I woke up this morning with a jackhammer drilling its way through my brain.
After a week of silence in our street, it is on a Saturday morning at 8am that the builders decided to take up their construction work again. Why? Surely Monday morning, when everyone is already annoyed to be waking up, would have been a better time to start polluting our sound environment again, no? Why choose a day where some people might like to have a lay-in? WHY?!!!
Only in Hong Kong...
And Krusty managed a feat of his own today, too.
Every day, almost without fail, Krusty looks up to the sky and says, in his little Irish accent, "Wow, look at the sky, it's amazing." This whether the sky is blue, cloudy, white, red... Every day.
But today, he managed the unthinkable - while we were in the lift, Krusty look up at the fan on its ceiling and said "Wow, I can see the sky from here, it's amazing"!!
Only Krusty!
31 January 2009
30 January 2009
D-127, office life
What is the proper etiquette if your desk neighbour is sniffling non stop? Do you hand them a tissue (there are some on their desk already), do you say nothing?
D-128, back to work syndrome
After two days off, going back to work was... well... suitably painful.
In fact, I jumped out of bed and did something to my neck, so I walked around all day wincing, and am not sure whether people thought I was reacting to them in an odd way or just a freak. In any case, my pain in the neck reaction to work has not been fun.
The good thing about CNY though is that after three days off, a lot of people have taken Thursday and Friday off too, to complete the week - the city is empty and my trip to work, which usually takes 25 minutes, only took me 7 minutes this morning.
Dried seafood street is smell-free, taxis are aplenty, the coffee shop actually has free seats and you could hear a lotus seed drop in the office. It's almost like a normal city!
Almost.
In fact, I jumped out of bed and did something to my neck, so I walked around all day wincing, and am not sure whether people thought I was reacting to them in an odd way or just a freak. In any case, my pain in the neck reaction to work has not been fun.
The good thing about CNY though is that after three days off, a lot of people have taken Thursday and Friday off too, to complete the week - the city is empty and my trip to work, which usually takes 25 minutes, only took me 7 minutes this morning.
Dried seafood street is smell-free, taxis are aplenty, the coffee shop actually has free seats and you could hear a lotus seed drop in the office. It's almost like a normal city!
Almost.
28 January 2009
D-129, the big calm
I am starting to wonder whether this new resolution to write an entry a day was a bad idea - today I spent the day relaxing in my pyjamas as I knit, read and watched television. Not exactly material worthy of a bestselling novel...
D-130, Boom!
For the CNY celebrations, I headed sans Krusty to the dark side to watch the fireworks.
First Julie and I went for a girly champagne lunch with Madeline at Cafe Causette, and then we crossed the harbour to help Emily prepare for the night's festivities by wrapping 100 dumplings. It's a traditional Chinese New Year activity, and it felt great to do something Chinese for once. Sometimes I feel like I live in Europe over here...
Emily and Allen cooked an amazing meal for us - they are from Taiwan, and they have come to HK to open a Taiwanese restaurant - I can't wait.
After the fireworks - in which one of the boats firing them caught on fire! - we played a Chinese drinking dice game, and I went home happy that I managed to spend a night speaking only a minimum amount of French.
Here's to broadening horizons!!
First Julie and I went for a girly champagne lunch with Madeline at Cafe Causette, and then we crossed the harbour to help Emily prepare for the night's festivities by wrapping 100 dumplings. It's a traditional Chinese New Year activity, and it felt great to do something Chinese for once. Sometimes I feel like I live in Europe over here...
Emily and Allen cooked an amazing meal for us - they are from Taiwan, and they have come to HK to open a Taiwanese restaurant - I can't wait.
After the fireworks - in which one of the boats firing them caught on fire! - we played a Chinese drinking dice game, and I went home happy that I managed to spend a night speaking only a minimum amount of French.
Here's to broadening horizons!!
26 January 2009
D-131, I see lai see
For the first day of the new Chinese year of the Ox, I went to... work. I have subsenquently found out that this is illegal, unless you get paid the overtime rate, but nevermind, Krusty is out of town and I had nothing better to do, anyway. If I had stayed at home, I would probably just have knit all day!
The day started with the boss of the company I was working at handing out lai see - or red envelopes, filled with money. This is a tradition which I thought I understood, but it turns out it's much more complicated than it seems. Basically married people give the red pockets to unmarried people, and don't receive any themselves. That means, no free money for me! One of the guys in the office had also lost one of his grandparents that weekend, so he couldn't receive money either. BUT he could take it from his boss, because that trumps death and marriage. I also had to give some to the guards in our building, even if they were married.
There are other complicated rites and rituals at this time, too. For example, it's recommended you don't lend anyone anything on New Year’s Day, because the Chinese believe that if you lend anything such as money today, you'll be lending it for the rest of the year to come. So far, mission accomplished, although I did let someone use my computer... Does that count?
Similarly, you shouldn't cry on New Year’s Day, or you’ll be crying for the rest of the year, too. That also means that parents shouldn't do anything that makes their kids cry, like tell them to switch their video games off, or finish their sprouts... Again, mission accomplished. So far. I'm trying not to watch any films, as I have been known to cry at the first father shrinking his kids, or lion cub losing his father in a stampede...
What I found out you could do, is wear red clothes (mission failed, I'm in grey), eat veggies (failed again, I had pasta), and clean up (hmmm no comment).
OK, I failed all of those. But I did cook dinner for my friends whose baby is in hospital at the moment. That's got to count?
The day started with the boss of the company I was working at handing out lai see - or red envelopes, filled with money. This is a tradition which I thought I understood, but it turns out it's much more complicated than it seems. Basically married people give the red pockets to unmarried people, and don't receive any themselves. That means, no free money for me! One of the guys in the office had also lost one of his grandparents that weekend, so he couldn't receive money either. BUT he could take it from his boss, because that trumps death and marriage. I also had to give some to the guards in our building, even if they were married.
There are other complicated rites and rituals at this time, too. For example, it's recommended you don't lend anyone anything on New Year’s Day, because the Chinese believe that if you lend anything such as money today, you'll be lending it for the rest of the year to come. So far, mission accomplished, although I did let someone use my computer... Does that count?
Similarly, you shouldn't cry on New Year’s Day, or you’ll be crying for the rest of the year, too. That also means that parents shouldn't do anything that makes their kids cry, like tell them to switch their video games off, or finish their sprouts... Again, mission accomplished. So far. I'm trying not to watch any films, as I have been known to cry at the first father shrinking his kids, or lion cub losing his father in a stampede...
What I found out you could do, is wear red clothes (mission failed, I'm in grey), eat veggies (failed again, I had pasta), and clean up (hmmm no comment).
OK, I failed all of those. But I did cook dinner for my friends whose baby is in hospital at the moment. That's got to count?
25 January 2009
D-132, home alone
After yet another "so this is what I'm thinking for the wedding, yeah but how much does it cost?" conversation with Krusty, he has left for Paris and I am alone again. I just hope he can get some days off in return for all of the work he has been putting in recently...
Until then I have to sit here listening to the new piano that the neighbour has just bought, wondering how I, a piano player, can actually be angry at someone else making exactly the same noise as I do. I mean how intolerant can I get?
No wonder Krusty calls me Stressica...
Until then I have to sit here listening to the new piano that the neighbour has just bought, wondering how I, a piano player, can actually be angry at someone else making exactly the same noise as I do. I mean how intolerant can I get?
No wonder Krusty calls me Stressica...
24 January 2009
D-133, freezing in Lantau
Today's exercice took place on Lantau, an island just off HK, where we went hiking with two other couples. Krusty is just back from Australia, and is leaving tomorrow for Paris, so we were very tempted to just stay at home and chill, but instead we went outside to get chilly.
It's the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday, so we thought it would be packed, but we hadn't taken into account the fact that it was FREEZING! The wind chill factor meant that we felt that we were back in Europe for a minute, but after a few steep sets of stairs, we soon warmed up.
We passed the amazing concrete walls that have been sprayed on to avoid landslide (which happen quiet often), small villages where the idea of the Hong Kong Island harbour seafront seems inexistent, a secluded beach with incredible sand formations that looked like cliffs, and a water catchment walk into which Krusty just HAD to find something naughty to do. And finally we discovered a hillside cemetary like none we had ever seen before - it seems that the ashes of ancestors have been placed in large pots on which a stone holds paper money offering from flying away. Fascinating.
It was cold but it was lovely, and I'm glad our friends managed to convince us to leave the DVD player behind and actually experience the outside world.
It's the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday, so we thought it would be packed, but we hadn't taken into account the fact that it was FREEZING! The wind chill factor meant that we felt that we were back in Europe for a minute, but after a few steep sets of stairs, we soon warmed up.
We passed the amazing concrete walls that have been sprayed on to avoid landslide (which happen quiet often), small villages where the idea of the Hong Kong Island harbour seafront seems inexistent, a secluded beach with incredible sand formations that looked like cliffs, and a water catchment walk into which Krusty just HAD to find something naughty to do. And finally we discovered a hillside cemetary like none we had ever seen before - it seems that the ashes of ancestors have been placed in large pots on which a stone holds paper money offering from flying away. Fascinating.
It was cold but it was lovely, and I'm glad our friends managed to convince us to leave the DVD player behind and actually experience the outside world.
23 January 2009
D-134, year of the det-ox kicks off now
My glutes are hurting more than I ever thought was possible right now...
There are just three days left until we ring in the Chinese year of the ox – or as I like to think of it, the year of the det-ox – so that I can fit into the dress to die-t for.
I know, I know, I should just love myself the way I am etc etc, but with just 134 days to go before the big day, I am slowly turning into bridezilla, so spare me the wise advice.
I had a session with a personal trainer who told me I was fat and lazy (nice), and that he wasn't sure if I could reach my target unless I paid him lots of money, but I am still determined to do it on my own and to succeed.
Meanwhile, the city is really quiet as people prepare for the new year's celebrations, and it's lovely to see the streets a little emptier than usual as people search only for red lanterns, golden decorations and a new pair of trousers (essential). I even heard someone say that new year was all about shopping (of course it is, we're in Hong Kong), but that this was different because it was “traditional” shopping. That makes it almost spiritual...
Here's what Times Square looks like as the traditional shopping takes place around it:
There are just three days left until we ring in the Chinese year of the ox – or as I like to think of it, the year of the det-ox – so that I can fit into the dress to die-t for.
I know, I know, I should just love myself the way I am etc etc, but with just 134 days to go before the big day, I am slowly turning into bridezilla, so spare me the wise advice.
I had a session with a personal trainer who told me I was fat and lazy (nice), and that he wasn't sure if I could reach my target unless I paid him lots of money, but I am still determined to do it on my own and to succeed.
Meanwhile, the city is really quiet as people prepare for the new year's celebrations, and it's lovely to see the streets a little emptier than usual as people search only for red lanterns, golden decorations and a new pair of trousers (essential). I even heard someone say that new year was all about shopping (of course it is, we're in Hong Kong), but that this was different because it was “traditional” shopping. That makes it almost spiritual...
Here's what Times Square looks like as the traditional shopping takes place around it:
06 January 2009
Memories
As the tram made its rickety way back from my office yesterday past the neon lights of the city, my zonked mind wandered back to my youth.
I then started trying to remember being really very, very little, to see how far back I could go. But then I realised that my obsession with food started right at the beginning - all I could remember was the little milk cartons and Penguin or Club chocolate bars we would get at break, the semolina we would get for dessert, and the "how slow can you eat a cookie" contests I used to have with Sally.
I can remember singing in the school play, the haunted sports room, and ringing the school bell, too, but nothing really sticks in my mind as much as what I would eat and when.
Hmm... taking the tram might save me a lot of money in psychotherapy...
I then started trying to remember being really very, very little, to see how far back I could go. But then I realised that my obsession with food started right at the beginning - all I could remember was the little milk cartons and Penguin or Club chocolate bars we would get at break, the semolina we would get for dessert, and the "how slow can you eat a cookie" contests I used to have with Sally.
I can remember singing in the school play, the haunted sports room, and ringing the school bell, too, but nothing really sticks in my mind as much as what I would eat and when.
Hmm... taking the tram might save me a lot of money in psychotherapy...
04 January 2009
Little sackboy unlimited
My resolution for 2009, since I couldn't resist finding one, is to cultivate my own garden, in the Voltarian sense of the term.
Step one, of course, is to make sure I can actually fit into my wedding dress, so Krusty (the very essence of a skinny Irishman) has put me on his very scientific Skinny Irishman diet, which consists on eating... well, nearly nothing. I was excited when he first told me the name, thinking I could more than handle what I usually see him eating, but his holy trinity of peanuts, pretzels, and potato chips were absent from the new plan, and eating a maximum of 2/3 of every meal has replaced them instead. Anyway, we'll see – at this point, after 28 years of dieting, I am ready to try anything. The first few weeks though, according to the diet's creator, consist of being as hungry as possible to make the body stop wanting huge portions all of the time, and so far I am not loving that horrible gurgling feeling.
Step two is to stay at home more, and, after a VERY embarrassing New Year's Eve that resulted in many unexplained leg bruises, to stop drinking alcohol, at least for a month or two. Therefore I need to find activities that pass the time and prevent me from going through the entire address book of my mobile phone to find someone to go to a bar with. So far, that activity has been knitting, and I have become quite obsessed. Babymomma sent me a request to knit the sackboy from Little Big Planet, and I have been knitting ever since, relentlessly putting the little man together. So focused am I, that I managed to tune out Krusty's infuriating piano scales in the background to finish the little guy last night, and when I looked up to see the finished result, I noticed that it was 4am... I am totally exhausted today.
And so, after four days of 2009, I have become a sleep deprived old maid and a food addict who's gone cold turkey (mmmmm, cold turkey.... With some salad cream... And crusty bread....).
Cultivating my garden also means putting all of my affairs in order, so as well as frantic wedding planning, we went to Macau yesterday to validate my brand new working visa. While we were there, I treated Krusty to his birthday present – tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Zaia show. It was magical, as usual, and as we were discussing its lack of impressive circus acts not mattering because of the prodigious costumes and imaginative storyline, we bumped into four of our friends, who had been to the same show! I thought Hong Kong was small, but even when you leave the country you can't escape meeting someone you know!!
We joined the foursome for drinks before heading back to the ferry with them, and at the other end, they all had to watch me as I was dragged away by the immigration officer because I had stuck my visa in the wrong passport. Doh! (mmmm, pizza dough...) After a good telling off and me explaining that the new visa expires in a month anyway and that I promise to stick the next one on the right page, we were off and home to... more knitting.
And planning – we are having a collective birthday party next Saturday, and the theme is J. I plan to go as Jessica Rabbit. But a Jessica Rabbit that has murdered her husband and is wearing him around her neck. Now where can I find a white Roger Rabbit to drape around a red sequin dress...
Step one, of course, is to make sure I can actually fit into my wedding dress, so Krusty (the very essence of a skinny Irishman) has put me on his very scientific Skinny Irishman diet, which consists on eating... well, nearly nothing. I was excited when he first told me the name, thinking I could more than handle what I usually see him eating, but his holy trinity of peanuts, pretzels, and potato chips were absent from the new plan, and eating a maximum of 2/3 of every meal has replaced them instead. Anyway, we'll see – at this point, after 28 years of dieting, I am ready to try anything. The first few weeks though, according to the diet's creator, consist of being as hungry as possible to make the body stop wanting huge portions all of the time, and so far I am not loving that horrible gurgling feeling.
Step two is to stay at home more, and, after a VERY embarrassing New Year's Eve that resulted in many unexplained leg bruises, to stop drinking alcohol, at least for a month or two. Therefore I need to find activities that pass the time and prevent me from going through the entire address book of my mobile phone to find someone to go to a bar with. So far, that activity has been knitting, and I have become quite obsessed. Babymomma sent me a request to knit the sackboy from Little Big Planet, and I have been knitting ever since, relentlessly putting the little man together. So focused am I, that I managed to tune out Krusty's infuriating piano scales in the background to finish the little guy last night, and when I looked up to see the finished result, I noticed that it was 4am... I am totally exhausted today.
And so, after four days of 2009, I have become a sleep deprived old maid and a food addict who's gone cold turkey (mmmmm, cold turkey.... With some salad cream... And crusty bread....).
Cultivating my garden also means putting all of my affairs in order, so as well as frantic wedding planning, we went to Macau yesterday to validate my brand new working visa. While we were there, I treated Krusty to his birthday present – tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Zaia show. It was magical, as usual, and as we were discussing its lack of impressive circus acts not mattering because of the prodigious costumes and imaginative storyline, we bumped into four of our friends, who had been to the same show! I thought Hong Kong was small, but even when you leave the country you can't escape meeting someone you know!!
We joined the foursome for drinks before heading back to the ferry with them, and at the other end, they all had to watch me as I was dragged away by the immigration officer because I had stuck my visa in the wrong passport. Doh! (mmmm, pizza dough...) After a good telling off and me explaining that the new visa expires in a month anyway and that I promise to stick the next one on the right page, we were off and home to... more knitting.
And planning – we are having a collective birthday party next Saturday, and the theme is J. I plan to go as Jessica Rabbit. But a Jessica Rabbit that has murdered her husband and is wearing him around her neck. Now where can I find a white Roger Rabbit to drape around a red sequin dress...
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