Running Around the World

Hello babes!! Sincere apologies that I have not been on-top of my blog posts.
These past 6 weeks have been incredible beyond! As both of you know I spent four weeks in Europe. I went to Budapest, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Rome. Someone once asked me “what are you running from? Why do you have such a desire to travel?”. The answer for me is a no brainer. I love the feeling I get when I travel — the thrill of exploring a new place, walking through history, trying local dishes, and really speaking to locals about politics and life in their country. Alexa, as you said in your post, each local was so thrilled to meet “a true American” like ughhh Canadians are so much better. I love walking around a cool city and visiting cool cafes and going to local grocery stores. I also stayed at some cool hostels and met some awesome people! It was cool to visit cool bars in Budapest, drinking ginseng cappuccinos with locals in Rome, climbing a volcano in Scotland, and visit a beach in Portugal. I had a really fun time and took some awesome photos for my photo wall (in my room at home which you guys HAVE TO VISIT!!!). Travelling is the best but is also SO exhausting. When the plane touched-down in Tel Aviv I honestly started crying tears of joy. I had a day and the half in Jerusalem to quickly see some friends and shop at the market. It was weird coming back to my apartment as I know have three new roommates. There are 200 new students which is CRAZY! I felt overwhelmed and then headed to the airport to catch my flight to Ottawa. I had a NINE HOUR layover in Toronto and wanted to die. I could have driven to Ottawa and then back to Toronto to catch my flight.

Coming home was strange. First because it was MINUS THIRTY and I just wanted to run back into the airport to catch the next flight to PLUS 25 Tel Aviv. Something that always happens is that you come home and realize that everything is just the way you left it. Your family is (basically) the same, your house smells the same and you still have the same snacks in the cupboard. What’s different is yourself. I’ve had so many incredible experiences and so many moments which really took my breath away (sorry for the cliche). There were times where I fell off my bed from laughing so hard, times where I cried really really hard, and times where my heart pounded in my chest because I did something that scared me. These experiences are magical, and it’s hard to answer a simple “ya, It was good” when people ask you about your semester because there’s so much more to say.

Visiting Queen’s was really fun as it was so nice to see some awesome friends (Shout out to Syd). Visiting was reassuring as I know I am going back to a good place (Queen’s is the best). My sister’s bat mitzvah was amazing and so fun! Sonia and I were the MCs for the event and there were over 160 people there (my grandma says that it was my ‘mock wedding’). I felt like I was running around all night talking to all my parent’s friends, but I spent the night on the dance floor with my little sister, which was just the best! My house was so Russian and insane. There were over 14 family members from Moscow, the US, and all over Canada. Everyone was drunk for 3 days, drinking vodka like water and only speaking Russian. What a cultural experience.

I am leaving to catch my flight to Toronto in half an hour (gahh) and I am inhaling my mom’s cooking while I can. This time tomorrow I will be back in Jerusalem taking classes on Israeli politics, Hebrew, archaeology and public health. I have already signed up for a 3-day Sea-to-Sea hike all over Israel for the end of March and am getting ready for Jewish Halloween in a few weeks haha. I am really excited to start this semester as I know it’ll be full of wonderful adventures and fantastic experiences. I want to spend more time in Jerusalem and I want to have more “heart-pounding” experiences.

Love you babes!! Will message you from the other side! xxxx

Hello from Beyond the Grave (Hong Kong)

Hello friends!

I’m sorry it has taken forever for me to post on the blog, I’ve just been feeling really uninspired. This post isn’t really what I wanted to put out, but I hope it gets the ball rolling enough so that I can read more amazing posts from the both of you.

Hong Kong has been interesting and definitely a major adjustment. At times it doesn’t even feel like I’m in Asia at all.  Some parts of my experience here reminded me so much of my first few trying months at Queen’s, however we all know how well that turned out so I’m hopeful that my time abroad will yield the same results. Hong Kong is as disorienting as any country in Asia could be. My school is located off central Hong Kong island so I feel as though some of the supposed Westerness of the region is lost on me. I never thought the English language could be comforting until I got here, speaking the native language of the region I am is something that I have definitely taken for granted. I wish I could put it into perspective for you how strange it is not to understand posters, conversations, or even menus 24/7. Thankfully all the students and professors at my university speak English, however the same cannot be said for service workers (taxi drivers, waiters, and cashiers). I have been reduced to using language translating apps to get around when I am not with my Cantonese speaking friends. I thought it would be easy to pick up Canto while in Hong Kong, until I realized there are 9 different tones for the language, therefore my vocabulary is extremely limited. While the language barrier has been difficult, I have found some interesting ways to cope.

The food in Hong Kong has definitely been hit or miss. Since my campus is literally on a mountain it’s definitely a struggle to eat off campus. Canteen food here is notorious for having low health standards (more than 5 of my friends have gotten food poisoning). It’s almost like playing Russian roulette every time I go out to eat. Since most of the people I know have gotten sick I’m just anxiously waiting for my turn. On a positive note, there is an abundance of Michelin rated restaurants in Hong Kong and I have had the pleasure of trying a few. Asian cuisine is not something that I am extremely familiar with, and sometimes I don’t even bother asking what I am eating. It’s almost better to live in ignorance both of the actual food and its preparation.

It is blatantly clear both on campus and off who are exchange students and who are not. I’m definitely starting to miss the “multicultural” nature of Canada.. Everywhere I go I’m marked as a foreigner. My skin colour and hair make it almost impossible to blend in. I’ve been constantly confused as an American (apparently black people only exist in America and Africa) and it hasn’t been as annoying as I thought, just awkward when professors ask me questions about American history (Syd you’d ace all the questions!).

My classes currently have me more interested in politics than genders for the first time in awhile. Both of you know my Gender in Asia class has been a huge letdown, I have never realized how important my feminist friends (YOU) are to my happiness. I miss have our deep conversations about all things genders. It can so completely frustrating listening to people saying offensive things even if they don’t mean to.

However, the politics in Hong Kong are super interesting. I am taking a Hong Kong Society course and it’s really given me a lot of background information on how the region works. The colonial history here is so unique when compared to other countries I’ve studied and its weird to think that not all colonial projects end in disaster. Hong Kong is in such a state of flux and my time here has given me an unique insight into the minds of the locals, both about the protests and their attitude towards mainlanders. Its strange to think that I am living in a country that is not a democracy, something that I have taken for granted my whole life. I find the protests here extremely inspiring and worthwhile, there is just something so amazing about people risking their safety for an issues they feel so strongly about. I could say a lot more about this topic, so if any of you want to know just shoot me a message.

I’m really confused and stressed about what I want to do after I graduate. I’m constantly running through different options, but none of them seem to really click with what I want to do/become. I always thought I wanted to do grad school after Queen’s, but now I’m just so unsure because I can’t seem to chose between politics and genders. Hopefully I’ll have some sort of epiphany on the topic soon to report to both of you.

I’m sorry if this post isn’t what either of you were looking for, its not what I was either. While I’d like to think of my time abroad as adventure seeking I think I will be spending more time (re)discovering myself if that makes sense. There are a lot things that I’m trying to work through right now and I apologize for my lack of presence both on the blog and elsewhere.

Hopefully the next time we chat or post I’ll have something truly exciting to tell you!