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!