4th of July Party

We went to a party for the fourth at Lily & Kevin’s house. It’s not really their house. They’re house sitting for Kevin’s boss while he is on vacation. But they will be living there for a month. Maybe they shouldn’t be throwing parties in someone else’s house, but it’s a really nice place. Unlike every apartment everyone I know lives in, this is a real house. It almost looks American on the outside, in the sense that the owners care about how it looks. Unlike dirty blocks of apartment buildings with clean interiors, this house is clean inside and out. I’m pretty sure the owner has people to take care of that. Anyone who can afford this house can afford people to do the messy jobs.

It has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms – all with bathtubs, a huge kitchen with a real oven and plenty of counter space, an outdoor terrace with a cooking area, a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking an incredible view of the eastern islands and the Pacific Ocean. There are big windows all around the house and you get great views of the water everywhere. It’s absolutely nothing like the apartments where the rest of us live.

There were fireworks all over the place at night. I don’t know if they did anything special for the 4th of July or if it was just the usual fireworks all over the place. Hong Kong is the kind of city that loves fireworks. No holiday required. We weren’t facing Victoria Harbour, but there was still a good show. The views from this house could not have been better.

Lily & Kevin are our best friends in Hong Kong. We all met at Disneyland. Lily’s a singer and face character and usually plays Cinderella and Princess Aurora. Kevin is a part time vocalist. He also works at an electronics company, which is why he came to Hong Kong. It’s that boss who owns the big house.

There’s something about having a party in a luxurious house that makes you act more mature. Parties in cheap apartments usually have too much drinking, and something is guaranteed to get broken. Parties at frat houses are just ridiculous. I used to live close to the University of Minnesota. Those got crazy. Being in a house meant for older adults made everyone act older. It was kind of weird, but all very civilized. There was plenty of alcohol afoot, but no one dared vomit on the Italian leather sofa.

It was funny to see how successful adults live and then go home to our tiny Chinese box of an apartment. We’ve got a long way to go before we can live that lifestyle.


Clear Water Bay