Back in the Game

I think I’m settling back into Hong Kong finally. I had my first re-introduction to China when I was in the Beijing airport, and as I entered into a stall in the restroom, just after another girl came out, I of course had to put the seat back down. It is common practice in China for girls to squat rather than sit, and when faced with a Western style toilet women will just put the seat up, and climb on to squat. I know it sounds weird, but if it’s what you’ve grown up with and always known, it’s not so far-fetched and it’s actually way more sanitary.

Monday night, I was out trying to buy a hair straightener (easier said than done, let me tell ya, being that this is China and they all have straight hair already. Still, I was optimistic because because here are so obsessed with beauty and looking good), and I was trying to ask the sales girl if they had any. I kept saying “straight ... make hair straight” and she thought I was saying “hair spray” so a few charades later, involving me miming plugging it in after she showed me some straightening cream, she finally understood, and was able to say “oh! … no, we don’t have that.” (I did, however, find one later at Jusco in Tuen Mun – Jusco is sort of the Wal-Mart-ish store here, though only because it has millions of things at low prices, but is laid out very differently and easy to get lost in it).

Then last night, I was eating at a noodle place nearby with a friend, and I checked out the English name on the tag of the girl serving us. Her English name was Lamp. Another girl’s tag read Coyie. It’s so funny what the English names can be here (you are given an English and Chinese name when you are born here … sometimes the English name is something normal like Amy, but I’ve also known girls named Herman, or even people named Bread, Ice, Ottilie, Otto … funny).

I also picked up the South China Morning Post (SCMP) today – the biggest, English newspaper here – and on the front page, mixed in with the other world news, was an article on how the length of a man’s ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Only in Asia would you get superstitious stuff like that on the front page. Apparently, in the U.K. a study was done on male stock traders for 20 months after which it was concluded that those with longer ring fingers compared to their index fingers made 11 times more money than those with shorter ring fingers. It was also concluded that the digit ratio reflects how much testosterone an unborn baby is exposed to in the womb. Interesting …

Other than that, a roach came out the other night to welcome me home (I RAID’ed him immediately), and my apartment is an ice box. I plugged in my little space heater, which subsequently knocked out my electricity, but I was able to secure another heater that so far has not caused any electrical problems. I’ve been to the library for my free books, wandered around the city, gotten caught up on missed work, and I am even already on my second cup of jasmine tea this morning. So, while I miss home, it has been nice to re-adjust to all the idiosyncrasies and unique, yet somehow familiar, qualities of this place.