August 14, 2009 My friends from kickboxing

Throughout this summer I have appreciated the wonders of Hong Kong, explored new interests, and had valuable work as well as networking experiences.  I have been especially fortunate to meet some amazing people from both Columbia and Hong Kong with whom, I have no doubt, I will maintain lasting friendships. 

Although the adventure, the food, and the opportunity for international work experience were the main factors in my choice to come to Hong Kong, what allowed me to have such a great time were the people around me.  I worked in a relatively small office and although not everyone got along so well, all the regular workers treated me and the other interns fairly.  Oftentimes I would find some of them going out of their way to help me out by replacing a broken battery charger, helping me buy Cantonese opera tickets, or showing me around Hong Kong and Macau.  I also met two amazing friends in kickboxing class, Yan and Joey.  They were a bit older tMe checking in for my flight back homehan me and kind of adopted me for a month or so.  They showed me around all the parts of Hong Kong I hadn't explored for myself.  I knew I could call them anytime if I got lost or I needed the Chinese name of a place to give to a taxi driver. I left my family in the US and gained one in Hong Kong.  My last day in Hong Kong, they insisted that I let one of them help me carry my bags to check in for my flight.  I'm really glad I got to spend time with Yan and Joey during my last night in Hong Kong.

Although my internship involved a lot of administrative worGoodbye lunch with my coworkersk, I was also able to do to a lot of research on epilepsy.  I, of course, researched the driving laws, but I also got a chance to research more scientific aspects of epilepsy to help one of my coworkers improve the PowerPoint presentation they use for epilepsy education training.  Being able to learn more about epilepsy, or rather the lack of information on it, has made me even more excited to go into the quickly developing field of neuroscience.

This summer has been a fascinating learning experience.  Choosing to participate in this internship rather than staying in New York to continue researching in a lab was a good choice.  During the summer I connected with people on the other side of the world, participated in an internship that wasn't necessarily following the path of a pre-med student, and blended into Hong Kong society.   

July 23, 2009 Container Port

The day after I submitted my second blog all the interns gathered for the long-awaited visit to the container port. Row upon row of all different kinds of cargos being transported by numerous ships, cranes, and trucks.  The massive scale, diversity, and efficiency of the port resonated throughout each part we visited, from the port itself to the air-conditioned offices in the control tower. The visit left a strong impression of not only the importance of Hong Kong's port in global shipping but also the rapidly growing economy of China as a whole. This impression has only been strengthened after meeting with a representative from the US Consulate General, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce, and the CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (a briefing with these individuals was arranged by one of the Columbia Experience Overseas employers).  They also spoke of China's growth in comparison to the hard economic times presently suffered by the West and those who depend on their economy.  Before I even applied for the internship I have been debating whether or not to take Chinese and these events along with my general experience in Hong Kong have convinced me to take Mandarin (although Cantonese is the official language in Hong Kong it is spoken in few other places) this upcoming fall semester. This skill, along with English and Spanish, would allow me to get around in most places around the world. I have really enjoyed being a global citizen and becoming more aware of the interconnection between people of very different cultures as they all strive toward similar goals.

Shinyoung and me exploring Cheung Chau island

The following weekend, Shinyoung and I left relatively early to catch a ferry to a small island called Cheung Chau. Our first stop upon arrival, fresh seafood! After the meal we began our journey along the winding pathway leading around the island.  We passed two beautiful beaches then climbed up the trail for the awe-inspiring views at the top. Due to the possible typhoon that day (and other plans) we both left early from the island leaving many places yet unexplored. This turned out to be a good decision since soon after arriving on the mainland typhoon 3 was announced and later that evening it went all the way up to typhoon 9. After Cheung Chau, Shinyoung and I went our separate ways and I continued on to visit Stanley Market to buy souvenirs for my family.  Later on we met up again for a free screening of Harry Potter (which was pretty good) and left the theater to find the weather had taken a turn for the worse.  We quickly got back to the MTR to return home.  I fell asleep to the raging sounds of the storm.

One of the coolest things I've gone to Is the Muay Thai tournament last Sunday. I have continued to attend classes and this was the perfect chance to see the guys from our gym in action.  I went with two other girls from the gym, and we got spots right next to the ring because we had nice cameras.  One of the guys in charge did everything in his power to make sure we got shots of everything so we could send them to him later on. We were so close, at one point during the match the fighters slammed into the side of the ring and we could feel their sweat splashing over us. It was pretty gross but still kind of cool. Their power, speed, and energy were incredible. One fighter got hit so hard he fell to the ground and lost by KO.  To top it all off our Sifu ("master in Chinese), Billy Chau, who had been in Canada for the past 2 years, was there to support the fighters. Billy Chau was once the world champion in Muay Thai kickboxing and has acted in movies with other famous martial artist such as Jet Li and Jackie Chan.  Needless to say the excitement and momentum of my stay in Hong Kong hasn't slowed a bit!

Muay Thai tournament

Attempting to learn kickboxing

July 10, 2009

Work has really picked up these last couple of weeks.  Kevin, Eunice, and I submitted our first proposal to the complaints office who then referred us to the office of transportation as the most direct way to push for change.  In our new proposal to the transportation office we decided it would be appropriate to use New York's epilepsy driving laws as a model.  Both have similar transportation systems and population density, so many of the concerns about people with epilepsy being allowed to drive are similar.  If we don't receive a satisfactory answer from the transportation office we will arrange a meeting with HK's legislative council.  It's pretty exciting that we have been getting answers so quickly. Unfortunately even at the pace we are going we probably wouldn't meet with the legislative council until early September after all of the interns are back in school.  It's nice to personally see a project to completion, but just knowing it's getting done is satisfactory enough.

Lately, when I'm not working, I'm off to Muay Thai kickboxing class (or studying for the MCAT, but no one wants to hear about that, blah!). The people are friendly, the workout is great, and the gym is near the dorm.  Can't get much better... Well, maybe it could if the instructors spoke English.  Although in retrospect, I think I have been learning faster because I have to watch much more carefully to balance the language barrier.  All I understand is "Yut. Yee.  Yut.  Yee" (1, 2, 1, 2) to signal left and right punch. Otherwise I lag a step behind until I figure out the pattern.  Left, right, hook, kick, uppercut, etc.  Luckily the trainer has been very understanding.  They even invited me to go on a boat trip with them at the end of July!  It's going to be awesome if the weather holds up.

Big Buddha on Lamma IslandThat's about it for my average weekday experience, now onto the weekend excursions.  A couple of weeks ago, four of us interns braved a visit to Lamma Island despite Typhoon 3 warnings the previous day (Warning: do not try at home! or anywhere for that matter). The weather was actually pretty cool, which was a nice break from the constant heat.  The hike would have been wonderful if it weren't for the torrential downpour, which completely soaked us.  Even so, we saw a lot of beautiful scenery and the seafood was fresh and amazing! Another great trip was going to see the Big Buddha (the largest in all of Asia) on Lantau Island.  I went to the statue via cable car and got the most breathtaking views of the mountains and the city.  They had a lot of great (cheap) souvenirs and a delicious vegetarian restaurant, which donates its profits to charity.  After climbing up the rather lengthy flight of steps, I reached the Buddha statue on the top of one of the numerous mountains in the area.  There was

Me and my coworkers at the Peak Tram

a nice breeze and the view, of course, was superb.  Not only did I get to see the Buddha up close, I saw all the mountains surrounding the area and even distant islands and beaches.  Needless to say, I left very satisfied. The sun even came out for a bit and lit up the mountain range. 

My most recent outing was actually this past week after work.  My coworkers invited me to go to Victoria Peak ("the Peak), a mountain overlooking Hong Kong's main city area. Sadly, the Peak tram was under construction that day so instead we took the bus all the way up.  It was late by the time we got there and the trail we went on was dark and silent, at least until we started laughing, talking, and flashing our cameras.  We had a blast together.  They took me around the entire path.  Along the way I was able to see the full splendor of Hong Kong at night.  The flashing buildings, peaceful harbor, dark mountains, and gliding ships. We left late and all of us were yawning at work the next day, but no one would deny that it was totally worth it.

Victoria Harbour at night

Statue of the woman/goddess standing over the dragon at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

June 25, 2009 

Until June 10, 2009 I had never stepped foot outside the USA aside from a brief trip to Canada and now I'm on the other side of the world.  I'm living amidst people with a very different culture in a country 12 hours ahead of New York... And it's absolutely amazing!  My senses have been infused with captivating sights of nature and history, alluring smells of Asian cuisine, and fascinating sounds of the nine-tone Cantonese dialect. 

During the first few days, I made a mad dash to explore as much of Hong Kong as possible from Temples and museums to night markets and piers. One of my favorite experiences (and best workouts) was climbing the seemingly endless stairs to explore the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.  The journey to the top was lined with Buddhas of all different types of skills, personalities, and physiques.  But the best part was once I reached the top and found a small water fall behind a beautiful white statue of a woman standing over a dragon. Another great experience was viewing the lightshow by the Star Ferry.  In this lively event, the buildings across Victoria Harbor in Central lit up in different patterns to the rhythm of some cheesy yet charming music.

As for my internship, I am working for Enlighten - Action for Epilepsy which, as the title implies, is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of people living with epilepsy by providing them with resources and a strong community as well as working to dispel the stigma surrounding epilepsy in Hong Kong. One of the first tasks my boss, Orla, assigned was "Learn Cantonese!" So I have been attempting to pick up a few lines here and there, but I have found the tones very difficult to learn since I have been speaking Shinyoung and me at Tian Hou Temple in Macaua basically monotonic language my entire life. Raising or lowering the tone of your voice gives new meaning to words that otherwise have identical pronunciations. This is not even considering the complexity of learning how to read and write Chinese characters, which are more like symbols or illustrations than phonetic guides as in English.  Luckily, with the help of my amazing coworkers, I have slowly begun to grasp bits of the language.  Plus, I now have a "Learn Cantonese" book plus audio CDs which I checked out from the Hong Kong Public library!  

The second big task that she gave me and two other interns from Hong Kong, Kevin and Eunice, was to research driving laws concerning people with epilepsy and prepare a proposal to the government to allow them to drive with limitations.  After calling public offices, emailing other epilepsy foundations, and reading through mountains of papers, we learned that people with epilepsy are allowed to drive with a recommendation from their doctor. The problem is that there is no standardization of qualifications necessary for this recommendation.  One person could get a recommendation from one doctor that they can drive if they were seizure-free for two years and for six years from another. We are currently working on redirecting the project to not only address the goDelicious Portuguese egg tartsvernment, but also the medical community directly. 

The last part of my adventure for the first couple of weeks should probably have been the first thing I did in Hong Kong. My internship and exploration of Hong Kong were going great.  Only one little thing missing... my work visa.  Unfortunately, my flight for Hong Kong left a few days before my work visa arrived, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise giving me a great excuse to check out the exciting sites on the Macau and Taipa islands.  Once I received the documentation I began planning my eventful trip to Macau after which I would re-enter Hong Kong and activate my work visa. I spent my time In Macau with Shin Young, another Columbia intern who is working at the Science Museum. We walked up mountains, went to the beach, watched mini concerts, ate some amazing dim sum and perhaps best of all discovered the mouthwatering delight of the Portuguese egg tart.  The flaky, buttery crust and creamy, sweet filling were definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  Apparently Shin Young has located Portuguese egg tarts at the Excelsior Hotel that are better than the ones we had in Macau. I know where my next stop is.