When the reality seems so surreal, all it means is that there is good to come!

HK.TRIP.2012.JAN.21-28.

Saturday 21^st:

IS THIS REALLY REAL?

The 21^st was a 4 AM wakeup call. Even though it was so early I was able to get up very fast. My host-dad was very generous and also got up very early so that he could drive me to the airport. My host-dad dropped me off at the gate and from there, I was off on my own. At first I was a bit confused on where to go because I went to the wrong area because I wasn’t sure if I supposed to go to the “international” departures. After finding the departure gate everything was quite simple from there. Check-in luggage, get ticket, go through securities, then find the gate and get ready to board the plane. I was so tired since it was so early though but I think all my excitement had overpowered the feeling of tiredness. I was mainly excited to visit my best friend, Tasha and to go back to Hong Kong (HK) since it had been four years since I last saw Tasha and visited HK.

The plane ride went by too slow even though it was only two hours, but once I had landed I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face, I don’t know how to explain how excited I was! I tried to rush by everyone to get out quick but of course there was a very long wait in the “visitors” line. Once all of that was finished I walked out through the exit and saw Tasha and her mom there to pick me up. Tasha was there holding a cardboard sign saying “Welcome back beautiful!” with stick figures of the both of us on it, so cute!! As soon as we saw each other we yelled out each other’s names and ran to each other, my eyes filled up with tears of joy. I was so happy to see Tasha after these four very long years that we’ve been waiting to reunite!

The sign she made for me! Along with the leigh! 

Once we got over the shock that we were actually there together and in-person I got some starbucks and then we headed over to the car to head to her place. Being with Tasha and being in Hong Kong felt so natural and like home, if anything I think I would consider HK being my second home. Driving home felt so familiar. Tasha lives in the community that I used to live in so it felt like I was going back to my old home! It was so cool to see everything again; passing by the big malls, the little fruit markets along the streets that you think you wouldn’t notice but come to remember when seeing them, seeing my old school, seeing my old neighborhood…and many more. There were just so many familiarities and it felt…it felt great! It wasn’t exactly “home” but it felt close.

When I arrived we went back to Tasha’s home and since she had moved in only two days before I arrived her house was still unpacked so I helped Tasha clean out her boxes and sort out her clothes and bags (Charity, Keep, or throw out). She also gave me a lot of things that “looked better on me” which was very generous of her! (: For lunch, Tasha, her mom and I went out for lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. Talk about a great way to start the vacation! Eating all that western, calorie-loaded food was just amazing! Eating “bao zi” everyday gets very excessive and I was missing the taste of western food so it was great! Since Ruby Tuesday’s was in an area called “Causeway Bay”, after lunch Tasha and I headed to an area where we could take some sticky pics which is basically the Japanese “Purikura” where you can take pictures in a booth and edit them up afterwards. We mainly went there because when we were younger we went to them a lot. Causeway Bay is an area in HK with a lot of shopping malls, stores and department stores and is always very busy. By the time we got home it was already around 6 PM, I felt like the day went by so fast! But just for a heads up, every single day felt so short! When we got back we headed to the supermarket to buy our favorite “mint chocolate chip ice cream & ruffles” to eat while we watched a movie (Which is also what we did when we were younger at our sleepovers so we are keeping the tradition up!). For dinner Tasha, her family and I went out to Chinese Hot Pot, which tasted a lot better than the one that I get in Nanjing. The fish and meat were very fresh and delicious!

yummy smoothies!

FOOOOD! yumm

 

Sunday 22^nd:

Why does this still feel so unreal?!

The second day was Sunday so we got up early to take the bus to Church. Tasha’s church is located in an area called “Stanley” which is a big tourist area in HK. Going to Church was actually my first time (I am not religious) and I found it very interesting and made me realize more about people and different religions. After Church was over we headed over to Stanley. Stanley basically has a bunch of shops, each one owned by a different owner. As you walk farther towards the back of Stanley there are a lot of western restaurants and there is also a big mall. HK is nothing like China because it is very westernized and the majority of the people there all speak english. I went to 7 11 and bought my favorite “Cheong Fun” that I missed (hard to find in the U.S and they don’t have it in Nanjing), which is like rice sheet/rice roll with sauce and peanut sauce which tastes very good!

Stanley

Tasha, Gabby (her sister) and I spent some time in Stanley and later on met up with their parents for lunch at “Jumbo”. Jumbo was a very good dim-sum restaurant. We had most of the traditional or favorite dishes and it tasted very good! I would say a lot higher quality than what I could find in Nanjing.  HAAA! Another day gone by fast! We got home around 4 PM and once we did Tasha and I decided to make a music video. When we were younger we used to record videos of us singing and it would be called a “music video” but its funny looking back on those videos because we were so young, and the video quality was pretty bad compared to what advances we have now! While we were getting dressed for our music video we were told we had to head out to Tasha’s Grandma’s house for CNY (Chinese New Year’s). We quickly changed and headed over to their house and decided that we would record our video later. We were going to tasha’s grandma’s house on her Dad’s side. Their house reminded me of Nanjing life. The houses were more “Chinese built” I guess you could say and the food was also very Chinese! I was used to this kind of life. Everyone at the house was so nice. I met her uncles, Grandparents and many more people! In China, on Chinese New Year’s they always give out “Lai See”packets, which is money in a small red envelope. Her family members gave me a lot of Lai See packets which was so kind of them! Tasha’s nuclear family also gave me one! At first I denied taking it but then they kept on telling me to take it –They are seriously the kindest people I know. Not because of the Lai Si packet, but just in general…they are all very great people. I also spoke Mandarin with the Grandma and Uncle which was interesting and they seemed quite impressed with my Chinese which made me very happy ^.^

Stanley Plaza

Dim Sum lunch! 

Red Lai See packets!

After dinner, we headed back in the car and when we got home we spent two hours recording bits and pieces of our music video because we had to think of different and creative movements for each segment of the song. After finishing this we showered and when we got back, we imported it and cut down the clips and made a whole video and ended up coming out very good!! We finally finished at 3 AM and it was time for us to crash.

our first attempt at the music video was a complete fail, instead we did something different, no acoustics.



AH! Two days went by extremely quick!