USA Again

Happy New Year to all! At this moment, I am back in Hong Kong, one day into my school's winter quarter. I was in the States for two weeks and I managed to spend time in Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Tacoma, Phoenix and Tucson. The two main purposes of the trip were a) spending time with family and friends and b) showing my girlfriend my home country for the first time. Both went extraordinarily well, but of course, that made it harder than ever to leave. So it goes. 

This was the first I'd been home since last Christmas and though the two trips were similar in many ways in the way I spent my time, my mindset was different due to the length of time since I'd been a US resident. I haven't been living in the US for a year and half, while last Christmas it had only been six short months. This time I felt more nostalgic, needing to dig deeper in my memory when thinking about the last time I did a particular activity or saw a certain person. 

I put a lot of effort into keeping in touch with people, but this is a blessing and a curse. By the end of my trip, I was feeling quite overwhelmed after I'd had half a dozen two plus hour conversations with individual friends in as many days. These hours are invaluable and mean so much to me, but after a while, sometimes it's best to take a break by shifting the conversation from various life decisions relevant to most twenty-somethings to, how 'bout those Seahawks?! 

Forgive me for sounding a bit less positive and optimistic than usual, but that's honestly not how I feel all the time, so I don't plan on hiding these emotions in my blog. Seeing all of my closest friends and family for two weeks then parting ways for the next fifty is one of the biggest challenges about being an expat. Particularly one with a serious love of his home turf. As my girlfriend said, all this is sort of like going to a party and then coming home to your house and feeling suddenly aware of your solitude, but on a much larger scale and with a language barrier.

But instead of endless dwelling, it's time to share some New Years' resolutions. I was pleased that my class teacher Katie had our class write personal resolutions on their first day back. Of course, the resolutions of a six-year-old aren't much more than "tidying my room" or "saying please and thank you" but nonetheless, it's nice to see children joining in on the refreshing hope we adults try to take in at this time of year. For myself, I plan to be more creative, continue to improve my Cantonese, read like a fiend, and exercise more. I have countless other little goals but those are some that I'm trying to keep at the forefront. At this very moment, I'm working in the creative category so as Barney Stinson might say, "Self five!" 

More on the matter of this blog and my writing in general, I'd love to see posts here take all sorts of new directions. I write for myself and for you, dear reader, and by expanding the content, I think I'll do better to keep you and myself engaged. 2012 saw twenty-two posts, mostly about what I've experienced, which I'll continue to write about. But a year later, I find myself more intrigued by writing about what I'm thinking about, especially if I can do so in a way that doesn't feel self-righteous or indulgent. That being said, please let me know if it comes across that way :) On one of the six different flights I took recently, I read a great quote from Obama in Time about why he considers why writing in a diary is important. "...writing has been an important exercise to clarify what I believe, what I see, what I care about, what my deepest values are; that the process of converting a jumble of thoughts into coherent sentences makes you ask tougher questions." This blog is not a diary by any means but it also shouldn't be pure journalistic documentation of my time here in Hong Kong. I'm usually dealing with a jumble of thoughts in my life and I agree with our President that writing is a great way find meaning from that jumble. 

To conclude this long and winding road of a post, here are some photos from my trip. Land of the Brave.

Sharman and the King

The Newest Addition to the Seattle Skyline

Desert

Cowboy Country

sea-HAWKS!

Gray but Beautiful

Bainbridge Island's Landmark

Yee-haw!

End of Term

I am currently in the brief limbo period between the end of work and the beginning of my Christmas holiday back home in the states. If you care enough to read this, I’m sure you know by now that I’m soon to return to the USA with Sharman for the end of the year. In twelve hours, I’ll be out the door and on my long journey back home! Assuming the apocalypse doesn’t take place before then…

Now marks the end of my first full term working at a primary school. Overall, I’ve been very happy with the decision to work where I do. In a nutshell, my job is helping out 6-year-olds all day long at a school a fifteen-minute walk from my house. Sweet. But from another perspective, I’m gaining valuable experience at a real school and trying to figure out if this is the type of work I want to commit to and foster a career in. I say “real school” because the last school I was at was so unusual in structure (since it is for such small kids) that it almost felt more like a daycare than a school. My current school has students that stay from morning through the afternoon, feed themselves, have one main teacher, play at recess, ride on school busses and so on. My preschool last year had none of the above.

Another huge plus about the primary is the staff around me. I figured this out from the get go, but this school has some very talented teachers and though they may not realize it, they are teaching me as much as the kids, particularly my lead teacher Katie. As our old principal encouraged me to do, I’m looking at this time as almost an apprenticeship before I take steps to become a real certified teacher. Sooner or later, I certainly will advance my education beyond my Bachelor’s and my TEFL certificate. And for the past few months, I've been pondering just when, where and how I may try to do this. 

One downside that I’ve found at both the schools I’ve worked at now is the business-like aspect of the organization. Perhaps this is just the nature of the beast, but both schools I’ve been at have seemed to be a bit too motivated by cash. I won’t give any specific examples, but cutting general classroom resource costs, adding student fees at every opportunity and marketing like mad are among the trends. It’s not a perfect world. Maybe one day I’ll work at a school in which quality education trumps financial interest. I hope.

Still, in my day-to-day routine, this isn’t a significant issue on my mind. I love the kids and I love my coworkers, and when you’re surrounded by people you love, life is generally quite enjoyable. There are stressful days now and again for many a reason, but holistically, my full-time gig is a fulfilling one. Merry Christmas!

Leah Ao Xin

I have a hunch that this blog post will reach record traffic levels due to the amount of people that love my cousin Mark Trombino and his wife Carol. This has been a life changing time for them and briefly being a part of it has been such unbelievably good fortune for myself. It is a great honor to be bringing many of you the first photos of father, mother and new child all together, either on this blog or on Facebook. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a bit unfair for me to meet Leah before her own older sister, but Priya, you’re going to see this little bundle of energy in Arizona quite soon. Mark and Carol had their hands full here in China, literally and figuratively.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, my girlfriend Sharman and I travelled to Guangzhou this weekend to meet my first cousin Mark (my dad’s sister’s son) as he and his wife Carol went through the final steps to fully adopting Leah Ao Xin Trombino. They met Leah on Monday morning in Harbin, China after nearly two years of research, paperwork and nail biting. Harbin, a freezing city in Northeastern China, is Leah’s birthplace and where she’s lived for the first four years of her life. After a few days there, the three of them hopped on a plane down to Guangzhou on China’s much warmer southern coast. All American adoptions in China must go through Guangzhou, as this is the location of the US Consulate.  

On Saturday morning, the day after the Trombino’s arrived in Guangzhou, Sharman and I took the two-hour train from Hong Kong meet them, as well as my good friend Henry who lives in Guangzhou and hosted Sharman and I. For the rest of the weekend, we were able to see just how special Leah Ao Xin really is. Despite all the certainly confusing stuff that’s been happening to her lately, she was nothing but smiles, laughter and love for the whole time we were with her. According to Mark and Carol, it only took about a day until she fully embraced them as her new parents, saying Baba and Mama all the time. Her first English sentence earlier in the week was “I love you.” Her second, thanks to Elmo and his videos, was “That’s not a frog!”

Much of Leah’s past is unknown but we do know that after a few months in an orphanage, from ages one to four, Leah she was in a loving foster family. This may explain why she was immediately so trusting and open, while a child straight from the orphanage may be shy and take longer to adjust to his/her adopted family. We went on a brief Guangzhou sightseeing tour with a number of adopted children and their American parents, and I can safely say that Ao Xin was the most comfortable, outgoing child of the lot. She is a little person like her parents, but even in spite of that, she’s quite mobile. Perhaps faster than her old man already!

Also this weekend, I was given reason number #2,654 why I’m lucky to be with Sharman. As a speaker of Mandarin (in addition to Cantonese and English), she was able to translate her parents’ instructions for Leah as well as helping Mark and Carol get some understanding on Leah's constant chatter towards them. She was always saying funny, adorable things in Mandarin like “Dad, I drew a heart” or “Is it yummy?” or “Write horizontally!” that her parents would have otherwise had no way of understanding. Not to mention that Sharman is a preschool teacher and a natural with young kids. She and I are so looking forward to seeing Leah again in a month on Christmas day in Phoenix. By that time, I’m sure her English will be increasing at the speed of light.

I was sad to leave them so soon but even though it was only a weekend, I know I’ll remember this as long as I live. It’s still hard to comprehend that this adorable little four-year-old who speaks only a couple words of English is my new cousin. At this moment, they’re in Guangzhou still but they leave on Thanksgiving Day to begin life as a family of four!

Balance

This is a post that has nothing to do with me, Hong Kong or any specific event that's occurred recently. Instead, it's my most recent postulate upon some of life's eternal questions. I wrote this after a Skype chat with a friend, as I found the need to remind myself and my friend to step back and think of the big picture a bit more than either of us has been recently. All is just fine in my life these days, but who's to say that we should only ponder the Big Questions in times of trial? So here it is. The importance of balance. 

When caught up in one’s day-to-day routine, it’s easy to lose track of the fundamental reasons why one does what one does with the majority of the waking hours. For example, after three years of schooling, all that undergrad biology school student Samantha may think about is her hours inputting data in the lab, her memorization of terms and her exam scores. With our tendency to think in the short term, it’s easy for Samantha to forget that she’s building up her knowledge to one day save lives in a real hospital. And even if not every fact is applicable to life in the ICU, it all is necessary to get the diploma that leads to another diploma, which leads to a medical job. Or even a college grad like say, Tony, who serves as a tour guide in an art museum near his home. He may stress about his taxes, his weight problems, and the repetitive nature of his job, but in reality, there isn’t a day that goes by where one of the people on his tours develops an entirely new appreciation of art thanks to Tony’s insight on the exhibits. Even those without meaningful full-time occupations can give the world great gifts through love and wisdom in countless different ways.

To reflect on my vaguely Buddhist thinking, I like to think that life is one long journey to achieve perfect balance. Think of it as designing the perfect, hybrid car. Things may be running smoothly, but there are always tweaks to be made, be it the engine, overall comfort or effective airbags. These tweaks that need to be made are not burdensome but healthy challenges, stimulating the mind for the long term and providing rewarding results in the short term. By the time I’m destined to die, I’d like to hope that I will have achieved the perfect balance for the car to drive off into the sunset. A calm, efficient ride, reaching high speeds, but not so fast as to miss the scenery. On top of that, the car will be completely sustainable. Taking in the exact amount of energy that it gives back, through improving the universe and other people’s lives. 

This balance can also be seen as inhale and exhale. The inhale is learning and taking from the world and its resources. The exhale is teaching and giving. This is most obviously displayed in the universal norm working for wages, but should be present in every aspect of life. Hospitable strangers host you in a foreign land; you allow foreigners to stay in your home free of charge. You learn from your father how to catch a fish; you teach your daughter how to catch a fish. You have a revelation from the natural beauty at a national park; you encourage others to go on a similar hike and/or volunteer to pick up trash along the trails. You’re born into a wealthy family; you spend time experiencing and informing others what it’s like to be in dire circumstances and how to approach the disparity. 

I find it much more natural to dwell on the negative aspects of life than to bask in the positive. For whatever reason, the human brain naturally fixates on problems and when something is satisfactory, it’s taken for granted and ignored. It’s crucial to have moments to step back and look at what really matters, and to me that’s having a life that makes the world a better place, pardon the cliché. On any given day, most people have a handful of issues or regrets that add up to something terrible, something commonly called stress. But when one looks back at those issues and regrets just one short year in the future, most if not all of those stress components will be purely trivial. 

In reality, so many of the important factors in life are out of our control. Where we’re born, what genes we inherit, what kind of family we have, who we meet, unexpected experiences and events, luck, timing, tragedies, etc. But as we can only control our own choices, the most we can do is hope to find this balance and know how to approach the past, present and future. All without giving in to negativity, stress, worry and/or cynicism, no matter how bleak it may seem sometimes. Breathe in, breathe out.

Half Term Break

This week was full of firsts for me. It was the first time in my life I’ve ever had a week off from school in October. It was the first holiday in Hong Kong I didn’t travel anywhere. And last, it was the first time my parents came to see this marvelous city.

For obvious reasons, it was fantastic to see my parents for the first time since last December. As most of you know, I’m an only child so this was a good catch-up on family time, as Skype chats only provide so much. Over the course of the week, I returned to a number of wonderful places in Hong Kong that I hadn’t been for some time. Some of the places are mentioned in previous blog posts right here. Over the week, we ventured to the Tian Tian Buddha, 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, The Peak, Cheung Chau Island, Kowloon Walled City Park, a performance at the Cultural Center, Hollywood Road, Hong Kong Park and the Avenue of Stars. As my parents hoped, they were able to spend the week actively sightseeing while I was the tour guide. I enjoy this role, so I too had a good time, particularly in some of the best possible weather.

Another fun part of the holiday was seeing my parents meet my girlfriend Sharman and her parents. It’s rather to surreal to have two worlds connect like that, thinking this is the only time that our collective four parents have ever inhabited the same continent at the same time. The Peking Duck dinner was remarkably delicious and with a bit of help from me, Sharman was able to translate so that everyone could be a part of the conversation despite no common language. Wild. Perhaps some people dread the meeting of significant others and parents, but this was really nothing to get worked up about. Everyone got along quite well, despite my parents’ gift for the Leungs breaking on the way to the meal. As they say in HK, “Ayaaaaa.”

One thing that I think all expats suffer to some extent is a certain degree of homesickness. It's certainly something that comes to mind after seeing my family for what felt like the blink of an eye. My life in Hong Kong is quite satisfying, with a good job, apartment, girlfriend and overall environment. However, there are always times when I long for things back home. Usually it’s friends and family that give me pangs of nostalgia, but sometimes it's thinking of my pets, indie music or Taco Bell (judge me all you like). Fortunately, 6,500 miles of distance is not the same impossible divide that it used to be. Even with the Pacific Ocean between us, I’m able to see the people I love at least once a year at Christmas and some of them twice a year, when schedules work out. And with the wonders of Facebook, Gmail and Skype it’s extremely easy to communicate with people from the comfort of my own apartment. Only ten years ago, chatting with people in real time would have been substantially less convenient. I try to use this as reasoning to not let homesickness bother me too much. And so far, I’ve made it nearly a year and a half without falling into the clutches of severe homesickness.

And speaking of family visitation, I’m excited to travel to Guangzhou next month to be with my cousin Mark and his wife Carol as they finalize the adoption of their soon-to-be daughter, Leah Ao Xin, who currently lives in Harbin in northeast China. Luckily for me, though perhaps inconveniently for them, all adoptions must be approved through the US Consulate in Guangzhou, and hence I can take a quick bus ride up to be with them after they fly down from Harbin with 4-year-old Leah Ao Xin. I’ll certainly post more about this once in a lifetime event after it happens in a few weeks. 

Music and Baseball

If you know me more than a little bit, you know that music and baseball are my twin obsessions. A day never goes by where neither topic crosses my mind. One of the few downsides about moving to Hong Kong is that my involvement in these two things has taken a backseat to my daily routine. In college, I worked two baseball related jobs, played on an intramural softball team, studied music as my degree, worked at the college radio station and played in two different rock bands. Thus far in Hong Kong, I’ve had to dig deeper to find outlets for my passions. But with this academic year, my deep digging has paid off to some extent.

First of all, at my school, all teachers and TAs are in charge of an after school extra-curricular club of our choosing. For the first few months of this year, I’ve been leading a baseball club. It’s been a tremendous challenge directing 23 kids (only two of whom are girls) towards the basic skills of the game. Baseball is essentially non-existent in Hong Kong, so most of these kids didn’t know the first thing about America’s pastime when we started in early September. Seven weeks in, they aren’t exactly Ken Griffeys out there, but it appears they’re having a good time and trying their hardest to hit the tennis ball off the tee.

As I mentioned, this baseball club has been one of my biggest undertakings at my new school. The very first week was a basically a disaster as all 25 children, aged 4-7, ran around our school hall like crazy, giving me limited opportunities to speak to the group. I’ve since learned to raise my voice and get their attention, and with some help from our school’s PE teacher, set up a system to give them some structure for the lesson. Choosing tasks that everyone can do yet still be challenged and stimulated by has been the hardest part so far. Especially in a slower paced game like baseball. My respect for physical education instructors has gone way up since starting baseball club.

As far as musical involvement is concerned, this September, I successfully auditioned for the Hong Kong Bach Choir. A group that’s existed for 40 odd years, the HKBC is my first musical ensemble since graduating from PLU in the spring of 2011. So far, I’ve had a great time singing stellar music with some 130 Hong Kongers and expats alike. We meet once a week and rehearse under the baton of an American guy named Jerry Hoberman, whose résumé is impressive and leadership is strong. It’s not a professional group but I'd say we're fairly decent as far as amateur choirs go. They always advertise as the best choir in Hong Kong. This December, we’ll be singing Beethoven’s 9^th with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate Jerry’s 20^th year directing the choir. If you are reading this in HK, I hope to see you there!

Living in the SAR

When I chat with friends back home, via Facebook, Gmail or Skype, one of the most common questions I get is, 'How are things in China?' At the beginning, I'd think nothing of it, but recently, I've started to correct people and say, 'You mean Hong Kong?' 

In the most technical sense, Hong Kong is indeed a part of China. Along with Macau, it is a Special Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, 15 years in to the 50 year transition towards being a fully Chinese city in 2047. For now, we in Hong Kong enjoy a number of rights that mainland Chinese don't have. For example, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to peacefully protest. Or more specifically, if I was in China, I could not use Facebook, Blogspot or Youtube without trying to cheat the system (as many people do). Being an American born and raised on these basic freedoms, I consider them crucial and believe that having them really separates us from Mainland China. 

An issue that really set myself and many other Hong Kongers off recently was the National Education controversy. It's complicated but in a nutshell, earlier this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao thought it would be good for Hong Kongers to learn more about the Motherland and proposed a curriculum that was very Chinese in nature. You know, ignore Tiannamen, ignore the Cultural Revolution's millions of deaths, Mao was awesome hands down etc. Well, the Hong Kong people didn't like this idea of future generations being taught conveniently edited history books and marched through the streets in huge numbers, eventually leading to the withdrawal of the program. For now. It was an inspring victory for the Hong Kong people, but a frightening taste of what might be on the way. 

After living here for one year, I feel much more connected to the Hong Kong people than before. I'm not just an American surrounded by Chinese—I'm a Hong Kong resident occasionally bombarded by mainlanders. For example, I recently went to Ocean Park, which is a family friendly Hong Kong theme park not unlike the USA's Sea World. The place was teeming with Chinese tour groups and it was obvious just what a different mindset these people had. On the shuttle towards the park's entrance at the end of the day, dozens of people were rudely pushing to get onto the train, and sure enough, they all seemed to be mainland Chinese. How did I know? They were speaking Mandarin instead of the local Cantonese and had ridiculous name badges and/or hats on to show that they were part of a tour group. Don't get me started on the philosophy of sight-seeing in packs as the Chinese so often do.

I don't mean to sound xenophopic against the mainland Chinese. Some of the people I met on my Guilin trip were lovely and extremely hospitable, and those I saw at Ocean Park don't represent the full one billion. But within the past few months, thanks to recent news events and books I've read, I've started to feel anxious about the prospect of Hong Kong people slowly losing their rights. My Ocean Park trip may have been an ominous metaphor of Hong Kong people getting pushed aside and swallowed up. These are the same fears that led to the mass exodus in the '80s and '90s before the 1997 handover from Britain to China. 15 years later, Hong Kong still enjoys it's colonial era freedom and has more or less felt things are 'so far, so good' but who's to say if and when that might change? 

Perhaps I am too concerned. My own personal situation is under no threat whatsoever. My school is a private school and my flat complex is also a private enterprise. Even if things change within a couple years, I may not even still be here. Or maybe I will. Regardless, I've developed a great respect for the people and city of Hong Kong and I'd hate to see that specialness turn into just another Chinese metropolis, graciously digesting the propaganda fed to them by the PRC. Or maybe China itself will evolve into a more democratic state as Thomas Friedman has suggested. One of the downsides of being an expat is that you worry about two countries futures. I'll save my concerns about America for another day.