Mood Update!
I have been trying to spend as much time keeping myself in the company of friends. They have been of tremendous help overing coming my initial emotional turmoil that plagued me upon my return. However, the wind has shifted and the clouds are moving on.
I've been trying to make the rounds with my friends. I've even gone out with some who I rarely see. I had lunch with Flora on one of her holidays in Hong Kong. I even managed to see Huhu who is always busy at work. There's a pretty decent buffet down in Wan Chai that she treated me to.
The first weekend back I chilled with Tiff, Sandra, and their group of friends over at Shooters at Times Square in Causeway Bay. I've gone back a few times since then. One of their friends who is working in Shanghai came down for business and we meet him at Shooters and took him out to The Apartment in Lan Kwai Fong. Iris Y called me that night and I suspect it was to ask me to get her into Volar. I had a talk with another friend about her behaviour and she fits the profile of a "user".
I went clubbing the last few weekends and probably will do so again this weekend. Last weekend was a bit of a shock though. We went out with some what of a plan and it completely fell to pieces. It has started to tint my view of people in Hong Kong. There is just a general lack of respect for people here. I can forgive friends because I am open to their reasons but sometimes it is just unexplainable and a bit on the rude side. An unfortunate event happened last Saturday. I headed down to Lan Kwai Fong to meet up with Michelle and her friend Judy. Janice called me out to meet her and her friends at Yumla so I took both girls to meet up with them. Ran into Angie and a few other people I met through those girls. Originally Michelle was suppose to come out tonight but she's been tired so she was planning on bailing. Cherie was suppose to call when she got to LKF but we found out later she was already at Armani Bar for a while. I headed over after spending some time with the girls and met up with Cherie, Agnes and her boyfriend. I also met Cherie's friend who just returned from the US.
I took 3 of them with me to Volar and we got inside. Agnes decides to leave right away to find an ex-boyfriend outside. I thought it was a bit rude for her to leave once she just got in. It reflects on me since I brought her in and the bouncers would definitely recognize that. She left anyways but couldn't get back in right away. Inside I ran into a few friends like Terrence and Theric. We spent sometime with them before they took off. Cherie got picked up by a tall American Korean and since she looked like she was enjoying herself (and reported that things were okay via SMS) we let her be and I took her friend to party with some of the models I recognize. I took care of her friend for most of the night and towards the end I found out that Cherie already left for Hei Hei. I was a bit displeased with that to say the least but she told me that she was being followed by the guy who picked her up (he just wanted to "kill her in bed" so he says) and she went to Hei Hei to escape.
I've renewed my efforts at the gym and I'm feeling pretty good about that. I'm starting to refocus things, lets hope for the best.
Labels: Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong
Some Resolution
Today was a pretty good day. Morning lessons cancelled I didn't make it in until around 2:40 pm. I had early lunch with Fiona since I haven't met up with her for a long time then I went over to Janice's work place and had lunch with her. I can't believe she had me wait by myself at a table for over 10 minutes in a Chinese restaurant. I had 2 different couples sit down and leave by the time she made it down. Though it isn't her fault that she can't leave until 1 pm. She made some mistakes this morning so I can forgive her for putting in the time. I dropped off the things I bought in Canada for her and she gave me a small package of ginger granola bars. I ran into some ex-coworkers (that use to Work at SME, like Chilli) at Cheng Sha Wan.
I rushed home to grab my roller blades then over to Readership for my lesson. It was a pretty relaxing day over all. Right after classes were finished I went over to Victoria park to use the roller skating rink. This is my first time using my roller blades in close to 2 years. I was a little shaky, but slowly getting the feel of it again. I ran into two of my students who were taking lessons in the Rink, Jovial and Katie.
I met up with Kendall afterwards for dinner. We gave Kay a call and she came over as well plus we called out Kazue. We had some good Viet food in Causeway Bay and then over to Starbucks for some coffee and Big Brain Academy.
I got a call on my way home and I had a long talk with a special someone. I'm glad I got a few honest answers out tonight. I feel better about where we are, even though it seems like it'll never be. As long as people are honest with me I can accept and adapt to the circumstance. Too bad right?
Labels: Hong Kong
Back in Hong Kong! What a Crappy Start for 2007
Recently I've been trying to catch up with my blog postings. I've backdated a lot of entries because I didn't have any time to update my blog while I was traveling. I'm pretty much all caught up so I'll just try to summarize the week or so that I've actually been in Hong Kong.
The flight back was pretty tiring. But I was also looking forward to coming back. There's a reason for this some of you back home know about. I was feeling pretty good about a relationship that was starting to bloom. But aside from the happy welcome home recently it has been a tiring ordeal. Maybe I'll be lucky and no one really reads this part, but I wanted to include this for my own memory in the future. I got back into Hong Kong on the 5th and by the weekend things started to fall apart. The worst thing is I'm not entirely sure why. The girl was nice enough to give me a try but it just doesn't work out? She is trying to protect her family and friends who might be partially involved? She has a boyfriend or she has become interested in someone else? It could be a combination of any of the above or maybe something entirely different. I hate to speculate but emotionally your mind drives you to do it. I'm trying to use logic to overcome emotion but it really is a tough battle.
I've asked for some clarity but I haven't gotten any responses I can use. I can't even get some quality time with her to go through things seriously. Maybe that's her plan as well, piss me off so that I just give up, or just screw with my head even more. It can be tiring.
Actually aside from the relationship thing, things have been going well. It was a little rough going back to work the next day after arriving. I had a mild jet lag for the majority of the first week, but waking up early worked to my advantage a little. I just didn't do much at night. I had a few social events like meeting up with Tiffany at Shooters in Times Square, dinner with various friends, and starting back up at the gym. Last night I went clubbing again for the first time in about a month. I dropped by Volar first and ran into Terrence and his friends. When Cherie arrived we had a quick dinner and then headed over to Club No.9, then off to Hei Hei. I got introduced to Germaine's new boo for the first time. Everyone seem to have hooked up over the holidays, I wish I could say the same for myself but as you know that probably won't be the case.
I just finished dinner in TST with Sandra, Kazue, and Jamie. Originally I was suppose to roller blade with Janice, but her grandmother had an incident today and she obviously needs to attend to her family affairs. I went to the gym with Jamie and Bella instead.
I have a clearer head about what I want to do here coming back. The break in Canada was definitely a good thing. But, this relationship is messing with my head. I want to call to get things resolved but I'm trying very hard to respect her wish to talk to me on her own time. Maybe this method will work out though, I'm getting pretty tired of the broken expectations and the run-around. I've been disappointed so many times with the relationships in Hong Kong. I had such a good feeling about this one going in, but this may turn out to be the biggest disappointment yet. The last I saw her was after a lunch in which she walked off promising to call to talk about it. I'm still waiting for that call. It is helpful to talk about it though, so hopefully I can keep busy and keep my head together.
Labels: Friends, Hong Kong, Travel
So I was up nice and early yesterday, the 3rd, to get downtown to meet up with Iris. Due to traffic she was a little late but after we had breakfast at
Tim Hortons and wandered around trying to find a way to get to the
Cypress Shuttle Bus we managed to make it right on time for the next schedule departure.
The ride was about 40 minutes and on the way up we had to stand in the aisle. My Hong Kong friend Iris was pretty excited, this will be the first time she's actually seen snow. When we got off the bus I had to give her a formal introduction with my friend the snow ball.
We got her rentals out of the way (I didn't know you could rent jackets and pants) and finally out to a spot where I could teach her the basics. How to "skate" with the snowboard. The day was pretty much a compromise. I wanted to go snowboarding but I didn't want to go alone. I ended up with a beginner which means I really wasn't going to get a lot of quality snow time in. I was pretty frustrated at times, which is typically the case when you're sitting around waiting for the other person to move a few centimeters down to you. But I have to say in the end there really was some improvement on her part. I had to get use to Justin's bindings as well, he rides goofy which doesn't matter all that much but I didn't want to mess with his bindings. It doesn't matter though, I remember how much I love snowboarding up on the slopes. I had a few runs, when Iris was tired, to enjoy a little increase in speed. I never made it to the blacks but I got to touch the terrain park twice (don't worry Justin I stayed away from the rails!)
We called it quit around 6 and took the bus back to downtown. We wandered Robson Street looking for a pay phone. They are impossible to find! We eventually walked over to Sears and they had one inside the mall. We met up with Rui and waiting for my cousin to call me at a cafe. Iris' friend called while we were there and they had some sort of argument. Iris really wanted me to spend time walking her back to the Skytrain but my Vancouver trip was really short and I can't be wasting it since I don't know when I'll see my Vancouver friends again. My cousin eventually called and we met up at a Japanese restaurant for ramen noodles.
We had dessert afterwards together and I ended up leaving my snowboarding boots with my cousin in Vancouver. Lucky for me since I had to play with my luggage at the airport to fit under the weight limit at Air Canada.
I flew off today around lunch. It was such a long flight, I was lucky to have my brother's gift with me. I stopped off at the duty free shop in HK where I picked up something for Fanny. They asked to see my boarding pass of course and they asked me if I had a HK ID card. Of course I didn't tell them about my HK ID card. But I learned they don't accept debit/EPS there so I should bring cash next time.
Goodbye Canada! I'm going to miss my family, my friends, the nice people, the good food, the clean air.
Labels: Canada, Friends, Sports, Travel
Vancouver Day 2 - Good Japanese Food!
I woke up about an hour after Rui left for work. I heard him moving around in the morning but he said I was sleeping like a baby and he didn't want to disturb me. It was still kind of rainy in the morning but by noon time the sun decided to come out. Vancouver is truly beautiful when there is sun.
Since I didn't have access to a phone I promised Iris that I would get online around lunch time so we can talk about your snowboarding plans. She also wanted to come out to meet up but she was staying in Surrey and I had no clue how she could take the public transportation system downtown. She didn't have a ride and she didn't know where the closest bus stop was. I struggled trying to figure that out for about an hour and then I ran out across the street to buy lunch at
Quizno's Subs. I dropped by a
Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up a magazine for Jamie, and a
Timmy's for some directions. On the outside Vancouverites are truly the world's nicest people. They will go out of their way to give you directions and help. It is a form of etiquette there but really it makes a big difference in impression. I gave up on Iris after lunch and decided to head downtown for some souvenir shopping and to meet up with Rui afterwards.
I wandered around
Robson Street looking for things to buy. I was surprised to run into a
Kiehl's store right on Robson Street. Janice requested a few products from there but she told me I could only find it in the US. Apparently there's also a shop in Toronto right on
Queen Street. I picked up her Lip balm #1, and some sort of cucumber toner. I shopped around some more but didn't find anything else and I went to meet Rui by the HMV.
I also made arrangements to meet up with another long time good friend
Justin.
Justin knew I wanted to go snowboarding in Vancouver and he was nice enough to lend me his snowboard. Of course the stipulation was that I didn't touch any rails with his board. Fair enough, I really appreciate him driving his snowboard out for me to use. I didn't even have enough time to properly return it which I feel bad about.
Justin is another friend on the list heading down the aisle next year. We all met up together and had amazing Vancouver Japanese food at
Guu-Izakaya (
Guu with Garlic). Seriously I haven't had this level of Japanese food in a long time. I never run into it in Hong Kong. It helps that the environment is really Japanese with hordes of Japanese people eating beside us and Japanese waitresses serving us. Just the wait times were insanely long. Seriously, assume about an hour wait for a spot.
We headed home early to let me rest for my snowboarding trip tomorrow. But I really had a chance to rest and enjoy my first full day in Vancouver. I'm looking forward to finally hitting the slopes.
Labels: Canada, Friends
First Week 2007 - Vancouver Day 1
Honestly all my friends know I'm not a drinker. I guess 2006 was a special New Years Eve because it has really been a long time since I've been with my good friends. It was a fun party and I made a lot of new friends in addition to the good friends I already have. I was feeling sick already last night so I passed out early. Noel was still suffering last night before I went to sleep but she still managed to get up with the rest of us. Simon, Noel, Mike, Christine, took me out to have some quick Viet food to help settle my stomach. Afterwards we went straight to
the airport.
As we were pulling into the parking lot at
the airport we saw an old lady stuck at the toll gate. Usually you have to press a button to get a ticket, but this old women was trying to find a way to put money into the machine. Since we got there earlier than expected I mentioned we should probably help her out and Mike and I got out to teach the old women what to do.
Simon really did a lot for me this trip, I couldn't thank him enough. Up until the very end these friends were nice enough to waste their time accompanying me all throughout the airport until the security check-in. We hung out at Starbucks for a while too. Once past security I wandered the Duty-Free buying up my last minute items on my shopping list (ice wine, smoked salmon, etc).
The plane ride was really harsh, having Pam travel beside me on the first trip really helped ease the boredom. I was still a bit hung over and I swear this is one of the bumpiest rides I have ever had on an airplane. I was playing with my brother's gift, my
Nintendo NDS Lite, trying to do surgery via a game called
Trauma Center. There was a scene in which you have to perform surgery on an airplane while it shakes, but for me the whole time it was shaking.
In Vancouver Rui showed up at
the airport, like he said he would, and he showed up early so I didn't even have to wait. I met his girl friend for the first time and I was surprised to see another of his friends from Toronto; Wei. Apparently he talked Wei into moving to Vancouver. The first thing I see going outside to the car park is rain. Vancouver the rainy city.
They took me out to have some healthy Mexican food at Las Margaritas, where I met Patricia's friends from Alberta. Then he took me back to his place where I pretty much was exhausted. I was trying to plan a snowboarding trip to
Whistler since another Hong Kong friend was visiting Vancouver, and she was super bored, but I really had no energy and not enough information. I just gave up that night and decided to write off the next morning. I had a bit of jet lag anyways and I was lacking sleep from several long nights in Toronto. I guess I could have followed his roommate up to Whistler but he was planning to leave by 5am. I don't think it would have been a good idea for me.
This is the last leg of my trip. I'm looking forward to the clean air and good food in Vancouver.
Labels: Canada, Friends, Travel
