Personally I don't like how unafraid the monkeys were of humans. Apartment buildings were built directly across the street from this mountain. According to Holy's dad, these monkeys will often times climb into people's homes looking for food. Because there is such a limit on space in Hong Kong, they are developing more homes into the mountains. This reduces the amount of space, these monkeys have to live. At the same time however, because people are feeding these monkeys, their population has also increased significantly. With more monkeys and less space to live, all they can do is fight for dominance. In the end, the monkeys are ultimate victims of urbanization.
Today, Holy's dad brought us to Monkey Mountain. The monkeys there are borderline domesticated. You can walk right up to them and they won't run away. A lot of families bring their children there. They also bring a lot of food with them to feed the monkeys. You can literally hold out some food and the monkeys will walk right up to you and take the food from your hand. The first monkey I saw only had 3 legs. One of his legs was probably bitten off in a fight.
Personally I don't like how unafraid the monkeys were of humans. Apartment buildings were built directly across the street from this mountain. According to Holy's dad, these monkeys will often times climb into people's homes looking for food. Because there is such a limit on space in Hong Kong, they are developing more homes into the mountains. This reduces the amount of space, these monkeys have to live. At the same time however, because people are feeding these monkeys, their population has also increased significantly. With more monkeys and less space to live, all they can do is fight for dominance. In the end, the monkeys are ultimate victims of urbanization.
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That's my new DIY project up there. I like to draw in my spare time and what better way to use the free tote HKBU gave us. So my goal is to draw the places I've visited. I know there's no way I can draw every place I've been to. What I can do though, is draw all the major places. Hopefully by the end of the year, this entire bag will be covered with landmarks from all over Hong Kong.
For dinner today, I got Viet food. I was trying to decide between a cold noodle and pho. In the end I chose pho because the picture looked really good. Clearly it didn't come out as the picture and I really regretted that I got this. Last year, I had food poisoning from eating pho. I got really sick and after that, every time I would try to eat pho, my body would try to reject it. Psychologically my body would tell me to puke it back out. Thank god, I didn't puke it out but by the end of the meal, I was feeling a bit nauseous. I think this is the last time I'll be eating pho ever again. I woke up early today and got out of bed all happy and looking forward to a new day =D Okay, that's a lie. This morning was pretty miserable. I had gotten back at 3 something last night because there was a Babson meetup in LKF. I kept waking up and I skyped Brian for a while so I might have gotten 2 or 3 hours of sleep total. Early this morning though, my dad's friend called me and told me he was at my school. I just blinked for a while before I realized I had totally forgotten I had made plans to get dim sum with his family. So I rushed out of bed, took a quick shower and ran downstairs. My head was feeling pretty messed up but I put on a smile and greeted my "uncle." He was so nice. He brought me over to his place and his wife gave me some ginseng soup that she had made earlier that morning just for me. That warmed me down to my soul hehe. I talked with his father for a while because their family was really close to my dad. It was nice hearing about their exploits when they were young. Then they treated me to dim sum at the Homantin Plaza nearby. They treated me so kindly that I was taken aback. I didn't really know how to respond when they told me to come by more often for dinner and soup. I just nodded and smiled. What I realized here, is that local HK people are extremely hospitable and kind to their guests. Holy, my suitemate, is the best example of this. She invited us to her family's mid-autumn fest dinner and we were treated really kindly by her family (previous post). Now, this family whom I barely knew through my dad was also treating me equally as kindly. I was perplexed by this cultural difference so I decided to do a bit of research. It turns out that once Chinese people view you as a guest, they will do everything they can to make your experience warm, especially if you're a foreigner. I am so thankful to these people because they have truly gone out of their way to make me feel at home in Hong Kong.
Here's some more information about Chinese Guest & Host Customs
Today has legit got to be my laziest day ever. So after we got out of class, my roomie, JiWon (JW from now on) and I were feeling like complete bums. So what we ended up doing was eating microwavable meals and ramen for dinner. It was kinda fun. I learned that XO sauce flavored ramen tastes better than spicy beef ramen (though JW thinks the opposite). Yay for exotic ramen flavors in Hong Kong lolz. We also had dragon fruit for dessert. The inside was blood red and JW got kinda creeped out because she never had them before. They weren't as sweet as the ones I had before, but I was definitely feeling a lot cleaner after eating that dragon fruit. ~Fast Forward: had to watch Memento in the library because of class & then came back, decided we wanted to gym but in the end didn't because we were too lazy (it's alright though, cause I already went once in the morning), so I ended up showering and then skyping Brian for a bit~
After doing the face masks though, I started having these really weird cravings to snack. I really wanted potato chips all of a sudden but everything's closed at this hour. And for some reason, I ended up on instagram which made me even hungrier. Here's one of the pictures I saw. For those who know me, they'll know I have a weak spot for salmon sashimi and avocado. After I saw this, I just got really hungry, like insanely hungry. I WANT TO EAT THIS SO MUCH RIGHT NOW, LIKE I CAN'T EVEN. So I decided to make my friends suffer with me, and sent this to make them hungry as well.
The day after mid-autumn fest is a public holiday in Hong Kong. No SCHOOL!!! So I went out on a boat trip with some new friends I made in church. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was out but it wasn't like really hot. We got to TST piers and got on the boat. I had no idea where we were going but they drove 40 mins until they came to the outskirting islands of Hong Kong. The water and air was cleaner, which is saying a lot for Hong Kong. They parked the boat a little off the coast and we just had fun on the water all day. I tried banana boating for the first time. It was hilarious because we kept flipping and never have I ever tasted water so salty in the states. I also learned that jumping off the second story of a boat hurts like crazy. It was fun though and by the end of it, my face was sunburnt. We came back and ended the day with more Gong Cha bubble tea, for a day well spent out on the open waters. Yesterday was mid-autumn festival!! It's a holiday to celebrate the full moon and there's always plenty of moon cakes around this time. This year as so different from the usual. My suitemate Holy invited us to her home in Cheung Chau, an island 40 minutes away from Central by ferry, for a family meal. It was so fun and the food was really good too. Her entire family was there so it was noisy but happy at her home. There were little kids running around while her grandma who was in her 80's brought us food. What was most amazing was that she had cooked everything herself and there were over 20 dishes on the table!! There were fresh prawns, abalone, and 2 different types of fish because people still fished on the island. My favorite was the fish. I had never tasted fish so sweet and soft before. There was chicken, duck, pork and beef in different dishes. It was simply amazing. When we finished there was still so much food left but we just could not eat anymore. I would've taken a picture of the food but it seemed rather inappropriate. I can still remember the tastes though. My roommate and I were joking about how this was probably going to be the best meal we'd have in Hong Kong.
I thought it was kinda sad though because instead of playing with traditional lanterns, all the local kids and teenagers were instead playing with glow sticks and LED toys. I know it's fun for me because I am a tourist and I'd never played with them before. It's just I find it a bit of a shame that western cultures are slowly replacing traditional customs.
That's us on her rooftop eating mooncake and fruit. I think all we did was keep eating non-stop and we honestly couldn't stop because everything was so deliciously amazing.
BUDA: Baptist U Dance Association
The day before yesterday was the club fair and I wanted to join sooo many clubs but I realized I wouldn't have enough time, energy or money for all of them. You actually have to pay membership fees for clubs here but thank God they're not that expensive. I decided to finally join a dancing club. I've always wanted to but I never had the guts to join one or I never had the time to. Most of it was me making excuses though. The thing I love about study abroad is that you get to be a freshman all over again. You get to try new things and it's okay if you mess up horribly. At the end of day, it's all a beautiful experience and memory. Saturday morning: My roomie and I drag ourselves out of bed at 11am... eat the leftover cake from the fridge and try to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. Groggy as we were, we knew we wanted European food so we headed to the only European cafe we knew of in the area. It's called Euro gogo and the interior design and music did have an Italian cafe kind of feel. But it was definitely Chinese with all the people rushing around and talking. Even the food seemed to have a bit of a Chinese touch. So we ordered the Spaghetti with pesto, hawaiian pizza, and mushrooms stuffed with cheese and bacon. The mushroom was hands down the best. They were so juicy and the cheese was so good..... The pesto was interesting... lololz... It's definitely very different from the pesto I've had before, like very different. The only thing similar was that it was green. The taste didn't even taste like basil but nonetheless it was good in its own way. The pizza was pretty bland. The ham was very chinese and the cheese didn't have much flavor to it. I love mozarella but that was the most fail pizza I've eaten in my life. I think that will be the last time we'll be attempting anything European for a while. After the interesting Italian food, we had the weirdest craving for gong cha. Gong Cha is this really famous taiwanese bubble tea chain that sells the best bubble tea in HK. So as spontaneous as we are, we hopped on a train all the way to MongKok specially for bubble tea. Then we got lost. Google maps told us to walk in circles and the store wasn't even there. I was clearly pronouncing the name of the place wrong because I just got blank stares from the locals when I asked for directions. Finally we found the place but not after we'd walked circles in MongKok, passing by the ladies' market twice. It was worth it though. Best bubble tea in the world. There are so many flavors to choose from and you can even pick your own amounts of sugar and ice. What's better was that right next door was a street food store. We ended up getting fishballs and hot cakes. Then we just stood on the sidewalk and ate our food like locals. We were sweating like crazy but it was worth it. It is so true when people say that getting lost is the best way to get to know your way around. At night, I met up with a friend at TST which is right opposite Central, the financial district of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm on the piers, you can look across the harbor and see a light show called Symphony of Lights. It's one of those must see tourist locations. The buildings light up along with the sound of music and there are like lasers and stuff. It was pretty cool except it was starting to get a bit cloudy and when it gets cloudy in HK, you cannot see anything at all. Honestly it wasn't that amazing. Considering Central is already quite bright, the extra lights didn't stand out that much. It's one of those experiences, you have to see once but going a second time really isn't worth it. Since it was pretty late at night, we decided to just eat at TST. TST is the HK equivalent of 5th avenue in New York City. All the high end brands have a store there and the place is ironically filled with a lot of mainland tourists out shopping. Mainland tourists are actually a problem for the HK people because they drive up real estate prices, and costs of living (similar problem in NYC). There was actually a protest to mainlanders recently at TST where locals threw food at mainlanders coming out of brand name shops. Even though I don't agree with such actions, I do believe something should be done about the situation because it is getting harder for the average locals to get by on their lower salaries. I remember hearing that the average HK person can't really save up money because most of their money goes into paying rent. It's quite sad actually... Okay, tangent over. So we went to TST for food. The great thing about HK is that under every mall is a food court with every type of cuisine you can possibly imagine. We had taiwanese food for a change and also fried dumplings (which reminded me of Tina haha). There was sooo much meat but then again, Chinese cuisine in general tends to have a lot of meat. That or it's fried in a lot of oil. I could feel my cholesterol going up but the food was pretty good for fast food. There was even soup to finish the meal. This actually made me miss home food quite a bit because my mom makes the best soups. At TST there is an old European plaza called 1881 Heritage. The architecture is traditional European and the place is so romantic at night. It's designed to take the shape of a boat and there was a huge mast going up next to the tree tower in the middle. The whole place kinda looks like a fairy tale castle. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that way because as we were walking around, we got to witness a Model photo shoot and a Wedding photo shoot all within an hour. I definitely want to come here again <3 This was actually 2 days ago but I've been slacking on the posts yet again lolz. My roommate and I were being bums on a Friday night. We didn't feel like going out or anything but we decided to eat out. Since we didn't really know any local places we just walked around in the plaza. Then all of a sudden this guy came out of a cafe and gave us these promotional coupons so we decided to just eat there. It was sooo worth it. The whole meal you see above came down to HKD$110 which is like USD$7 per person. We could build our own meal and we chose the sweet & sour pouk, the grilled mackerel, and baby bokchoy. For the rice, I decided on a white and red rice veggie combo while my roomie just got the rice with veggies. She also got an ovatine while I got a horlick drink. The food was really good. I never knew rice could be eaten that way. Instead of like normal plain white rice, this was actually savory. The sauce on the pork was also really well done. The fish was a bit disappointing but overall it was a great meal. It was really cheap by american standards but apparently it was actually on the pricier end for this kind of meal. Afterwards, we walked around to get dessert. The great thing about HK is that you will find a dessert joint wherever you go and the dessert is always sooooo delicious and adorable. The pastries are so cute and they're actually on the lighter side so we each got like 2 mini-cakes. Freshmen 15 NOPE. More like Abroad 20 at the rate we've been eating. lololz
Just as the title says, this post will be about my touristy adventures in Hong Kong with the other exchange students. The first place we visited was Wang Tai Shin Temple. It's actually one stop on the MTR away from us but since our school was nice, we were all driven there by coach bus. The place was so amazing. It was a traditional Chinese temple and people were their burning incense and praying for luck. The architecture was a sight to behold but the smell was a bit intense. I was never a fan of the incense they burned because my mom would use to burn them too. If you walked beyond the original temple structure, there's a smaller version of the summer palace inside. Filled with waterfalls, ponds, waterways, and mazing walkways, the garden was so peaceful even with the bustling of all the visitors. Our next stop was the Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Causeway bay. The place was a 3 floored dim sum restaurant on a massive boat. It was built to look like a palace on both the outside and the inside. We had to take another smaller boat just to get to the restaurant. Once we were inside though, there were massive marble stairs leading upstairs. There was even a western touch with the glass chandeliers on the ceilings. The place was gorgeous and the food was really good too. It had better dim sum than the first place we visited. There were even fried mantous. These are basically fried chinese buns dipped that you eat dipped with condensed milk. The outside is super crunchy because it has been deep fried but the inside is soft and fluffy. It was the best I've had so far and even though I was super full at that point, I still had to eat another one. The next stop was stanley market and the surrounding areas in causeway bay. I walked around with a friend and even drew on a bubble at The Lovers' Terrace. That was actually quite adorable and I thought Brian would like something like that hahaha. We kept traveling around and even found another temple. This one was less crowded though and I was able to actually try the bamboo fortune telling things. Sadly though, I got a bad luck reading but it's alright. The guy there told me that it I didn't have to believe it and he actually burned the piece of paper for me lololz. Next we went to Stanley market, which is actually a market similar to Ladie's market in Mong Kok. A major difference though was that they were actual shops and the walkway was airconditioned. The shop keepers seemed like they were used to foreigners so I'm guessing that it was also a tourist trap. The only thing I bought was a pack of Hong Kong post cards. The last place we went to was Victoria's Peak. Since we didn't have much time, all we did was look at Hong Kong's skyline and take some picture. The view was breath-taking. Hong Kong is truly a beautiful city. I wish I came here at night and took the tram. The entire city lit up in lights must be amazingly beautiful. After this though, I was sooooo tired. We visited so many places in one day and all we did was walk. It was worth it though because we hit so many of the major must see points. I'm excited to see the local sites now and try their local foods.
What I didn't understand about HK culture was why they called entire meals afternoon teas. It's not like an english tea where you have like small snacks and tea. Here in Hong Kong, an afternoon tea is basically a full blown lunch. I ordered a tea set and it was a chicken cutlet rice set and dimsum appetizer with milk tea. So apparently, HK people call this tea even though it's a meal because they don't really eat lunch but rather have a late meal. Honestly it doesn't make much of a difference for me but I've learned that HK tea sets have more food and are actually cheaper hahaha.... XD Im probably gonna have more of these tea meals instead of lunch hehe since I have such late classes anyway. So after the orientation, my roommate and I decided to go trekking. It is so amazing how similar we are. We both like outdoor activities and we both have active lifestyles. Okay, so maybe it wasn't after orientation. It was more like during orientation while everyone was sitting in the hall, we were out finding mountain trails to hike. So there's a small mountain next to our school. We decided to find the path and hike it but they were all gated. It was so hilarious though cause the first thing she said when she saw the gate was, let's climb it. That is legit what I say every time I see a gate but no one ever takes me seriously. She's the first person to think so like me. I love this hehehe. So we jumped the gate and climbed up the path for a gorgeous view up on top of the mountain. The only bad thing about it was that I got bitten by like a million mosquitos. Afterwards we headed to park n' shop. It was like the asian version of stop n' shop lolz. So we bought a whole bunch of asian snacks and ramen. I even bought this kiwi juice thing that tasted really ...interesting.... It tasted like kiwi hi chew for those of you that know what it is. Honestly it was too sweet for my taste but it was a nice experience. So later that night, we were too lazy so we just went to the canteen to buy takeout. I was finally able to try the legit 3 boh fan from HK. It's basically rice with 3 types of bbq meat. Most of it was good except the char siu. I hate our canteen charsiu because it's always so dry. But after this meal, I'm starting to seriously feel like a local HK student. XD hahaha
Orientation was boring as eff.... So we just cut the second half after they brought us to a dim sum place ahhahaa. But seriously, I hate sitting in a place for so long and just listening to them talk. It makes me kind of anxious to move. Something cool I noticed though, was this small gallery of Chinese tools and tea sets right inside of the Chinese medicine building. That made my day since I like finding new and interesting random things. Ahhhh it's been so long since I made a new blog post. It's just been so hectic lately. It's like I'm busy but not really busy at the same time. I'm just finding it kind of hard to keep up with this blogging. So the other day my sensei brought me around Mongkok before church. It was so amazing that because the streets are crowded with little shops and pedestrians as well as cars. I was so afraid of getting lost that I had to trail closely behind Jack. But it was quite an experience. We visited goldfish street where there were literally tens of shops selling just goldfish in tiny little plastic bags. There were also shops that sold just dogs, or just cats and even chinchillas. They were all so adorable but too bad I wasn't allowed to take any pictures. Later we went and got bubble tea at this Taiwanese place called gongcha. Since I didn't like bubbles I got a green milk tea with herbal jelly. It was unlike any of the milk teas I've had before. The foamed milk was poured on top of the tea, sort of resembling a latte. But it was hands down the best bubble tea I've ever had. After that we headed over to his church. It was a friendly little church and I took the bus for the first time. I felt so proud. HK people definitely have the most efficient transportation system around. The buses are double deckers and there are even mini-buses that take you all over Hong Kong. That day I was also bitten by a heck of a lot of mosquitoes..... Dammit... But anyways we later went back to Mongkok to get street food. I had this skewer with little hotdogs wrapped in bacon thing and it was so good. It was just really oily as well lolz... Oh, and I also tasted this fried intestine thing. It wasn't that great though because it had this really weird smell coming from it....Next time I'll definitely try the stinky tofu. It was just a little overwhelming though cause it literally smelled from a block away. We also visited Ladies' Market which was a collection of street vendors selling fake products. It was a cool experience because it started raining all of a sudden but the wonderful thing is, all we had to do was just walk onto the sidewalks again. The awesome thing about shops in Mongkok is that they're covered. We also got dessert close by. I got some GaiDanJai which were so fluffy and sweet. Then we went to a dessert place and got greentea shaved snow. It was sooo good. Food in Hong Kong is just amazing. There are so many different things to try and I feel myself getting fat already. Time to start gyming again. Today was a pretty eventful day. I went to like 3 separate malls all of which were hunourmous. First I went to Megabox to finish up some college shopping at Ikea. Then traveling back, I headed to Luk Fu Plaza which was basically multiple shopping complexes located conveniently on top of a subway station. I got out of the subway and I was immediately lost. It was so embarrassing having to ask someone how to not only get back to my school but also how to get out of the mall. Later I checked out Festival Walk which is another mall at Kow Long Tong Station. I met up with sensei and we got thai food. It was surprisingly really good. I was so amused when I saw the name of the restaurant though. It was called greyhound. So greyhound is actually a bus company that runs in the states. It was hilarious since the logo looked almost exactly the same as that of the bus company's. The food was amazing though. I never knew Thai food could taste so good. I especially liked the pomelo salad because I have never had Pomelo in a salad before.
Later I met up with the other international students at LKF to go clubbing. The group was really big and we definitely stood out because of all the Europeans with us. It was funny how everyone pregamed at one 711 at LKF. I learned later that that specific 711 was famous for being crowded because it was filled with people who couldn't get into the clubs. Since the group was so big, everyone just kind of split off into smaller groups. I somehow managed to find random Babson kids just walking down the streets. We hit a bar and we lost them within 5 minutes. It wasn't that fun since it was legit jammed packed with no where to move. That or I wasn't drunk enough. What was really fun was afterwards though. My roomie and I decided we were too sober so we bought more drinks and just chilled at McDonalds till 4 am. It was so fun just laughing, eating chicken, drinking beer, and bonding with her. Sometimes it's these small things that are the most memorable. I have never walked so much in my life before and that's saying a lot considering I'm from NYC... Some other exchanges and I went out and just explored the city today. We got to know the MTR really well. Some places we explored were star ferry and central on Hong Kong Island. It wasn't the most amazing day ever though because we really weren't that sure of where we were going and what we were dong.... It was worth it though because we did get to know the city though and what more could we ask on the first day right? It was a good first day but the jet lag is still pretty bad....
So my adventure in Hong Kong begins now! =D
I must admit I had quite an eventful flight. It started off great. I had 3 seats to myself so I actually got to lie down and sleep comfortably for the first 14 hours. The problem however was the layover. I had a one hour layover in Beijing to catch a connecting flight to Hong Kong but my flight was delayed by half an hour. When I finally got to Beijing, I got on the wrong line because for some stupid reason, I thought Hong Kong was a domestic flight. I legit made it a second before they closed the gates. To be honest, they actually might have closed the gates already but they opened it again for me. The flight to Hong Kong might have been delayed because of me .. Hahahaha....I have never been so scared of missing a flight before but it was quite exhilarating. It was definitely an interesting start to my study abroad here in HK. But with that all said and done, I can't believe I'm in Hong Kong already!! This still feels like a dream XD This retreat was a blessing in so many ways. As one of the older kids in the fellowship, I could honestly say I wasn't that close to the highschoolers. They seemed so distant and it felt even hard to communicate with them sometimes. Other times, us college kids tended to be exclusive and chose only to hung out as a smaller group. Going through this retreat though, I really got to know everyone better. I have a tendency of judging people before I get to know them. I know it's a bad habit but it's hard to change. I'm getting there slowly. During this retreat, I had to really break down a lot of preconceptions I had of people. By doing that, I learned to discover that everyone had something worth loving about and I really learned to appreciate the relationships I have. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many selfless and loving people. It's been 6 years since I started going to fellowship and I still remember the first times I went. I was that shy little girl who didn't speak up and always stuck with my circle of girls. Everyone spoke Cantonese and I felt so out of place. I thought the guys were so obnoxious and it just didn't feel right being there. But as God planned it, I stuck it out. Now 6 years later, I'm one of the "oldies" and everything has fallen into place. It's where I've made some of my closest friends, people who will always have my back and pray for me. I learned to tell true friends apart. People who I thought were important to me left my life. People I thought I hated became my closest friends. I am so grateful I have this family.
My first week of work is finally over!! It might be a bit late to be starting an internship with barely a month of summer left but it's better late than never. I can honestly say I am learning a lot through this marketing internship, from managing data in a content management system, to learning about ad production and scheduling. I wish I knew design though because so much of marketing is design based. Since I don't know design, I can't help out with the more important projects. But with all that said and done, it's time for a short break from NYC. PA retreat here I come. HEHE
It was my first time trying Dip Soba today and it was amazzzzinggggg. My friend suggested we try out Cocoron Soba which is this small hole in the wall near Chinatown. It features an open bar and we were able to see the chefs making our food right in front of us. The broth came in a clay pot with a burning flame underneath. It literally came to a boil as we ate. The broth was light but flavorful and was a dashi base with pork and mushroom. The awesome thing about dip soba was that we could cook it to whatever texture we wanted. To be honest, I had a great time just making the soba by myself. It brought out the inner child in me. Haha. At the end of the meal, they brought us extra broth to mix into soup for a perfect finish. The food was great and I really liked the ambiance while eating there. I would definitely come again in the winter. Fun fact about soba: It's made of buckwheat so it's full of minerals and Vitamin B. Therefore it's a healthy alternative to ramen.
We finished the day with dessert and drinks at InDessert. The green tea waffles were so fluffy and sweet and was perfect topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, strawberries, and confectioners sugar. I just couldn't shake the guilty feeling that I was eating too many carbs though. Oh wells, YOLO. It was a good last outing before I start work on Monday. I always thought I knew who I was, personally and in relation to others but reading Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend, I've realized that I have a long way to go. A lot of problems I've had dealing with or stress that's caused me headache, are a result of a lack of clear boundaries. An example would be giving, my own and my parents'.
I'm not sure when it started but as I grew older, giving out of Love became harder. At times I would think, why am I doing so much for this person when he/she doesn't even appreciate it? This would more often than not, end up in bitterness and I don't like that feeling. It makes me feel like I shouldn't give next time but that soon leads to feelings of guilt for being selfish. Reading this book though has made me understand that even in giving, there should be limits. I shouldn't give out of obligation because that only leads to resentment. I also shouldn't give more than I have, whether it be talents, time, emotions, or money, because that would only hurt me over and over again. Setting boundaries and saying no to someone I love isn't going to harm them. It might hurt them in the short run. It doesn't mean that I should disregard others' feelings. It just means that the decision I make should still be made, after considering their feelings. In the long run, this is better for the other person and for me. Giving should be out of love and not obligation. Another thing, I learned is that a gift is something you should be thankful for not something you should feel obligated to repay. Yes this might sound obvious but when it happens, you might not even recognize it. The book uses a great example. When you give your sincere thanks to someone for a favor but they seem to be unsatisfied, then it is a loan not a gift. A gift is something you give without expecting anything in return. Sometimes I forget that what my parents have given me are gifts and not loans. I was constantly burdened by the feeling that I owed my parents for everything they'd done for me. This grew to the point that I even started to resent them. I felt like I wouldn't be able to live life the way I wanted because of my "obligation" to them. I'm finally starting to understand a little better now though. This "burden" that I felt, wasn't really a burden at all. It was all self constructed and self-inflicted. I really regret the way I acted towards my parents during that period. To them it might have seemed like I was rebelling. It's for the better that they never know the real reason and I can make it up to them now by being a better daughter. I think one of my favorite memories from when I was small was going through the grocery bags and finding a box of this. For those of you that don't know what this is, it's a red bean ice bar. It's Chinese? Japanese? Viet? O_o? Huh... I'm actually not sure but the box says made in the USA. I'm pretty sure it's Chinese though because you can find boxes of this stuff lining the frozen sections of Chinese supermarkets. These are sooooo gooooddd >_< They're not too sweet which I like and you know they're not artificial because you can see pieces of red bean in them. Even though they're called ice bars, they're not straight out ice. It's red bean pureed with milk so they won't break your teeth when you bite into them. A whole box of this in the fridge and another box of mung bean ice bars... all mine... kekeke I remember sitting on the front stoop of my place way back when I still lived in Brooklyn and just chilling with my friends over a box of this. Those were the good times. I miss those days when we'd all just laugh over the simple things, when life wasn't full of drama or stress. What I would give to be young again. |
ShirleyAsia | Hong Kong NYC to Boston to HK
Babson Class of 2016 Work Hard | Play Hard | Sleep Hard | ~ I love the beauty in details~ Archive
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