A Westerner in an Eastern World
Well I come to blog today, and I am pensive. I can never again return to the ignorance I before held. For some reason, this week I had a huge rush of just exactly what it feels like to be a minority, and it's not all a bed of roses.
You see, Hong Kong has been amazing and I love so much how I am becoming integrated into this culture. I can never again see things in the small ignorant light I did before, and I truly, truly wish everyone could experience a fraction of the things I have learned in my time abroad. Some of the lessons however aren't exactly pleasant to learn.
Human nature is human nature, and this week I realized just how much prejudice sucks, and just how real and pervasive it is. Yet somehow I think this is one of the most important lessons I have to learn.
For once in my life being a single, white female isn’t the norm. I look around me and see so much progress, yet also such closed mindedness, on both ends, in how people are received.
I also realize, with a ton of conviction, that in the faces of those who look down on me for my nationality, I ever-so-reluctantly see a fraction of myself. I realize that I can blame language and cultural barriers but the truth of the matter is it comes down to my heart as to how much I am willing to let this abroad experience change me. It's a dragon that is deep within all of us, and I hope I am one step closer to slaying it.
I am constantly reminded why I am on scholarship to study here. Both the Gilman and the Freeman Asia scholarship were established to encourage an understanding and merging of western and eastern cultures. So few students in America take advantage of study abroad opportunities outside of Western Europe and Australia. It is such a shame. Eastern culture and language is vibrant and thriving. The religion, the dialects, the differences must be experienced to really be understood.
Being faced with such stark contrasts on a day-to-day basis only make one wonder as to the extent humans are willing to go to integrate cultures and move toward globalization.
Now, pensive convictions aside, I only have a bit longer in HK, and I really, really don’t want this to end. I’m so used to walking the halls of my hostel, using HK money, living in the city, being surrounded by natural beauty. I feel like a huge part of myself is just being discovered.
Right now I am trying to throw myself into my school work and see as much of Hong Kong as I can. I plan on making the next two months count for a lot!
And here comes the fun part, PICTURES! I spent some time in Aberdeen last weekend, I got to ride a san-pan boat owned by a sweet elderly couple and roamed around a massive graveyard for three hours, which was surprisingly very fun!
This is a floating seafood restaurant, stay tuned for nighttime pics!
This graveyard was like 80 stories high and took up the whole side of a mountain. It was very traditional with tables for spirits to sit at and feng shui arrangement. There is such an incredible respect for your elders here as can be seen by how attended the graves are. Also there is a big belief in spirits and the afterlife. My roommate told me not to use the lower story bathroom in my hostel because the mirrors were removed after students kept seeing spirits in them. Ahhhhhh, creepy. Yet just kind of normality here. It's kind of nice to see such a natural idea of two worlds co-existing.
Onward, Onward!
