Dating Underwater1. Who's That Coming Round That Corner

I may not know much about the dating world, and dating in Hong Kong is definitely unlike anything I ever experienced in Minnesota, but I can safely say beyond any shadow of a doubt that I just had the strangest first date of my entire life. I will try to describe it without being unnecessarily verbose. I will probably fail.

I met Hisoka at HMV. We both reached for the last copy of Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway at the same time. When he politely backed down so that I could grab it, I assumed he was Japanese. When he spoke, he assumed I knew English. Both safe assumptions.

He asked me if I was old enough to know who Paul McCartney was. Hisoka does not look much older than me, but I ignored that since Paul's music does not have an age requirement. Instead, I mentioned that I saw Paul in concert last year in Tokyo. This excited Hisoka for a few reasons. Not only does he live in Tokyo, but he also went to that concert. It turns out we went on different days, but it was a small world anyway. When he asked me if I wanted to go out for coffee, I politely declined. My manners confused him since he assumed I was American.

In the end, I let Hisoka have the album. Mostly because it was vinyl and I do not have a record player. I just wanted to look at it. Red Rose Speedway has a few different versions. What they had at the record store was not the first edition with the booklet inside, of course. Hisoka, in turn, gave me his business card. Just in case I changed my mind.

Maybe half an hour later, I ran into him again downstairs at Jason's Market. If he was following me, he did a good job because he got there first. We did not reach for the same drinks, but we did see each other. Had Lily been there, she would have told me that the universe was giving me a sign. She would not necessarily believe that, but she likes to encourage me to get out and meet new people. He likes Paul McCartney and I like Japan. That would be enough for her.

Hisoka saw an opening and asked me out for coffee again. I do not drink coffee, and was actually at Jason's to get a drink, but I knew a place around the corner where we could sit down and talk. I was not the least surprised when he started telling me about his work. From what I have seen, Japanese people generally tend to have a stronger work ethic than my people.

Hisoka works at a software company that is developing virtual reality programs. I appreciated his enthusiasm for his career. He genuinely loves what he does, and can probably talk about it all day. He might have assumed that since I looked about his age, I would also be interested, but I have never cared about video games. Virtual reality will be as common as cell phones some day and have a million applications, but what he was doing was all about playing games. He must have noticed my eyes glazing over. Instead of droning on and on, he asked me why I was in Hong Kong. When you are a white girl in China, that question comes up from time to time.

I genuinely love what I do. I know I can talk about it all day. But I also know that most people don't know the difference between a grand jeté and arabesque. More often than not, when I tell people I'm a dancer, they want to talk about something else. Something Hisoka and I had to talk about was Hong Kong. I live here, but I'm obviously not from here. He lives in Tokyo and often comes to town on business.

We sat and talked longer than either of us expected. Our resumes might not have anything in common, but we both like the same music and movies. We both think Japan is a great place and we both have long lists of other places we want to go. When it was well past time for him to go where he needed to be, he suggested we arrange a proper date. I did not bother to tell him that I saw no point in going out with someone who lives in a different country. Not that it mattered. According to his phone, his schedule was pretty tight. When we left in opposite directions, he was confident that he would figure something out. I was sure we would never see each other again.