Quick story on how my Chinese family ended up in Minnesota: My mom was born and raised in Hong Kong and decided to study abroad at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis for her senior year of high school. Her dad (my grandpa) had a business in Panama where my dad was born. During the summer, my mom would go down to Panama to visit which is how my parents met because my dad was her dad’s paperboy. My dad, his mom, and younger sister were sponsored to be with his 2 older brothers and sister in the US. He chose to go to the University of Minnesota because my mom got into Augsburg while his family went to California and eldest brother (Lincoln) went to Hong Kong to work with churches and missionaries.
Growing up, we had no extended family around. Uncles, aunts, and grandparents would occasionally visit or we would go on trips to see family but generally years would go by until I saw the same family member again. Currently in Hong Kong, my dad’s eldest brother, his wife, and 2 of his 4 kids live in Hong Kong. While my mom’s 2nd oldest brother, his wife, and their son are here as well. And my grandma of course.
I have about 20 total cousins on both sides of the family, several of them don’t even know I exist which is weird to think about. I keep up with just a few of them on a regular basis (they know who they are because they read this blog lol). It’s a little strange seeing cousins once every 10 years because they’re like strangers who you share a grandparent with? – deep thoughts brought to you at 5am HK time. I don’t really know where I’m going with this but it’s just a treat for me to see family because it’s such a rare occasion. Everyone lives their busy lives and because of social media you’re able get a glimpse of what they’re up to and stay in touch a little.
The last time I saw my HK family together was 10 years ago in 2012 when Kimberly was wrapping up her semester at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I came to pick her up and we went to Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul for 2 weeks.
I’m going to brag about my cousin Tim for a bit because I’ve really admired him from afar over the years. I think in total we’ve only seen each other 3-4 times in person? (not counting this trip)
- When I was 3 years old in Hong Kong
- 10 years old for a family reunion in Panama
- 18 years old when my uncle finished his masters degree at Bethel
- 24 years old for the last time I was in Hong Kong with Kimberly
From what I know about him, he’s not afraid of who he is and the beliefs that he stands for which is something I really look up to.
“I’m not going to be able to do him justice with the little that I know and the fact that it’s better not to say too much anymore, but during the democracy movements in Hong Kong, Tim shared firsthand accounts of what it was like to witness the city he grew up in suffer through a monumental protest movement that was met with harsh police brutality and government-sanctioned suppression. Nearly half the city’s 7 million strong population joined a series of protests because their path to democracy and autonomy was being obstructed, and the ‘one country, two systems’ agreement from 1997 when Hong Kong was handed back to China from the UK was ignored.
He was featured in multiple publications and even interviewed by South African news to get his take on the movement.
Tim’s social advocacy is bolstered by also being part of the LGBTQ+ community. He founded and ran PLUG Magazine for several years, a publication that connected people with HK’s queer community and culture.
I follow the South China Morning Post as one of my regular news sources to keep up with Asian current events and was so surprised to see him and his husband John featured in my newsfeed in a video about being a gay couple in Hong Kong.
In short, he’s cool, I wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often which also goes for the rest of my family but they wouldn’t be very happy in snowy Minnesota and the humidity at the peak of summer in HK would make me want to tear my skin off.
Ok back to the trip. Because it was Sunday and we had only arrived less than 48 hours prior, we wanted to wait before seeing my grandma and be extra sure we were covid free. People entering Hong Kong are not allowed to eat in restaurants for the first 3 days of arrival so Tim had the idea of getting take out and having dinner on his rooftop with the rest of the family.
Joanna and I have been together 16 years and throughout our relationship, my Uncle Lincoln acted as a spiritual mentor to us. He lead me through reading Tim Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage and was a sounding board for me as we learned to navigate challenges as a dating couple. I was incredibly happy that they finally had the chance to meet in person.
It was a great dinner where we were able to catch up and spend time together, really hope that we’ll have another chance before we fly back later this week. To sum things up, I think Vin Diesel put it best here:
Your cousin is incredible! Very cool indeed.
And ugh, I really wish I didn’t see that last pic.