Insomnia, a great night of drinking, a preview of your sovereign nation and Chinese Tea
Insomnia
It's Sunday night, night - like midnight. My bout with insomnia got a boost from waking up at 2pm this morning (Sunday). I was so tired from all the waking up that I got another 4 hours of sleep at 4pm to result in a very-much-awake-Doug now watching the Sun Rise over the beautiful mountains that mark the HK horizon.This after a Saturday night of excessive drinking with a bunch of locals introduced to me by Apple. The night ended at 3am and I was provided a taxi ride. I suppose I was quite drunk as I fell asleep in the taxi and woke up insisting I tell the driver how much I thought I woke up in a mini bus. I felt I had to tell him because I was trying to tell him to let me off at the next stop, despite the fat the taxi was stoped, in front of my building, and that I was in a taxi, and asked to get out. The bill for the taxi was not particularly excessive, and though you are not expected to tip the taxi drivers in HK, my $10HKD ($2 Cdn) on a $60HKD ($10 Cdn) goes far as a tip and was well-received.
A trip back to my Saturday Night
Last night was very fun. I was expecting an evening of drinking with Apple's friend who was in Canada, but instead I met over 6 people with better English than they would admit, none as far as I could tell were in Canada. There was one cool guy from Seattle who revealed to me a trick for me to pronounce my Chinese name properly. If I shoot out my finger as I pronounce "Chung" I can just get the right tone. The embarrassment of having pronounced my name wrong for so many years is replaced with embarrassment of protruding my name outwards, prompting confusion from others that I am instead pointing out to someone else having the name. "Wai- CHUNG" (while pointing forwards).
(me learning how to properly say my Chinese name. Making the face adds an interesting "Booya" touch)
Saturday night games
The evening had many bottles of beer, many games of dice - cups with 5 dice in each are a staple at the tables in HK bars. I learned this one fun game one called "Cheat". You guess the number of dice with a particular face value. This goes round and round or back-and-forth, increasing the stakes (4 dice of 2! 4 dice of 3! 5 dice of 2! The 1 face is wild) until someone calls bluff or doubt and reveals their dice. If they are wrong, they drink. If they are right, the last person to raise the stakes drinks. After losing 3 games in a row I stood up and proclaimed loudly I was going to drink with the only other white folk in the bar. The chinese version of this story is funny.
I think he was actually saying my name as he was pointing out. Honestly. But I did have a few beers. Notice the dice.
There is Karaoke at many bars in Hong Kong. I recall the first time I was suprised by this. I was drinking with Apple when I was suprised to hear particularly bad music. I looked over to find this guy at a table with friends who were seemingly disinterested in his musical expression, singing to chinese characters on a TV hanging overhead. This Karaoke thing is everywhere. CDs of music accompany video discs of musical performances with Karaoke text so you can sign along. Last night Apple pointed out to me the two white men were singing very well. I was very impressed, they were singing Chinese damn well, wow, I guess foreigners can integrate well...hell, maybe the only foreigner there was me - who knows, maybe they were locals with a lineage in HK more extensive than I. I look at hte screen to find they were singing some Elton John song or something. the words were English, and their singing was so bad I couldn't understand it. Back to drinking.
Among my rants, games AND drinking I managed to have conversation with Milly AND try to ignore the camera taking this photo.
Tonight I ate
So I took a bus to another area here in Diamond Hill to get some variety from the deliciously cheap soup I have as a staple meal just a few steps from my home. Resorting to pictograms my food was great. The rest of my evening was composed of visiting my aunt to go over my family lineage and some bills and arranging to get cable. Although I am averse to getting brain-sucking cable, I am committed to understanding HK better. Cable TV with news about HK would get me more in touch with HK and understanding local developments.
Your own sovereign nation- a preview
The rest of my evening is composed of writing input for my blog, which led to a composing the mass content for my "How-to guide to setting up your own nation/state/country". I hope to publish it soon. I offer a preview:
More of the night.
I read my newspaper on the park bench here in Diamond Hill. I was finished it when I saw this man here setting up a table for tea. Wondering if I can have some, he led me into the diner here to get some. I guess he works here, I dunno. He helped me set up a table and here I am. What a nice man - despite my pleas of not understanding him, he continues to talk to me in Cantonese. This fuels my desire to learn the language more. I put variety into my comments that I don't speak Cantonese and I don't understand him with facts about myself. "I don't understand... I don't know... I am 24 years old... I am named Wai-Chung...I don't speak Cantonese...I am Canadian...Yes, I am Canadian...my mom is a HongKonger, now she is in Canada...I don't know....father? My father is Canadian...I don't know...my aunt is here in Diamond Hill..." The man is either very patient with me, or he is a very friendly man, or the guy is damn stubborn thinking the Cantonese will just sink in and I will give up and speak the language. "I don't know...I don't speak Canto-[switch to perfect-speaking Cantonese] Okay, you got me! How did you know, Wong? (his name really is Wong) I thought I could keep it up, but you got me! Good for you!" Not today. Not yet.
Eat a bowl of Bo-Lei Tea.
So I am here drinking my tea. I drink "Bo-Lei", a tea that has a tradition in Canada as "Doug's mother's tea". I know my mother doesn't choose a Chinese restaurant based on their tea, but if they don't have her Bo-Lei "tsa" (tea) and aren't willing to go out and buy some right then, we leave. Since my mother's hard-line policy, Montreal's Chinese restaurant have made sure to have a supply of this tea. As you can guess, my mother enjoys this tea. "It's tea you can drink all day long". A puzzling admission since we only drink it in Chinese restaurants, but it would explain why we often stay there for much time after we have finished eating - to drink the tea. Hey, don't knock tea. Wars have been fought over tea. You can have parties with tea. You can have a break from work with tea. My mother's hard-line Bo-Lei policy has had the unfortunate circumstance of giving her son, me, the impression that Bo-Lei was Hong Kong's tea. That Bo-Lei was the staple of tea in the land of my mother's heritage. Well you can guess it ain't. "It's the old people's tea" I am told, over and over again. "But it's tea you can drink all day long!" I tell them, "Yeah, if you're old and drinking tea all day" I'm told. I have imported my mother's hard-line tea policy (back?) to Hong Kong, with more polite requests for the Bo-Lei. Oh they have it alright, and plenty of old people to drink it too.
Now
It is now 5:50am. I haven't been writing this since 12am, but writing in spurts. I am having some Dim Sum over here. I am trying to manage to get something that doesn't resemble the animal it came from. All the while drinking my Bo-Lei tea .
It's Sunday night, night - like midnight. My bout with insomnia got a boost from waking up at 2pm this morning (Sunday). I was so tired from all the waking up that I got another 4 hours of sleep at 4pm to result in a very-much-awake-Doug now watching the Sun Rise over the beautiful mountains that mark the HK horizon.This after a Saturday night of excessive drinking with a bunch of locals introduced to me by Apple. The night ended at 3am and I was provided a taxi ride. I suppose I was quite drunk as I fell asleep in the taxi and woke up insisting I tell the driver how much I thought I woke up in a mini bus. I felt I had to tell him because I was trying to tell him to let me off at the next stop, despite the fat the taxi was stoped, in front of my building, and that I was in a taxi, and asked to get out. The bill for the taxi was not particularly excessive, and though you are not expected to tip the taxi drivers in HK, my $10HKD ($2 Cdn) on a $60HKD ($10 Cdn) goes far as a tip and was well-received.
A trip back to my Saturday Night
Last night was very fun. I was expecting an evening of drinking with Apple's friend who was in Canada, but instead I met over 6 people with better English than they would admit, none as far as I could tell were in Canada. There was one cool guy from Seattle who revealed to me a trick for me to pronounce my Chinese name properly. If I shoot out my finger as I pronounce "Chung" I can just get the right tone. The embarrassment of having pronounced my name wrong for so many years is replaced with embarrassment of protruding my name outwards, prompting confusion from others that I am instead pointing out to someone else having the name. "Wai- CHUNG" (while pointing forwards).
(me learning how to properly say my Chinese name. Making the face adds an interesting "Booya" touch)
Saturday night games
The evening had many bottles of beer, many games of dice - cups with 5 dice in each are a staple at the tables in HK bars. I learned this one fun game one called "Cheat". You guess the number of dice with a particular face value. This goes round and round or back-and-forth, increasing the stakes (4 dice of 2! 4 dice of 3! 5 dice of 2! The 1 face is wild) until someone calls bluff or doubt and reveals their dice. If they are wrong, they drink. If they are right, the last person to raise the stakes drinks. After losing 3 games in a row I stood up and proclaimed loudly I was going to drink with the only other white folk in the bar. The chinese version of this story is funny.
I think he was actually saying my name as he was pointing out. Honestly. But I did have a few beers. Notice the dice.
There is Karaoke at many bars in Hong Kong. I recall the first time I was suprised by this. I was drinking with Apple when I was suprised to hear particularly bad music. I looked over to find this guy at a table with friends who were seemingly disinterested in his musical expression, singing to chinese characters on a TV hanging overhead. This Karaoke thing is everywhere. CDs of music accompany video discs of musical performances with Karaoke text so you can sign along. Last night Apple pointed out to me the two white men were singing very well. I was very impressed, they were singing Chinese damn well, wow, I guess foreigners can integrate well...hell, maybe the only foreigner there was me - who knows, maybe they were locals with a lineage in HK more extensive than I. I look at hte screen to find they were singing some Elton John song or something. the words were English, and their singing was so bad I couldn't understand it. Back to drinking.
Among my rants, games AND drinking I managed to have conversation with Milly AND try to ignore the camera taking this photo.
Tonight I ate
So I took a bus to another area here in Diamond Hill to get some variety from the deliciously cheap soup I have as a staple meal just a few steps from my home. Resorting to pictograms my food was great. The rest of my evening was composed of visiting my aunt to go over my family lineage and some bills and arranging to get cable. Although I am averse to getting brain-sucking cable, I am committed to understanding HK better. Cable TV with news about HK would get me more in touch with HK and understanding local developments.
Your own sovereign nation- a preview
The rest of my evening is composed of writing input for my blog, which led to a composing the mass content for my "How-to guide to setting up your own nation/state/country". I hope to publish it soon. I offer a preview:
You need to consider a title for yourself and a political system/structure. TheAfter writing this guide, I went and bought a newspaper and read about the local scene here. There is a huge election coming up, for the legislative council. There are soooooo many posters up EVERYWHERE asking people to vote. There are also posters soliciting for a particular party, but nowhere near the number of posters up asking people to vote. It's a big election, and may be the last of its kind here, since China has ruled out elections in 2007 and 2008. The party posters are interesting - each has a huge number indicated on them - I guess the ballots identify the parties by a particular number. I have asked my Aunt to vote. After some insistence, I pulled out my last trump card and asked her to vote for me, since I cannot. And for any party if she doesn't know which. Then I took the micrawave she offered me, and I was on my way. My Aunt is great to me.
title of "President" is suggested, as it is the most common and better
understood by other countries. You may choose a more unique title, however it may have unforeseen political consequences. "Tsar", "Emperor" and "King/Queen" are seen as being like a dictator. "Chancellor" and "Chairman" aren't bad, but France and China may dislike you for copying their title.
More of the night.
I read my newspaper on the park bench here in Diamond Hill. I was finished it when I saw this man here setting up a table for tea. Wondering if I can have some, he led me into the diner here to get some. I guess he works here, I dunno. He helped me set up a table and here I am. What a nice man - despite my pleas of not understanding him, he continues to talk to me in Cantonese. This fuels my desire to learn the language more. I put variety into my comments that I don't speak Cantonese and I don't understand him with facts about myself. "I don't understand... I don't know... I am 24 years old... I am named Wai-Chung...I don't speak Cantonese...I am Canadian...Yes, I am Canadian...my mom is a HongKonger, now she is in Canada...I don't know....father? My father is Canadian...I don't know...my aunt is here in Diamond Hill..." The man is either very patient with me, or he is a very friendly man, or the guy is damn stubborn thinking the Cantonese will just sink in and I will give up and speak the language. "I don't know...I don't speak Canto-[switch to perfect-speaking Cantonese] Okay, you got me! How did you know, Wong? (his name really is Wong) I thought I could keep it up, but you got me! Good for you!" Not today. Not yet.
Eat a bowl of Bo-Lei Tea.
So I am here drinking my tea. I drink "Bo-Lei", a tea that has a tradition in Canada as "Doug's mother's tea". I know my mother doesn't choose a Chinese restaurant based on their tea, but if they don't have her Bo-Lei "tsa" (tea) and aren't willing to go out and buy some right then, we leave. Since my mother's hard-line policy, Montreal's Chinese restaurant have made sure to have a supply of this tea. As you can guess, my mother enjoys this tea. "It's tea you can drink all day long". A puzzling admission since we only drink it in Chinese restaurants, but it would explain why we often stay there for much time after we have finished eating - to drink the tea. Hey, don't knock tea. Wars have been fought over tea. You can have parties with tea. You can have a break from work with tea. My mother's hard-line Bo-Lei policy has had the unfortunate circumstance of giving her son, me, the impression that Bo-Lei was Hong Kong's tea. That Bo-Lei was the staple of tea in the land of my mother's heritage. Well you can guess it ain't. "It's the old people's tea" I am told, over and over again. "But it's tea you can drink all day long!" I tell them, "Yeah, if you're old and drinking tea all day" I'm told. I have imported my mother's hard-line tea policy (back?) to Hong Kong, with more polite requests for the Bo-Lei. Oh they have it alright, and plenty of old people to drink it too.
Now
It is now 5:50am. I haven't been writing this since 12am, but writing in spurts. I am having some Dim Sum over here. I am trying to manage to get something that doesn't resemble the animal it came from. All the while drinking my Bo-Lei tea .
posted by Canadian "Civil" Servant at 05:50
2 Comments:
Are you sure you are not homesick? Why are you keep talking about your mother?
Or maybe I am reminded I find a lot of my mother's preferences and culture here. I doubt I would be writing much about my mother's preference for Bo-Lei tea if I was off to Scotland. Instead I gather I would be writing about my grandma's penchant for collecting spoons, adoring the queen, singing to bag music, making soft boiled eggs, eating shortbread cookies, drinking tea and blasting U2's collection of hits out 3-foot-high speakers.
I'm joking.
She really blasts U2's music out 6-foot-high speakers (she's losing her hearing).
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