Ain't It Funny

it is so crazy to find out (especially over email) that an entire year of your life was a mirage. when people are truly tested, the strong make it through to the end or the others just don't have the substance to do it. i think you find out who really are your friends and who really loves you when the tough times come around. but i have to say, i never thought that at the brink of one of the most difficult times in my life, the person i trusted and loved the most would desert me when i was down.

Le Weekend

saturday night i went out with a colleague to a "proper dress party" with a a theme of "heros and villains". i went as bananaman (and it needs to be said with british accent since, as i am told, it was an old british cartoon of a boy named eric who eats a banana and turns into a superhero) in a yellow dress. it was pouring on saturday and i had no desire to trek the streets of hk looking for costume kit so this was the resolution we came to. we hit up a couple of "white bars" called heat and mes amis both in the wanchai district. and no, heat is not a gay club although i did tell my colleague it certainly sounded that way. anyway, it was good fun and i got completely zonked. i also met loads of nice brits but was told time and time again that i should lose my "american twang". oh well, whatcha gonna do?

on sunday, with a complete hangover, i left the hotel with all 200 lbs. of luggage and went to the company flat. it is much better as it is a hop skip and a jump from the office but my room is beyond tiny and it smells of cigarette smoke despite the fact that it is a smoke free apartment. i should be there for a couple of months so at least that feels a bit more settled than being in a hotel. to date, there are 2 girls there, one whom is quite spunky but leaving tomorrow and the other who tends to keep to herself and i believe she is leaving mid-july. hmmmm, wouldn't it be nice to have it all to myself and then i can have proper naked time...

Business as Usual...

here i am having a "fat friday" already...for those of you who don't know what my "fat fridays" are - they started when i was traveling to texas all the time and i would come back on a friday totally knackered. i would LOVE to stay in, order greasy chinese food and rub my belly. then, when i stopped going to texas (oh the joy) i would still have fat fridays because i was usually out thursday nights, would be completely hung the next day and needed a night in - big time. so last night, i went out with colleagues - 2 brits and 4 asians - and we got ruined. i was drinking cheap red wine and polished it off with beers around 2 am. at the end, i was the last one standing with one of the brits (shocker) and i actually had him check out my rockin' zit. god, i am c-h-a-r-m-i-n-g. i've developed this zit that won't pop and it is driving me crazy (yes leighton, i can hear you telling me to "not pick") but i digress. any-hoo, tonight i was going to meet up with a friend of a friend but there is no way. my stomach hurts and the thought of drinking tonight is putting me off faster than a poop on the bottom of one of my louboutins. so what do i do? i order pizza. (on a side note, what the hell is this option: American Adventure: pepperoni, corn and beef - corn? i mean, i know what they are insinuating - we're corn growin', lovin' meat eaters...) that's right - in manhattan it was greasy chinese and i guess now that i'm in china, it's greasy americano food. typical. although, it was NOT easy. i almost gave up. so i ring pizza hut, which i have not eaten in years, but it is such a hassle. after waiting for what seems like five minutes on hold to place my delivery order, i tell them i am in a hotel and want to know if it will be a problem. i am then placed on hold again. i get though finally and place my order but am told it will come in 1 o'clock...um???? i hope that didn't mean i will get it in an hour because i don't think i can handle that...

all in all, i have to say it has been a good few first days. i mean, don't get me wrong, parts of the city stink and it is humid and people walk slow and you need to ask for everything at least twice but it has been good.

Jet Lagged

am completely awake at six am on thursday morning. man, jet lag is the worst. i hope it eases up soon because anyone who knows me KNOWS i am not a morning person. booooooo.

anyway, it is already so odd to be this far away - everyone else going though their daily life which all seems so familiar but i am here in a completely unfamiliar surrounding with an unfamiliar life. it is all quite odd and sometimes it hurts just thinking about it. but i guess you gotta tough it out, right? well, i'm tired and lazy and just want things to be easy.

and speaking of lazy...i am already annoyed at work. said managers claimed they rang me to find i turned off service to my phone. um, all right - no. it does not work in hong kong, morons. maybe you should have tried me at the hotel instead of just blaming me for your inability to reach me...enough passing the buck. i cant stand that - people's inablity to accept responsibility.

all right, six am and i am already off to a stellar day, i can feel it.

Typhoon Warning 8

getting ready for my first day in the hk office, i do notice it is raining but am watching bbc world service and nothing is mentioned. i go out and the city seems somewhat empty. i try to hail a cab but find it difficult and the hotel staff is less than helpful. after convincing two other folks to let me pile into their cab, 60 hkd (roughly $7.50 on a typically $2 ride) later, i make it into the office to find it is CLOSED. that's right. closed. since i couldn't check my email, i didn't know. so what am i doing now? i am writing in this blog and using the phone to call the states. that's right - long distance, baby.

ok so what does typhoon warning 8 mean? well, here is lovely description from the hk government website:

Tropical cyclones normally occur during the months of May to November, and are particularly prevalent during September.

Tropical cyclone advisory bulletins and/or warnings are issued by the Hong Kong observatory whenever a tropical cyclone centres within 800 km of Hong Kong poses a threat to the territory.

These advisory bulletins include the tropical cyclone warning signal issued and its significance, the latest position and expected movement of the centre of the tropical cyclone, information on the wind strength, rainfall and sea level in the territory and advice on precautionary measures.

Neither should you relax precautions when the tropical cyclone is moving away from Hong Kong, as high winds are likely to persist for some time. You should stay indoors where it is safe until winds moderate.

all i know, is that its POURING like nothing i've ever seen before. i mean rain is streaming down the side of the building like someone is just dumping water down the side and i can HEAR the wind as if someone was just blowing in my ear.

great, ehh? you know, nobody can help the weather and from what i'm told, this is rare but honestly folks - nobody could have called me? i mean, you know where i am staying as you booked the hotel for me...so now i am locked in the office as i have just been told to "not be brave" and stay put as some of the roads near the office have been closed. awesome.

Weather Update

it's raining now...the driver told me that hk is on typhoon watch level 3. now i have no idea what that means but i know it goes up to 10. so i guess 3 is ok - maybe rain and SOME wind but none of that window taping nonsense...me hopes.

ok, trying to get on the 100% reverse time schedule so i took a sleeping pill and hope to drift off to dream land soon. the only issue is that i am sleeping in the world's smallest bed. no joke. i had a bigger bed as a baby in my crib...yep, my fear of being hk's largest asian continues to be reaffirmed by this tiny hotel bed.

Landed

first, welcome to my blog. i've never been one to do blogs or friendster or myspace or facebook or anything else and i also know what i do with mass emails i receive...that's right friends, i glance at them and immediately discard them. so i figure, blogs are fairly anonymous and if you want to know what i am up to, great, come here and read it and if not, that's cool, too.

so, after a somewhat busy few weeks leading up to my arrival in hk, i finally settled into the lovely ramada for a few days before heading out to the company flat for a month or so this weekend.

good lord, where to begin? this all happened so fast, i am still not sure what the heck is going on - one day i am considering moving to hk for work and the next i'm negotiating and then packing up all my shoes. it was an easy decision to come here which turned decidedly difficult as different realities set in throughout the process. this decision was made purely with my head. i do not want to go to b-school and pay for an education i already i got at babson but i need to do something to make myself more competitive. plus, asia is where its at, ya dig? the issue is that i did not make it with my heart at all. in fact, i am quite attached to my life in manhattan. i had a great life there and was not done or ready to leave. i am hoping my heart will change and i will learn to love things about hk as well. yet, at the same time, nobody could ever make me do anything i didn't want to do. so believe me, if i want to leave - i'm leaving.

i hope my posts will be fun - full of pictures of travel and new friends with stories from a different city. and i know that manhattan will always be there along with all the people that i love - love has no borders...cheesy, but true :) so, come on over and SEE ME SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and by the way, this picture is hk at night - it's actually quite nice since you can't really see the smog yet...