and just like that: last month in hong kong

I know I haven’t been writing recently. Things at work have picked up (understatement of the century) and I have no time for anything (not even sleeping). There’s so much to say but perhaps the best thing to talk about is celebrating one year away from home.

April, I celebrated one year on assignment by eating the usual thing I ate in Singapore: Spicy Chicken burger. :)) I couldn’t believe that this time last year I was dealing with the sweat-rain combo that is a regular day in Singapore. I know that I was only there for a couple of months but I have such fond memories of my apartment and my neighborhood in Bukit Timah. I also really liked that our office was in Bukit Merah and not in the BCD. I loved the bus rides to and from work. I loved walking from the bus stop and straight into cold storage at the bottom of my apartment, to buy my usual bread and cheese. I liked weekends at Orchard, hoarding books. I even liked my late nights in the office, surviving on the pantry cookies and apples.

   

Then all of a sudden, I was packing my life to move to Hong Kong.

first night in SG

last day in SG

What can I say about Hong Kong? Surely this entry isn’t enough for everything that I need to say. Perhaps a little later this week I will have my thoughts in order, being that this apartment will be emptied (shipment to Manila is this coming weekend). Maybe less clutter will help me talk about life here and how I feel about things changing again soon. 

first day in HK apartment (July 3)

 

 There are a couple of weekends left in Hong Kong. We promise to make it count. Get ready now. :)

on turning 28 and other tales

Dear Reader,

Last Thursday, I turned 28. I was asked a few years back how long I’d like to live. I casually said 27. I was young then, maybe fresh out of college. An extra 7 years sounded sufficient. My mom freaked out when I responded that way. Apparently, my dad said he was ok to reach 42. True enough he passed away at 42 (of aneurysm; nothing self-inflicted ok?? :))).  So at the back of my mind, I was also a bit nervous all year, thinking why the hell did I say 27.

the year so far – a time for coming, a time for going

The problem about being in a project, as it turns out, is that you often get left behind because people eventually move on to better things, and better places, when their assignments end.

This was the case back in early February. Our teammate Lyudmyla’s assignment ended on the 10th and she had to move back to Madrid immediately(what an awful deal! LOL). And HIK’s assignment also ended on the 16th, and she flew back to Korea that day. I was really sad to see them go.

You come into a project not knowing what will happen, really. July I arrived in Hong Kong, and was told to sit beside HIK. She gave me a few handouts to read. We barely spoke that day. It took us a couple of weeks to get around to speaking , having been placed across each other at some team dinner. And because it was in the evening and we were outside the office, I was a bit more relaxed. It also helped that Dianne was back from Berlin and I was much more myself. HIK then said “This Chica is more fun than the serious Chica! I like it!” Since then, as seatmates, we just shared knowing looks and then burst out laughing. She calls me her “favorite”. Before going home one day, she looked at me and said, “I don’t know why but I really like you! I hope you like me, too!” So many months together and our ultimate failures are: HIK did not increase my alcohol tolerance, and I never got her to like clubbing-dancing.

Lyudmyla on the other hand told me one random afternoon in the pantry that she thought I looked like one of the Spaniards coming from the southern parts of Spain. I shared with her that my grandfather was, in fact, a Spaniard in the Philippines. Months after, she gave me a Madrid keychain and told me in one note “Now, all that’s left is for you to come visit.” Around Christmas time, before leaving for holiday home leave, Lyudmyla insisted that we ride the metro together. She surprised me in the lift of our apartment, before kissing each other goodbye, with a box of chocolates and a note that said “I hope that his year will be THE year when all the lucky planets spin around and bring new adventures.”

   

In a few weeks, I will be one full year away from home on assignment, too. Looking back, I take with me, more than whatever knowledge or skills I have gotten from being away, the experience of gaining new friends. There are so few chances and I think we should be thankful for them.

Now I share with you my work wall. First is a picture of the Barcelona postcard that used to be on Lyudmyla’s wall. She approached me in her last minutes in the office to give this postcard to me and to invite me to visit her in Spain. And the last picture is HIK’s note to me when she left. If you can’t see it well enough (it’s so small), it says “I Love You” and inside: always. I miss her a lot. Our Pinoy-Korean-Ukranian mafia is now down to the Pinoy mafia. How time flies.

  

More writing soon. I know I need to catch you up on a full month of adventures. Hasta luego.

the year so far – of dragons and other tales

Ha! So it took this long to finally write again but I am back! We pick up where we left off, the 3rd week of January when we had guests from Manila.

It was a full week of dinners, drinking and going around HK. One time we went to Mongkok to show a teammate the Ladies’  Night Market. Surprisingly, one of the streets had a bunch of street performers! I never knew that before. This one in particular had a band who performed songs and had some birds on display. Strange.

the birds are just there in front while the band plays.

jill eating a tonkatsu one random night

this time last week – all over SoHo

First, this entry will have very few pics because it was a pretty long night. Second, the battlecry for the night was mainly for Jill and it was “Be open.” as well as “Make new memories.” which then morphed to “french fries with mayo” when HIK joined.

We all started at Tapeo in Central, which was so small we couldn’t manage to be seated together. Alf and Dianne managed to secure a spot for us, having arrived at the place first. Paulo and I were refused entry when we arrived since we did not make reservations for the night. Jill managed to get there after quite a walk. Sangrias, tortillas, paella, jamon.

this time last week – macau in 5 hours

I have been in Hong Kong since July, yet have not gone to Macau ever. So when Paulo and I were into our 2nd drink of the night at Fly (after dinner with Dianne) we decided to check out the ferry schedules to plan a trip the very next morning. Having found that the ferries were available 24/7 I looked at Paulo and said “We can even go right now.” which, to my surprise, he said yes to.

the year so far – from 30 to 10

I have no idea how long I can manage to write these entries but I thought it was a good idea to capture the year like I did on tumblr (ch3x) before moving here. I was informed, but no confirmation yet, that the assignment here in HK will last until the end of May. It will be good to start documenting the weeks for posterity. LOL.

I started the year in Manila. Believe it or not we bought a sawa for the first time ever. It’s a type of firecracker named after a python because of its length and how it’s usually packed and sold. What you do to this is unravel it, spark the fuse and run for your lives. Ours lasted a full minute exploding.

2011 (making sense of it all)

This exact same hour last year, I knew a couple of things that I had to face in 2011. An assignment by mid-year. A project that I had no clue about. I was 26, single, poor, typing away on my computer too (much like this), hoping that 2011 will be a good year.

And here I am, having gone through 2011, having lived it. It was so much more than what I expected. Even more than what I wished for.

As early as April, I was already out on assignment. In Singapore, no less. 

On gifts…

Gift buying and gift giving is upon us as we approach Christmas day. This entry is about two gifts that I have given and I have gotten within this week.

First is a small monkey that I gave my friend Hae Inn’s daughter. I heard from her mom that she has a monkey collection. I decided to go to Sogo to find her a small monkey from the local doll brand that sells super cute stuffed toys. Who knew that monkeys are difficult to find?! A couple of days ago, Hae Inn posted a picture on facebook. Sihyun liked the monkey so much that she put it to bed and took  picture of it too. It makes me so happy when the gift is so well-received.

Second is a gift which I received from Paulo. Over coffee-tea we were discussing some interesting topics about the project and then he handed me this Christmas Card with a pic of Cracovia. In it, his well wishes for 2012. Ai meu coracao.

I think the effort put into thinking of what the recipient will really appreciate is what’s important. It’s a skill, if you ask me. You have to be mindful of details, little things you have picked up from conversations. If you’re lucky, your gift will be used, or put to bed, or loved, or framed, or read over and over again.

on my last 2011 weekend in hong kong

Wow. Has it really been 6 full months here in Hong Kong? I guess it was because I arrived and went through so much stress at work that a few months were lost, sort of. Blocked from memory. I have had so many awesome weekends here. And in the end, that’s something that makes Hong Kong better than Singapore: here I have my friends.

The first memorable weekend was our first junk ride to Tung Wan beach with the Goettes and the Javiers. Tung Wan is a beach found in Cheung Chau island, west of Hong Kong Island.  

We enjoyed a monster seafood lunch and the kids enjoyed the beach. Great company, bad beach. Bad to the tune of I got some kind of oil on my new birkenstocks. #Yuck.

September was also marked by the arrival of both Ehm and Makaw here in Hong Kong. This meant the initiation to all the Lan Kwai Fong bars, and the surrounding clubs. Ehm Makaw and I also checked out Zoo and Deja Vu. Interesting night that ended at 430 am in Fly. The next weekend was the same, and though Ehm was sick, we managed to have the winningest quota night dubbed as “model night”.