Being A Celebrity

If you've every wanted to see what it's like to be famous and hounded by the paparazzi, just come to Hong Kong. I'm trying to be sensitive to cultural differences, but I find this really weird. Whenever I go out to a tourist-y place, especially if I'm with the kids, all of the tourists from India or other parts of China ask to take pictures with me/us. I guess they really just aren't used to seeing people as pale as we are, and they are super excited at having the opportunity. It's a little uncomfortable to be asked to pose with random strangers, not to mention being unsure where the pictures are going to end up. The tourists seem very nice, and basically harmless, but they are very insistent.

Yesterday, Victoria and I got a little annoyed with it all. We took the boys to the beach for the afternoon, and we happened to go to the beach that all of the tour buses stop by. Loads of Chinese tourists got off a bus, and as usual they began taking pictures of the kids from afar, sort of pretending to be taking pictures of the scenery. They slowly get bolder (this happens every time the boys are at the beach), and eventually they come over to take close-up pictures. This doesn't seem to bother Victoria really, since she knows they just think the boys are adorable; the idea bothers me a little bit. Then, a couple of women came over and without a moments thought started picking Alessio up to pose with him. Henry was freaked out, so he was sitting between Victoria and I, but Alessio is more laid back so he seemed okay. This really bothered me--you just don't go touching someone else's kids; it's not okay. Alessio was fine for a bit, but then he became annoyed or scared and started crying, which the women seemed to ignore while striking their poses. I jumped up to take him from them and set him next to Victoria. Next thing, the woman grabs my arm and forcibly pulls me next to her to take a picture. I get that we don't have a common language, so she doesn't have a way to ask politely, but I don't understand how anyone thinks it's okay to yank on a stranger's arm and hold tight to take pictures. I was standing there in my bathing suit, surrounded by a half dozen people taking pictures of me and taking turns posing with me. They started doing the same to Victoria and the kids--crouching next to her while Henry cowered and Alessio cried, even trying to take Alessio from Victoria's arms for a better picture. Really, we just wanted a relaxing afternoon at the beach--yesterday was particularly bad, but something along these lines happens most of the time when we take the boys to the beach. Again, I understand cultural differences and am willing to make allowances for it, but I just don't get how anyone thinks it's okay to go grabbing at someone else's children. The picture-taking is bad enough, but I draw the line at them manhandling the kids. Am I being too sensitive? I don't want to be rude to these people, because really they seem harmless, but it's frustrating and uncomfortable. I have a newfound sympathy for celebrities--though at least the paparazzi generally keeps a small buffer.

On an entirely different note, here are some recent pictures from around HK. I'll have better ones soon--my camera has broken, so I've been taking pictures with my phone, but I have to buy the proper cord for importing those pics onto my computer.

Hong Kong Weekend

So I made an effort to get to know my new home away from home this weekend. 

I walked around town on Saturday, engaging in the official sport of Hong Kong--shopping. In SoHo, the up-and-coming trendy district where all of the expat bars and art galleries are, there are some great little boutiques. I happened on some sales and bought a really cute dress and skirt. It's really odd to hear that your total comes to 600 dollars, but then I remember that it's Hong Kong dollars, which have a 7 to 1 ratio with US dollars (so 600HKD is about 85USD). It's difficult to adjust the mind to such an odd ratio--how often does one divide something by 7? I'm using the calculator on my phone constantly just to reassure myself that I'm not spending my life savings, because even knowing that the ratio is broad it still seems crazy to for over $70 for a cab ride. I suppose it will just take some time to adjust. 

I'm liking urban living--taking cabs and the metro line everywhere. It makes me feel very cosmopolitan :) The pollution in this urban center, though, is extensive. Just walking around outside for an hour or more, I feel my eyes and throat stinging. The smell of stale cigarette smoke in most of the cabs isn't very pleasant either. I think the idea of breathing so much pollution would really bother me if I was going to live here for an extended period. 

Today, Sunday, I went into the Central district to find some authentic Chinese food. I'm not brave enough to venture into the shops where the menu is only in Chinese--the cleanliness of those, and the source of their ingredients, is questionable at best. But I found a place in the mid-levels (between Central and SoHo) that had it's menu in both Chinese and English, so I thought is was a good compromise. I ordered Tsing Tao, the pre-eminent Chinese beer (really light; a lot like a Heineken), and Kung Pao Chicken. It was phenomenally spicy, which I had missed out on in all those weeks in France, and completely delicious. I managed to use chopsticks for the entire meal, which I was excited about--the rice is tricky; I need more practice. I've heard that Hong Kong has the best Chinese food in all of China, so I want to make sure that I go out and try a lot because I'm pretty much eating the same things with the family as we ate in France, which is kind of sad. An additional note about food: I am so excited to be in a place with proper customer service! I got used to the complete lack of consideration for paying customers that is displayed in most of Europe, but the service industry here reminds me what a dining or shopping experience should be like. Here, unlike in France, waiters don't act like you're inconveniencing them by ordering food, it doesn't take 20 minutes to get a tea at Starbucks, and I can ask for a different size in something without eyes rolling. How nice. 

One of the many super-cool sky-scrapers:

Typical street in Central:

After lunch, I took the metro (blissfully easy to figure out, clean, and cheap) over to Kowloon to see the Wong Tai Sin Taoist Temple. It's in the middle of a bunch of run-down, high-rise apartment buildings, which seemed to me an odd place for a temple. To be honest, it looks a bit contrived--more like what a bad Hollywood movie placed in the China Town of an American city would produce. It looks like a characature of what I thought it should look like. But what do I know? Apparently, it's genuine. People go to pray to buddha, lighting big bunches of incense sticks that make the whole place smell fantastic. They cup the incense and bow forward over and over again, wishing for whatever is on their list, and then leave the incense in big pots on the alter. 

It's also the place to go to have your fortune told. In the main temple, you pick up a cup of bamboo sticks, kneel at the alter with a question in mind and then rock back and forth, praying, shaking the cup until a stick falls out. The stick has a number on it, which can then be given to one of the fortune tellers outside who will find the corresponding fortune paper and interpret it. I went to a women who read my palm and my face for an overall picture of my future, and also explained my fortune from the bamboo sticks. Of the sticks I asked, separately, whether or not law school would go well for me (number 55) and whether or not my time in Hong Kong would be enjoyed (number 11). She said that law school would be rocky at first, but that by January or February of next year it would smooth out. That makes sense I suppose--rocky in the first semester, smoothing out in the second. She said my time in Hong Kong will be well spent; that I will develop some good relationships. Reading my palm and my face, she first said that I am very independent, I like to make decisions on my own, I'm a bit stubborn, but (based on the depth of the center of my palm) I am deeply loving and caring with my friends and family. The plumpness of the sides of my palm indicate that I will make plenty of money (yay!), and apparently I should invest more in property than in the stock market. Until the age of about 28, money will be kind of easy-come-easy-go, I won't be very good at saving (accurate for the moment). But after 28 my career will become more steady, I will be better at building wealth, and the money will flow in. I should not get married until age 26 or later (certainly wasn't planning on that any sooner anyway). I can have 3 kids if I want to. After age 30, I can start my own business and prosper if I so choose, and it would be beneficial for me to take on a partner (this is so because my index and ring fingers are the same length). I should continue to move around, either within the US or abroad, because that will bring good fortune to my career. I will bring my husband good fortune, too, so he will apparently also make plenty of money, which the fortune teller told me I can spend (that's how she phrased it: "you can spend your husband's money" Awesome). Around 38 or 40, I can stop working as hard, maybe retire. My life line is long, though I will have some trouble around age 55. She said something about not driving by myself around that time, and that I need to have regular check-ups so that whatever problem is going to come will be dealt with and not get too big. Lucky years for me are those of the horse, the dog and the pig--my husband, my kids, my business partner should all be of these years, and I should undertake important decisions in these years. Bad luck for me are years of the snake and the monkey--but I try to avoid those anyway :) 

The Temple:

Funny random side-note:

On Friday we (me, Victoria, Henry and Alessio) got into the elevator along with a Chinese man. As are most of the older Chinese people, he was quite short. Henry, my infinitely curious 2 year old, asked Victoria "why is the man tiny?" She tried to ignore him, because he had spoken pretty softly, but he's endlessly tenacious so he asked 2 more times until Victoria clamped a hand over his mouth and hurried out of the elevator on our floor. We burst out laughing hysterically. We can only hope that the man didn't hear him...gotta love kids. 

An American in China

I can’t believe I’m in China!

I’ve been here for 4 days, and it’s still incredibly surreal to think that I’m in Hong Kong. This was so unexpected, but I’m so glad that I’m taking this opportunity. So far, my impression of Hong Kong is pretty good. I can’t say that I had a really good look at it when I was driven from the airport in Kowloon to our apartment on the opposite side of Hong Kong island—following the 15 hours or so that it took me to come from Geneva, my mind wasn’t really open to taking in the sights. What struck me most was the apartment buildings surrounding downtown—there are dozens and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings, in blocks of 5-8 completely identical buildings, which makes me think that development must have been very rapid here, with companies undertaking massive construction projects all over the city. The apartment buildings look incredibly run-down; the humidity here plays havoc with everything, making it all look kind of deteriorated and rotten, except for the places with enough money to refurbish every couple of years. From what I’ve been told, the local Hong Kong citizens prefer to spend their money on ridiculously expensive designer clothes and cars, and live in really cramped, kind of dirty housing. To each his own, I suppose.

My apartment complex is basically like a hotel. It is a series of 7 identical, 25 storey buildings in a circle around the common facilities—the pools (outdoor and indoor), gym, children’s playroom and tennis courts. I have a studio apartment, including a big comfy bed, sitting area, bathroom and kitchen, connected to the family’s 2 bedroom apartment. I have more space here than I did in the house in Geneva, plus housekeeping service, so I really can’t complain. Everything is incredibly convenient—the gym is just across the street, the supermarket (with a wonderful selection of American and British goods) is next door, and there is always a line of taxi’s waiting. I’m incredibly excited to have proper customer service again in restaurants and from staff here, as in Europe they always act like they are doing you a favor by selling you a product or serving you food. Really, everyone here has been incredibly friendly and helpful. We had a great cab driver yesterday—he spoke French, in fact, and informed us that he can say ‘I love you’ in 10 different languages. He taught me how to say ‘I love you,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ in Chinese.

On Sunday I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art—I’ve decided to be super cultural and cool here in HK. They had some really nice exhibits; the one showcasing calligraphy over the centuries was amazing, and it made me wish that I knew Chinese characters so I would have some idea of what was written. I’ve been told that the SoHo district here has all of the really cool bars and restaurants, along with some great vintage shops. I’m hoping to check some of that out this weekend.

I think I’m going to really have to make an effort to meet people here. From what I can tell, most of the people in the complex are young married couples with small children—not exactly the friend set I’m looking for. I think I’ll look into some local classes—cooking or exercise or the like—to see if I can meet some people that way.

The kids have been as good as can be expected the last few days.  Alessio has had a lot of trouble adjusting  to the time change, I think. He keeps waking up during the night, then sleeping late and not taking his afternoon nap. He’s been a bit tired a grumpy. Henry started school on Monday. That was a bit more dramatic than I expected.  He was so cute, with his little backpack and lunchbox. I could tell Victoria was having a hard time letting him go. He’s generally willing to go to a play group or school, but I guess he’s feeling a bit disoriented so he threw a fit when we tried to leave. Victoria talked to him for about 20 minutes, he still cried when we left, and then he was apparently fine about 10 minutes after we were gone. Today was a national holiday, so there was no school, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It’s odd, but both of the kids seem younger to me here than they did in Geneva. I think it’s because they are out of their comfort zone, so they strike me as more vulnerable.

We went to see the house that we will be moving into in mid-November. It is being completely re-done, so there was a lot of construction going on. I find it oddly funny to see the scaffolding made from bamboo. It’s a nice area, just about a 10 minute walk from Henry’s school. It’s built on 3 levels; a traditional townhouse. We looked at a house that is finished out in a way similar to ours, and from the looks of it the house will be really nice. I’ll only live there for about 3 weeks before I leave, but I always look to live in comfort J There is a pool and a playground just outside the house, so the kids should never fail to have entertainment. 

Part of the Hong Kong skyline:

This is the view from my current apartment:

The outside of the house we will move into in mid-November:

The Inside, first floor:

The view from the living room: