By Nisa

Wow, a week flew by so fast and Hong Kong still continues to amaze me. Today we met with our host family for dinner. Our host Yvonne decided to combine the dinner with Zelon’s and his host students. We all took the MTR and then switched to a taxi to Zelon’s house, the trip altogether was about an hour. Zelon lives in a village called Ka Wo Sea View villa in Tuen Mun. The environment there was so different compared to Hong Kong Island; it was more of a family town full of houses and is really quiet. Yvonne took us to a wet market to buy groceries and meat for our dinner; we bought plenty of meat and vegetables. The wet market was a lot busier during the evening, because everyone was barely getting off of work. It took us about two hours to purchase the groceries before going to Zelon’s house.

As we arrived to Zelon’s house we noticed that the house was a lot bigger than it looked, he lived in a duplex and there were two other families in the same building. His house was lot more modern compared to his neighbors and everything looked remodeled, it was almost liked we were in a really fancy condo. Most houses in Hong Kong are only one bedroom and about 500 ft., but this house had 3 bedrooms and a seemed a little bigger than 500 ft. The biggest surprise when arriving at Zelon’s house was seeing his maid. I’ve only read about maids in Hong Kong in books, but never have I actually seen a maid that lived at their home. It was so interesting to me because she was so nice, but so shy at the same time. Thanks to her, prepping and cooking was a lot faster. During our stay there we asked Zelon and Yvonne many questions about school, family and life, the environment felt like we were really at home. We all made our six dishes and made our final big dish of hot pot. It was so much fun making those dishes, we all helped one another out. We really didn’t expect to stay at their place for so long, but they were so welcoming. We laughed at so many jokes and the host students were able to teach us some basic Chinese words to use at restaurants, and other different services.

Our meal was so delicious! I definitely did not listen to my body during this meal, because I just couldn’t stop eating. We had two options for the hot pot, spicy and non-spicy. There was so many dishes to choose from I had to eat them all. The parents were so funny and sweet, they offered many dishes and sat and ate on the rooftop with us. While eating and observing the family, it is definitely no different than our family meals back at home. The only difference that I noticed was that the parents do not know how to cook, so every meal Zeeve (the maid) makes. Interesting fact, the maids usually never sits and eats with the homeowners, but in Zelon’s family case, she does. I’m glad I was able to observe and experience many different things today. I wish I can describe this day in full detail but then I would never stop talking. Lets just say I would definitely come back to visit this family if I had a chance too. I am so grateful for all the opportunities that I have had so far in this trip and continue to look forward to more! Big shout out to Kathleen for all the amazing photos!

PolyU + SJSU students + Zelon’s parents