Hong Kong is getting very hot. Actually I don't mind this too much. I have been thinking lately of all the benefits of living in the tropics. My top two would definitely be the wide array of fruit and the speed with which my pot plants grow.
One less desirable effect of the warm weather is the increasing number of people swimming at MY pool. Even though I go there after eight thirty at night, the place is still packed. It's absolute carnage until the fast lanes open after nine and only marginally better after that.
I have taken it upon myself to be the enforcer of direction and movement in the fast lanes. I swim up and down on the left hand side (as the sign suggests) and show little mercy for people that get in the way or float around near the wall without swimming at all. Six out of eight lanes in the pool are dedicated for messing around.
No apologies to any of the following people who I swam into last night:
1. Those crossing between the two free swimming areas on either side of the fast lanes
2. The man swimming breastroke with his glasses on and head out of the water
3. The big crowd of teenagers taking up all the wall space when I needed to tumble turn.
4. The man doing aqua aerobics in the fast lane
5. The teenage couple who decided that the middle of the fast lane was an appropriate place for them to hug, kiss and giggle
Don't they know that the MTR is the designated place in HK for teenage PDA's?
grrr...
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Community
When I used to live on an outlying island it was an incredible coincidence if I ran into someone I knew in the city.
These days it's strange to go anywhere without bumping into friends. I have just arrived at work having come via the supermarket for some last minute ingredients for today's lunch for thirty.
That particular supermarket used to be my regular but I've been frequenting another one for the last few months. The cashier asked me why such a long time and no see. I told her I've been at the Hankow Rd store and she nodded, adding that it the range was much better there.
While still at the checkout, I saw another friend, a businessman from Ghana. I mentioned that I hadn't seen him for a while and he told me that he'd been out of Hong Kong on a business trip.
Arriving at Chungking I went to see Mabel, the Calcutta-born Chinese lady that runs my favourite movie store. The CD I wanted is the soundtrack of a new movie with a very strange name ('Why? We're in love, aren't we?'). Mabel hadn't heard of it and assumed that I was getting the name wrong. She gave a multitude of suggestions of similarly titled movies which I found quite amusing.
As I negated her suggestions, other customers also pitched in - maybe I wanted 'Tell me that you love me' or 'Is this really love?'. No, none of those. The music has only just been released so I guess I'll go back again after a week.
As I got in the lift someone mentioned to a friend in Hindi that my new trousers are very nice. I enjoyed the compliment without acknowledging that I had understood.
It's days like this that I really enjoy the sense of community in and around Chungking. If you can ignore the posters at the bottom of the lifts asking for information on a recent murder then it's really a nice place to work. I read an interview in HK Magazine last week where a Chungking resident stated that this is the only place in Hong Kong where everyone is equal. I think I agree.
These days it's strange to go anywhere without bumping into friends. I have just arrived at work having come via the supermarket for some last minute ingredients for today's lunch for thirty.
That particular supermarket used to be my regular but I've been frequenting another one for the last few months. The cashier asked me why such a long time and no see. I told her I've been at the Hankow Rd store and she nodded, adding that it the range was much better there.
While still at the checkout, I saw another friend, a businessman from Ghana. I mentioned that I hadn't seen him for a while and he told me that he'd been out of Hong Kong on a business trip.
Arriving at Chungking I went to see Mabel, the Calcutta-born Chinese lady that runs my favourite movie store. The CD I wanted is the soundtrack of a new movie with a very strange name ('Why? We're in love, aren't we?'). Mabel hadn't heard of it and assumed that I was getting the name wrong. She gave a multitude of suggestions of similarly titled movies which I found quite amusing.
As I negated her suggestions, other customers also pitched in - maybe I wanted 'Tell me that you love me' or 'Is this really love?'. No, none of those. The music has only just been released so I guess I'll go back again after a week.
As I got in the lift someone mentioned to a friend in Hindi that my new trousers are very nice. I enjoyed the compliment without acknowledging that I had understood.
It's days like this that I really enjoy the sense of community in and around Chungking. If you can ignore the posters at the bottom of the lifts asking for information on a recent murder then it's really a nice place to work. I read an interview in HK Magazine last week where a Chungking resident stated that this is the only place in Hong Kong where everyone is equal. I think I agree.
Friday, June 25, 2004
Fan club
Since my local pool reopened a month ago I've been swimming at least two or three times after work per week. I've worked up to 3km per session and it feels good to be fit again. It also helps that I'm usually the fastest in the pool, a notable exception being the teenage girl in a red costume who occasionally comes to steal my time to shine.
As I walk through Kowloon Park to get to the pool it's not unusual to be greeted by a 'hello Mr Joe!' from someone too dark to be easily recognised at night time (please note that I do not encourage people to call me Mr!). Kowloon Park is the only nice quiet place around that the asylum seekers can hang out and pass time in the evening.
On Wednesday night I felt extra popular when I looked up mid-lap and noticed I had pulled a crowd of asylum seekers waving from behind the window next to the ticket booth. If it becomes a regular occurrence I'm going to have to become faster than my nemesis in the red costume.
As I walk through Kowloon Park to get to the pool it's not unusual to be greeted by a 'hello Mr Joe!' from someone too dark to be easily recognised at night time (please note that I do not encourage people to call me Mr!). Kowloon Park is the only nice quiet place around that the asylum seekers can hang out and pass time in the evening.
On Wednesday night I felt extra popular when I looked up mid-lap and noticed I had pulled a crowd of asylum seekers waving from behind the window next to the ticket booth. If it becomes a regular occurrence I'm going to have to become faster than my nemesis in the red costume.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
'The most beautiful woman in the world'
A couple of months ago, our boss told my colleague and I that we could employ a new staff member on a scheme for employing ethnic minority youth at risk of unemployment. It means that we pay half the salary and the government pay the rest.
My colleague and I were excited about the prospect of extra help but we disagreed over the preferred gender of our new employee. Since there's already an oversupply of men around here I wanted a girl. My colleague thought it would be better to have a boy so that she could send him out with flyers to promote our services. I thought a girl would be much better for this purpose anyway, as long as she went accompanied.
In the end we didn't have any choice because the interview candidates were all female. It turns out that our new employee has certainly changed the atmosphere of the place. Not only does she work well but she has developed a cult following among our clients and volunteer staff.
At first I thought it was just our 17 year old volunteer that was infatuated. He follows her around the centre and sits in a trance watching her when she is working on the computer. Whenever she gets sent out to do shopping or distribute flyers he sulks until he is sent too.
But when I witnessed another volunteer doing almost the same thing I realised that there was some kind of almost universal effect that I hadn't noticed.
This was confirmed when I went to the refugee's hostel for a Saturday morning breakfast and they began talking about her. It turns out that one of the refugees had arrived home after her first day of work and announced that he had seen the most beautiful girl in the world.
Possibly the best part about the whole thing is the willingness to clean, cook and generally help out that any men in our centre demonstrate when she is present. My workload in this kind of stuff has been cut by half :)
My colleague and I were excited about the prospect of extra help but we disagreed over the preferred gender of our new employee. Since there's already an oversupply of men around here I wanted a girl. My colleague thought it would be better to have a boy so that she could send him out with flyers to promote our services. I thought a girl would be much better for this purpose anyway, as long as she went accompanied.
In the end we didn't have any choice because the interview candidates were all female. It turns out that our new employee has certainly changed the atmosphere of the place. Not only does she work well but she has developed a cult following among our clients and volunteer staff.
At first I thought it was just our 17 year old volunteer that was infatuated. He follows her around the centre and sits in a trance watching her when she is working on the computer. Whenever she gets sent out to do shopping or distribute flyers he sulks until he is sent too.
But when I witnessed another volunteer doing almost the same thing I realised that there was some kind of almost universal effect that I hadn't noticed.
This was confirmed when I went to the refugee's hostel for a Saturday morning breakfast and they began talking about her. It turns out that one of the refugees had arrived home after her first day of work and announced that he had seen the most beautiful girl in the world.
Possibly the best part about the whole thing is the willingness to clean, cook and generally help out that any men in our centre demonstrate when she is present. My workload in this kind of stuff has been cut by half :)
Friday, June 18, 2004
Cha cha cha
I came home on Wednesday eager to see the new mama. I was holding on to hope that she might be half as glamorous and exciting as Nancy with her permed hair, menagerie of friends and stories of trips to Paris long ago.
I was sorely disappointed to turn into my street and see the same boring mama who filled in for Nancy when she was on holiday in Thailand. She was squatting on her stool with legs wide apart. One hand was resting on top of her large stomach and the other was picking at her teeth. She was still picking at her teeth an hour later when I came out of the house to go swimming.
On her last night of working, Nancy told me that she is also going to use her new spare time to go to cha cha cha class. I figured out what this meant when she did a demonstration on the pavement 'One, two, cha cha cha, three, four, cha cha cha'. She was very good and went on to do a tango, a waltz and then a salsa. She's promised to call me so I can go with her to cha cha cha lessons.
I was sorely disappointed to turn into my street and see the same boring mama who filled in for Nancy when she was on holiday in Thailand. She was squatting on her stool with legs wide apart. One hand was resting on top of her large stomach and the other was picking at her teeth. She was still picking at her teeth an hour later when I came out of the house to go swimming.
On her last night of working, Nancy told me that she is also going to use her new spare time to go to cha cha cha class. I figured out what this meant when she did a demonstration on the pavement 'One, two, cha cha cha, three, four, cha cha cha'. She was very good and went on to do a tango, a waltz and then a salsa. She's promised to call me so I can go with her to cha cha cha lessons.
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