Monday, September 30, 2013

Hobbling Around Town

I like my job, but sometimes it is nice to take a break. The problem is that I could not really take advantage of the days off I had. I was not as mobile as I like to be and Hong Kong is by no means a great place to get around if you are on crutches. It was an interesting experience, but I got a little tired of how much people here have absolutely no consideration for anyone with any handicap. Trying to go anywhere on crutches was a challenge, but I'm sure it would be a million times harder in a wheelchair.

There are not as many elevators in Hong Kong as there should be. This is not a level place where all the streets are flat. There are hills and sometimes you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the next street. People in wheelchairs might know all the ways to get around, which probably include going very far out of their way to find some kind of ramp, but I'm used to just walking in as straight a line as possible.

The MTR definitely needs more elevators. The biggest stations have one or two and they always seem to be full of people who could easily take the stairs and escalators. The smallest stations do not have any elevators at all. Some do not even have escalators. I asked a Chinese person how handicapped people get around and he said they can take a taxi. His cavalier attitude truly disappointed me.

There are great things about Chinese people, but compassion for their fellow man does not seem to be one of them. I have been here a while and I think I might be used to the blatant racism. Hong Kong is 95% Chinese, so anyone who looks different is going to be treated differently. The price gouging is easier to deal with if you can haggle in Chinese.

What I'm still having trouble adjusting to is how selfish so many people are. Where I come from, you hold the door open for other people when you are going through. It has nothing to do with gender or age. It is simple common courtesy. I would be amazed if I ever saw anyone hold the door open for anyone else in Hong Kong.

I see smokers blowing their filth in people's faces all the time. I realize smokers all over the world are a privileged group with special rights that allow them to poison whoever they want, but they are even more inconsiderate here than they are in Europe. And Europe is shockingly poisoned compared to the United States.

The worst thing for me has always been the MTR. It is the best way to get around, but is full of the most selfish people I have ever seen in my entire life. Some of these people would run over their own grandmothers to be the first on the train. For some reason, everyone has to be first. There is plenty of time to get on and the doors will never close on people and cut them in half. If you are in the doorway, it automatically opens. If you miss a train, there will be another in three minutes. Yet every day, I see a million people who all have to be first at all costs.

I don't know how many times I have seen healthy young people just sit in their precious seats while an old person or a pregnant woman stands next to them. There are special seats designated for pregnant women, handicapped and the elderly, but I have never seen anyone ever give up any of those seats for someone else. The MTR is usually pretty crowded. Rush hour is between 6am and 2am. Actually sitting down on a train is rare, so perhaps the people who have a seat would rather die than give it to someone who needs it more. They got there first. They won. That hard plastic is their prize come hell or high water.

It does not especially bother me that no one ever gave up a seat for me while I was on crutches. I was otherwise healthy and only mildly incapacitated. It very much bothers me when I see an old lady who can barely stand up having to stand on the train just because the healthy people sitting around her don't give a shit about anyone but themselves.

The Chinese have a reputation for being polite. In many ways they are. They will never say bad things about you to your face. In other ways, they are not even close.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Mean People

Why are people so hateful to each other? I guess I can understand people who know each other and have a reason to hate each other hating each other. Maybe something happened between them that they just can't get over. What I don't get is total strangers screaming their hate at someone they do not even know.

The woman who does http://housewifedownunder.wordpress.com just announced her retirement from blogging. I'm not exactly her biggest fan. I don't even know her name, but I've been reading her blog occasionally for over a year. She has great stories to tell about being an expat in Australia. If you are thinking about moving to Australia, check it out.

She is done with blogging because she got tired of all the hate people send her online. When you have a blog, or any kind of website where people can comment, you will get negative comments. Sometimes it is constructive criticism, but only rarely. Usually it is simply people who want to make everyone else as miserable as they are.

In her announcement post, she defends her decision to not post the ugliest comments. I don't think she has to explain that at all. It is her blog. She does not have to post any comments at all if she does not want to. We have gotten so used to being able to say anything to anyone at anytime that we have forgotten the fact that not everything in the world is an open forum for any and all opinions.

I used to keep comments on my blog open to everyone no matter what crazy thing they wanted to say. The only comments I ever deleted were blatant spam. If you want to increase your manhood, you don't need to read about it here. Just check your e-mail.

Then I started moderating comments. Someone got really angry about something I said. I don't even remember what it was about. I just remember thinking that I should probably do something about it as soon as the death threats started. I never took any of it seriously. Most of the angry people online are all talk anyway, but there was just too much negativity to ignore. I don't need all comments on my blog to be sunshine and rainbows, but I think there is already enough hate in the world. There is no reason to post more here.

Blogs are easy enough to deal with. You can moderate comments, block certain people or turn off comments entirely. What is harder are other social media sites where you have no control. If you interact with people online, you will be subject to hate. It is inevitable. They say movie stars should never read their own press. Reading too many negative reviews can get to you eventually. Online, we are all movie stars, in a distorted way. People can and will feel free to say to us whatever pops into their heads. For whatever reason, a lot of people are more free with their negative comments than they are with saying something positive.

I wrote a couple of books. I will probably write more in the future. I know having a few books available in a few places is not anything like having a New York Times bestseller, but I enjoyed writing them and I don't see any reason why I should not continue doing it. When you write a book, whether it sells or not, you have to expect a few bad reviews. Nothing in the history of the world has ever been written that everybody likes. I realize that the things I write about are not going to excite everyone. I realize that my writing style is not everyone's cup of tea. The funny thing is that when you look at the reader reviews of anything by Shakespeare, people complain about his content and style. I read a review about Romeo and Juliet complaining that the two families should not have been fighting. That's pretty much the point of the story. Someone is going to complain no matter what.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining about negative reviews. I'm not. I do not have enough to complain about. What I'm really complaining about is how the negative people share their opinions more than the positive people. I think most people in this world are generally positive, but they are a silent majority. They are more likely to keep their opinions to themselves. The angry people are the minority, but they share their opinions far more often.

It has reached the point where you have to have very thick skin to be online. No matter where you are online, people are going to share their hate with you. Some people will join in the hate just to fit in. Hopefully, most people just ignore the hate. Too many people hate everything and everyone. If you are sensitive to what total strangers say about you, you will just have to stay offline. If you are a sullen teenager just looking for any excuse to kill yourself, you should really throw your computer away. The internet is like a loaded gun in your mother's dresser.

There used to be a time when unhinged people were confined to their basements. Only the walls and their imaginary friends heard their ranting and raving. Now the internet lets everyone connect with the rest of the world. You don't have to have all your marbles to talk to people or give your tirade online. You can harass a blog writer until she gives up and quits. You can even write a book review with absolutely no ability to form a coherent sentence. That is like a blind person writing a movie review, but that is how the internet of citizen critics work.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Typhoon Usagi



When Typhoon Usagi started making its way toward Hong Kong, the authorities issued their storm warnings and told everyone to batten down the hatches. They told us this was the largest storm of the year and it was coming straight for us. Government offices and some businesses closed their doors. Schools told students to stay home. Airlines announced canceled flights.

Then the typhoon hit the Philippines and Taiwan. Those islands took a lot out of it and changed its course from Hong Kong to Guangdong. We got some rain, but no direct impact.

Usagi killed a few people, mostly in the Philippines and China. That’s also where most of the damage was. Not coincidentally, places with stronger buildings and better infrastructure, like Hong Kong and Taiwan, suffered far less damage.

In Hong Kong, there was a lot of warning but very little action. For people in Northern Philippines and Southern China, it was the largest storm of the year.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Dancing in the Rain part 5

Dancing in the Rain part 1
Dancing in the Rain part 2
Dancing in the Rain part 3
Dancing in the Rain part 4


The nearest hospital to the big house is actually pretty close. It is a medium-size hospital with all the modern facilities you want in a modern hospital. Hong Kong is advanced when it comes to health care. It is also incredibly inexpensive, especially compared to the United States.

We went to the ER and in about ten minutes, a doctor was looking at my ankle. They took me to get x-rays and twenty minutes later I was talking to the same doctor again while looking at the x-rays on a computer monitor. The doctor said nothing was broken, but I tore a deltoid ligament. It should be completely healed in a couple of weeks, but they gave me an ankle brace and told me to walk on crutches for about a week. They also gave me a bag of drugs.

Any time you go to a hospital in Hong Kong, they give you a bag of drugs. They gave me a pill to help prevent swelling, a pill for pain and a pill to counteract the side effects of mixing the pills for swelling and pain. There are a lot of things about health care in Hong Kong that are better than the United States, but I'm not crazy about their practice of throwing drugs at everything.

So I never took the pain medication. The days after were never as painful as the initial event anyway. That is when I could have used those pills. Since I'm not taking the pain pills, there is no reason to take the side effect pills. Of the three medications they gave me, I'm only taking the one for swelling.

I also have an ice pack that feels very nice on hot and humid summer afternoons. I'm thinking about keeping it and using it all over my body on the hottest days.

Since dancing on crutches is not much of an option, I'm taking some time off work.

If this happened in the United States, I would be getting a hospital bill for at least a few hundred dollars. They would charge for going into the ER, seeing a nurse, seeing a doctor, getting x-rays, being taken back and forth in a wheelchair to get x-rays, the gloves everyone wears, the disposable cap on that electronic thermometer they stick in your ear, and those disposable plastic sheets they put on the ER tables. Then I would have to go somewhere else and pay a few hundred dollars for the prescriptions and go somewhere to buy crutches and an ice pack.

In Hong Kong, I walked away, or hobbled away, from the hospital about US$10 poorer. I did not have to go anywhere to get the medications, ice pack and crutches because they gave everything to me right there in the hospital. Everything that happened in the ER was included in the standard hospital fee and I paid a few more dollars for the drugs. That was it.

How much does an x-ray in the United States cost? It's right there on your bill. How much does it cost in Hong Kong? No one knows. It's all part of the standard fee.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Dancing in the Rain part 4

Dancing in the Rain part 1
Dancing in the Rain part 2
Dancing in the Rain part 3


While Kevin and I were waiting in the big house for the taxi to take me to the hospital, Kevin went into my room and got some clothes. I was too much of a beggar to be a chooser, but he could have put a little thought into it. He came back with jeans and a button down blouse. He did not bring a single stitch of underwear, but he brought me socks. If I could put on socks, we would not have been in this situation. I was having a hard time pulling jeans on over my throbbing ankle, so Kevin went back into my room and brought out a skirt. Still no underwear, though. I understand that he was too embarrassed to go through my panty drawer, and I normally prefer men to stay out of there, but this was a unique situation. A bra was not technically required, under the circumstances.

When the taxi showed up, Kevin carried me outdoors while I tried to keep us dry under an umbrella. Try is the key word here. We both got wet anyway, especially while he was trying to put me in the taxi. The taxi driver even got out in the rain to help, but there are only so many ways you can carry someone into a small car. The taxi driver got wet for nothing, although I do appreciate the effort. Say what you will about Hong Kong taxi drivers, and people have said plenty, but I have always found them willing to help carry bags and heavy items if needed. Rain or shine. We gave him a nice tip when we got to the hospital. Since you don't tip taxi drivers in Hong Kong, he was very grateful.

Something crossed my mind that was not necessarily important, all things considered, but since I was going commando, I think I might have given the driver an even bigger tip than I intended. He was enough of a gentleman not to let on if he got a free show.



Monday, September 9, 2013

Dancing in the Rain part 3

Dancing in the Rain part 1
Dancing in the Rain part 2


After what felt like hours lying broken and naked on the wooden deck in the rain, but was more likely less than one hour, I scooted myself over to my cell phone and called Kevin. He works closer to the big house than anyone I know and it is easy for him to leave work early, especially since his boss was out of town. No one would complain, but in the unlikely event anyone did, Kevin could always say he was checking something at the house. Absolutely no one would interfere with Kevin's protection of that house.

My first obstacle was getting to my phone. It was on a deck table, protected by a large sun umbrella. You are supposed to close the umbrellas at night and when it rains, but I'm glad we forgot to do it. Otherwise, I would have kept my phone indoors and I would have had no other choice but to drag myself kicking and screaming inside.

When I got to my phone, I told Kevin what happened. He thought I was joking at first. I convinced him with the tone of my voice that I was serious. I might have even scared him a little, but you do what you have to do when surviving in the wild.

He got to the house faster than I expected and found me sitting up against the deck table. I tried to get myself off the deck and actually sit at the table, but I was too exhausted by then. Lying broken on the deck naked in the rain takes a lot out of you.

Kevin picked me up and quickly carried me into the house. He had a towel wrapped around me before I knew it. We briefly talked about calling an ambulance, but then decided it would be faster to take a taxi. It was not really an emergency and I would not want someone to die because an ambulance was busy with me. We also knew there would probably be one or two taxis already in the neighborhood. Anyone without a car who lives or works there almost has to take taxis.



Friday, September 6, 2013

Dancing in the Rain part 2

Dancing in the Rain part 1


I was lying on the pool deck naked in the rain. My ankle was throbbing in pain and no one else was home. After I stopped crying and imagining my entire career flushed down the toilet, I thought about how to get myself from the wet pool deck into the dry house. Standing up was out of the question. My foot felt like a heavy weight strapped to my leg.

Standing up would have been extremely difficult. Walking into the house would have been impossible. I was maybe twenty feet from the door, but it might as well have been twenty miles. I decided to wait a while and see if the pain subsided enough so that I could get into the house.

It took surprisingly little time to get tired of lying on the floor in the rain. Being naked in the rain is great for the first few minutes. The rain feels refreshing on your skin. It's like taking an outdoor shower. I love outdoor showers. Lying helpless on the floor in the rain is less exciting. The constant rain stabbing down into your body gets fairly annoying after a while.

The way I saw it, in that moment, I had three choices. I could crawl to the door and drag myself indoors. Crawling naked on the wooden deck did not look like the greatest idea as I pictured it in my head. I would have gotten enough cuts, scratches and scrapes all over my body that I might have forgotten about my ankle. In a life or death situation, I would have done it without hesitation, but this was a bum ankle.

My second choice was to call an ambulance. That quickly seemed like the worst choice. They had no way to get inside the house. They would have had to break down a door. Not to mention the mess they would have made going from the front door, through the house, out to the pool deck and then bringing me back out the front. This was not my house. I was just a guest here. I was not prepared to cause so much damage in someone else's house. Someone I have never even met, by the way. I'm also not sure how Chinese paramedics react to finding naked white girls in the rain. I don't need those pictures on someone's Facebook page. Things that are wildly illegal and inappropriate in my country are often accepted here.

My third choice was to call someone else. Anyone without a key would have to break their way in just like the paramedics. Only Lily and Kevin had their own keys.

Lily was at work. It would have taken her at least an hour to get to me. Probably longer. She would have to find an excuse to leave work early first. They really don't like it when we leave early. Your best friend is lying naked in the rain on the pool deck is not the best excuse, but it just might be one they have never heard before.

I knew who I had to call.



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Dancing in the Rain part 1

I went to the hospital again. This was the fourth or fifth time I've gone to a Hong Kong hospital. I broke some bones in my hand when an MTR train derailed a few months ago. That was the most dramatic one. On the opposite end of the scale, I went to the hospital when I had a pretty bad cold last year. People go to doctors all the time for colds around here. I'm not used to that since it would be too expensive where I come from, but in Hong Kong, I have good insurance and hospitals don't cost nearly as much as they do in the United States. My first Hong Kong hospital visit was for some weird rash I had on my hand. The same hand I broke on the train, by the way. I never found out what caused the rash, but it went away right after I took the medication they gave me.

None of those were my fault. The cold was a simple cold that got out of control. I don't know what the rash was, but if I did anything to cause it, it never came back. The train was definitely not my fault. I would not know how to derail a train even if I wanted to.

This particular hospital visit was entirely my fault. It was raining, as it does all summer, and I went out to the pool deck at the big house. I like being in the rain as long as I'm not in a hurry to go somewhere. I was at the house and wasn't going anywhere at all, so the rain was never a problem. The worst thing about being out in the rain is that your clothes get wet. Wet clothes just don't feel right, but wet skin feels perfectly natural.

There was no one else at the house, so I took my clothes off and went out in the rain. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The pool deck is completely private from any of the neighbors. It faces the ocean, so only the fish and seagulls can see anything.

There is a wide open terrace around the pool with plenty of room to move around. I dance off and on the clock, and I have danced on that deck more than once or twice. Only this was the first time I did it naked in the rain.

The thing about rain is that it makes the ground slippery. I should not have been surprised when I fell down, but I was. I started crying like a small child whose parent was stupid enough to walk past the toy store. Not because I was in pain, though I was. It hurt like a son of a mother, but I was more upset than anything else. I twisted my ankle and at that point, in the immediate aftermath of such a simple fall, I had no idea how bad it was. It felt bad, but I could not tell if I sprained it, broke it or simply bruised it. As a dancer, an ankle injury can be the worst thing in the world.