Since I arrived last week, my strengths and inadequacies have really become apparent. I’ve always been very independent and have no qualms about doing things by myself (though I do miss Harold terribly so I’m not doing anything super cool without him)... Alone, I have gone to the pool, the gym, the movie theatre, restaurants, the mall, etc... cooking, on the other hand, simply baffles me. Man cannot live on pre-packaged butter masala alone. It’s a good thing Harold is the master chef of our household. I’m excited for him to be here for reasons other than his cooking skills, but a nice home cooked meal wouldn’t hurt. Just a few more weeks until I see him again! The cooking situation should improve after tomorrow when I can stock the fridge with vegetables in our new flat. I haven’t done so yet because hotel living feels so temporary. I’m excited to move to the other building because rumour has it there are somewhere between 30-50 other English teachers living there as well.
My visa is still going to take a few weeks to process. In the meantime, I’m going a little stir-crazy (or just crazy?) thinking about all the huge changes we just made. Did we really just give up our spacious two bedroom house for a closet sized flat (albeit a huge closet)? Did I really just sell my perfectly road-worthy car to a junkyard for $80 when I worked 2 summers to buy it and am still indebted to MasterCard for the maintenance and repairs? (We shall never speak of this painful ordeal again, understood?) And most shockingly, didn’t we just pack up our lives a year ago and move to British Columbia? Nomads, we are! Except real nomads have little more in their possession than they can fit on their backs. We, on the other hand, have so much that Harold is still at home dealing with it. I miss him so much!
I’m not completely alone here though. My old foe, Lightning (with whom I have quite the sordid past), has decided to pay me a visit the last two nights. It was late and I was already in bed; certainly not prepared for company. But Lightning has never exactly been a courteous houseguest: he has aggressively challenged both my home and school to Fight Club style brawls, he has destroyed my property with no regard for my needs or feelings, and he has even been a bit abusive towards me personally. Lightning swears it’s only when he’s drunk on summer heat and promises he’ll never strike the same place twice, but it’s really changed the nature of our relationship.
On a few other notes, the pool here is wonderful... the water is just perfect and it really has that tropical resort feel (which makes sense, seeing as this is a tropical resort). The gym is small, but seems to be a world class facility. I also like it because no one makes small talk in the gym. Small talk just doesn’t seem to be a part of the culture here (I would say it’s just because I don’t speak the language, but I don’t see people talking to anyone else either). Of all the awful small talk, gym small talk is the worst kind. It is usually an arrogant mixture of muscles, menus, and machismo, laced with flirtations.
I bought a reusable shopping bag yesterday that says, “Care Environment, Care Your Health”.... Also, I bought a skin cream and the instructions read that I can “apply ointment for scorch from ultraviolet rays.”
Thus ends another blog entry, as equally without flow or excitement as the last one. I promise the good stuff will start soon; I’m still just adjusting.
P.S. Upon doing some research, I found, via the Hong Kong Weather Authority website, the statistics of that first lightning filled night. The storm lasted from 9 at night until 3 in the morning (at least we know it put in an honest day’s work!) and had a grand total of 25,305 cloud to ground strikes and 8063 cloud to cloud strikes. How am I supposed to compete with odds like that?
P.S.S. Also, it seems the storms start like clockwork at 9pm. And here I was clinging to the hope that it was just the nightly fireworks show at Hong Kong Disneyland. I guess I can stop wishing upon that star!
I'm glad you're settling in hunny!! You'll have to send me some fun Engrish stuff, haha. I thought you and sir were going to live in a hotel? What happened with that? And remember that time we were on the deck of the Kildare and thunder sounded and all of a sudden you were gone? I swear you had evaporated haha. You move quick. Miss you!!!
ReplyDeletethe resort is two buildings... one is a regular hotel and the other is long term stay serviced apartments... this means we get all the joys of a hotel (pool, gym, maid service) but the size of an apartment. it's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeletelol yeah, i remember that... i have been known to apparate quickly in times of true danger. miss you too!!!