On the road again

I WENT TO HONG KONG, MACAU, and GUANGDONG this past week. I traveled for 8 days and it rocked life. I visited a Chinese Newspaper, and we were strictly informed that we weren’t allowed to ask questions. If that seems backwards to you – I later found out the reason that we weren’t allowed to ask questions was because they didn’t want to lose face if we ask questions about why there is journalistic censorship. That experience needs to go in the dictionary under tragic irony.

I went bungee jumping. I went to the 61st floor of the Macau Tower with 10 other friends all planning to leap into the air. I went 10th out of 11. We all waited together and watched our friends go careening off a platform into nothingness. Nervous, pumped up, nervous, stoked, excited, and nervous the hour and a half wait was well … nerve-racking.

They bind your feet with a rope wrapped in a towel and attach the rope to a bungee cord. There are plenty of locks and good knots and ropes, and then you fall. Macau is gorgeous, its basically a paradise Island. The scenery is beautiful, the life is fast-pace, the spirit is fun.

That night I went to the casino and doubled the money that I bet playing Roulette. Then I went to MGM Macau and saw one of the best musical performances of my life at the Lion Bar – a world renowned venue – for free. I went to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and to a number of Hong Kong’s Islands and beaches.

I learned a ton about people. I was crammed in a bus with 43 people and not a moment to get away from them for 8 days and that always makes things interesting. People show their true colors when you see them at every moment, and people get pretty intense with other people (both good and bad) when there is nothing that can be hidden.

We stayed at a Hot Springs resort which should have been nice but surprised me by being a little too MTV Spring Break. Everyone got drunk beyond belief and went straight to Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare. The majority of the program made-out with the rest of the Program (41 students) and I later learned that no one believed that this constituted cheating on current boyfriend/girlfriends on the program or at home for various excuses. I like the challenge of determining how much drugs, sex, and alcohol I approve of accepting in other people. How far I should go and say “I don’t judge” whether or not that’s true and whether or not it should be. I have a pretty awesome set of friends and family that made me able to be able to hang out perfectly sober and not participate in a single game and not be written off by the group as a an obstacle to fun.

I went to one of the World’s Largest Trade Fairs – the Canton Import/Export Fair. I paired with three friends on the program and we created the business plan for “CollegeXchange” a theoretical client of our (We represented MGN Associates & Co.) that was looking for high-durability, low-cost, compactable dorm-goods. We took our model and did bargaining and price-comparisons and learned about the distribution and wholesale markets.

The majority of the trip was rock-solid awesome, and I’ve really really enjoyed learning from traveling, people, and unique experiences.

There is a month left filled with a lot of work. The semester back in America is ending and its odd to be off schedule with my real home, but I’m looking forward to everything that follows in both worlds.


Note of Non-Sequitur:

Chinese people are really really good at saying things so obvious you can’t help but watch your jaw drop.

I walk in the door --> “O you’ve returned”.

I am in the process of eating dinner at 7 PM --> “You eating dinner?”

I awake to my roommate walking in the door and slamming it and say Hi --> “You were sleeping.”

They don’t even have to be questions. Every time you leave, arrive, eat, breath, walk, run, attend class, blink. It is the way of being polite. Rather than ask question about things that maybe the other person doesn’t want to share, you just comment on the things that they clearly want to share with you – you know, like breathing.