Egg Tart Let Down

On Friday, I had lunch with one of Drew's coworkers's wife, a lovely lady who had just moved here from Philly with her two kids about a week ago. It was very nice to share moving stories and compare initial reactions.

After the lovely lunch, it was time for Mandarin class, so I thought I'd grab a half dozen of egg tarts from a local bakery and bring them to class. In my mind, it was the equivalent of bringing doughnuts to work. Who doesn't like doughnuts or egg tarts for that matter? And who doesn't like the person that brings in doughnuts? Well, I walked into class, very proud of myself that I was doing something extroverted. I plopped them on our conference table in front of everyone and said "Happy Friday!" I then grabbed my own and began to gobble it down. I looked around in the middle of eating my egg tart, relishing the deliciousness, only to realize no one else had grabbed one. I timidly finished eating mine, wiped the remnants off the table, and dove head first into my Mandarin book, not looking around for the rest of the class.

Had I done something wrong? Is bringing treats to a public gathering not acceptable? Was everyone else on a diet, and didn't want the cholesterol filled calories that an egg tart brings? (This might be a legit answer, as one of the other students is very slim) Do they not like egg tarts? Or just things that taste like eggs? (I think this was the answer for the other student).

At the end of the class, the two other students did end up eating them, most likely out of pity. Plus, the egg tarts were cold by then, and a cold egg tart isn't nearly as good as a warm one. I guess I need hospitality lessons from Drew's parents. If his mom had set an egg tart before me, I would have eaten it, because I knew it would be good, and I knew she was showing me that she cared. It takes tact, and it's something I need to learn. Needless to say, I went home with four cold egg tarts, which drew and I promptly devoured.

Ok, enough about my egg tart sob story. Few other things I forgot to mention over the past few days, and some cultural tidbits.

When we went to that UofM happy hour the other day, it was in a super nice mall. In the middle of the mall, they were having a fashion show! I've never seen a real live fashion show in my life, and I'm a secret admirer of Americas Next Top Model, so this was exciting for me.

I saw my first really tall Asian guy. Notice in the picture the height of him compared to everyone else around him. Then compare the height of his head to the height of the subway door.....

We found this hole in the wall place for lunch the other day. It was like a teenagers basement hangout that served weird food and drinks. Notice the foosball table, the projector screen and comfy couches for seating. I bet that place is swarming with teenyboppers around 12pm. They also had several large cases filled with action figures. Recognize any of them?

Cultural tidbits
1. Grand Opening Flowers. Whenever a new shop opens up, the other competing stores in the area set up a large display with some kind of "welcome to the neighborhood" sign. Seems weird to welcome your competition, but it's polite.

2. Using dehumidifiers. It's so humid here, that you have to run a dehumidifier in your house 24/7 to keep mold from growing. Yuck. We run ours continuously, and get about a gallon every 6 hours. If mom were here, she'd be using the water on plants, but I don't have any plants, and water isn't a precious commodity here. In fact, ashtrays here are filled with water instead of that gravel stuff we use in CO. Could you imagine if we used water? It would evaporate in an hour, the cigarettes wouldn't go out, sparks would fly, wildfires would start...Catastrophe. Here, they probably don't even learn the word evaporation in school, because it never happens :) that's not true, the school system here is impressively good, much harder than in the US.

Surnames

Had second day of class yesterday, and I am no longer at the top of my class. We have moved on to greetings and titles, like how to say Mr. So and so, stuff beyond our lessons with Jade. Had a different teacher again for the first hour, a guy named Tony Liang. He was teaching us about Surnames. The top five most common Chinese names are Wang, like Vera Wang, Li, like Bruce Li, Zhang, Liu, and Chen. There are 92 MILLION people with the last name Wang. Our teacher joked to never say the word wang, because you will turn a lot of heads. Ha! For reference, the most common American surname is Smith with about 2 million people. Crazy huh?

Trig was getting pretty stinky, so as inspired by my skyping session with Steph and Virginia, I decided to give Trig a bath. Funny thing was, he started to shed more after the bath. He will going bald soon, I'm sure of it.

We also went to a U of M happy hour last night. Meet several very nice people. The host, in particular, was giving us all of these suggestions for good hikes in the area. Made me very excited, but apparently the best time to hike is in the fall, like Nov. I dont think we can wait that long.

More cultural tidbits!

Tidbit 1. Cooking with Interesting Ingredients. This one is not a shocker, but as I've been trying to cook semi-authentic dinners, I've had to stock the kitchen with a lot of interesting ingredients. I'll just name a few. Fish sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, turmeric powder, hoisin sauce, and siracha. In the restaurants, we've eaten things like squid ink soup, the thousand year old egg (and didn't get sick Dad!), chicken feet, etc.

Tidbit 2. Taking your shoes off. Whenever you enter someone's home, you immediately take your shoes off, sometimes even on the landing before you enter. When we see how many dogs pee on the sidewalks here, this makes perfect sense. But, I'm sure the tradition stems back farther. Not sure of the true roots.

Tidbit 3. Tea drinking etiquette. You are never supposed to pour your own tea. So whenever I am out of tea and Drew doesn't notice, I have to either give him a long stare, which sometimes backfires, so it's becoming a less preferred choice, or I refill his tea to hopefully give him a hint. But it's an interesting rule. It forces you to, in most circumstances, serve others before you get served, or pay very close attention to the needs of others.

Tidbit 4. Don't drop your chopsticks on the floor. Apparently it's bad luck, and I totally did it last week at dinner. I was trying to be a good storyteller, so in mimicking Drew, I was waving my arms around dramatically, and hit the ends of my chopsticks sticking out of my bowl catapulting them through the air and onto the floor. Luckily, the people we were eating with were American, so I don't think they knew this bad luck rule. But, our waitstaff didn't come over much after that.

This pic is not of Trig, but you get the idea. Also pics of the squid ink soup, thousand year old egg, and chicken feet. Don't gag too much.

Mandarin Class

Yesterday was my first day of Mandarin class. Drew's work gives the trailing spouse a stipend to spend on "self-improvement", to assist her in finding a job. Well, I am using that dinero for language classes. My class consists of myself and two other women, so class size is nice and small. One is a lady from Switzerland who speaks German but looks Indian. The other is a lady from Pakistan married to a Chinese Australian. I've started to realize that my "I'm white and from America" schtik is really very boring and stereotypical.

The class went really well. The first hour is vocab and grammar. Compared to English, Chinese grammar is really very simple. It's the tones and lots of vocab that's difficult. It was taught by a Chinese young adult named Amy. She was very straightforward, with minimal enthusiasm. Most of the stuff I had already learned from Drew and my three mandarin lessons with Jade back in Colorado. Both of my classmates kept commenting on how quickly I was learning this stuff, and I sheepishly didn't admit I had learned it before. I was enjoying the attention, ok?

The second hour was with a young lady named Candy. She was very enthusiastic and bubbly. When she was introducing herself as Candy, one of the students gave her a strange look. She laughed and said, I know my name is funny, I wish I could change it sometimes. This got a funny look from me. I didn't say this out loud, but don't Chinese people pick their American names? Therefore, if she realizes her name is silly, why doesn't she change it? She could if she really wanted to... The second hour is conversation, basically practicing what we just learned. The third tone, up, down, up, is the hardest for me.

The class is two hours a day for ten days. I'll be an expert when I'm done! Or at least able to move on to Beginner 2. And no, we don't learn any characters right now, just the pin yin, or written out English version of stuff.

Culture

Leah requested that I talk more about the culture here, in addition to the "what have we been doing and eating" routine. So, these are all the tidbits I have picked up so far. I won't go into a whole schpeel about Confucianism as I'm not an expert. But it does explain 95% of how mainland Chinese act. Hong Kongers, though seem to mix the old school Confucianist thought with Western money wanting, so that creates a whole new atmosphere. Anyways, to the tidbits.

Tidbit 1. Hot water. Remember how I complained about how difficult it was to get ice water in this town? Well, back when the water supply wasn't clean, everyone would boil the water. So, the restaurants would always serve hot water to show the customers "yes, we did boil the water, it is safe to drink, we are a quality establishment" and they've served it hot ever since. Similar idea to the chicken head thing. They are proving their quality to the customers. Needless today, Drew and I have been drinking tap water since we got here and have had no problems whatsoever. But, we probably won't do that anywhere else outside of Hong Kong.

Tidbit 2. People use their umbrellas. Seems silly, but I remember a Portland native once brag about how everyone uses rain jackets, probably with hipster designs sketched on them. Here EVERYONE uses umbrellas. Of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some even match their outfits. And they'll even use them when it's not raining, sun protection I suppose. They always carry them in their bags, to have ready at a moments notice. So far, we've had to do the same because it rains here at least 4 times a week. Its actually raining right at this very moment. Luckily, Brian and Karen bought us snazzy umbrellas for my birthday. Have to admit, my first instinct upon opening that present wasn't pure joy and excitement. But, upon coming here, it's been the most needed present I've gotten in a long time. It also had padded tips so you can't poke someone mistakenly in the eye. Again, seems silly, but when you imagine 7 million people walking the streets all using umbrellas, it can get a bit tight, and umbrella jostling is necessary. I sometimes have to hold mine at arms length above my head, just to keep from bumping into others. They should make a show about it...Umbrella Wars...

Tidbit 3. Drinking milk tea. I've talked about this before, but it deserves its own tidbit. Most of Asia drinks herbal tea, like jasmine tea. In Hong Kong, a British influence can be seen in that they drink milk tea. It's a black, strong tea that you add milk to. Makes almost taste chai-ish, but not as spicy or sweet, depending on your chai type preference. It is very nice to sip on a rainy spring day, and most of the time it's included in your meal. Some places ask if you want lemon instead of milk, but I've never actually seen anyone drink it that way.

Tidbit 4. Visual wealth. Hong Kongers are very materialistic, which I have also discussed before. But it manifests itself in interesting ways. One way is fancy cars. People never socialize in personal homes, so if you have a nice place, no one sees it. Not a good way to display your wealth. But, everyone will see your car. I've never seen so many nice cars in one place. In addition to them being nice, one job of the maids is to wash your car, EVERY morning. When I talk trig for his morning walk and pass by all the gated super nice mansions, the outdoor guards or whatever they are called are always washing the cars. Can cars really get that dirty after one day?

Tidbit 5. Western vs. Eastern medicine. Hong Kongers use a mix of eastern and western medicine. You see doctors offices everywhere, but there are also these shops on the streets that sell tonics. Like deep gallon jars of you don't know what's in there, it kind of looks like sea mud and tastes like it to, tonic. I think I'll pass, thanks.

Back to the here's what we're doing routine. Yesterday, I tried to work really for the first time. This is going to be a testament to personal motivation if I can get going. We also managed to drive our rental car home from Drew's work. I only screamed a few times, mostly in the parking garage because the spiral to get out was impossibly narrow. We will mostly be using the car to drive trig to the south side of the island, so not too much city driving. This morning we are, surprise surprise, watching the game!

Discovery Bay

Apologizes for the delay in blogging. I seem to have way more time to blog during the week that on the weekends.

Friday was the most humid day I have ever experienced. It felt like it would rain at any second, but never did. All of the windows of every store were fogged from the AC inside, including our own. Apparently that was our first taste of summer, and I'm not sure I liked it. We did manage to get in for lunch at this tiny coffee/ sandwich shop. We've been walking by it for days now, but there is always a 2hr wait, with a line wrapped out of the shop, down the stairs, and into the street. But on this fateful Friday, I passed by at 11:30, and seeing as the shop doesn't open til 12pm, there were only 6 people in line. So, I hopped in line, and whatsapped Drew to come join me at 12pm. Success! It was very much worth the wait. They are known for Belgium waffles with ice cream. Not comparable to Russels though; these were pretty dense, more like a cake, while Russels is lighter and crispier. Also had a real latte, first good one we've found here.

We also got our official Hong Kong ID cards on Friday. Officially official.

On Sat, thank god, the humidity broke after an epic thunderstorm, and it actually reminded me of Denver weather in the fall. Cool and crisp. We took a ferry from Central to Discovery Bay, a secluded expat community with no cars and a private beach. Unlike the public beaches here, at Discovery Bay, they can play beach volleyball all summer long. Score. The ferry ride was fantastic. Only takes about 20 min., with great views of the city. We also got to play Frogger with a ton of freighters. I think the dock workers are currently on strike, because there were probably 50 freighters just bobbing about in the water just outside the harbor, waiting to be unloaded. To solve this problem, they would bring up 2 barges, one with a crane and one empty one, and would load 20 or so containers on to the barge and tug it in. Image if you were the crane operator? One false move, and you've just dropped an entire container full of who knows what to the bottom of the South China Sea.

Discovery Bay itself was nice. Shek'o beach had nicer sand and more natural beauty, but a beach is a beach. Saw dragon boat racers, sail boaters, and sand castle builders. Fun way to spend an afternoon, despite the fact that Drew and I weren't exactly on our game.

Sat night, we went out to dinner with Pavel and his coworker Andrew 2. We went to this super nice restaurant on the Kowloon side, so we had an incredible view of the Hong Kong side lit up at night. This Andrew character is Sri Laken, but grew up in Aussie, so has an Aussie accent, lived in Paris for 3 years and now is here. Super cool guy. But, he is probably 5'4'', and I was wearing heels, so walking next to him made me feel like the Green Giant.

After dinner, we went to this historical site right next door that used to be Admiralty headquarters. It looked like a Cuban mansion, and was stunning all lit up. They have two Lord of the Ring Gondor esque trees that have to be protected by city law, so the trees are built up on these crazy pedestals surrounding by the mansion. Hard to describe, but very beautiful.

Sunday morning, we did what any MI fan would do; we found the UofM HK alum group who were all at a bar watching the final four game. The game was being streamed through a slingbox, which is like the setup we have with Brian and Karen, but it was a bit jumpy, so at a few key moments it would freeze, and people would scream, and it would jump ahead etc. Great fun. Drew will be in a delirious fog for the rest of the day. He keeps murmuring "can you believe it? I can't believe it...." sometimes to me, sometimes to no one. :)

This afternoon, we are going out the play more beach volleyball at the same park we went to last week. Then hopefully, we'll be meeting up with another newly moved couple, also from Denver, whom we found through old Wash Park vball friends. Small world.

What a lovely weekend. I still haven't received any takers for the Kirchner B&B. Come on people!

The Kirchner B&B is open for business!

Our sea shipment arrived yesterday. Hooray for stuff! The guest bedroom has been assembled and is ready for visitors. Whomever is the first one to stay will get a free breakfast in bed, made by Drew and not me, so it will actually taste good. Warning though, we used up a lot of your closet space for linens and our cache of Q-tips. I think we brought 6 boxes of them. That should last two years right?

Trig was very excited by the arrival of his mat. As soon as it was unwrapped, he pounced on it and curled up with a look of pure relief. I think all of this moving around from our CO house, to the hotel, to Leah and Stu's had him feeling nomadic and unsettled. Hopefully now this place will start to feel like home. I guess the same goes for us humans too.

I can't tell you how nice it was to sleeping my own bed. SO much softer than the rental one we've been using. Both of our backs were starting to complain about it. It was quite hysterical when the movers were unloading the box springs and mattresses. Apparently, it is unusual for beds to have a frame. The box spring just goes on the floor and the mattress goes on top of that. I had to explain very carefully what you set up the bed frame first, then put on the box spring, then the mattress. We were also very scared that the king mattress wouldn't fit in the freight elevator, and that someone would have to carry it up 50 flights of steps. Or else there would be a curb side mattress sale, in the rain no less. Luckily it fit, but it must have been a tight squeeze, for the guy riding up with it immediately starting yelling for help when the elevator opened. And I don't speak Cantonese, but they guy sounded pretty panicked to me. Perhaps he didn't understand the phrase, "go to the mattresses." HA!

Almost everything made it in one piece, except for one plastic trash can that got cracked, and a scratch on our Remarkables, NZ canvas picture. Luckily, we still have the digital copy of the pic, the moving company will just have to pay for it to be reprinted. Other than that, no kitchen stuff, no computer stuff yet.... Not too shabby.

During the unpacking process, we realized a few key things we forgot. 1. Measuring cups, for both wet and dry goods. Missed that drawer apparently. 2. Coffee. At coffee you get at a restaurant here stinks, as it is most likely instant coffee. And the stuff at the grocery stores is very expensive and small selection. Looks like we'll have to stockpile that and bring it back with us from our states trip in August. I'm sure we'll find more stuff as we go along.

To celebrate, we had a dinner of salad and macaroni with a sauce of cheese a la Kraft. Something else we stockpiled from the US. That stuff never tasted so good.

Lazy Day

Before I continue, I remembered a few things about Easter mass that I wanted to share. In addition to the Asian gospel singing, the congregation does not hold hands during the our father, and they do not shake hands during the peace be with you part. Instead, they turn and face you and slightly bow. They also have kneelers that stay down permanently, and they kneel only when the look up bells are rung. Very short amount of time. Finally, they only had the Eucharist, no wine.

Yesterday, Drew had the day off for "Easter Monday." In the morning we, of course, watched both the U of M game, Final Four!, and the Duke game. We also got in a lot of quality skyping time, all good things. We took a nap on the couch. Then Drew worked for a few hours, while I cleaned up the house a bit. Drew took Trig for a run, and apparently he was dragging tail the whole time. We went and worked out; I swam while Drew lifted. Then out to dinner. We chose something we hadn't tried yet, Korean BBQ. It was actually really good. We ordered the combination beef, pork, chicken, and lamp, as you can see on the menu. They then bring you the plate of uncooked meats, which you grill yourself on a hot plate in the center of the table, followed by probably 8 little side dishes of pickled veggies and such. All topped off by honey dew ice cream. Delicious. The lamp and the ice cream was actually the best part. We then came home and watched the new episode of Game of Thrones, which I have been looking forward to for awhile. I made a discovery. Ceirsi Lannister is played by the same lady who plays the wife to Leonidas in 300. Ha! Quite a discovery I must say.

This morning, Drew went and got his drivers license. All he had to do was show them his US one, and that was enough. We will likely be getting a car through Drew's company in two weeks. I have to say, I will not be driving EVER, but then again, I have a terrible track record as a navigational copilot, so I guess I'll sit in the back with Trig and close my eyes and hope for the best.

I start working today as well. Have to begin sometime, or my company will think I've abandoned them for a beach in Thailand.