Wow, just wow. This was one of the most amazing trips to Hong Kong in my life. Where do I even begin? Let’s start from the very beginning of the trip to the end.
I first arrived into Hong Kong with a fresh excitement and anticipation for seeing my girlfriend, Gloria. We have a long distance relationship and have already been together for 8 months. It’s un-fucking-believable. About six or seven months in and we did not realize that our relationship hasn’t even begun. How we endured those months I will never know, and neither will Gloria. Gloria picked me up from the airport, and when I saw her, I was so joyful. I finally got to see her, after so many months of torture. After so much time. We went over to my flat where I showered, and then took Gloria to Maritime Square to eat lunch at uhh, uhh, uhhhhhh… I don’t remember =(. But we had a wonderful lunch! The second night we went out to see the view of the river in Sha Tin, and, we had quite some adventure in the dark which evolved into many many adventures into things related to handicaps and babyrooms ;). Spending so much quality time felt so unreal, we even went biking 18km from Sha Tin to Taipo and back!! It was the most fun bike ride I’ve ever had in my life. Never would I have thought I nor Gloria would even have the stamina capacity to follow through with the strenuous task. Then, we went swimming in a Sha Tin pool, where I was unable to recover my swimming skills that I acquired at the few years of my childhood. Gloria, however was able to. I was impressed by Gloria’s bike riding and swimming; I just could not keep up with her. Next, we had a life changing experience at Wanchai, before the robbery occured. We were able to spend so much time together, playing Pokemon and watching a cooking competition show together. It was amazing, but got ruined by an incident which you can read in another post: Wanchai Robbery. But the happiness would eventually fade into a dark, two-week devastation.
It all begin with a call one night. After submitting a job application, Gloria gave me a call. “Honey, I feel very dizzy”, Gloria told me. “Uh, you should probably go to sleep right now”. The essence of the conversation went something like that. I did not really take Gloria’s complaint that seriously and decided it was not a big deal. Then it all went down. You can read about it a post we did a while ago: Love and Sufferingand From Nightmare to Blessing. In the end though, I really suffered a lot, and so did Gloria. I became a better man and learned to take care of someone in both mental and physical distress, which I don’t think anyone who is normal can handle. However, I was so grateful to God for the experience because it really accelerated the growth of our relationship. We revealed ourselves in our worst states to one another, which gave us the ability to appreciate each other wholly and fully. Gloria and I have a long journey to travel, but we will continue the road together.
The experience also allowed to get to know Gloria’s mama. Gloria’s mama is a very smart and very nice person who works hard and someone that I now look up to. Though she has a lot of wisdom to share, I could see the emotional chaos that goes on in her heart and the way that she attacks Gloria when she is feeling insecure. Gloria has told me about this behavior and I could see it. However, I hope to have had some sort of influence on Gloria’s mama so that they may treat other better and live with each other more comfortably. I am so glad that their relationship is much improved because Gloria shared her feelings with her mom. I think Gloria has become more brave lately and more open with her heart and emotions, and my goal is to blossom her entirely.
After the storm faded, we went to Festival Walk. Gloria gave me a huge hug and we had a little reflection on the storm that was going on. It was pretty crazy. We’ve been through a lot of shit. We then went to check out new wallets, and eat. The next big milestone in our relationship was when I was finally invited into Gloria’s house to have dinner. We had dinner and I went up to her house around 5 times already. I helped Gloria clean and organize her room to get rid of all the trash she had, and empty out all the space on the table. As a former hoarder, I knew the feeling. At that moment, I felt like my heart connected with Gloria because a lot of the stress that she must have felt must have been the same that I felt when my room was so messy for so many years. I am so glad to have helped her cleared out this part of her life, I’m hoping she will maintain that. She can finally feel relaxed in her own room, she can wake up comfortably knowing that she doesn’t have to deal with the huge mess that is on the table or in her unorgainzed room. She can come home feeling like it is really her very own place. With such an organized environment I am so certain that it will motivate her to work harder to fixing up her CV’s, cover letters, and applications. It made me really really happy to see her heart free of such a huge burden that has been haunting her life for so, so many years just as it had once haunted me before.
In our last few adventures, we went to play pool, go bowling, go to Stanley, celebrate Moon Day, Sunny Bay, and Macau. It was magical. After going through the many shit storms that we went through, we were finally able to enjoy our time and enjoy our vacation together. We took many beautiful photos and shared them on social media sites. Hehe. We also got to eat dinner with my good friend Rocky, who was surprisingly quite a hustler. I was extremely impressed that he was grinding a clothing factory in China. Hopefully his wisdom and experience can help me and Gloria as well.
Let’s talk about Macau. Wow was it quite an experience. It was my birthday celebration trip, haha. Macau gave me a strange mellow feeling that felt pleasurable. Macau is like a village next to wealth and abundance. It is an abundant city, yet a city buried in outdated technology and a lack of modern infrastructure. The casinos are absolutely grand. The architectures are pieces of art, yet ironically right next to the castles are old, broken, unstable shelters people live and run business in. I’ve always imagined Hong Kong to be the home of the juxtaposition of wealthy right next to the poor, yet it seems that Macau is the city that truly deserves the label. It is essentially the Las Vegas of Asia, after all. I am so glad I got to experience this strange city with Gloria. I will never forget it.
Our vacation has now come to an end, although many adventures still await us. We have a lot ahead of us. I learned so much about Gloria in this one month than I could ever learn in seven months that I was apart from her. She is a bright woman with such a free spirit and cuteness that brings so much joy. I am so proud to call her my partner. Though she may currently be at a somewhat lost position, not knowing which way to go, I hope that the direction will be clear very soon. I know that she will be able to find her path. I wish I was in a position in which I could pave a way for her, but I am currently just not in a position to have that ability. I am also striving for my goal. This experience in Hong Kong really taught me an important lesson: either work very hard and earn lots of money or suffer. Those are really the only two choices we have. In an abundant country like the U.S., it may not seem so, but the rough environment in Hong Kong forces us to make clearer, more focused decisions and quickly as well. This was important for me. It opened my eyes. I am going to work very hard to improve myself and my skills so that I may have the opportunites to earn lots of money and do what I love. Hopefully one day we may be in a position where we can help others succeed and give our gift to others. Share our music and art. Share our knowledge. And grow together spiritually, mentally, and physically. Thank you God for blessing me with my amazing girlfriend Gloria.
This is only the beginning, and there is so much more ahead of us. Gloria, I love you <3
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