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    • Archive for May, 2010

    Hong Kong Overview


    2010 - 05.31

    Tags:
    Posted in Hong Kong | 4 Comments »

    I’ve only been in Hong Kong for three days and I’ve already figured out that there is no way for me to capture all the noteworthy experiences I’ve had/things I’ve seen. Everything is already blurring together, so here is a brief outline for me to remember- more detailed stories will be added of my favorite events as I have time! I will hopefully be able to post all my pictures soon. I accidentally left my camera on 14 megapixel setting so I have to convert them all to small before any website will allow me to upload them! I have included some below for visual entertainment, but I want to get them all in a slideshow app soon. Enjoy!

    NOTE: I haven’t figured out how to have the captions not be white text on a white background yet, so if you want to read them I suggest highlighting them! Sigh, technical difficulties… And yes, changing the text color doesn’t work… :P

    Day 0: Thursday May 27th

    • Took airport express train to shuttle to Chungking Mansions area. So far so good.
    • Got accosted by Indian hotel salesman to rent a room in his business in same building as my reservation. Decided to follow him just to find where I was going. Got talked into walking down seedy alley, but was okay. Commenced negotiations before remembering what I had paid in the first place, what the exchange rate was, and what I wanted. Finally managed to escape respectfully and he walked me to the correct elevator.
    • Checked in and was not accosted. Saw bathroom and laughed (the shower is in the same small room with the toilet and sink, so when you shower you are also spraying the toilet! EEEEW…..). Met nice kiwi guy dormmates. Took shower with sarong curtain awkwardness (Since door is only frosted plastic, decided to duct tape sarong over door. It fell as I was showering and the sweet kiwi guys scrambled to restick it- it fell again but eventually stayed. Much awkward laughing was had!) Fell asleep- first real sleep in about 4 days, with all the packing and leaving!

    See the showerheads coming out of the wall on the left?

    (more…)

    On the plane to Hong Kong


    2010 - 05.26

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in East Coast, Growth, Philosophy, Poetic | 2 Comments »

    I am in awe. I have discovered that the healthy closure process of leaving for a long time is a little like how I imagine faking your own death and attending your memorial service would be. My friends have used this opportunity to express their appreciation, respect, admiration and love for me. Whatever part of me still doubts that I am valued, that I mean something to the people around me, that I effect the lives of those I care about, that I live in people’s hearts, that I am a good person… this part has mainly melted away during these past few weeks. Seeing the tears in the eyes of my loved ones was almost too much to let in, but as I allow myself to stay in heart-to-heart with them, it becomes obvious that we would have this kind of connection because of who we are and what I know in my own heart about my love for them. What a gift to receive undeniable proof of being loved by so many wonderful people! It opens my own heart to my own love for myself, which in turn gives me permission to not hold myself back in engaging ever deeper with the Self that both they and I love. While many aspects of this journey could be described as spiritual, I conceive of it in a less heady way… it is really only about love. When I took Love as my seventh middle name I feared I was being presumptuous- especially given that I feel that I have only truly learned (remembered?) what true love is in the past few years. But it is not presumptuous at all. I know exactly what love is, and I know how to live it, even if I am out of practice in many areas of my life, and even if refining my acquisition techniques will be a lifelong practice. And I’ve come to understand something else about myself- I love beauty above all. I feel the most ‘right’ when I am surrounded in beauty, when I let beauty into my heart, when I act with beauty, when I am beautiful. And the most beautiful feeling of all is integrity- when my insides match my outsides, when I align my life with my true self. This requires the work of continuous discovery of my truth in tandem with building skills to create a customized life. I love this work. This work is beautiful. So these three guiding concepts- integrity, beauty, love- are my compass for happiness in this life. That I have figured this out is miracle enough- that I have a growing number of inner circle friends who know and love this about me swells my heart. (more…)

    Going Away Party!


    2010 - 05.22

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in East Coast | 1 Comment »

    Just a brief post on the going away party- we played Puzzle Fighters, MarioCart (sang the fish song) and watched Crouching Tiger! Much silliness and awesomeness was had!

    (more…)

    Rainbow Hair!


    2010 - 05.17

    Tags:
    Posted in East Coast | 2 Comments »

    My sister colored my hair rainbow for me! Seven colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Hot Pink! It took 14 hours to put all the color in! We were working from 10pm to noon the next day! Then we were too exhausted to wait and rinse it out that day, so I slept for like 14 hours and then we rinsed it the day after that, so the color was in for like 30 hours! It looks AMAZING! Here are a bunch of videos and pics of the process and result for the fans of rainbow hair! Such a nice gift to get from my sister before I go- and easy to pack! She has gotten so many compliments on the work- people assume she is a professional dyer of hair! Thanks, Katherine, for doing such a careful and amazing job!

    Update: I ended up deciding not to take the rest of the dyes due to weight when we got the to airport, so hopefully when my sister comes to meet me in Japan she can bring them with my TEFL books to color the hair that has grown out!

    (more…)

    11 days until Hong Kong!


    2010 - 05.16

    Posted in East Coast, Processing | 5 Comments »

    When I really let in that I am really selling or donating all of my belongings except for the one backpack I am taking with me and the 10 bins of keepsakes that friends are going to hold onto for me, I get alternating shivers of nervousness and excitement that is a fascinating sensation. I have started the goodbye process with my brother and sister and closest friends, and, strangely, I think I am handling this the best of anyone- but I guess I’m the one about to fill my life with novelty, so that makes sense. It’s not like I will be bored! I’m sure travelling by myself will be lonely sometimes, especially as I want to share things with the people that are 12,000 miles away (exactly halfway around the world- as far from them as I could get!), but it is also handy that spending so much time alone as a child will have its payoffs in regard to a well-practiced imagination. I am shocked that I have been able to save almost $3000 by selling my stuff, with more money next year after I file the donations with my taxes. With what I have in the bank I am sure to have an awesome first leg of this adventure.

    The other realization that keeps washing over me is that, in 3 weeks, I will be studying kung fu on a mountain with a badass sifu (master). Having never studied martial arts before (and with the specific body issues I am working through), I have many insecurities about whether I will be able to handle the intensity of the training, complicated by the cultural learning that will be filling my brain at the same time. I am strengthened by the sifu’s supportive encouragement about my health concerns, and I’m sure he will be able to help me find that balance between not selling myself short and pushing myself too hard. I also have to listen to my own body, and I am looking forward to the luxury of learning all the nuanced messages my body has been trying to tell me but I was unable/unwilling to hear before. This time of concentrated reverence for my physicality, libido (in all of the Jungian/Ancient Greek sense), and power/force/aggression/boundaries  is going to be revelatory for me; one of the main topics I will be posting about to get support processing and celebrating insights. I have been so blessed with my ’sparky’ loved ones and their ability to grow and accept and love… I don’t plan on losing contact with them! And infinite admiration for my (much younger) siblings and their ability to work out 98% of our parent-child dynamic in record time! I am completely convinced that they will not only be safe and fine, but freaking awesome without me- they have their own lives that are taking off, and they are becoming more themselves every day. They are just amazing creatures and shining examples of human potential. I am totally not exaggerating, either. Lucky us!

    So my website exists now, thanks to my friend Jon and his awesome ability to host not-like-domain.com-with-no-permissions *growl*. I hope you like what I’ve put together!