Hong Kong

I've lived in Hong Kong since I was born, and the only time I ever actually left Asia was last summer, when I went on vacation to Sydney with my family. We usually go to Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, or some other place that isn't as far (it's not too far, really).

Oh, yeah, and going off topic a bit, if you know any celebrities that you're crazy about, please do tell! Because I really think I don't know enough about the performing industry, since most of the celebrities I know center around Disney movies and TV shows. And sadly to some or most people out there, I'm not interested in k-pop, so please don't bomb me with BTS or Exo, or other Korean groups (sorry maybe?).

Now back to the topic, I'm going to admit this, and you are not going to judge: I want to be an American.

Is that a surprise? I don't know, depends on what kind of person you are, but it's the truth, and I just said it.

As you know, I live in Hong Kong, and if I were a "normal" Hong Konger (still not a word) in this generation, I would be reading Chinese books and screaming whenever BTS comes on screen and probably hate English because it's unnecessary and everyone hates grammar.

I would probably have been one of those people if not for my mom. She emphasized the importance of learning language, and would change the channel from Cantonese to English when me and my siblings were watching Pororo, back when we were younger. My siblings and I would groan, but no one ever wins an argument with your mom, so that was that.

I don't actually remember disliking English, because we slowly got used to watching English movies and books, and would groan whenever Cantonese comes on.

And if I have to be honest, my English is better than my Chinese. It's a fact, not an opinion. A solid fact. I have essays and exam results to prove that. I didn't like Chinese books, and still to this day, don't particularly like reading them.

I used to write stories and my mom would staple them together.

I remember the first one I wrote was about a snail going to school, based on a book I read in Cantonese when I was six. I always wrote, but never actually thought I liked it or anything.

English has always been my best subject, but I never thought much about it either, until I entered fifth grade.

I was eleven then, and my English teacher started praising my writing. I don't know when it started, but my dreams changed from "I want to be an artist when I grow up" to "I want to be an author when I grow up".

I started to like writing more and more until I was sure that I loved it. I was the one who cheered when everyone groaned at the sound of the teacher announcing that we had to write an essay.

Eventually, I started writing fictional stories in notebooks and paper, loving the world I was capable of creating.

You may think this is all irrelevant, you may have come to read about Hong Kong, not a teenager's journey to loving English, but it's part of me, and I want to share that before going on about Hong Kong because, you see, you'll understand my opinions better after that long, boring story.

And if you're already bored to death, I'm sorry that there's still more to come.

In 2015, my best friend said she watched a movie called Descendants, and she liked it a lot. I didn't know what that was, and I didn't care, but I heard the songs, and I liked them, so I told my dad that.

In July 2015, dad bought the DVD home, but we had so many new ones we hadn't watched and so little time that I never bothered to watch it.

Until October, when I finally reluctantly agreed to watch it because we had nothing left to watch, and I thought it would be boring. Mind you, at that time, I had only heard of the name Justin Bieber, and had no idea who Selena Gomez or Taylor Swift or Beyoncé was.

So I watched it.

And immediately fell in love with it. I was already so immersed in the English world back then, and this movie only pulled me deeper into it.

All thanks to Dove Cameron, and I mean it in a good, awesome way.

At first, I was like "Mal's pretty". And if you don't know, Mal is the character Dove plays in the movie.

I sort of got her name at the back of the DVD case, but I didn't really believe it because I didn't know anyone who would call their daughter Dove. I searched her up on the internet and BAM I'm in love, just like that.

If you ask me who Dove Cameron is, you'll probably get so much information about her from me you won't be able to process it properly, but of course, I can't know that her favorite stuff are true because the internet makes things up sometimes.

She inspires me so much you won't be able to believe it. I started to speak more English and loved copying the way she spoke because it sounds, um, I don't know, just great. Like clear, beautiful music. Sorry if I sound like a lovestruck boy, because I'm a girl who likes boys so.

It took that one movie to make me realize that there were actually accents in English, that there was actually a difference between how British people speak and how Americans speak. It also improved my English a lot, because I started watching Liv and Maddie. And I'm telling you, I first learned the word "preposterous" on the TV show. Great learning way, huh?

But I guess it also kinda depends on the person because I love words and will actually spend half an hour reading the dictionary while not realizing that half an hour has passed.

And also, I think a thousand words is enough because your eyes'll get sore, so I'll continue in the next chapter.

-j_tsang