Blogging by Luis
I'm sitting here in this dark, air conditioned room at 1:21 AM to type down a summary of day 9 of the 2015 American Youth Leadership Program in Hong Kong/Guangzhou. Hopefully the clicks of my keyboard do not wake my roommate Ben Blum, who like the rest of the AYLP group, have spent a majority of the day on their feet, walking through the packed streets of Hong Kong.
All of the AYLP participants (not including the adults, sorry) did not wake up this morning in the hotel white linens that we have previously slept on the past 10 days of our expedition in Asia. Instead, we woke up in the homes of a few Hong Kong families that have been preparing for our arrival for quite some time. The New Asia Secondary School of Hong Kong have collaborated with the AYLP program in arranging housing for the 17 participants in the homes of a few of New Asia Secondary School students. It was very interesting to be submerged into the everyday life of a Hong Kong family, to wake up, eat, converse, take nightly tours and sleep under the same roof with them. I think this was a very effective method for us to better understand life for a Hong Kong family and culture of the most densely packed city in the world; Hong Kong.
We arranged to meet up at the New Asia School at 9:00 AM as to get a head start on the agenda of the day. We proceeded to walk towards the famous walled city of Kowloon, or better yet, its remains from this infamous neighborhood where at its zenith held 50,000 inhabitants within a 2.6-hectare (0.010 sq mi) plot measuring about 210 by 120 metres.
I'm sitting here in this dark, air conditioned room at 1:21 AM to type down a summary of day 9 of the 2015 American Youth Leadership Program in Hong Kong/Guangzhou. Hopefully the clicks of my keyboard do not wake my roommate Ben Blum, who like the rest of the AYLP group, have spent a majority of the day on their feet, walking through the packed streets of Hong Kong.
All of the AYLP participants (not including the adults, sorry) did not wake up this morning in the hotel white linens that we have previously slept on the past 10 days of our expedition in Asia. Instead, we woke up in the homes of a few Hong Kong families that have been preparing for our arrival for quite some time. The New Asia Secondary School of Hong Kong have collaborated with the AYLP program in arranging housing for the 17 participants in the homes of a few of New Asia Secondary School students. It was very interesting to be submerged into the everyday life of a Hong Kong family, to wake up, eat, converse, take nightly tours and sleep under the same roof with them. I think this was a very effective method for us to better understand life for a Hong Kong family and culture of the most densely packed city in the world; Hong Kong.
We arranged to meet up at the New Asia School at 9:00 AM as to get a head start on the agenda of the day. We proceeded to walk towards the famous walled city of Kowloon, or better yet, its remains from this infamous neighborhood where at its zenith held 50,000 inhabitants within a 2.6-hectare (0.010 sq mi) plot measuring about 210 by 120 metres.
(A scale replica of the walled city of Kowloon… and the arm of our friend from Cheung Chau Wanda!)
This notorious neighborhood was home to organized crime, prostitution, gambling and drug use. The city of Hong Kong was still under British occupation in the 1900’s due to the 99-year lease signed by the convention for the extension of Hong Kong in 1898, but by the late 1980’s-early 1990’s, this lease was near its end and so the government was more inclined to demolish this neighborhood than in previous years where 3 attempts were made to legally demolish this settlement. Though this community was leveled, not all was completely lost. An alms home that was built earlier on in the history of Kowloon remained as well as foundations for buildings and their remains. Walking through what at one point in history was a town full of 10 stories+ high rises, and what is now a public park, you become aware that every site you’ve ever stepped on has a long-standing history, one with many sides to it, both good and bad. Aside from the reputation that precedes about this outpost in Hong Kong, there were a few beneficial aspects to it, such as: discounted dentistry service, a job market for its many inhabitants (though most of these did exploit the people living within Kowloon, it offered wage at least) and amnesty from the British occupying Hong Kong. After the 90’s, the Kowloon walled city was turned into a public park, open to the general public, with walking/bike trails, Bonsai trees, sport courts, ponds, optical illusions and a variety of birds (ideal for bird-watchers). As I was walking through a trail in the park, I attempted to enter a meditative state by taking in long deep breaths, exhaling slowly, closing my eyes and appreciate the various external stimuli that was being emitted by the surrounding environment, such as the thick moisture in the air that us people from the Bay Area are not accustomed to. There were fragrant aromas that traveled around the park from the flowers to the trees to the pungent smell of a man, which seemed to have attempted to shadow his body odor with a few sprays of Drakkar Noir. The different components to the symphony of sounds that was being performed at the park, like the small birds chirping away, the flow of water running downstream being collected in the pond at the park, the leaves of the trees swaying back and forth from the slight breeze, groups of humans interacting with one another and the multitude of cars in the background going about. It was a therapeutic spot in a stressful, urban location; a haven of some sort.
“Brings back a lot of memories, very zen place compared to Hong kong, people everywhere, cars going on, but at this one location currently you just feel at peace…” -Nick Foong, 17
“Came to this park not knowing what to expect, seen a lot of beautiful scenery. Kinda reminds me of a local garden we have in Castro Valley… I like how everything built in this park has a deeper meaning to it; feng shui” - Esiason Rodriguez, 17
After the tour of the park we headed out for lunch. We stopped by this Islamic/Chinese restaurant where many of us feasted on a variety of appetizing dishes. While waiting for the food, the students discussed how their first night went with their host families and many came to a consensus that the families were most shocked by our abilities to use chopsticks as foreigners. Aside from this difference in methods to transport food from the plate to our mouths, they discovered that they had more similarities than differences.
“Our host family feeds us a lot of food…” - Ben Bluum, 15
Once we had satisfied our adolescent hunger we headed out to explore the streets nearby, going to local markets, taking pictures, buying refreshing drinks and hang out at the park playing hacky sack. By 2:00, we were all together once more ready for our return to the New Asia School where the students had planned a few workshops for us to take part in. Prior to these workshops, we had a chance to reflect on our trip so far in the gymnasium of the school. We discussed the “What now, so what and the now what.”, which ultimately served to help us reflect on everything we have learned so far in this voyage across the globe, the interpretations we’ve made from it and how it may or may not altered our perspective on environmental/social issues. We shared our thoughts and many of us had learned something from either the lessons, the places we’ve visited, people we’ve encountered or certain moments that really impacted us. A quote I really liked that encompassed that entire reflection was from our program director Brooke Bryant, who said, “Go into the world not knowing what you’ll get out of it and the world will open up to you…”
-Brooke Bryant, AYLP Program Director
By 4:00 PM the New Asia students had arrived and we began to proceed in giving certificates to the New Asia students on completing an AYLP workshop, as well as some of the school administration.
This notorious neighborhood was home to organized crime, prostitution, gambling and drug use. The city of Hong Kong was still under British occupation in the 1900’s due to the 99-year lease signed by the convention for the extension of Hong Kong in 1898, but by the late 1980’s-early 1990’s, this lease was near its end and so the government was more inclined to demolish this neighborhood than in previous years where 3 attempts were made to legally demolish this settlement. Though this community was leveled, not all was completely lost. An alms home that was built earlier on in the history of Kowloon remained as well as foundations for buildings and their remains. Walking through what at one point in history was a town full of 10 stories+ high rises, and what is now a public park, you become aware that every site you’ve ever stepped on has a long-standing history, one with many sides to it, both good and bad. Aside from the reputation that precedes about this outpost in Hong Kong, there were a few beneficial aspects to it, such as: discounted dentistry service, a job market for its many inhabitants (though most of these did exploit the people living within Kowloon, it offered wage at least) and amnesty from the British occupying Hong Kong. After the 90’s, the Kowloon walled city was turned into a public park, open to the general public, with walking/bike trails, Bonsai trees, sport courts, ponds, optical illusions and a variety of birds (ideal for bird-watchers). As I was walking through a trail in the park, I attempted to enter a meditative state by taking in long deep breaths, exhaling slowly, closing my eyes and appreciate the various external stimuli that was being emitted by the surrounding environment, such as the thick moisture in the air that us people from the Bay Area are not accustomed to. There were fragrant aromas that traveled around the park from the flowers to the trees to the pungent smell of a man, which seemed to have attempted to shadow his body odor with a few sprays of Drakkar Noir. The different components to the symphony of sounds that was being performed at the park, like the small birds chirping away, the flow of water running downstream being collected in the pond at the park, the leaves of the trees swaying back and forth from the slight breeze, groups of humans interacting with one another and the multitude of cars in the background going about. It was a therapeutic spot in a stressful, urban location; a haven of some sort.
“Brings back a lot of memories, very zen place compared to Hong kong, people everywhere, cars going on, but at this one location currently you just feel at peace…” -Nick Foong, 17
“Came to this park not knowing what to expect, seen a lot of beautiful scenery. Kinda reminds me of a local garden we have in Castro Valley… I like how everything built in this park has a deeper meaning to it; feng shui” - Esiason Rodriguez, 17
After the tour of the park we headed out for lunch. We stopped by this Islamic/Chinese restaurant where many of us feasted on a variety of appetizing dishes. While waiting for the food, the students discussed how their first night went with their host families and many came to a consensus that the families were most shocked by our abilities to use chopsticks as foreigners. Aside from this difference in methods to transport food from the plate to our mouths, they discovered that they had more similarities than differences.
“Our host family feeds us a lot of food…” - Ben Bluum, 15
Once we had satisfied our adolescent hunger we headed out to explore the streets nearby, going to local markets, taking pictures, buying refreshing drinks and hang out at the park playing hacky sack. By 2:00, we were all together once more ready for our return to the New Asia School where the students had planned a few workshops for us to take part in. Prior to these workshops, we had a chance to reflect on our trip so far in the gymnasium of the school. We discussed the “What now, so what and the now what.”, which ultimately served to help us reflect on everything we have learned so far in this voyage across the globe, the interpretations we’ve made from it and how it may or may not altered our perspective on environmental/social issues. We shared our thoughts and many of us had learned something from either the lessons, the places we’ve visited, people we’ve encountered or certain moments that really impacted us. A quote I really liked that encompassed that entire reflection was from our program director Brooke Bryant, who said, “Go into the world not knowing what you’ll get out of it and the world will open up to you…”
-Brooke Bryant, AYLP Program Director
By 4:00 PM the New Asia students had arrived and we began to proceed in giving certificates to the New Asia students on completing an AYLP workshop, as well as some of the school administration.
After this small ceremony we began the first workshop which dealt with food- dumplings to be exact! We had a dumpling-making station where the AYLP adults and youth along with the New Asia staff, students and their families came together to make dumplings. It was truly a delicious experience, both food-wise and culturally. In between all the dumpling-making, the American and Hong Kong students interacted in either conversation, eating dumplings, making dumplings or playing hacky sack. This was the opener for the rest of the evening in which we participated in chinese calligraphy, music, and a slight tour of their school. What truly surprised me about today aside from visiting the walled city of Kowloon and its remains, was one of the students that attends the New Asia School-Dany. He is of English and Filipino descent and speaks 4 different languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin and Tagalog. It has really made me realize how interconnected we are as a species, how the world has shrunken figuratively. The fact that prior to the invention of the airplane or steamboat a journey across thousands of miles would last weeks or even months. Though, now, I can pick up my phone, buy an airplane ticket and be in Hong Kong in 15 hours from San Francisco. Dany will be a part of the future of humanity and he will have to take up the issues previous generations have created, and the coming together of his two identities and his present skillsets, such as language, will benefit him in combating issues that we’re facing in the present moment and in the future
That night many of us were taken out by our host families to explore the odds and ends that Hong Kong has to offer, for example the various night markets and interesting events such as the filming of a popular tv series. Overall the host family experience in Hong Kong is definitely one we will remember and cherish.