Chalk, Crayons, and Picturebooks: January 2015

During the past week I have taken one of several moments to reflect on the past few months of my life. They are not even close to what I expected, but everything I could have wanted and more. I have discovered that your comfort zone is just that, a comfort zone. Very few things come unexpected and life is predictable.Stepping outside of it can be a little scary, and a challenge, because when one no longer knows what to expect from moment to moment their attitude can change from bravery to fear.

More so this week than any other week I have thought about the different leaps of faith I have taken in the past four months. Before arrival, I spent two weeks observing ESL adults at a center to get a better idea for how to run an ESL classroom. It proved very helpful. The girl I observed was about my age and had spent a year teaching in Korea. She was telling me about her backpacking adventures through SE Asia and I kept thinking to myself, how. At this point I was not brave enough to take on such an endeavor.

I remember the day I got picked up by my school. The night before I went out drinking and to street BBQ till about 4 am, Good choices. I woke up two hours later still drunk in a tizzy with nothing packed and my stuff strewn all over the room. At this point I was surprised my roommate did not laugh at the hot mess I was. If you can imagine me trying to pack and remember things with my already short attention span and lingering intoxication, it did not go well. I forgot a few shirts and went to breakfast with wet hair and workout clothes. I was not ready to present myself as a responsible adult, by any means. I made myself look decent and sat in the assembly with the possibly the worst transition from still drunk to hungover of my life. Usually one sleeps through this so it is not felt. After the assembly they took me to lunch, and I was still feeling like I got hit by a train. They ordered a full on Chinese lunch. To the point where I thought I was being tested. On the table was pig feet, duck skin, ox blood, and bamboo. I am an adventurous eater, but when I am hungover in China all I want are dumplings or noodle soup. That night my apartment was crawling with cockroaches, huge ones. And I thought, if this is the worst thing I have to deal with here, then I am going to be fine.

Through the passage of time here I have become braver with what I think I am capable of and what I can handle. The language can be a bit of an issue sometimes. Like when I wanted to get a hot pot and couldn't read the menu. Thank God for Waygo, a translation app. I can go out to eat wherever and not give the menu a thought. Between pointing to things and playing charades I am getting along fine. And it is through things like these that no longer give a thought to trying to do more difficult things. Like find my way around. When I found out how large Shenzhen is I was a little nervous, because I've gotten lost with a GPS, more times than I want to admit. I have always been directionaly challenged, and believe me, it hasn't gone away. At least once a month I find myself lost or on the wrong metro.

At times I feel like this blog is a bit personal, but whenever I ask people they tell me it is relatable. Good, that is what I was going for. In 2015 you unfortunately can no longer ask the question, "Why would they put that online?" Thank you Twitter.

However this week I find myself taking another leap. I got an extra week off so I chose to start my holiday early. I am flying to Thailand to do a yoga retreat for 5 days then visit two cities before meeting up with my friends. I never imagined myself traveling alone but I am really looking forward to it. I am not bringing my laptop because it is large and cumbersome and I will only have my backpack. I bought a journal and I will be handwriting my adventures. At the end of the trip I will photograph the pages and post them on here.

I was lucky to spend my Chistmas and New Years in Hong Kong. It is so close it is like going to the next town. I can hop on the metro or the ferry and I am in another country. (Soon to be a part of China, like Puerto Rico is to the states, minus communism). I have taken full advantage of this and have now gone 5 times. It is one of the most amazing cities I have ever experienced. It is East and West. Every other store is a holistic medicine shop with questionable wares, but if dried seahorses have actually cured ailments, more power to them.

I spent Christmas in LKF, a cluster of bars in downtown. The streets were so crowded I couldn't move, just shuffle. I didn't ever think of Christmas Eve as a night to get bombed, but us expats do. In America it is Thanksgiving Eve. It's like a St.Patrick's day in the winter, minus the obnoxious accessories and green beer. None the less there were a few drinking challenges, like plastic syringes the size of my forearm filled with jell-o shot. After the second one they don't taste so horrible.

There were loads of promoters handing stuff out. I was handed a glowstick and told them "Wow cool! What company is this for?" They replied, "Condoms."

LKF

We went to see the Big Buddah on Lantau Island.

Then came New Years. The next few shots are from a day I spent exploring.

I went to Kowloon Park and saw a bunch of sculptures, and tropical birds.

In case you forgot your umbrella. Just grab one from the vending machine.

I was down at the harbor at night. It was quite beautiful.

Santa drinking a beer and a snowman spilling booze.

This seemed to be the protesters. I think I took this picture near Kowloon.

These decorative elephants were for sale in a mall.

We hiked to the top of Victoria Peak. The highest point in Hong Kong. The entire hill was 45 degrees and a recipe for charlie horses. The view from the top was beautiful though.

In the mall they had a balloon room, very reminiscent of the cloud room in the Andy Warhol museum. I had to have a child moment and play in them, I mostly tried to pose but just fell on my face.