tidbits

yesterday, the up escalator at the mall I was in stopped. Know what happened next? it took about 1 minute for people to start walking! yeah! dear citizens of hong kong, if an escalator stops, that means you start walking! *gasp* shock!
-----
*sigh* add coffee to the new and growing list of things I can't/shouldn't put into my body. Since it's Sunday today, I decided to test my theory. I had suspicions that coffee was a new adversary, so I chose a safe time and place to test myself. Now, there are 2 main reasons why coffee is mean: 1) it aggravates my current *ahem* situation and; 2) i feel like my heart wants to beat itself out of my chest and my blood is running a friggen marathon through my veins and arteries. This is fine when I have to get stuff done, but now that I'm trying to relax...it's not so fun.

I guess I'm just a sensitive girl
-----
yesterday I registered for the Hong Kong Marathon 10K! w00t!
Date: Sunday Feb 28th 2010
Start time: 5:40 AM!!!! That's the second start time, meant for people intending to finish between 1:10 and 1:20. I know, I did the Peachbud in 1:09, bu that course was essentially flat, and this one is essentially NOT. Anyway, the start time for those finishing in under 1:10 is 5:15am, so I don't mind lowering my standards.
-----
I went to the ballet (Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev) yesterday evening with my ladies. We started the evening with a really nice home-cooked meal, courtesy of Alicia. Rosemary lemon chicken, bok choy and rice. yummy!

After dolling ourselves up, we made our way over to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, which is across the harbour in a district called Tsim Sha Tsui, or TST for short. This centre is GORGEOUS with several different theatres for performances. We were in the Grand Theatre, which wasn't as big as I expected, but our seats were good and the chairs were comfy.

The ballet was a whopping 3 hours long, which was about 1 hour more than my butt or brain could manage. The dancing was great and the music was delicious. I knew bits and pieces of the themes composed by Prokofiev, but it wasn't until we were quite well into the ballet that I started to get the sneaking suspicion that I had actually played parts of the suite before. Some of the more common, repeated themes felt familiar in my fingers, and one of the trumpets fanfares, I distinctly remember my friend Aaron playing at some point during university.

To solve my conundrum, I confirmed with my old music peeps on facebook, and yes indeedy! The UWO orchestra play excerpts from the suite during my third year, when I was playing bass clarinet. I can't believe I had forgotten. Then again, it has been, *gulp* 5 years? holy hanna!
-----
I love being in hong kong for the single fact that it offers me concert after concert to experience. I actually double booked myself for the last night by accident. There was another concert - bagpiping! - that I also wanted to see with some colleagues who are VERY into it. I went with the ballet because it was considerably more expensive :P. Other concerts in my future are: Iranian percussion next Thursday, Korean music and dance in November, Japanese percussion in December, and possibly and Tuvan throat-singing concert next weekend. w00t! I'm telling ya, I'm going to spend a lot more this year on entertainment than I ever did in Korea, but I think cultural and/or classical concerts are well worth it!
-----
I have friend a new friend! Everybody, please say hello to Herman the...uh..."worm"

Can't see him? Here's a close up:

Alright, so he's not really a worm. He's more like a caterpillar, but I don't think he's gonna turn into a butterfly. I got that little plant for my room about 10 days ago. It used to have a lot more leaves and flowers on it, but somebody has a bit of an appetite.  Herman must've come with the plant as a baby, because I didn't notice anything strange until part way through last week. I noticed buds missing and little black dry balls on the desk surrounding the plant. Didn't really think anything of it. I went into school today to see that MUCH of the plant had been eaten and there were more little black balls. Yeah, Herman has been pooping on my desk! So much for good house manners. Anyway, he's eaten enough of the leaves that he's not quite as well hidden. I'll let him eat himself out of house and home, then I'll put him outside to digest public property.

Initially, I thought to blue iridescent dots her his eyes, but that was just nature fooling me. He eventually uncurled himself as hunger pangs overcame the terror of the human:

  

 

[Herman update! after very minimal internet sleuthing, it turns out that Herman will indeed metamorphose into an Oleander Hawk-moth. Check it out!]

has The Kong turned me into a lactard?!

WARNING: in this post, I talk about poo. Specifically, my own.

So, as of a week ago Tuesday, I'm off dairy. Well, really, as of Monday I'm off dairy because my first attempt failed miserably. Here's how it all started...



...with persistent runs, not unlike my experience in Bali (if you remember). Annoying, but not debilitating and - thankfully - not uncontrollable. gew. Anyway, I thought it was dietary. For the past year, I had the luxury of endless supplies of expensive whole grains, thanks to the parents. Now my body is getting used to a somewhat less wholesome diet, and I thought the hershey squirts (that's for Bern) were my body's way of bitching about it. Well, fast forward about 4 weeks or so and it can't be the general diet change. So, I went to see a doctor about it. I told my Mom first because, as a nurse, I figure she knows everything about everything. She confirmed that I should see a doctor, and then says "You know they're going to ask you for a sample, right?" gurh? a sample?

This begs the life-changing question: Would you rather have to man-handle your own feces, or have mild diarrhea forever? I’m not gonna lie, I had to think about this one for a while. I’ve done some gross things, or, at least, things that are considered gross by others (eg. DIVA cup), but poo? Come on!

Anyway, I sucked it up and did the deed last Friday morning. I went in there, a very brave battle tune going through my head (I dunno, maybe “Mars” by Holst?). Had a bit of performance anxiety, but in the end, I showed my colon who was boss and proudly walked out with a little poo-bit in a plastic container.

Along with a sample of my best work, the doctor also suggest I go off dairy until the results are in. Yeah, right. There’s a lot of dairy in my life. Daily, I eat milk with my cereal and one yoghurt as a snack. Add to that to possible butter, and cheese that may find it’s way into my food and DANG! That’s a lot I have to cut out. Now I have an inkling of what my sister had to put up with. Anyway, as I said, the first 5 days of my dairy restriction were a bust. I realized, on Sunday night, that I really had to start trying harder because I had just ordered a delicious scoop of ice cream to share with Alicia. As the lady is scooping for us, I turn to Alicia and say “Oh shit. I’m not supposed to eat this.” I did anyway and vowed that after that I would be much more conscientious. Three days down and so far so good. I got myself some soymilk so I can eat cereal again (not such a fan of toast). Unfortunately, once you go off dairy for a period of time, your body stops producing the necessary enzyme and I’ll be lactarded for the rest of my life. Apparently, this has happened to a few people since coming to the Kong. I guess the cows are a bit different over here.

I was really hoping that I had bacteria or a parasite so that I could take a pill and be rid of it and stuff my face full of a bowl of milk and cheese topped with whipped cream. HOWEVER, I called the doctor today and my poop was normal. Bummer. I’m still not right yet, so we’ll see what a week of no dairy does. If “things” don’t “solidify” by next week, it’s back to the doc I go. Who knows what kind of sample she’ll need this time?

A Quick Jaunt to Korealand

...and I'm not gonna lie - it kinda felt like I was coming home. It was nice to be in a familiar place, exercise my Korean skillz, and of course! see Hang Bin. We both agreed that five months was toooooooo long. Previously, we had had to endure lengths up to three months (gasp!), but never five. And hopefully never five again. I'll get to see him again in about 3 months when he comes to the Kong for New Years (and our 3 year anniversary). In the Korean tradition, we recently surpassed our 1000th day of coupledom. yay us!

Anyway, here's a brief rundown of what we did (as ever, pics are on facebook).

Thursday, October 1st
After an annoyingly long day of travel (9 hours start too finish, that's nuts!), I finally reached the hotel at 7:30. On the Hong Kong end, getting to the airport was a breeze. I took the Airport Express subway, which got me there in about 35minutes. It's a bit pricey for Hong Kong, but there are some things I'm willing to pay for - this is one of them. Flight was uneventful, with the exception of about 30 seconds of fairly bumpy turbulence - bumpy enough that my arse came off the seat and some guy's orange juice jumped out of his cup. The worst part had to be the bus ride to Haeundae, the area of Busan where we were staying. It should've been 45min, but instead, it was an hour and a half. And you all know how much I like buses...

Anyway, when all is said and done, I would do it again for a chance to see HB. We dropped my stuff off in the hotel room and immediately went out for dinner; we were both starving. The rest of the evening is not meant for readers' eyes...

Friday, October 2nd
After a leisurely morning, we headed out for a walk along the board walk. We veered off into a wilderness path (the moon path). The ground was pretty slick from the previous night's rain, so we had to be extra careful in our flip flops :P. We zigged when we should've zagged at a fork in the road and thus ended up in someone's backyard garden. The grandmother there told us how to get out of the yard and off we went to catch a taxi to Haedongyonggungsa, which is a Temple on the cliff's of Busan. (ps. the temple's name means East Sea Dragon Palace Temple) The setting was gorgeous and the weather perfect.

After a delightful lunch of authentic Indian food, we headed to the Busan Station area where there was a bit of a shopping district and also a famous enormous traditional wet market. On the first floor of this large building was stall after stall of writhing, smelly seafood. If this was Hang Bin's idea of trying to get me to like seafood, he's going about it the wrong way. Despite the smell, the creatures were quite interesting to look at.

Our final destination for the day was Busan tower. Kinda like the CN, only smaller...and cheaper.

Saturday October 3rd
In the morning we went to a spa called Vesta to check out its roof top spa area. It was mildly disappointing, but still nice to lounge around outside, in the sunshine in a shallow pool of warm water. It wasn't too busy, so that made it even better. The afternoon brought us to Beomeosa, another temple, this time tucked away in the mountains. The air was so fresh, I felt instantly healthier and more alive. There were a number of people at the temple for both sighseeing and praying.

Our last evening together we spent roaming the streets near Busan National University. It was pretty bustling considering it was a national holiday. I bought some earrings and a new bag (as well as tried on a lot of shoes. Hang Bin is so patient. Apparently I'm "such a girl", but I have to say, in my defense, living in Korea made me that way :P).

And here I am, on a Sunday evening, recounting my vacation and wishing, wishing, wishing I could go back and spend even just another day. It went by too quickly.
------------------------
Other tidbits:

Despite how often I fly, I'm constanly amazed at both planes and airports. In an airport, everything it so intricately intertwined that the smallest error could have a cascade effect of leaving thousands stranded trying to get away or get home. The airplanes themselves are magic to me. Sure, you could sit there and talk to me about low air pressure and high air pressure creating lift and physics and blah blah blah, but let's face it...it's magic.

Korean Air (airline) is AWESOME. Best airline that I've ever experienced. I saw the flight attendants placate an obviously angry passenger with persistent apologies, bows, check-ins, and free swag. I don't know what he was upset about, but at the end of the flight, he certainly had no reason to hold a grudge. Oh yeah, and the flight attendants look awesome in their khaki and aqua uniforms. I think it's the pointy neck scarves and hair ribbons that really make the look work.

Comparison Time!!!

Interestingly, I find myself making more comparisons between th Kong and Korea than HK and Canada. I thought Korea had a noise pollution problem. Uh-uh. Korea is downright silent compared with Hong Kong. Don't scoff at someone when they tell you it's never quiet. Seriously - it's NEVER quiet. During the day, along with normal sounds of traffic, air conditioning window units and jackhammers, there is this persistent, ambient hum of escalators, and machines beeping in various tones in the MTR. One beep to let you through the gate, a higher, longer, louder beep to block your passage. The constant, annoying, tinny tune of the tactile map announcing its presence and location to the visually-impaired, the ever-present voice of the "subway goddess" politely issuing demands (in 3 languages) for you to "please hold the handrail"; "mind the gap"; "clear your throat into a tissue then put the tissue directly into the rubbish bin"; "wash your hands often"; no eating or drinking on the train or in paid areas of the station."
-----
Life would be prefect if I had my kitchen from Korea coupled with the food choices from Hong Kong. Life would be elevated to the level of divine if I also had my father hear to make me a regularity-inducing smoothie every morning for brekkie. As it stands, I don't think our kitchen could handle another appliance (And we don't have many to begin with), and perhaps my account would collapse under the cost of whey protein powder and frozen berries.
-----
*sigh* Recycling is a thing of the past. It's even worse here than it was in Korea. I spent the past year making 80% recycling and 20% garbage while living with my parents, only to be transplanted to a modern metropolis that is environmentally behind the times. Well, there's perhaps the argument that they need the garbage in order to make landfills on top of which they will eventually build luxury apartment complexes (READ: Lohas Park). Sure, it looks fancy, but it's built on TRASH.
-----
Transportation: You've got to be either stupid or rich to have your own car in Hong Kong.
-----
I can go an entire wor week without being outside for any longer than 5 minutes at a time. As hot as it is here, I'm at no risk of getting a sunburn. I can always count on the shade of hundred of tall buildings to protect me...or the MTR.