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Rain & Sky

Yesterday was the first day in a week that I actually saw the blue sky in Hong Kong. It's incredible how much it rains here during typhoon season, but what's more incredible is that it only rains when I'm walking under the open sky without an umbrella. I think the rain is playing a game with me ... and I'm definitely losing.

Apparently I am also losing my HK-nese aura. Sometimes people would first speak to me in Cantonese, then after they take take a harder glance at me, they would start speaking English or Mandarin! Isn't that weird? I guess I am looking more and more foreign each day ...

Even though I find it a bit strange and slightly insulting, that's the reality of things though. Honestly I don't think I can stand too much of this tacky asian-subculture. There are definite things that I love about HK (food, family, asian snacks ... etc), but then again there are things that are wildly irritating.

I think HK is just one a big social experiment. Think about it: let's toss 7 million people in a small island+tiny peninsular with soaring real estate prices and an overly competitive job market, where people are confused whether they are Chinese or Hong Kongnese because they are tossed back into Communist rule after 99 years of democratic Western governance. Add a little bit of Korean and Japanese cultural influence and then you'll get some weird results.

Comments

Matt Mikalatos said…
Perhaps people are looking in your eye and saying, "This guy looks smart enough to know some other languages. Let's test him out."
11:09 PM
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