Hong Kong Blog: Hong Kong Chic

Meet Mandy, from Hong Kong! Her blog is Hong Kong Chic

Bloggers from Around the World Series

Howdy everyone, my name is Mandy and I am the proud author of my sewing blog Hong Kong Chic. I am really honored to be a featured blogger on Nana Hood, although I am not a grandmother (if I were, this post would be a little shocking haha), nor am I a mother (yet), but I am very happy to be sharing with you all my story!

My hometown Hong Kong

I was born and raised in Hong Kong, China and I can go on and on about my hometown, but to make a novel short and if you were to take away anything from my story, is that 1. Hong Kong is not Communist, 2. We do not kill baby girls, and 3. We are not all Kung Fu masters. LOL OK OK, that was just me trying to be funny, but to be more serious…

Hong Kong has a land mass of 426 square miles with more than 7 million in population. So how big (or small) is it really? It is 6 times the size of Washington D.C. Of that 426 sq. miles, only 25% of that is developed because hills occupy most of our land. With that in mind, there are roughly 6700 people per square mile, making it the most densely populated area in the world. It became a British colony after the First Opium War (ended in 1842), was briefly occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, and was returned to China’s ruling on July 1, 1997. We, as Hong Kong citizens, have gone through quite a bit of turmoil, but for my generation, it was the uncertainty of our nationality; are we Chinese or are we British?

Summary of My Life

I came from a swimmer family, both my parents are good swimmers, so I joined a swim club and started training everyday, 3 hours a day when I was 11. I started competing among other teams, and among high schools, won a quite a few medals and trophies. About one year into my training, a former Australian Olympic champion started training me to be drafted into the Hong Kong Olympic team, it was very exciting but stressful. I was merely a 12-year-old and did not want to lose my social life. I quit after only a few weeks of intense training. Looking back, I should have stayed and at least try it out, but there is no time for regrets now.

Growing up in Hong Kong sure was fun but I realized I was not like everyone else. For one, I was athletic, never into beauty products or hair styles or fashion, cannot play one single musical instrument, loved working with tools, and was pretty tech savvy. But I was not a very good student, never got really good grades, except for English (that should’ve been a sign). I did not fit into the stereo typical Asian mold, so when I was 15, my parents sent me to England for the summer to learn English and to experience something different. I loved it! Then the next summer, I went to New Hampshire, Seattle was next, then it was Oklahoma for a whole year. I eventually went to college in Oklahoma. My college life in Oklahoma is another novel so I won’t bore you with it today.

The Love Story

During my second semester in college, I signed up for a Humanities Class, which was taking a trip to France for spring break. The day of departure, a friend gave me a ride to the airport and we were talking at the gate (when security was not an issue yet), a boy walked up to us, who happened to have gone to high school with my friend, introduced himself to me, was taking the same trip with me, got seated next to me on our flight, and with whom I fell in love and married 8 years later. Such a romantic story right? 🙂 It never gets old telling this story. We do not have children yet, but we do have one cute dog named Bella, she is a Lab mix and she is 5 years old. She can do many tricks, her most recent one is balancing a treat on her nose and then catching it in midair.

Finding My Passion

I became a wife in 2008 and my hubby did not force me to work, so I stayed home and became a domestic goddess. But it was a bit boring doing chores day after day. One day after a hail storm, I met a neighbor who happens to sew. From there I learned how to operate a sewing machine and bought myself a sewing machine and started sewing. It has been exactly 3 years this month since I started sewing. I have always kept a journal, so I figured I should keep a sewing journal and that’s how I started blogging. Since then, I have created lots of things, most beginner stuff, but lately, I have been info upcycling. Using old jeans or military uniforms to create something entirely different is very satisfying for me knowing that I am helping our mother earth one seam at a time! Not only do I sew, I also repurpose household items such as laundry detergent bottles, turning them into something else. Plus, I have been renovating our 1960’s house. Everything I do, I try to do it green, from organic gardening to hang drying clothes on clothes lines. I believe every bit helps.

Blogging in Hong Kong

The blogging community in Hong Kong is different in a sense that they mostly blog about fashion, entertainment, or politics, seldom do I come across a sewing blog. Sewing isn’t a very popular hobby for people in Hong Kong, they are busy, too busy. I remember when I had a job in HK, I worked 6 days a week, from 9am to 10pm and sometimes past midnight. With that said, when people have time to stop, they rather sleep. Plus, people in Hong Kong micro-blog much more than really writing an article, again, because they are too busy.

My Family

Last but not least, I am so blessed to still have my heroes with me, my parents. NO ONE will ever replace them in my heart. I was just like any teenager, thinking them as annoying, but that soon changed once I had to be on my own, taking care of myself, no more just yelling out “mom, did you do my laundry?” I now call them everyday (since I live in the US and they live in Hong Kong), I miss them soooo much that it hurts. I am getting teary eyed just typing this. I want you all to know that no matter how much you think your parents (for lack of a better word) suck, they actually are the only ones who love you unconditionally, so treasure them as long as you can before it’s too late.

From Teresa- Thank you, Mandy, for sharing your story with us! I love reading about other cultures and other people, don’t you? If you or someone you know is from a country other than the U.S. I’d love for you to tell us about your country. Just message me here and I’ll get in touch! Thanks again, Mandy!

You can meet Mandy at the following places….

https://www.facebook.com/sew.hkchic

https://plus.google.com/u/1/112616293426880393921/posts

http://hkchic.blogspot.com

http://pinterest.com/hongkongchick/