Advertisement
Published: October 11th 2006
It's Thursday somewhere, so the weekly blog commences on this, my birthday week. I want to send a shout out to TOPS FL #61 for your lovely birthday card--it was the first piece of US mail and treasured dearly as I tore into the envelope for your well wishes! Jacque gave me this lovely ring and it's been a great week--Friday is the official day and I've been eyeing an especially yummy-looking assorted fruit tart in one of the subway food stalls that I think can double as birthday cake--so, look out tart, I'm coming for you...downing a fruit tart in a Hong Kong subway is about the best way that I can think to celebrate a birthday!
I thought I might share with you the adjustments that I've been feeling these early two weeks and they primarily involve, more than experiencing Chinese culture for the first time, life in the big city--which I didn't really anticipate before departure. This is a city of 7 million and navigating transportation including subways, ferries, trams, taxis, buses and rickshaws, interpreting maps and embracing the bustling city is a different way of life for a rural girl at heart. Visiting NYC in '04
and '05 has fortuitously helped this journey. This must be what it's like living in NYC--just with a lot of Chinese people. I hope that I get to experience the juxtaposition of life in the rural areas of China during my visit(s) to the mainland. I'm identifying with toddlers on the subway, we exchange smiles and wide-eyes--because neither of us knows the language being spoken around us! There's an elementary school across the street from my office and I watched the students in the playground from my view on the 5th floor until the morning exercises began and 50 six year olds dropped to the ground and proceeded to hurriedly polish off 100 sit ups each in a matter of minutes--it was then that I drew the curtain--they wore me out...
There are lots of places to get away from the frenetics of the big city--parks and the outlying islands. I enjoyed my walk through the flower market and the Yuen Po bird garden in Mong Kok. The birds that sing the sweetest receive the royal treatment--the most elaborate wooden bird cages, tiny, ornately painted porcelain water and birdseed bowls and the most attention from their doting owners and
others. The flower market was sweet as well--as in the smell of 1000s of roses and other fragrant blooms--a feast for the eyes that would make Monet grab a brush. I believe there may be more orchids concentrated here than even the annual orchid show in NYC. I think MaMa Yue really enjoyed the flowers I selected for her.
Jacque returns to Beijing on Sunday and I'll miss her. I'm thankful that sista' Zoe has taken me under her wing. Jacque, Zoe and I will gather for a send-off dinner for Jacque on Saturday and then Zoe and I are attending the horse races, yes that's right--on Sunday. It's an annual 'ladies hat day' that an Asian cosmetics distributor organizes as a fundraiser with the Shatin racecourse. I'll let you know if those ponies pay off!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.175s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0675s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Missy Tello
non-member comment
Happy Birthday to you!
I'm not sure of the time difference between us, but I know that your birthday is Oct. 13th so I wanted to be one of the first people to say Happy Birthday. And I would love to get your address so that I can send a card too. You know what I do when I don't understand the language? Like in San Antonio: you watch body language and listen for your name, or something that sounds like that white girl over there! Oh, I was telling a lady about you the other day and she thought your research is so interesting. She had a question though. When the Chineese people are limited to one baby, are they sterilized after they have a baby? I told her I would ask.