One thing I've learned from my college experience is how to lead parallel lives. Up until now, I've managed to juggle two pretty well. There's the first one that I've had since June 1, 1998, the day our family minivan chugged across the Florida border and into Jacksonville. Over the eleven years since then, I developed what I'll refer to as my 'main' life- the one that includes my family, friends from high school, teenage jobs, dirt roads and small town gossip. It's colored with starry nights on my front porch and a sleepy, reliable sense that nothing will ever change much.
Then there's my 'Stetson' life, the one I started in August of 2006. Though it also takes place in a small town, its rhythm is completely different. The characters in this life have shifted with every season, from the professors who have evolved into friends to the sorority sisters who have long since graduated. This life is one marked by early mornings printing out assignments in The Reporter office, afternoons spent reading in the quad with a blanket and a drink from the Starbucks kiosk, and nights spent in the chapter room of Sorority House 1 and the hallways of various fraternities. It's a life that's both blessed and cursed with constant change, where summers only served to make the distance between May and August seem further, where you overhear stories of heartbreak, midterm stress, and freshman gossip from strangers in the cafeteria.
The one thing that unites these lives is that neither one seems to be fully real. They're mutually exclusive, and though at times they resonate the same themes, their orbits never cross. I'm not fully invested in either, nor both; geographically, they take place far enough apart to cement their uniqueness, yet close enough to escape from one to the other when I need to. After six semesters of moving back and forth between the two, literally and figuratively, I learned how to balance them almost perfectly.
This year, though, I've added another life to the mix with my decision to study here in Hong Kong. I've had to fully invest myself into my life here, because being 8,000 miles away from everything I've ever known doesn't offer any other option. That being said, I was interested in seeing how my mother's visit, marking the mixture of my life here with my main life from home, would play out.
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Last Friday, my mother and her boyfriend, Denis, arrived at Hong Kong International Airport for a ten-day visit. While I was waiting in the arrival gate for them to claim their bags and go through their customs check, I realized that their visit would be a real test of how well I've managed to acclimate myself to Hong Kong. They were coming in with virtually no knowledge of the customs, social norms, and layout of the city, leaving their enjoyment (not to mention basic survival) to me. Luckily, I had been filling my planner with possible day trips and night activities for them, and I included some Hong Kong hot spots that I hadn't experienced yet so that we could share the fun.
On Tuesday, I decided to skip my only class and take my visitors to Ocean Park. It's one of the two major amusement parks in HK, the other being Disneyland (which doesn't seem like an appealing option at all, considering Stetson is within an hour of Disneyworld and I haven't bothered going since I was nine years old).
An aerial view of Ocean Park
A lot of local students and other exchange friends had told me it was a fun way to spend an afternoon, so we checked it out. It's pretty similar to Sea World in Orlando- its main attractions include a show that features trained water animals (dolphins, seals, etc) performing tricks with their trainers, a few rides, overpriced souvenirs, you get the idea.
Dolphins at play at the Ocean Theatre
The most exciting part of the day, though, was the live panda exhibit. When we walked through the panda habitat the first time, both were asleep; but before we left, I insisted that we should walk through one more time to see if they were awake. Sure enough, both were not only awake, but moving around, too! If you want to see exactly what they were doing, watch my video from last week's post.
Panda!
Unfortunately, I had to focus on my classes and homework for most of Wednesday and Thursday, but we made up for it by spending all of Friday on Lamma Island, one of the many outlying islands of Hong Kong that is famous for its fresh seafood. After taking the ferry to the Yung Shue Wan village, we spent the afternoon walking around the quiet paths that lead through the village's downtown area lined with shops and restaurants to the peaceful beach.
The beautiful shore of Lamma Island
For dinner, we stopped at Man Fung Seafood Restaurant, located right on the water by the pier. The fare was so fresh it was still alive- literally. Their seafood catches are kept alive in tanks, and we were allowed to pick what we'd like to eat and how it would be prepared. My mother, a Baltimore native who was raised on blue crabs, was overwhelmed with the size of the captives and insisted on having one steamed and brought to our table.
Mom: "Oh, she's beautiful!"
Me: "Could you not say something like that about our dinner, considering 'she' was alive about ten minutes ago?"
We also ordered stir fried vegetables, fresh steamed rice, and fried prawns. All of the food was unbelievably delicious- it was definitely one of my favorite meals so far in Hong Kong, and I was happy to have my mother and Denis there to share it with.
The largest prawns I've ever seen in my life.
A few weeks ago, I went to Macau and came back home without stopping at any of its famous casinos to try my luck with gambling- so, on Saturday, I suggested a day trip so that they could see the sights and I could try to make friends with ol' Lady Luck. Upon arrival, we hired a tour guide who offered to show us the same major tourist stops I saw with my friends. Before we went anywhere, though, we stopped at a charming local restaurant called Praia Grande, which offered a delicious array of Portuguese-style dishes (Macau was a Portuguese colony for several hundred years before being handed over to the People's Republic of China). We feasted on tapas (including breaded stuffed mussels, samosas, baked sardines, fresh bread with roasted garlic, and Portuguese sausages), spicy African chicken, and Macanese chicken which was served with fresh rice and a creamy coconut sauce.
After our meal, we proceeded on to the tour. Surprisingly, I actually really enjoyed seeing the same sights again- I think my mother's excitement rubbed off on me. Plus, the weather was absolutely gorgeous (I've been waiting for sweater weather to hit Hong Kong for months now, and it's finally beginning to cool off). We asked our guide to drop us off at The Venetian at the end of our tour so we could find our fortunes.
I wanted to show my mom the Canal Shops, located on the floors just above the casino, so we looked around for a bit. Unfortunately, I have a very difficult time walking past 'Sale!' signs for certain stores, Lacoste being one of them. Ten minutes and $295 later, I walked out with a pair of pink and white shoes. We hadn't even started gambling yet and I was already down almost $300 (though I justified the purchase with the fact that I genuinely 'needed' a good pair of walking shoes, and mom and Denis hadn't really let me pay for anything all week).
After grabbing a quick dinner at McDonalds, we proceeded downstairs to the casino (cue the 'typical Americans' eyeroll all you want, the ones here are cheaper and are of a significantly better quality). I've never been to Vegas, and the only times I've ever bet were with my brother's high school friends when they would take over our living room with the poker table on Friday nights, and that one time at Happy Valley; so it was kind of exciting to walk into the throes of bright lights, free beer, and shuffling cards. We tracked down one of the free-beer waitresses and set up shop at the slot machines.
I watched mom and Denis for about fifteen minutes, taking mental notes of what they were doing and the tips that mom was throwing my way before I found an empty seat to try my hand at winning money. To put it simply, I lost $50 a little quicker than I intended to. I should probably mention that I was on the $1 slot machines, too.
To my left, I saw a game called Jade Monkey that was advertised as "$0.05 per bet." I quickly relocated, and inserted a $100 bill- I mean, for .05 a bet, why not? With 2,000 credits to my name, I started playing. The first few rounds consisted of me failing miserably while I figured out how the game worked; once I got the hang of it, though, I did pretty well. Before I knew it, my credit count was over 3,000- within a half hour, I had already earned half of what I started with. Mom came over to watch and cheer me on.
Time went by, and before I even realized it, mom was tapping me on the shoulder with a concerned look on her face. "Honey, we need to go buy our ferry tickets to go back to Hong Kong- it's already 9:30."
"One more minute, mom... If I get back around 3,000 I'll cash out and we can go." I was hovering around 3,500 credits as I spoke.
A few minutes later, she returned to nudge me again. I had 2,750 credits. "What happened to 3,000 credits, Natalie....?"
"One more round. Just give me five more minutes, I want to try to get the bonus round one more time before we go."
Within a minute, I managed to get a bonus round, and with bated breath I watched as the game took 15 spins for me. With each spin, I gained 40 credits (my current bet, which the machine matched for every round if I didn't win more). Suddenly, though, one of the rolls caused my machine to light up, and the numbers started spinning faster than I could follow with my wide, excited eyes.
The final credit count was over 6,000. I hit the 'collect' button and hurried to the collection counter with my winning ticket. My payout was $295.50- just 0.50 more than what I had paid earlier for my shoes. If that isn't fate rewarding me for my purchase, I don't know what is.
My Lacoste receipt and my winning ticket- I'm richer by $0.50!
My rewards from the day: new shoes and almost $300!
My mom left yesterday morning, and is safely back home. As for me, I'm busy studying for midterms (read: blogging instead of reading), looking up internships for next semester (read: trying to remain calm and hoping I'll find something), and trying not to focus on the fact that I'm leaving in two months (read: reeling in shock that I'm already halfway through my time here). I miss both of my other lives, but I'm having too much fun living this one to let it go yet.
With love from this life to everyone in my others,
Natalie
thanks for the postcard!
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