RTST/Thanksgivvukah/Clockenflap/MOS

The title of this blog might not make a lot of sense, but regardless, I've had a very busy 2 weeks since my last post.  I know I can't explain everything that has happened, so I'll just attempt to summarize my life without going into an overly descriptive 1500 word essay (like my English paper due last week).

First, last weekend was the annual 24 Hour Race, organized by Running to Stop the Traffic (RTST).  Each year, students from all around Hong Kong meet at Victoria peak and run 3k laps around the trail for an entire day, in order to raise money for Freedom Matters, a charity that fights human trafficking in Nepal and India.  Anyways, I decided to volunteer for what my school calls the Feel Good Squad, a group of people dedicated to shouting at and motivating our school's runners.  Our school fans were much rowdier than all the other schools, wearing pikachu and dinosaur onesies, attempting to speed up our runners, meanwhile receiving glares from the other international school students.

Robin and Sam aka a dinosaur and pikachu

Over the course of 24 hours, people got tired, injuries happened, but memories were definitely made.  Very few of us really slept much (which made homework difficult the next day), but the runners managed to push through, even at 5am in the morning when other teams were walking and giving up.  Our school ended up 3rd or 4th place out of 30 something teams, with most of the competing boys running 15 laps and the girls running at least 10.  Of course, our school won the best fans award for the fourth year in a row.

The beginning of the race

The next day, after returning to school and realizing the magnitude of work for next week, I tried to take a denial nap.  It didn't work, so I felt obliged to actually work.  Between a 200 character Chinese test, that prior mentioned essay, a TOK presentation, a chem lab, and a Spanish debate, I had plenty to stay busy with.  I managed, and the assignments and the following school days passed by.  Partway through the week I received news that some family friends were visiting from Michigan and that we were going to meet for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

On Thursday, I attended school on Thanksgiving for the first time in my life.  Besides the glancing references from others about dead Black Friday shoppers and Indians, my Thanksgiving was amazing, and I realized I had so much to be thankful for over the course of the last year.  I skyped my family, said hi to my Alaskan cousins, then went to another class.  After thst, I took the subway to TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) for Thanksgiving dinner with the Zhongs.  We found a really nice restaurant overlooking Victoria harbor and replaced turkey and stuffing with fish and dumplings.  Afterwards, we returned to their hotel and they gave me a suitcase.  Apparently my parents sent a suitcase with them full of my favorite food, plus flip flops to replace my broken ones, and a random pair of American flag Sperries.  Even more to be thankful for!  Afterwards, I was supposed to say goodbye and return to school for the 9 o'clock check in, but since it was too late to make it back on time using public transit, I sent an email asking for an extension (I'm not so sure if my head of house received the email, meaning I might be locked on campus next weekend), and then we dessert.  When I finally made it back around 11, I realized I had a suitcase of food, and no possible way to finish it.  So, I invited friends to my room and we ate until we reached typical Thanksgiving levels of over fullness.

This weekend, the streak of busyness continued.  I had usual lion dance practice, then went to German Swiss International School with some friends to work a booth for a charity.  After that, some friends gave me a free ticket to Clockenflap, Hong Kong's biggest music festival.  30,000 people gathered at a park overlooking the entire city, listening to UK and HK bands.  I might not have recognized any of the performers, but it was such an experience, as I'd never been to a music festival before.

After returning to school, I had a spontaneous idea: to climb the mountain next to school the next day. I spent the entire term looking up at the mountain, Ma On Shan (MOS), and wanting to climb it, but I never had time.  Since I had a surprisingly light homework weekend, I figured this was my last chance of this term, since I only have one weekend left before my return to Michigan.  Anyways, I posted on Facebook and many people said they wanted to go hiking the next day.

In reality, only me and my Kosovan friend Altin actually woke up for the 7:30 hike, with everyone else choosing to stay in bed for another few hours.  I'm glad I didn't stay in bed though, as the hike up and down MOS was a relatively challenging, but worthwhile 3 1/2 hour hike.  As we neared the top of the mountain, we could see for many kilometers/miles around us, and my school that I spend so much time at seems so insignificantly small.  When we reached the top, we could see downtown Hong Kong, downtown Shenzhen, China, and the dozens of other mountains of Hong Kong.  It was such a quality break from day to day life at LPC and the view was so incredible.  After some time chatting and taking pictures, we rushed down MOS (only tripping a few times), and returned to school in time for brunch.

 A few pictures from the hike

After brunch, I started working on my espanol and zhongwen, but then remembered that I should probably post something on my blog.  If I waited another week, I'd end up with a blog that rambles even more than this post.  Anyways, I only have two school weeks left in this term, and then soon enough I'll be facing the (actual) cold of Michigan and seeing my friends and family back there!