HK Part 2
This Hong Kong trip started out back and forth. First, the
car that picked me up from the penthouse where I now live was the most
luxurious sedan Mercedes Benz I’d ever seen in my life. It was like riding in
first class in a car, only much nicer. I enjoyed the quick drive to the airport
and looked for where I should check in. I walked up to the desk for the economy
class check-in for Xiamen Airlines. She asked where I was going and I told her,
Hong Kong. She said what like 5 times. I didn’t think Hong Kong was hard to
understand. But she said I had to go to a different area to check in. She
mumbled some numbers and letters, which I did not understand, and went straight
to the information screens. It said check-in was at H-16, so that’s where I went.
But it was for business class check-in. I went up anyway. They said I wasn’t in
business class. I said I know. They said to go check in at economy. I said ok
where is that? She pointed somewhere so I went there. It was check-in for China
Southern airlines. But whatever, I blindly trusted this woman. And she was
correct. Although I don’t know why the check-in had to be such a confusing
mess. I hate not knowing details.
Finally after making it through security without any
problems. I saw a Starbucks and went in to get my usual…only they didn’t have
any more chocolate muffins. So it wasn’t even worth it. I left to find my gate.
People reading this should know, when you’re in an airport and there are moving
sidewalks, they are so you can get places faster, not so you can be so
extremely lazy and stand on it waiting for it to drag you 25 yards. Seriously,
people, how can you be that lazy?!
Anyway, I sat at my gate for a while and played some games on my phone. Then my
stomach started to growl, so I went looking for those delicious cookies I got
last time I was in this airport. But I couldn’t find it so I went back to Starbucks,
hoping that magically some muffins had appeared. And they had! I got my yummy
warm chocolate muffin and lemon tea. I almost went back for seconds, but my
plane was supposed to leave in a few minutes.
But when I returned, the screen at my gate said “Delayed,”
but didn’t explain why. I also hate not knowing why. And after sitting here,
waiting for some information, a lady came on the PA system and said “Flight
number CZ5555 from Hangzhou to Shenzhen will be delayed due to air traffic
control.” I thought, well that’s a very vague reason to be delayed, she went
on. “The expected departure time will be announced later.” UGH!! Not helpful at
all. I hate airports at this point. I just want to know why! I’ve been angry
about this ‘why’ subject this past week because the internet won’t connect to
my tablet, only upstairs. It works fine downstairs, but when I go up to my
room, nothing. Actually it does connect, it just says ‘limited.’ Which is even
worse because I can’t know why! I understand if it’s not connected. I can fix
not connected. But limited? It might as well say, ‘no connection, no reason.’
I really need to calm down. The last few days have been
really stressful for me. I just found out I had to go to HK two days ago. So
there was no time to really plan or get ready enough or anything. Then, the
person booking everything for me booked a youth hostel for me to stay overnight
in HK. This might just be the snob in me talking, but I felt kind of offended.
I mean I’m not extravagantly wealthy, but I have enough dignity to stay in at
least a 3 star hotel. (No offence to people who enjoy staying in those. You are
much more adventurous than I.) So with the looming trip fast approaching plus
the notion of sleeping in a room with a stranger plus Jonathan being especially
defiant, disrespectful, and dismissive this week, I just really wanted a margarita
and some tacos. Joanna bought some Tostitos and salsa last time we went
shopping and every time I eat them all I can think is how good this would go
with a margarita.
My seat number on this plane is 46K. When I saw this I was
very confused. I started trying to figure out if it would be a window, aisle,
or middle seat. But K is so far in the alphabet. Even if it were a window seat,
that would mean the aisles would go 4 3 4, and that just doesn’t make any
sense. And 46th row, that’s a big plane. But then I remembered last
time I flew to HK, the very first seat was 17 or something. That also doesn’t make
sense, but I don’t care what the reason is. So just while I was writing that
sentence they announced my plane would be leaving in an hour and 20 minutes.
A chain smoker just sat next to me and is either reading
this as I write it, or staring blankly at my screen trying to decipher English
letters. And the woman sitting across from me has her legs spread so wide, you
can see her undies, so I moved to the nearby Häagen-Dasz and got a small ice
cream because I think its rude to sit in a restaurant and not order their food.
I rarely eat healthy in airports. But airports are like a different world where
IQs get lower and prices get higher.
I really don’t like that I can only post when I’m in HK or
out of the country. And now, with this new visa, I’ll only be able to post
every 3 months. Unless I can get a VPN, which is hard to find since the Great
Firewall block all the VPN websites! I have no place to go where I can
mindlessly browse other people’s events and information. But it had made me
very creative in eliminating my boredom. Just the other day I was riding the
elevator with my new Ayi. Let’s come back to that in a minute. Most westerners
would immediately pull out their phone and look at Facebook in that type of
situation, but I couldn’t. So I practiced my Chinese and told her about my
family. I told her there were 5 of us and I said everyone’s name and whether
they were a mama, baba, didi, or meimei. She was impressed. I knew this because
she gave me no one, but TWO thumbs up!
So the new Ayi is perfect. She cleans everything every day, whereas
the last Ayi was very choosy with what she cleaned. And she never cleaned my
room. For this paragraph’s sake, the new Ayi will be referred to as Ayi 2.0.
Ayi 2.0 smiles and has gentle conversations with people, while Ayi was either
silent and angry, or yelling in Chinese with a very mean face. Ayi 2.0 laughs
where Ayi would scoff. And Ayi 2.0’s cooking is ridiculously amazing. Last
night we had shredded potatoes, dried beans, eggplant cooked in bean juice,
roast beef, and of course, rice. And watermelon for desert. We have more
watermelon in our kitchen than a watermelon farm. But I scarfed down that
dinner like I hadn’t eaten in days. But I wasn’t even that hungry, it was just that good! I told Ayi 2.0, “Wǒ xihuan.”
Which is Chinese for I like it! I have, however, still not started slurping my
rice; and I never will! I am still a Southern gentleman. That much will never
change.
I started writing a novel last week. I’ve tried this before,
but it never worked out. The first time I wrote and wrote and wrote but there
was never a conflict. There always has to be conflict. Then other books just didn’t
develop or didn’t pan out how I wanted. But this time I did it right. I’ve
spent weeks doing research on the time period (19th century England)
and having all my characters prepared right down how many sugars they like in
their tea. I think this one will be the one. I know it’ll take LOTS of time and
thinking, but I decided I’m prepared to give it that. I won’t give any details,
but I will say it’s a murder mystery. And after all my research, I’m fairly
certain none of these characters exist in real or fictional life, nor has this
plot ever been written before. I haven’t even finished the first chapter,
because I keep going back and re-writing and editing and changing words and
adding setting.
Here’s what I did. First, I wanted a book with lots of
dialog. Because whenever I’m reading, I’m almost always only interested in the
dialog. I also didn’t want to write it in traditional 3rd person omniscient.
I wanted it to be present, fly on the wall type of writing, so the reader could
imagine being there, seeing and hearing everything. But then I realized that
took away from the setting. So I went back and added very vivid descriptions of
the setting, but then it sounded weird in the present, so I went back and made
it stupid 3rd person omniscient. Oh well. Then I was reading an
article on novel writing and it said that every good story has something in
common: a fool. Someone who provides comic relief and a little humor to the
story. I didn’t have one, so I went back and wrote one in. And it turns out, I like
him even more than the main character. Oh, another thing my past novels had was
backstory. But you’re not supposed to give a back story! Apparently it’s better
to weave it into the characters’ present. So I made sure not to give any back
story, even though that is always a vital part of the big picture. But I guess it
is more fun for the reader to figure it out themselves. Plus it gives everyone
an air of mystery, and I always like reading characters like that myself. So it’s
pretty much a mystery where the reader tries to solve it before the detective
in the story. I like that idea, so others are bound to as well.
Not that I’ve given you a detailed background on my novel
that will come out in probably 5-10 years, I have a plane to catch to Shenzhen.
And then I’m taking a boat to HK. My travel agent says it’s more convenient. We’ll
see.
Well the flight was annoyingly longer than it was supposed
to be. But they played “Mortdecai” on the flight, which is my favorite 2015
movie so far. It was cut short because we began our ‘landing’ about 45 minutes
before we actually touched town. The airport in Shenzhen is really cool
looking, you’ll have to look it up because my phone died before I could take
pictures. My phone does this really annoying thing where it turns itself on
while it’s in my bag or my pocket and just stays on, draining battery power,
while I continue to not use it. I followed the long path of moving sidewalks to
the domestic arrivals and found a desk that sells tickets for the ferry to Hong
Kong. It was twice as much as my agent woman told me, but I expected that so I brought
extra money. So now I’m sitting on the bus wondering what it’s like to ride a
ferry from one city to another. I’ve never done that before.
I am thankful that it’s not a double flight. I did say
before I was tired of flying and would like to eventually take a boat. I hope
it lives up to my expectations. Speaking of which, when I imagined it on the
plane I thought of myself sitting at a bar table by a window sipping some
whiskey while the wind blew through the window and into my hair. That’s
probably a very poor assessment because I’m sure it will be nothing like that.
But I like to dream of luxury before I arrive at my shared room with some
frumpy twin mattress and under washed sheets. I’m anxious to see how the boat
and the crap hole hostel turns out. Maybe it won’t be a crap hole! Of course, I
can always dream…
I’m on the ferry right now. Me and one other lady and like 5
staff but there are probably 200 something seats on this boat. And I may not be
sitting at a table drinking whisky, but I am sitting in a comfy enough chair
while I watch the Chinese coastline and drink some cabernet sauvignon. It’s
pretty much like I have the boat to myself. It’s supposed to take an hour, but
I’m ok with that. I’m just ready to get there and get settled.
Oh yeah, while I was waiting for the ferry, I booked an
actual hotel room. Don’t worry, I’m totally prepared to pay the $12 for not
showing up at the youth hostel. Small price to pay for my honor. The hotel I found
is actually much closer to the airport and is pretty cheap for such a nice
hotel. I got a great deal, too. I now feel a lot better about this trip. See
how something so small can make such a big difference? And see how something so
small can make such a big difference. You’re supposed to read the first one
with excitement and the second one with kind of an annoyed tone. Go back and
read it again like I said.
You know how they say your right brain is more creative and
your left brain is more logical? I feel like the two sides of my brain have
been fighting a lot. So I thought it would be a good tie breaker to put them up
against each other in a friendly game of chess. It was interesting because my
right brain, which controls my left side, always won, even when I switched so the
white pieces were on the right and black was on the left. Plus it seemed a
little racist to let white win all the time. Conclusively, my logical side won
every time. We’re about to dock so I gotta go.
Well I found the hotel. It’s like a local Holiday Inn style
hotel. Honk Kong is big. But its more tall than wide. All the buildings are so
tall and skinny. I felt like I was in another world, which I kind of am. My tablet
died shortly after I arrived, and HK outlets are different from China and I wasn’t
prepared. But after snooping around after I watched some TV, I found a
converter! Otherwise you would have never known what happened on this trip, or
even that this trip existed! I wish I could stay a little longer and explore,
but I have to be back at the airport mid-morning. I have to say, I don’t like
flying around for a day and a half just to get a stamp on my passport. It feels
like a waste of time. Even though I know it’s necessary.
My au pair agency that I work with has finally got up and
running now! And they have a lot of families signed up that need au pairs. And since
I am the first au pair in the city of Hangzhou, I am obligated to give the
details and recruit! So if you or someone you know wants to spend 6-12 months
in a beautiful, (I’m not just saying that. The people of China, that’s like
millions and millions of people, say that Hangzhou is like heaven on Earth.
Actually the saying is ‘There is heaven in the sky, and heaven in Hangzhou.’)
vastly cultural and diverse city while also getting to know literally the
cutest little boys and girls I’ve ever seen besides my cousins, come to Hangzhou!
Every single little detail is planned out and paid for. All your food and
travel expenses and even top of the line Chinese lessons. The only thing I’ve
paid for since I got here is all the Starbucks I get. It’s a great time to be
yourself and have the opportunity to influence the future aristocrats of China.
And let’s face it, it’s just a fun job! So if you’re looking for something to
do besides college for a year, or you finished college and you don’t know what
you want to do with your life yet, come do this. I’d say it’s rewarding like
teaching but less stressful because you only have one or two kids. I can’t even
describe the amazing feeling I get when my boys copy something good that I do,
from having a napkin in your lap while you eat to saying thank you to a
waitress. It’s like getting to experience a tiny piece of parenting, and it’s
also probably really good practice for being a parent. So if you’re interested,
or you know someone who is, tell yourself or that person to email me for more
details at berickson4124@outlook.com.
I think this is long enough, so until September…
A TON happened today but I just got to my gate in time to post this and then board, but its a crazy story! So I named this post "Iceberg" because there's so much more to the story than I actually told. Ask me about it next year.
