have to take the MTR to Tsim Tsai Tsui and get out at exit C. Once you make your way into Chung King Mansion there are a myriad of venders selling items such as cell phones, suitcases, and even hair products. Like most places in Hong Kong with venders, there are a lot of people selling the exact same thing. One great thing about Chung King Mansion is that you can also find a lot of great cultural food.


It was here that I bumped into Dixon, the Organizational Secretary of the African Community, who I originally met during Hong Kong Baptist University's International Festival. He told me that the head quarters of the African community was strategically located directly across the street. If that's not convenience I don't know what is. He also told me that I can get some great Ghanaian food from the 11th floor. 

I wish someone would've taken a picture of me because my face lit up with the possibility of getting to taste a home cooked meal to relieve my home sickness. To my disappointment they didn't have Ghanaian food persay, but they had staple foods from the African continent such as rice, tomato stew, fufu and a variety of different soups. I can't really complain because I was definitely glad to now know where Chung King Mansion is and know I can always go there to get my fix of African food. Although I didn't get the chance to go to the African community that day, now I know where it is and I can always go there....eventually!

Random Photo Story

Hey guys,

I am so shocked and surprised to see that so many people are following my blog. As a gift to you all, I put a link of my newly created Flickr page. I still have a lot of uploading and a lot of editing to do but check out some of the pictures.  I put pictures up of random photo shoots that I did and things that I thought were cool. Comment if you like what you see. Don't be surprised if you see yourself in one of the pictures.

Expect a new blog entry by the end of the week.

By the way a special thanks to Hillary Winghei Fung for being the first to comment on my blog! "YOU ARE SO CUTE!!!"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjaddy2

Here are a few examples of what awaits you.....

Truly Taking Over Hong Kong

You will never guess who won second place for their entry in the Hong Kong Baptist University Annual Poetry contest. Well I'm pretty sure you can already guess because you ARE reading MY blog. If you can't, I will ruin the suspense by saying I won. 

The two internationally acclaimed judges Nguyen Phan Que Mai and Meena Kandasamy said that this is one of the best poems they've ever read.They also said the complexity of this poem is beyond my own understanding.  To my surprise, they spent hours trying to find out whether I plagiarized. They called their colleagues in Spain, Germany and the United States, putting 3 countries in an uproar in an attempt to figure out whether I stole individual lines from other poems. The most they could find was that my opening line was very similar to a poem written by Antonio Machado in 1924, where he starts by saying "verso libre, verso libre/ liberate, mejor del verso" which translates to "free verse, free verse/ liberate, best verse." I can honestly tell you that I didn't plagiarize. Interestingly enough, I wrote this poem in 30 minutes as a result of waiting only an hour before the deadline for the competition to write it. 

I guess we never really know the depts of our potential until they are challenged. I always knew I was an okay poet, but this was definitely flattering and a great confidence boost. What I can say is that this poem caused me to take my own poetry seriously and push myself to take intellectual risks.

The masterpiece itself.

The Certificate (in case you didn't believe me)!

Professors and other Award winners (Judges: Meena Kandasamy to my right and Ngyun Pham Que Mai to her right) 

Receiving the certificate!

Half Way Marker

KIBC Retreat at Cheung Chau Island

Getting out of Pirates Cave

Blowfish

Sunset in Cheung Wan

Aaron Lai, Ben Leung (PSY), Me

Solarium

Grand Lavender Annual Dinner

Me and my lovely date Serena

The Invitation

Clear Water Bay

Looking down at the Bay

Family playing in the sand

Time is Running out.....Bucket List!

Its been a month since I wrote my last blog entry and so much has happened: I went hiking and to the beach for the first time  at Clear Water Bay, I went to a high table dinner called the Grand Lavender Annual Dinner where I learned the Waltz and participated in Wine tasting, I went on a retreat with Kowloon International Baptist church and finally for the past two weeks I've been inundated with midterms, projects and presentations.

I am half way through my Hong Kong journey and I still feel like there is so much I haven't done! To ensure that I take full advantage of my time here, I made a bucket list using recommendations from locals, expats, and TIME Travel's "Hong Kong: 10 Things to Do."

As of now my bucket list is as follows:

Hiking Lions Rock
Ocean park
Ozone Bar
Big Buddha at Lantau Island
Chung King Mansion
Visit the African Community in HK
Macau
Tsim Sha Tsui Museum
Light Show
Mr. Wongs Restuarant

It's a short list of the things to do, but I am pretty sure I will get through these things in the next two months I will defintiely get through these things in the next two months!


I will keep you posted as I complete each item on my bucket list.

                                           (Photo taken at Cheung Chau Island)

Home Away from Home- African Community

Contrary to my original assumption, it turns out that there is an African community in Hong Kong. Although it is very small, it still exists! A few months ago an African looking man approached me on the MTR (the train system) and gave me his business card for his barber shop.  Over the weekend I finally called him and decided to take a few of my friends to get a hair cut. After getting lost, we finally get to the barber shop and I noticed that the owners of the shop are speaking a familiar Ghanaian language. I listen closer just to find out I can understand everything they are saying. By the time it was my turn to get a hair cut, I asked the guy whether he was from Ghana and whether he was speaking Twi and he responded yes. I must admit I was pretty excited but a piece of my excitement was robbed by his indifference toward the fact that we both found another Ghanaian brother. Oh well.. at least I know I'm not alone and I know where to start my search. When I told my mom, the first thing she asked me was whether they know where an African market is so I can get groceries to start cooking for myself, since I always complain to her about home cooked meals. After calling the owner of "ZUCOMA HAIR DESIGN CO. LTD." it turns out that there is a small African community in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), a stop on the red line.

Little did I know that this wouldn't be the end of my encounters with other Africans. During the International Festival organized Hong KOng Baptist University, my study abroad university, there was a group of African drummer that performed. After their performance I talked to their leader and I found out that the entire group came from all over African, but two of them were from Ghana.  He gave me his business card which was clearly headed "African Community Hong Kong." Talk about getting straight to the point. At least now I know where to get my fix of authentic Ghanaian food and people I can talk to about my experience in Hong Kong from an African perspective.

Learning How to Swim before the Big Trip

Who would have thought that it would take me 20 years and a trip half way around the world to finally learn how to swim. On top of that, screw stereotypes because I learned how to swim from a fellow Ghanaian that was swimming laps around everyone else in the pool.

If you haven't guessed already, I spent most of my day last week, before venturing off to Malaysia and Singapore, doing what most people have mastered by the time they are at least 10 years old. For most of the time that I've been in Hong Kong my New York buddies and I have been laughed at for not knowing how to swim. Thankfully I wasn't the only one. Every time someone asked us to go surfing or do any other water sport and we would tell them that we can't swim they always laugh at us or give us a weird stare like we are lacking common sense. Someone straight up asked us, "How can't you swim that's common sense?"....Well I guess its not if four city boys can't do it. Alright maybe I'll admit it is a little common sense to know how to swim. It's basic survival, right?

To make a long story short without getting into all the detail about how I picked up swimming within the first twenty minutes of getting in the pool, not to toot my own horn but, I pretty much jumped in the pool and became Michael Phelps within five minutes of even touching the water, excuse me if I said twenty minutes before, I really meant five. In all seriousness it took me an hour to get a hang of the breast stroke. My instructor said I was a quick learner but I still need a little more practice. Olympics 2016 hear I come......NOT!!!!

It took me an entire month but....HOMESICKNESS

I did not truly know what homesickness was until yesterday. For some reason I got smacked in the face like ton of bricks with a feeling of worthlessness and unfulfillment. All I wanted to do was go home. It was  combination of having too much fun in Malyasia and Singapore and coming to Hong Kong where I had go back to class and do work. I seriously hope this isn't going to make me lazy when I get back home. What is worse is that I feel like as soon as I get back home I might feel the same way about being homesick. Talk about post study abroad culture shock! I know this won’t be the last time I feel this way but please make this feeling go away!

City Life in Singapore- Stay Tuned....

Perhenthian Paradise- Weekend In Malaysia (stay tuned)....

What is culture shock because I still don't know.

Thank God for the diversity in New York City and the variety of cultures represented at Babson college for helping my transition to Hong Kong go so smoothly. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been l've been in Hong Kong for almost two days already and surprisingly I don't feel ANY culture shock at all. I honestly feel like I can take a bus and I'll be back in New York. I know I told myself that I did not think if I could ever live anywhere else besides the US, but I can definitely see myself living here. It feels like a very large version of Chinatown in the US. 

Before I start talking about how it feels to be a student in Hong Kong, I want to point out a few differences:

For starters the exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar is 7.7 to 1 so for every USD I have 7.7 HKD.  This means I have a lot of buying power, which I have been taking advantage of lol!! As hard as it was for me to believe, I have already spent about $500 in less than two weeks. I've been telling myself that its because I need to buy all the essentials and I'll start spending less money, but I really hope that's true.

 Next  I'll talk about the restaurant scene. So there are a myriad of different restaurants here that serve full meals of good food for less that $10 USD. You can even get a good meal for less than $5 USD. I'm no restuarant connoisseur, but I know what I like and so far I've loving everything...except the ox tongue, which was not what I expected. Just to recap what I just said, I ate ox tongue for the first time. For all you Africans, and Latin Americans this may not be that big of a deal, but for me it was a leap of faith. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I just feel like it wasn't prepared properly. I also ate a dragon fruit for the first time.

 To continue what I was saying about restaurants, at every restaurant, they serve hot tea with the meal unlike in the US where they serve cold water. If you want cold water you have to specify that you want cold water because if you just ask for water, the person serving you will probably serve you hot water. The first few times this happened to me I thought there was miss-communication due to the language barrier but I was informed that I would have to specify. Also if you want to thank your server for the tea, you just tap your pointer and your middle finger on the table twice. (For the sake of brevity, if you want to learn more about why people tap their fingers when tea is poured you can read this article http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chineseteaandliquor/f/finger-tapping.htm). Another aspect of the dining culture that I can't help but say I feel in love with is the fact that you don't have to pay your server a tip. It is seen as disrespectful to pay a tip. Not say that I am cheap or anything (cough cough), but I'm trying to be more frugal to stretch out every cent that I have here.  One thing that made my jaw drop was when I went to the mall and saw that Pizza hut was considered fine dining. To get into a Pizza Hut, you have to wait outside to be directed to a table before you are served. This is truly culture shock.

One major thing that I have observed is how structured the culture is here. For example, I went to the movies the other day and on my ticket it had an assigned seat like professional sports game. Also since the culture emphasizes more community right instead of individual rights, the police have a right to arrest and detain you without cause. So I can get arrested for not doing anything at all, but from what I hear that almost never happens. Most of the crime here is intelligent crime. I will be blown away the day I see a public fight here. 

To wrap things up, I want to point out a few not so shocking aspects of culture the culture.One they drive on the opposite side of the street. Most people don't throw away their garbage in fast food restaurants. I went to KFC once and everyone just walked out with their trays still on the table. Finally littering is a huge offense, you can be fined up to $5000 HKD for litering. Although I haven't seen anyone get fined for that, its still something to be conscious of. 

Sick In Hong Kong...What a tragedy

So I realized today that I have been slacking on posting blog entries so I have to ask for your forgiveness. I have an entire list of things to blog about....More entries will be coming soon.

Anywho, I've been feeling under the weather for the past two days. My symptoms include soar throat, runny nose, head aches, and physical weakness. In other words, I've been coughing so hard its making my throat dry and there was one point when my head hurt so much I felt like I could do telekinesis (start moving stuff with my mind). At first I couldn't understand how I got a cold. I honestly thought I would get a stomach virus before I got a cold. It's 90 degrees every single day! It wasn't until I talked to one of my professors that I realized it happens to many foreigners.  I have what is called a "summer cold." You get this when you sweat a lot due to the hot climate and then go indoors with air conditioners. I guess it wasn't a good idea to turn up the AC before I got to sleep. At least now I know how to save money because I have to pay for the AC every time I use it anyway

After missing two days of allowing myself to suffer and missing one class I finally decided to go the clinic on campus. (Quick side note about missing class before I continue: I'll have you know that a lot of the locals in Hong Kong wear medical masks whenever they feel sick as a way to prevent spreading their sickness. This is because of the SARS outbreak in the past. Many locals fear the spread of disease and we were admittedly advised not to go to class if we felt sick.)  So I went to clinic on campus and I after an hour of waiting I received "consultation" from the doctor and medication all for $30 HKD which is approximately $3.8 USD all without insurance. Imagine walking to the hospital and asking to be treated without insurance in the US and expecting to pay on $3.8, that would be a miracle. To make a long story short I was given three medications and cough syrup and asked to take 4 dosages a day for 3 days and I should be better.

Getting to Hong Kong

It was no surprise to me that I went to sleep at 3am the night before I had to catch an 10am flight. Since I knew that I had to be at the airport at least two hours before my flight I set my alarm clock to 7:15 thinking that I would at least get 4 hours of sleep, but NOPE! I woke up at 6am to my mom pulling the sheets off me reminding me that my flight was today.  Thankfully, I didn’t feel a single bit tired since I was hopped up on the adrenaline from the anticipation of the journey that awaited me. I also knew that I would have a lot of time to catch up on sleep during my sixteen hours flight.

Before going to the airport, my mom thought it would be wise if I go to the bank and withdraw some money. So we sit in the car, start driving and everything is going well. All the roads are clear because its 7am on a Sunday. When we get to the bank I take out about $1000 USD. As soon as I get back in the car, my mom starts the engine and…….NOTHING! We both look at each other with an, “Oh my gosh I can’t believe this is happening face!” My mom tries to start the engine two more times and still NOTHING! I’m sitting there trying to figure out how this is happening, when I look over and my mom had already opened the hood of the car and is already looking around.  I know my mom isn’t an expert in the mechanics of cars, so I motion to her asking if she needs her. She smiles and declines, knowing that I’m less of an expert than she is. Even though it wasn’t a big deal her rejection was a subtle blow to my masculinity. She spends about one minute fiddling with things under the hood and gets back in the car and tries to start the car again….still NOTHING.  She suggests we pray. We pray and she tries again. She turns the key and we both sit there in suspense. It seemed like it was going to be another failed attempt, but the car finally starts. Talk about 5 minutes of pre-departure anxiety mixed with faith in action!

We finally arrived at the airport after a 40 minute drive. By this point I’m excited but I’m still keeping my cool. I didn’t think the excitement would fully hit me until I got to Hong Kong. As a whole I was being really nonchalant about the whole travel things.

I get to the airport and I see my friend Joy from Babson checking in. He is one of the three Babson students I will be traveling with. He it takes him 5 minutes to check in. While waiting on line, I see Imran, another one of the Babson students come in. As soon as he comes in, he goes into the express line since he had already checked in online. I tell my mom that I had already checked in online and she scolds me for not going into the express line earlier. For a brief moment I hesitated because I didn’t want to make a scene by moving my three heavy suitcases packed with everything from clothes to laundry detergent under the rope separating the two lines, but I quickly came to my senses and remember , “who cares I’m going to Hong Kong.”

After checking in, we get to the metal detectors. I remembered that my mom had already warned me not to take any liquids on the plane because they will be confiscated and I could even get detained.  Also after walking through metal detectors every day for four years at DeWitt Clinton High School, I think I was well prepared for this. I walk through the metal detector with no problems, but unfortunately, the person behind me wasn’t so lucky. They got stopped for having an opened bottle in their bag. Thankfully there wasn’t a big scene, but wouldn’t it have been amazing if after they got stopped red flashing lights and sirens went off and special forces officers came out of the wall and had to carry them away. That would be terrible for them, but it would definitely make for a good story.

Anywho….. Since Imran was close behind me I decided to wait for him before we both decided to go upstairs.  We finally got upstairs to the waiting area where we saw Joy and Matt, the other Babson student who will be making the trip with me. After an hour of waiting I got on the plane for sixteen hours of meditating on how much Hong Kong was going to change my life. In other words, sleep.

If you want to read more about the crime rate at DeWitt Clinton High School you can check out this article by the Daily New. Keep in mind, this article was published in 2012, I graduated in 2010 when it was a lot safer.. Also don’t be swayed by the journalistic bias.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-08-29/news/33481978_1_metal-detectors-weapons-seizures-drop-in-school-crime

Blog Expectations

Just as any travel blog goes, I'd like to lay down some expectations that you should have from me and that I have of you.

1. I will do my best to write weekly blog entries.

I know at first it will take time to get the hang of blogging but I can guarantee that you will have the inside scope on whats going on while I'm in the lovely metropolis of Hong Kong.

2. I want this blog to be interactive.

I expect likes, comments, criticism, some "Oh my gosh what were you thinking when you were eating that!" every so often.

3. I am not going to Hong Kong to pursue a Masters in English Language so please excuse the gramatical and syntactical errors.

Please dont expext this bloh to be grammticly sound!

(The mistakes above were intentional and were a test of your tolerance for mistakes in grammar lol)

I'm not perfect so in other words....don't judge me! :)

I want this blog to be a fun way to express my homesickness, excitement, sadness and all the crazy adventures I get into.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO WRITE THIS BLOG AND ALL THOSE WHO INSPIRED ME BY STARTING THEIR OWN BLOG!

Also THANK GOD......just saying!

The Beginning of the Journey Unfolding-Hong Kong

The Beginning of the Journey Unfolding-Hong Kong

I'm not even there yet and people are asking me about Hong Kong like I've sent spies there surveying the area to prepare for my arrival.

I'm not even there yet and I've been asked if I'm excited more times that I got wished happy birthday this year....at least it feels like it

Especially since the weight of anticipation far exceeds the maximum weight I'm allowed to bring in my suitcase as I board the plane.

So does that mean I'll have to pay more for the  time I spend thinking about whether I'll be the only black male in the country?

Or will that time get lost with the change in time zone as I fly east across the Arctic Ocean.

Hopefully its worth every US dollar that I gain from the exchange rates.

All I know is, this the a vacation I've been waiting for since High School.

I hope I still think that when I sit alone sipping noodle soup missing that sweet plantain and peanut butter soup. (You Ghanaians know what I'm talking about). #homesickness

All that aside, the time is slowly drawing near and my impatience is getting heavy.

Hong Kong I hope you are Ready!!!!