Not Bad for a Thursday Night

Longest interval between updates...ever?

First off, something I think a lot of people can relate to. It's that innocent question of course, "Where are you from?" Oh, well, I'm from California. "No no, where were you born?" I was born in New York. "No where were your parents born?" Well my dad was born in the States too and- "Where is your family from? Originally?" Oh that question. Usually I get this line of questioning from elderly white people (the same people sometimes also get to enjoy the awkwardness of the "Oh my young man your English is very good" "Hey thanks I'm majoring in English literature" conversation), but it's weird to hear it coming from Chinese people.

Probably something other people won't relate to as much, after I tell people that yes, in fact, I am Chinese is the line of questioning that goes "Oh so you speak Cantonese then?" "No, but I speak a little bit of Mandarin." "You don't speak Catonese?" "No, I didn't really grow up speaking" "Ohh..." *slightly awkward pause in the conversation*

Had this exchange with one of the old guys who let people into the athletics facility, and at the end he asked me if I spoke Japanese, in Japanese. Either he's showing off, or the concept of a Chinese person who doesn't speak Chinese threw him off a little. Asian but doesn't speak Chinese? Must be Japanese then. Right? Right.

I'm getting more used to this whole exchange though, it bothers me a whole lot less than it did a few weeks ago. In fact, it's getting to the point where I get to enjoy a small victory or two. My Mandarin is improving (thanks to the insane Mandarin class I'm in), and I can understand some Cantonese through having heard so much of it (family speaks)/context of conversation that when student aid 1 asks me if I speak Cantonese in Cantonese, I can respond (in English) that no, I can't speak.

Plus, I hate reducing the level of my speaking English. Information is relayed sure, but there just isn't the same level of enjoyment in conversation. I'm an English major, I like (weird) stuff.

Moving on, had an excellent Thursday night this past week. Thursday is my last day of classes, so I'm free to go off in the evening to fritter away some HKD. Went out to dinner at a place called Modern Toilet. Here's your one-minute review. Too expensive, not enough food, 30 HKD minimum order per person, decor is bathroom themed. Seriously. Their overhead lamps looked like plungers, and they take delight in serving the food in urinals/toilet bowl looking dishes. And they offer this chocolate soft serve cleverly dispensed to look like poop. Seriously. AND they merchandise! A friend bought a pillow that says "SHIT" on it, and looks like it too. Literally - it's brown, has that distinctive shape, and even has plastic flies attached to it. As that wasn't too much food we became determined to wait for half price sushi at a place called Sushi One (they have a depressing logo, it's a fish in a birdcage) which runs from 10-1. So we walked around a fairly epic mall for about two hours. Nothing too special, just shopping BUT THEN yeah we waited in line for about a half hour. Then a truly epic amount of sushi was consumed. At the very least we devastated a small coastal region. Fish, rice, and chopsticks were flying everywhere. Trays were being delivered and taken away constantly. Then we ordered round two. All told we spent about 800 HKD (~100 USD) too feed 9 of us. This was pretty good stuff too. Then on the way back up campus we found really an ideal spot - nice breeze coming in off the water, a clear view of the area around campus, and a cool, dry night. It might have been some sort of sushi induced haze, but it was an excellent night.

Heard something interesting the other day, which is that some local students go out of their was to look ABC. American Born Chinese. Like me. It strikes me as weird because sometimes I feel like the awkward Chinese-but-not-really-Chinese guy on campus. But I guess those students will have the language skills that I don't...But consider this: from what I've seen, trying to look anything but Chinese seems to be common practice. Lighten your hair, wear American Eagle, try to look ABC, girls curl your naturally straight hair. You're either trying to look like westerners or anime characters. Sometimes I can't tell...

Peanut butter = greatness. I've started putting it on everything. In fact, I'm just eating it straight right now. Mmm...