Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

I never mentioned Thanksgiving. It was on my birthday this year, so I sort of did. It falls on my birthday every once in a while. I was born on Thanksgiving. I don’t think my mother ever forgave me for that.

This year’s Thanksgiving I was by myself. Ryan is in Fuzhou, Lily and Kevin are in Canada, all of my friends that are actually in Hong Kong had to work or do other things. Last year we went to a fancy restaurant for a special Thanksgiving meal. It really didn’t feel like Thanksgiving to me. Peking duck and noodle soup are not Thanksgiving to me. The worst part about Hong Kong is that there’s no pumpkin pie anywhere. But at least we did something together.

I know you’re supposed to develop your own traditions for the holidays when you live in a foreign country, but I haven’t come up with anything yet. I can’t make my own meal and invite everyone over since my kitchen is the same size as the desk I’m typing this on, and my apartment can only comfortably fit one or two people. I haven’t found a good Thanksgiving restaurant yet, but I’m working on it.

Monday, November 26, 2012

My China Trip part 9

Hong Kong is in China, but China is very different from Hong Kong. Americans, and most people, can go to Hong Kong without a visa. Everyone needs a visa to go to Mainland China. Even people living in Hong Kong need a visa to go to the Mainland. It’s the same country, but different governments. From here on, I will just call Mainland China “China” so I don't have to type “Mainland” over and over, even though Hong Kong is in China.

In Hong Kong, anyone can drive anywhere at any time. In China, there are curfews and you can only drive on certain days based on your car’s license plate. They let you know which day you’re allowed to drive.

In Hong Kong, you can have as many children as you want. In China, they have that one child policy. But they are talking about abolishing it, and whether it stays or goes, there are so many exceptions that millions of couples have more than one child. Either way, everybody wants to have a boy. I guess no one thinks about what will happen when there are only boys in China and no more girls.

In Hong Kong, it’s perfectly legal to be gay, though frowned upon. And apparently, there are quite a lot of lesbians. Enough to have club outings, at least. They’re a friendly bunch. In China, it’s all illegal. Gay nude beach day in China will land you in prison. I wonder what they’ll do in 30 years when everyone under 20 is a boy.

In Hong Kong, we have Chinese food from all over the world. You can get pretty much anything if you know where to look. I’ve been here almost two years and I’m still looking. In China, it’s mostly Chinese food. It’s good and cheap, but there’s not much variety. McDonald’s and KFC are all over the place, but that’s about it when it comes to something that’s not Chinese.

I always thought the people in Hong Kong were rude. They walk right into you. Nobody ever moves out of anyone’s way. If I’m walking in a straight line, I have to move for people walking all over the place. If I’m carrying something, I have to move for people who aren’t carrying anything. I see people with luggage, strollers and babies moving for people who are only holding their cell phones. Everyone in Hong Kong is holding a cell phone. They are all talking on them while slamming into everyone else. It’s like none of the millions of people walking the streets are aware that millions of other people exist.

Where I come from, people don’t slam into each other. If they do, it’s an accident, and we will always apologize. We always step aside for people carrying heavy things. We’ll even help them sometimes. We always – always – give someone with a baby the right of way. That’s non-negotiable. You move for the handicapped and people with babies. You don’t see handicapped people in Hong Kong. I don’t know why, but there are plenty of mothers with babies. No one seems to care about crashing into them.

It’s even worse in China. Hong Kong is polite compared to China. People say it’s because there are more people in China. There are. China has a lot of people, but Hong Kong is not exactly empty. China has over a billion people in the same amount of space as the United States, but Hong Kong has 7 million people in the same amount of space as Indianapolis, and Indianapolis has less than a million people.

Everyone smokes in Hong Kong and China. I think smoking is repulsive. It’s not only bad for the smoker, it’s bad for anyone near the smoker. Too many Americans like to smoke, but at least we have places where you can get away from smoke. There are very few non-smoking places in Hong Kong. From what I saw, there are absolutely no non-smoking places in Fuzhou. People in Hong Kong and China don’t think twice about blowing their smoke right in your face. They care less about poisoning others than about walking into them.

But China takes it to the next level. Everyone in China spits. All the time. That might sound like an extreme exaggeration. Especially since I only went to one city for one week. But every single person in the entire country of China spits in public every second of every day from birth until death. I couldn’t believe it. Fully grown adult men and women were spitting everywhere. There are signs in elevators telling people not to spit because they do, right there in the elevator. I finally realized why Chinese people always take off their shoes when they go home. They spend all day walking around in everyone’s spit. It always looks like it just rained because the streets are always wet. It’s the most disgusting thing ever. You can’t get away from it. Like smoking, it’s everywhere. You can’t look away when you see someone spitting because wherever you look, there’s someone else spitting. I don’t know what it is about Chinese people that fills their mouths with constant saliva, maybe all the constant smoking, but they can’t stop spitting. I’m getting sick just thinking about it.

Friday, November 23, 2012

My 22nd Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I didn’t do anything special. Ryan’s in China, just as he was for his birthday. When I went there last week that was kind of for both of our birthdays.

I didn’t have to work, but all of my friends did or are out of town. Lily went back to Canada because her dad had a heart attack a few days ago. Kevin just left. Amy had to work all night. Even Ryan worked that night.

On his birthday, I did a special strip tease on Skype for him. I guess it was a Skypetease. He really liked it. We didn’t do anything on my birthday because he worked all night. By the time he got off, I was asleep.

I wanted to get a massage in the afternoon, but Amy worked the night shift. If she’s not there, I don’t bother. She’s the best and knows what I like. So I spent most of the day doing e-mail and catching up on chores. At night, I took some Tim Ho Wan home and watched Singin’ in the Rain on DVD. It’s hard to have a pity party when you’re watching Singin’ in the Rain. There’s just too much joy in those performances. Debbie Reynolds had a hard life later on, but she was really lucky to be working with those guys when she was so young. She was younger when she did it than I am now.



Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Living with Lily part 6

Lily’s dad had a heart attack. He’s ok, but Lily went back to Canada to be with him. She’s really worried, but she also keeps saying the doctors think everything will be fine.

Kevin couldn’t get off work so quickly, so he stayed here, but he’s going to see them as soon as he can. Lily just went as soon as she heard about it, work be dammed. I’m not sure how I’d react in that situation. If it was Ryan’s dad, I would go home immediately. He’s been more like a father to me than my own.

I hope everything works out. The doctors say he’ll be fine, but you never know. A heart attack isn’t a hiccup.

Monday, November 19, 2012

My China Trip part 8

The main pedestrian shopping mall.
Very touristy, with mostly knick knacks.


What counts as an appetizer in a fancy Chinese restaurant.
I could make that.


Very good pumpkin soup.


A famous temple with a river running through it.


Christmas in Fuzhou.


It was too early to see if the Chinese really care about Christmas,
but it’s never too early for Christmas shopping.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

My China Trip part 7

I always used to wonder what it would be like to go to China. Growing up in Minnesota, China is an exotic land very far away from anything we knew. Living in Hong Kong has taught me a lot about Chinese culture and I’ve seen all kinds of food you never see in an American Chinese restaurant, but you don’t get the full Chinese experience. Hong Kong is not a closed communist society. It’s very open and extremely capitalist. In some ways, Hong Kong is a giant shopping mall. A lot of people speak English in Hong Kong. Most of them make a lot of mistakes, and sometimes it’s pretty funny, but you can live in Hong Kong without knowing much Chinese.

When I used to think of China, I thought about the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. I thought about repression and censored internet. When I went to Mainland China, I didn’t go anywhere near the Great Wall. Fuzhou is 1,000 miles away. I didn’t spend any time online, but Ryan has confirmed that there’s plenty of censorship. He can’t get the kind of porn he can get in Hong Kong. He says it’s all censored in China. I should be happy about that, but I’d rather have my boyfriend surf for porn online than look around offline. If we only see each other every three months, I’d rather have him enjoy the pleasure of his computer than troll the streets.

The only thing I noticed when I went to Fuzhou was the repression. It’s probably not as bad as it used to be, but you can tell the people are not entirely comfortable. There’s a public uneasiness you don’t get other places. I can’t properly describe it. People stare at me in Hong Kong. Children stare and point. My race and hair are a curiosity, despite all the foreigners all over the place. No one stared at me in Fuzhou. In fact, most people looked down or averted their eyes whenever they walked past me. Hong Kong feels nothing like the United States, but if feels like a free place. Fuzhou simply does not.

Fuzhou has plenty of shopping malls, though it’s nothing compared to Hong Kong. There’s a large pedestrian shopping street downtown and a large mall with all kinds of small Chinese stores. McDonald’s and KFC are all over the place. I thought Hong Kong had a lot of McDonald’s, but I think Fuzhou has more. There was practically one on every block. It’s ridiculous.

Taxis are very cheap, about half the Hong Kong price just to get in and less than half for every mile. I thought the driver was trying to rip us off when he wanted $2 more than what the meter read, but Ryan said that’s an extra charge for gas. You always pay $2 more than the meter. Unless Ryan’s been getting ripped off all this time. I think it could probably be either or.

Ryan took me to a small lake in the middle of the city. We walked around it and it was all very romantic, but to be honest, we spent most of the time in his bedroom. I’m sure there’s plenty to see and do in Fuzhou, but after three months apart, we had to make up for lost time. Maybe I should have spent more time exploring the city, but I was perfectly happy spending time with Ryan exploring me. I want to say that the next time I go back I’ll see more, but we’ll probably spend just as much time on top of each other.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Untitled

I added titles to all of my posts because Blogger changed the whole system. I didn’t want titles because I wanted this to be like a diary. Who puts titles on their diary entries? But the new Blogger layout makes it harder without titles. I guess they assume everyone has them. So now I have titles. It’s nothing fancy. I was just going to number them all, but then I noticed that I have several posts broken up into different parts. I don’t really like the titles, but I don’t feel like changing them right now.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

My China Trip part 6

Typical Chinese dinner
Everything’s fried and greasy and there’s enough to feed an army.


West Lake Park gate


West Lake Park statues


West Lake Park statue


Tea Museum
The sign says you’re not supposed to take pictures. Everyone else did.


I didn’t understand the story, but they were pretty good.
I like how they combine acting, singing & dancing and it all flows seamlessly.


A pretty but kind of gross pumpkin stew

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My China Trip part 5

Fuzhou Changle International Airport was empty on the way back to Hong Kong. Maybe because it was 7 o’clock in the morning. It was very different from Hong Kong Airport, where there are people in every corner day and night. Fuzhou Airport looked abandoned.

There were no other passengers when I went through security. The guards didn’t say a word to me. They just scanned my bag and waved me onward. There was no line to check in. I gave the clerk my passport and ticket, she did her thing and sent me on my way. She never said anything to me and I only said “ni hao” to her. There was another security check without any lines where they scanned my bag again, looked at my passport and boarding pass again and pointed me in the right direction. Once again, no one said anything to me. It took maybe ten minutes to get from the front door to the boarding gate, and most of that time was walking around to get from one checkpoint without any lines to another.

You could never do that in Hong Kong. Even if they didn’t talk to you, which they always do, it is always crowded. Fuzhou was deserted, except for all the people working there. They had a full staff, but I was the only passenger in sight, at least in the beginning. After a while, more and more people showed up and by the time my flight took off, it was crowded. I guess I just got there too early.

Next time I’ll know I don’t need to be there two hours before the flight. Even one hour is early. But I’m sure if I got there just before they started boarding, it would have taken a lot longer to get through security and passport control. That’s the way it works.

Another bad thing about getting there early was that there is absolutely nothing to do at Fuzhou Airport. When you get past the final security check, you can sit and wait for your flight or get some terrible airport food. It’s funny how China has so much great fresh food that costs practically nothing and Chinese airports have terrible microwaved food that’s very expensive. There’s always food anywhere in China. They even fed us on the plane, and it was only a 90 minute flight.

Hong Kong Airport is a giant shopping mall. There’s a hotel, a few pay lounges and places to get a massage. You can shop, sleep, go online and eat. The food is more expensive because it’s an airport, but they have a wide variety. You can get Chinese American, Chinese Italian, Chinese Japanese and, of course, plain old Chinese. There’s even a Disney store near the food court. I could get a discount there, but I’ve never actually bought anything because I can just get stuff at work.

I already miss Ryan, but I’m glad to be back in Hong Kong. Fuzhou just seems so different. It’s kind of funny since they’re both in China, but Hong Kong is in a world of its own. I’ve still got a few months left on my Chinese visa, but I can only go back one more time. I want to go back next week, but I should probably spread it out more.

Monday, November 12, 2012

My China Trip part 4

Communist China was not what I expected. I thought they would give me a hard time for being American as soon as the plane landed, but it was one of the easiest airport experiences I’ve ever had. I waited in the shortest line at passport control, maybe because the flight arrived at midnight. It looked like only the people from my flight were there. Maybe I’m just used to Hong Kong. The lines here are never short, no matter what time you land. I handed my passport to the woman at the counter, she looked at the visa, stamped it and sent me on my way. There were no questions. There was no talking at all. Maybe she doesn’t speak English. I expected to be stopped at the customs area, but they just stood there as I walked by. Maybe they’ve seen enough Americans that I was nothing special. Or maybe they were working the graveyard shift and could not care less.

I saw Ryan the second I walked out to the airport’s main lobby. He was pretty easy to spot in a mostly empty hall with a few scatterings of little Chinese people.

We took a taxi to his house and went straight to his bedroom. Some of his roommates were home, but I wasn’t feeling especially polite at the time. After three months without sex, I was feeling nothing but horny. Ryan’s clothes were off as soon as he shut the bedroom door. I’ve never seen him get naked so quickly. I was moving too slowly, so he helped me take off my clothes. It was more like he tore off my clothes. Within a minute of walking into a strange house in a strange country, I was on top of the bed with Ryan on top of me. Seconds later, he was finished. But I didn’t care. It just felt good to finally have him inside me again. It also proved that he wasn’t sleeping around in China, not that I was worried about that. He was just as horny as I was.

We took a little break on his bed and he kissed my body like a man who had not had sex in months. I can’t describe how good it felt after going so long without being touched in that way. It didn’t take long until Ryan was ready to go again, and this time it lasted much longer. Thankfully. I wanted to spend the rest of the week on that bed, but Ryan had to work that night, and we had to get up to replenish our fluids sooner or later anyway.

I went with Ryan to see his band play at the club they’ve been working in all this time. I was surprised by how small it was. You wouldn’t think a live band could fit in there, but somehow they did. I didn’t like the club at all and the music was too loud for such a tiny space, but I was happy to be there, watching my boyfriend do his thing. When the band finished their set, we all hung out for a little while. A couple of his band mates have Fuzhou girlfriends now. I don’t know if anyone let their girlfriends in Hong Kong know. I was anxious to go back to the house and so was Ryan. We didn’t hang out at the club for very long. We had better things to do. We spent the rest of the night humping our brains out while my ears were ringing from the loud music. I didn’t drink much, but I felt drunk from the flight, noise and orgasms.

It could not have been a better trip.

Monday, November 5, 2012

My China Trip part 3

I got my plane ticket to Fuzhou. I’m leaving Wednesday at 10 o’clock at night. That means I’ll get there by midnight. That wouldn’t be so good if I had to get to the city on my own, but Ryan’s going to pick me up at the airport. He’ll either find someone to give us a ride or just take a taxi. He says taxis in Fuzhou are a lot cheaper than Hong Kong. He says everything’s cheaper in China.

Leaving Fuzhou will be a little harder. My flight is at 9am on Monday. That means I have to be at the airport by 7 at the latest. Since Ryan works nights, I’m never going to get him to wake up at 6.

I’ll be staying at Ryan’s house, so I didn’t have to deal with finding a hotel. He shares the house with his band, but he has his own room, so we’ll have some privacy. There’s not much privacy in Hong Kong, so maybe Fuzhou won’t be much of an adjustment.

Usually when I book plane tickets and hotels, I look around a little and see what there is to see and do in that city. This time I didn’t have to. Ryan’s been living there for three months. He can show me around. I don’t really know what’s in Fuzhou, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going there to see Ryan, not to see some temple or whatever famous landmark they have. If there’s time, maybe we’ll leave his house once or twice.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Halloween 2012

We had our annual Halloween party Wednesday night. I missed having Ryan there, but we all had a pretty good time. The popular costumes this year were vampires and zombies, and as always, pirates. It wouldn’t be Hong Kong without a few weird Japanese manga costumes and Hello Kitty.

Kevin was a zombie, which is what Ryan was last year. Lily was a pregnant bride. I think that scared Kevin more than anyone else. It was a pretty easy costume. She just wore a white dress and put a pillow on her stomach. My costume was the laziest. I wore a traditional Chinese dress.

Ryan and his band worked on Halloween. He said he didn’t see anyone in China dressed up. They just had the Moon Festival at the beginning of October, but so did we and we can do both.