Stellar Achievement

The great thing about learning a language is the landmarks: The first time you successfully order dinner. The moment the subway intercom becomes intelligible. The first times you're speaking with a fluent-ish English speaker, but switch to Chinese for expediency. 

I haven't had one of those moments in awhile, until last week:

Coming back from Hong Kong, I disembarked at Pudong airport, made it through customs, grabbed my luggage and started dragging my knuckles toward the MagLev because my backpack was way too heavy. Half an hour later I was off the floating train, and about to get on the subway. But the ticketing machine wouldn't accept my 10 kuai note. This after five days in Hong Kong where the magical ticketing machines accept bills and have a mechanism to drop the change directly into your palm was exasperating.

I stomped over to the information desk, a middle-aged guy in khakis and a visor stopped me.

"I don't have any small change."

"You can use your money, just go over to the machine-

"I JUST TRIED THAT, IT DIDN'T WORK!"

That sentence was no grammar feat. But the whininess, you see: It just rolled off my tongue, an authentic self-pity fest, no forethought required.

There should be an award for when language skillz get to where you subconsciously slip into your eight-year-old-in-need-of-a-nap voice in your second tongue.

Then I noticed the guy was an Expo volunteer, and totally undeserving of my caterwaul. He escorted me to the machine and he and his volunteer buddy did the right amount of straightening and snapping before feeding my note to the machine and handing me a ticket. 

I said thank you too many times, feeling sheepish, he told me I didn't need to be polite. And then I went home thinking Chinese...还可以

An Average Saturday in the PRC

I roll out of bed at 9:30 am to see Chef Mike is almost out the door.

"Where are you off to so early?"

"Brunch!"

"I thought you only worked brunch on Sundays."

"Yeah, but one of my guys had to go back home this weekend to stop China from taking his family land."

"Hmm, that sounds futile."

"Yeah."

"Well, see you tonight."

"Yep, see you."

'Hai...I'm Back

I thought I would have a craaaazy busy work day, but I didn't. Maybe I should have. Ah well. Mañana, mañana. 

I ate lunch with my BFF Jess who is leaving for Africa for three months. What a wench. Yes, she  allowed me to stay on her couch for a week when I first arrived. Yes, she gives  step-by-step foolproof directions over the phone from my apartment to wherever I need to go within a 2-kilometer radius.  And yes when I call and say things like "Jess, I went to Family Mart and didn't see any floss - DO THEY HAVE IT IN CHINA?" She answers patiently. Dude...Watsons. But she's still abandoning me for the summer to go on safari and shoot an elephant or some such. So she's a wench.

Speaking of floss, I received a whole box of it (unwaxed!) from my mom today. I only found the waxed stuff at the pharmacy here. And my hygienist recommends the non-slick variety. I kind of get a lot of cavities, so I try to do her bidding. I was feeling generous and gave Chef Mike a pack of unwaxed floss too so he too can avoid the "Shanghai gums" (mom's words).

I was trying to get some work done from home tonight but the Chef came home early, and it's impossible to get anything done with that guy around. We ordered tacos and hotdogs from the place downstairs (and made them bring it up to us, ohhh yeeeeah). And then we went to Family Mart on a beer run before watching Dawn of the Dead (the remake). 

Chef Mike walked out with a can of Asahi in each of his back pockets and a bag of Bugles in hand. On the way home we discussed how bothersome sharting is (I'm talking about the bodily function, not the Bollywood classic). I won't go into details, but this is definitely one of those 'you haven't lived in China until you've...' kind of things.

Tomorrow morning we have an editorial meeting at the bar ... in the morning. Everyone gets a hundred-kuai tab. The fun never stops: Sunday I'm taking my surrogate boyfriend, who is also named Mike, and who is Jess' roommate to yet another press lunch. He gets free food. I don't have to buy a real doll (Google that one yourself, I'm not linking it.). It's a beautiful relationship. 

I did get some bummer news this week: My brother Billy broke his ankle sliding into first base during a baseball game. Some dumb kid was standing in front of the plate. So no track-and-field junior olympics for my little bro this summer. No anything for three months, actually. Poor little guy. 

Bye Again

I'm sitting at the gate, about to head back to Shanghai, enjoying my last hour of unfettered internet access. I feel like I should pull up some dirty pictures, just because I can, but there are families around.

Today I picked up my z visa, a license to live and work in the PRC. Thankfully, it only took about 5 minutes this time. Then I went to Hong Kong park and sat by a manmade waterfall reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris for a couple hours - trying not to dread the return to work. Work isn't so bad, but Hong Kong is so nice and clean and easy. Really, it's the nicest city I've been in for quite awhile: When I was home in the States, I only passed through San Francisco, I spent three months on the Oregon Coast and never even made it up to Portland. Before that it was five months of traveling and before that Taiwan.

This was the longest trip I've ever taken completely by myself. I'm not ready to make a habit of it, but I had a good time.

Clarification per my last post: I told the med student I had a lazy eye. He didn't notice. My aunt asked, because she never notices. My brother sure does, and lets me know every time.

Last Full Day

I don't want to leave.

This morning I woke up and started trying to figure out how I'm going to get 'home'. I opted out of the train, because the travel agent said there would be big delays because one derailed Sunday.So tomorrow I'm flying back to Shanghai. Oh, but I don't want to...

After I booked my flight, I took myself to City Hall for a dim sum lunch. I was a bit gleeful, not having to share for once. But then I felt sick afterward. That'll teach me.

Then I took the bus to Stanley, a small-town tourist trap on the southeast side of the island. There's a market, a beach, a waterfront promenade. I bought a summer dress, waded on the shore for a bit, sat in the shade for a good long while. But the best part of going to Stanley is the drive over, the rode is narrow and steep so if you sit on the top level of the double-decker bus (which I did) it seems like you're in real danger of going over the edge. It's also fun to drive past all the swanky houses.

Back in Hong Kong, I took the star ferry to Kowloon because no HK trip is complete without a ride on the old green-and-white ferry. Once in Kowloon, I decided to wait for the sun to set and watch the lights all come on across the water. Then I wound up staying for the light show - a bunch of neon lights on Hong-Kong side skyscrapers and lasers twinkle to a recorded soundtrack.

I got hit on twice today. Once by an Afghani second-hand electronics dealer, and the second time by a med. school graduate taking a break before he starts his ophthalmology residency. He offered to correct my lazy eye ... in four years.

Day 3 Recap

It's Tuesday morning, I want to get out and enjoy my day (and figure out how I'm going to get back to Shanghai, ugh) so I'll make this quick:

Yesterday I met a friend's father's friend (networking skills: I have them) for breakfast at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club, which is this colonial-style building with a swanky dining and bar area decorated with framed magazine covers and newspapers clippings. It's members only, so I was lucky to go.

The lady I ate with is American and works in government relations (sort of like lobbying, I believe) for finance companies in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. She graduated college, came to Hong Kong, worked four different part-time jobs, ran out of money, hung on by threads for nine months until she was hired by the American Chamber of Commerce, and she's been working in communication here ever since.

After that, I rode the Mid-levels escalators - the longest series of outdoor covered escalators in the world, woo hoo! Doing so is a good little exercise in voyeurism - the escalators go up past all these high rises and you can gaze at people's laundry hanging outside windows, almost close enough to touch, as you glide by.

In the afternoon I spent 2.5 hours in visa-office hell, just waiting, waiting, waiting so I could walk up to a window, hand over my papers and have the girl say "three o'clock, tomorrow." It literally took less than a minute once I was up there. While I waited, I chatted with an American FedEx pilot. Before he moved to Hong Kong, he was in Alaska for two years, so we had plenty to chat about.

After that I took the tram up to The Peak. I was there in time for the sun to set and watch all the lights come on. Sigh. It's really gorgeous up there. Enough to make a girl want to move...

Then last night I met a group of Couch Surfers (online travel forum/traveler hosting network) for a drink - there were three students - from Belgium, Ecuador and Spain - plus a lady on sabbatical from Spain and a long-haired Texan who makes a living testing pharmaceuticals on himself (i.e. they put him up for a week, feed him medication, observe him, he goes home with $5,000).

Everyone wanted to know how Shanghai compares to Hong Kong. I told them I like Shanghai but Hong Kong is way better. Why? They asked.

I could've gone through a gigantic arsenal of reasons, but instead opted for the brief composite: "Because this was never a Communist country."

The Ecuadorean and the human guinea pig looked at me sideways - like I'd said something unfitting for a group of multi-national, friendly, non-judgemental globetrotters. Oh well. Truth hurts.

Alright, I'm off! Hope I can find a reasonably priced plane/train/coolie to hump me back to Shanghai.

HK: Day No. 2

Got up. Talked to the fam. Watched a bit of TV (Breaking Bad, season 3, baby...). Put on my sun dress and my Nikes and ventured out for solo tourist day no. 2.

Today I took a ferry to Lantau Island, something we didn't do last time. At the pier, I saw this poor Filipina maid carrying a three-year-old, i.e. a kid that's way too old to be carried. He kept arching his back and screaming, occasionally swatting her in the face. His mom stood by occasionally threatening to no avail. He probably felt emasculated. Scarred for life from all that carrying. I'm joking, but seriously what's with carrying kids that are way too big? I saw this Chinese family come into church a few weeks ago and the dad was carrying a kid who looked like he was at least seven. Maybe the kid was tired, but church is at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. So wrong.

I took a bus up to see world's tallest, outdoor seated Buddha. I've seen quite a few superlative Buddhas now. The one in Ulan Bator. The one in Leshan. This was just one more. I know that sounds terrible, but I've seriously seen a lot. Then I ate lunch in the monastery vegetarian restaurant - mushrooms, bok choy, roots. Tasty, but not satisfying like a slice of beef or even a chicken breast would've been.

I took another bus to Tai O - "the Venice of Hong Kong" - this ramshackle fishing village where the houses are made of sheet metal and they stand on barnacle-covered stilts. Stray cats. Old people shuffling mah jong tiles. A market full of dried fish snacks. Piles of empty Blue Girl cans. Just the way a fishing village ought to be.

I bought a colorful handmade bag in the local market. The saleslady was about to scurry off to find someone to speak English when I asked her if she spoke putonghua, the common language. Then I asked her questions about her wares in Mandarin and she answered in Cantonese. Things like colors are similar enough between the dialects I could figure it out. I got a kick out of that. Kind of like last week I got a kick out of interviewing a Japanese textile manufacturer with a Japanese-Chinese translator, plus my friend translating the bits I didn't catch into English. The conversation kept going Japanese-Chinese-English, Japanese-Chinese-English. We probably all knew enough English we could've cut out the middle language, but then somebody wouldn't have a job!

For dinner I took myself to Lan Kwai Fong for a lame slice of pizza. To make up for the blah pizza, I had a drink in a bar afterward where a Filipino cover band was playing. Another losery first - going to the bar by myself! "This one is for you, lady" the lead singer said when they started playing Just the Two of Us. Embarrassing.

Tomorrow I'm having breakfast at the Foreign Correspondents Club with a PR lady, then I'm going to go sort my visa. After that I'm going to go ride the mid-level escalator and eat dim sum at city hall. Ta ta!