Boom boom

Having five of our clients go into prison has made me realise how much of a family we have become. Every so often someone will get a dejected look and start shaking their head, uttering the names of one or more of the guys that were arrested.

Another indicator of the family vibe is the collection of nicknames that we use. A Sri Lankan client who listens to hip hop has become '50 rupee'. A very large Congolese client is now 'boom boom' - apparently the Somali equivalent of 'fatso'.

We won't forget the imprisoned ones for some time because one of them left his phone with a friend. The arrested client was a vigilant collector and the phone has been ringing non stop over the last four days with calls from various girlfriends.

The friend doesn't speak great English and he often passes the phone over to me with weeping girlfriends on the other end. It's hard to know whether to feel more sorry for them because their boyfriend is imprisoned or because they were one of ten!

Some of the girlfriends seem to have gotten over their loss, however, and have arranged to meet with the phone's new owner tomorrow. I hope they don't mind exchanging a 27 year old 6'3 Nigerian for a 22 year old 5'1 Sri Lankan.

Ants and elephants

It was going to happen sooner or later. The number of asylum seekers (and other assorted visitors to Hong Kong) sleeping near the Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui has been growing for some time.

Local tabloid newspapers have run articles claiming that wealthy African businessman are sleeping homeless just because they are stingy. I doubt that this is true but it's indicative of the amount of sympathy that exists for the people who stay there.

Yesterday morning there was a big operation to catch people who have overstayed their visas. I was told that about 100 police descended on the area around the cultural centre at 5am in the morning. Daisy later explained to me the Cantonese expression 'many ants can kill an elephant' - 'Your clients are very big. Some Hong Kong police officers are very small'.

As I was serving breakfast at work several hours later, there was a call from one of our clients who was detained in the Tsim Sha Tsui police station. He was being held there with seven other regular visitors to our centre.

After a day full of drama, three of the eight were released after I went to the station to identify them as asylum seekers. I have no idea why. The remainder were transferred to the immigration detention centre (I was corrected by an officer when I called it the immigration prison). They will stay there until a decision is reached on their case for refugee status.

Everyone else has been in a bad mood - sorry for their friends and worried that they too may be caught. Hong Kong police generally leave asylum seekers alone when they see that they have a paper from the 'oo en aich ce er' (think French) but they have the power to detain them because they have usually overstayed their visas.

The frustrating thing is that nobody takes responsiblity for the asylum seeker problem. And because there is no official system, the police and immigration are working outside of the law according to their own discretion.

And I will have half as many students in my basic English class tomorrow!

Oh dear Australia

So I went to vote this afternoon at the Australian consulate. It was a very exciting affair, involving a bag check and a metal detector. I even wore a special election day outfit which took issue with several Howard government policies. Unfortunately, my friends threatened to abandon me if I kept the pink Che Guevara "We Want Peace!" hat on.

There never was any hope of removing Bronwyn Bishop's Butt Print from my seat. I think that's probably why I numbered the senate ballot from 1-78, taking extra care because it is the only place I can make a difference. If I ever move out of home in Sydney I will have to try and relocate to a seat where a party other than the Liberals has ever been in power.

It was a doomed day really. I woke up at five thirty when an asylum seeker client called my mobile for the following bizarre interaction:

Me: Hello?
Client: Mr Joe?
Me: What's the matter?
Client: What time will the centre open today Mr Joe?
Me: Ten
Client: I won't be there until twelve
Me: No problem, goodbye

At least I am consoled by the fact that 'Bride and Prejudice' released internationally yesterday (to mixed reviews, nonetheless). I'm sure it's out on VCD in Chungking already but I'll hold off buying it until the good quality DVD copies from Dubai are available after a couple of weeks.

Also, I booked a holiday back to Sydney this week over Christmas and New Year, using the remaining eleven days of my fourteen days annual leave. Many thanks to my generous parents because the ticket costs more than my monthly salary! I'm very excited about coming home.

Mass Destruction

At last it has been confirmed that Iraq had a WMD program. It was inside Saddam's head.

I can't wait to vote on Saturday.

Cold spell!

As I stepped out the front door this morning I realised that something was wrong. I realised that the temperature had dropped dramatically overnight and I was not even sweating.

Walking to work, I passed people wearing heavy coats and even a couple of ladies wearing woollen scarves. I just checked the HK observatory website - the temperature has dropped to an icy 23 degrees and humidity is only 63%.