So I'm in Kowloon

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Sorry everyone, I made a slight mistake.

Being the foreigner that I am and unfamiliar with the area, I am actually living in Kowloon and not on Hong Kong Island. I have a great view of Hong Kong Island though as my 6th floor room overlooks a concrete construction site (with really amazing bamboo scaffolding for all you civils out there) a highway, the Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong Skyline. There's a lot more skyline in HK than there is in Calgary, that's for sure.

There's a mishmash of thoughts running through my head. I'm adjusting quite well to the culture, I've been mistaken as a Hong Kong-ian many times, except the clothes I wear (my tie dye skirt and pink t-shirt) and my heavily accented cantonese gives me away like a sore thumb. The strange thing is that to the foreign eye, I blend right in with the locals but to the local eye, I'm a foreigner. I haven't decided whether this works to my advantage or not yet but right now, I feel quite alone.

Now, I'll state the obvious:
1. Illiteracy sucks. I never had to struggle with reading street signs or reading the menu at the restaurant or understanding the super sale at the supermarkets, but I can't understand it. It's frustrating to only be able to read about 20% of all the words (and even that's over estimating) to give you a sample of what I'm going through...

*****, I ******* ** a **** on the ground and **** my shoe *****! ******* I was in front of a ********* store and I was able to buy **** to *** my shoe. I also ***** a shoe store and bought new shoes.

So yes, there you have it, it limits my choices and my decisions.

2. It's hot, sticky and not sweet.
So when people warned me it was humid, I wasn't too sure what to expect and how it feels like.

Let me paint a picture:
Think back to when you were a kid and you had the sticky hand..you know the ooey gooey hands that stuck to the walls when you threw them. Imagine you had actual hands, and feet and toes and arms and legs and face and every single part of exposed skin feels like that. Imagine that you brought the sticky hand into the sauna with you. That's what it feels like here.

Being surrounded by crowds and crowds of people doesn't help with cooling down either. It really depends on what street you're on but there's so many people that are rubbing their sticky selves on my bubble...(I shake my sweaty fist at them..)

Just a random question: How do you eat solid foods in this heat? I'm having troubles working up an appetite even though I've been out and about exploring for the last 12 hours

3. It's one big Chinatown here. I haven't actually made it to Hong Kong yet, but it definitely is one BIG chinatown here with flashing neon signs and super markets that sell everything in one store. I was lost in a supermarket today. Wait, supermarket does not do this store justice..it's more of a ULTIMATEmarket, you can pick up the following:
- underwear/swimwear/clothing/shoes/fancy kitchen knives, oranges, brocolli, fresh fish applicances, laptop computers/ towels/ alarm clocks/ bedding....

All of this was on 1.5 floors. It was HUGE.

Well, I'm off to watch the World Cup Game with a few new friends from Australia, U.S and Hong Kong.

Until the next time! (will upload pictures later) and it's always great to hear from you!

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