Day Two: Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Tuesday, July 22^nd (Welcome Orientation)

Written by Ty Daguay

 
After enduring 22+ hours of flying and being laid-over, our group woke up around 7:30am to get a tour of our work camp called Wing Lung Ecological Farm.  Our host at Wing Lung, Simon, showed us around the farm and spoke about the ‘five piece of field’, also called um fai tin in Cantonese.  This translates to the five different layers of land that utilizes and maximizes the amount of space provided.  At Wing Lung there are only three pieces established, but that’s because the other two pieces of land were built below the farm and are currently inhibited with grass and weeds.  Speaking of weeds; our first task at Wing Lung Ecological Farm was to weed out the invasive plants and dandelions that were choking out the baby citrus trees.  I wish we had before and after pictures, because the citrus trees looked so big that it was hard to believe that weeds once invaded their area.

The basic function of the farm is for experimental purposes – testing for successive production of crops by using a variety of plants and fertilizer.  At the farm, there was also a river flowing through the opposite end of the campsite.  The river is used to water the plants and, I’m not too sure so don’t quote me on this, but could also be used to drink.  The Hong Kong government sends people to check the pollution index of the river, which is why I believe that the river could ultimately be used to ingest!  Simon also said that many farms in Hong Kong consider the wind (fung) and water/rain (soi) elements for their geographical design, so that they can grow the healthiest foods.  There were so many different crops being grown at Wing Lung Farm, from edible vegetables to crops being used for medicinal purposes.  In particular, snake grass; originally from Sabah, Eastern Malaysia, was one of these medicinal leaves being grown in Wing Lung’s greenhouse.  Snake grass is being studied because it is said to have cancer-curing properties, so many of these leaves are being studied at local Universities and hospitals for further research.

 

After cooling down from our outside chores, we got to bond and learn a lot about each other.  The first task was writing/drawing out our fears and expectations.  Each person was given two small post-its, one for our personal fears and another for our expectations.  The feedback was pretty mutual; majority of the fears listed pertained to health and awareness, while the expectations all had to do with either bonding, learning, or having fun! 

 

Our next activity was the ‘Chinese vs American thinking’ game.  Let me explain, the game was derived from a Chinese woman who studied abroad in Europe who was particularly curious about the cultural similarities and differences that they shared.  I feel like this helped her to feel a sense of belonging; that no matter where she was in the world, the people would share similar characteristics as her.  In this attempt, our makeshift ‘Chinese vs American thinking’ game was created (with the help of our camp facilitator, Bird)!  I didn’t take any pictures of the cards to show you an example, but basically there are two cards in either red or blue, both opposite and contradictory of each other (for example: hot breakfast as red card vs cold breakfast as blue card) and you stand to either side of the room that best fits your liking.  The red cards represent Chinese thinking, and the blue cards represent American thinking.  The activity is basically seeing your personal mannerisms and preferences, which definitely helped our group to see how similar and different we were from one another; in other words, seeing which of us are more Chinese and/or American!

Another awesome activity we got to experience was learning basic Cantonese!  Two of our group members, who were both from Hong Kong, taught us how to count from one to ten, how to bargain for food, and how to call someone handsome and/or pretty.  Basically all the necessary words you ever need to know in Hong Kong, haha!

 

Later that night, while everyone was winding down, one of the Hong Kong volunteers named Shirley showed us how to prepare dumplings!  Almost like molding clay, except the clay is edible and you stick peanut butter in the middle.  Delicious!  We ran out of peanut butter towards the end, so we used some of Miho’s hi-chew candy and put some inside.  Also, Bird wanted to spice up our night and told Steph to put spicy shrimp sauce in four dumplings!  After all the dumplings were prepared, Shirley put them in a broth and boiled them for later that night.

 

As the night progressed, some of Voltra’s past volunteer camp leaders and coordinators stopped by for dinner and to get to know each other.  Our day was pretty exhausting, and not to mention we merely landed less than 24 hours ago.  Our team, just freshly bathed and clothed, sat comfortably on the couch while observing all the staff members mingle.  I wish I had enough energy to join in on some of the conversations, but honestly I was physically and emotionally exhausted from our adventures coming here and our first full day in Hong Kong.  As the food lingered in everyone’s bellies, one of the staff brought out their ukulele and started jamming to some American music!  From bands like The Beatles, and Green Day to Bruno Mars!  Miho, Kelli and Felicia are such awesome singers J!  At around 12am everyone started going home, and we were able to fall asleep around 12:30am.  What a long and eventful first day it was!!