today, noel, tina and myself hanged out at the bar where we usually spent
bloating and
glugs of wining at the
the dusk till dawn one of the famous bar in hong kong particularly in wanchai because of its live pinoy bands. we indulged into some palatable set-menu dinner steak with too many side-of-a-dish. they had red wines, while i volunteered my appetite with ice lemon tea. earlier on before meeting up with tina, i had this soya beans milk at some food court with 3 fried beef dimsums and browsed around the city. we managed to walk by fly-overs, pedestrians, sight-seeing of tall buildings, and the weather. it was such a bummer that it only dropped to
26deg c as i've suspected - wearing my sweatshirt, sweating in disgust. we declined of going
MTR trains as the rush hours will eventually attack us by sensitive commuters pushing through each other into the foyers before other passengers have a chance to alight. or otherwise it will spoil our afternoon pleasure.
at the bar, we talked about the silly people in hong kong. the nerves of staying here for a long time. recollecting those exciting
not-so long years. i said i was feeling myself almost famous making friends with
miriam quiambao - the miss universe in the hearts of every filipinos who also happened to be an old friend of my friend
O'ne. small world indeed. then i asked why she was terminating her club membership where i work, but did not make a slight comment and said, she enjoys her time with hubby
claudio in the city's busy living and those tireless shopping. and thinking, she's right.
while laughing about certain things, we actually asked ourselves as to why we're still here. so here are at least
60 lists of signs why we're still living in Hong Kong [for too long] - from an expats point of view.
1. You have paid enough rent to buy a moderate-sized North American or European town.
2. Most conversations with your friends involve
mobile phones or mutual funds.
3. None of the sea-front buildings existed when you arrived.
4. The shoreline itself shifted by half a mile.
5. All your friends are now living in London, New York, Singapore or Paris.
6. You can't put a proper sentence together in your native language.
7. You got really excited when
Starbucks opened their first outlet in Hong Kong.
8. At the movies, you take bets on the number of phones that go off during the performance.
9. The funniest jokes revolve around your stockbroker.
10. You developed an acquired taste for
mooncakes.
11. In a crowd or a queue, you learnt to stay away from frail-looking old ladies carrying umbrellas.
12. You seriously considered taking up golf.
13. You have a Mont Blanc pen clipped to your shirt pocket.
14. You have stopped noticing the grotesquely deformed leper on the Exchange Square flyover.
15. A sexual pervert is a man who prefers women to money.
16. Your building's security guard is 4 times older than the building itself.
17. You have become a shameless name-dropper.
18. You feel a compulsion to take exams.
19. All you need is
Louis Vuitton.
20. 165 decibels is a normal noise level for lunchtime conversation.
21. It's OK to throw rubbish, including old fridges, from your 18th-floor window.
22. Thanks to karaoke, you know who has the most singing talent in your building. Not that this is a great achievement.
23. You believe that pressing the lift button 63 times will make it move faster.
24. The ultimate status symbol is a lawn-mower.
25. You know it is useless to protest when the lady at the
supermarket check-out wraps one toothbrush in 6 plastic bags.
26. You will never ever EVER buy Miracle Foot Repair.
27. You learnt to recognise
Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok and
Jacky Cheung.
28. You aren't aware that one is supposed to pay for software.
29. Pink bathroom tiles can make any building or public garden beautiful.
30. Your colleagues eat sun-dried cuttlefish coated in sugar and you don't bat an eyelid.
31. You actually purchased a canto-pop CD.
32. You actually played it several times.
33. You believe shopping and eating are the only forms of entertainment in Hong Kong.
34. Queuing in the rain in a diesel-choked Kowloon backstreet to buy a HK$6 Hello Kitty plastic doll at a McDonald's store is not the mark of an insane person.
35. You believe
Li Ka-shing is a saint.
36. You test your seafood for mercury, hepatitis B and cholera.
37. You have attended at least 4 weddings and a funeral in a language you don't understand at all.
38. A PhD in Nuclear Physics fluent in 7 languages irons your socks for a pittance but she is from the Philippines so it's all right.
39. All the clothes you own are tailor-made or come from
Giordano.
40. You are not surprised to see your tap water run dark brown.
41. Drilling on the walls in the wee small hours in the morning is considered acceptable behaviour.
42. If it's Friday, it must be Typhoon 3 day.
43. If it's Saturday, it must be Typhoon 8 day.
44. You tell your parents their house back in your home country has bad
feng shui.
45. You get offended when people admire your
chopsticks skills.
46. You compiled a 3-page list of weird English first names that Chinese people of your acquaintance have chosen for themselves.
47. You learnt to bring a coat, a scarf and gloves to fight hypothermia in supermarkets, buses, ferries and cinemas.
48. Your collection of business cards has outgrown your flat.
49. You are convinced that the only thing that moves more slowly than continental drift is a
Causeway Bay crowd on a Saturday afternoon.
50. You are not surprised to see 85-year old ladies pushing tons of garbage up the streets of the financial district.
51. You bulldoze your way into lifts and
MTR trains before other passengers have a chance to alight.
52. If someone smiles at you for no particular reason, you know she is a
Filipina.
53. You know that leather shoes can grow leaves during the wet season.
54. The word "wildlife" refers to the family of cockroaches that dwells in your kitchen drawer.
55. You use the word "Ayyiieeaaahh" every few sentences to convey surprise, pleasure, pain or anger.
56. You speak enough
Cantonese to make your colleagues laugh their heads off (attempts with anyone else still only draw blank stares).
57. You are not surprised to find footprints on the edge of the toilet bowl.
58. You believe you are really tall when you are only 5'8".
59. You know that leaving Hong Kong will break your heart.
60. You read this list and understood everything.
what my iPod is playing: run by snow patrol
