Missing My 'Hood

When I'm feeling a little homesick, there are a wide variety of web-based resources that make me feel like I'm keeping in touch with my old stomping grounds. I found that the new street view on Google Maps, was becoming a very unhealthy obsession, so SFGate.com has been a more healthy outlet.

What I'm most excited about is the potential new design for the Trans Bay Terminal. The city is still going through a bidding process to understand the details of the proposed designs, but the one that I was most in love with was selected! It reminds me so much of the International Finance Center here in Hong Kong. The though of having a 5.4 acre garden right downtown is a really neat concept.

Let's hope it actually gets built so my property value can go up!

Not Getting Hopes Up

Friday was apartment shopping. It was a blast! It was truly some red carpet treatment.

They picked us up at 9:00 am with our personal Benz driver who took us to the property office. After a short orientation (most of which I already knew, but was beneficial for AC) we went off to look at properties.

Real estate shopping in Hong Kong is an experience like none other. For anyone who has complained about the San Francisco real estate market, come live in HK for a while and you'll long for the affordable prices. Sticker shock is issue numero uno. The cheapest place we looked at was just a shade over 1,000 square feet and it was a steal at $55,000 HKD per month (~$7,000 US). I guess it helps when the company is paying for it. I don't know how people who live here regularly actually pull it off.

The second weird thing is they don't do anything to the apartment until they have a tenant. This means the old tenant (or sometimes owner) moves out and they start showing it. For the most part, they were all a complete disaster -- messy, smelly, run down, wore out. You really have to picture what they are going to look like cleaned up. Some of them, we couldn't help but laugh our heads off they were so bad.

Because we were greedy awful Americans, our agent assumed we would want to see huge places. Most of the apartments we looked at were 2,000+ square feet. At one point, AC finally said, "I'm sorry -- this is just too big. What would we make out of this room, a dance floor?"

Lastly, there is the issue of the maid's room. We call it the slave's quarters. It usually consists of a microscopic room, usually the size of the closet. They commonly had a separate servant's entrance and the room was always off of the kitchen. The also have a separate bath with a hand-held shower that is directly over the toilet Amtrak style. Some of the beds were so short, there is no way a human being over eight years of age could stretch out properly. They say this is a concept that you warm up to, but I just don't think I'll ever feel right about it.

In the end, we made an offer on an apartment that took me about 32.2 seconds to fall madly in love with. First, it's right in the middle of the SoHo area, which is rich with countless bars, restaurants, shopping, and what I suspect is the world's longest escalator. Secondly, it was luxury! They had a wine and cigar bar right in the building. We wanted to look at the gym and pool, but they said it was too exclusive and they wouldn't let us in (damn them!).

Lastly, the apartment. It was actually the smallest and cheapest of everything we'd seen. The view (from the 37th floor) was nothing short of breath-taking -- especially when you looked down to the street level. When I walked into the second bath, however, I was sold. There was a TV screen in the shower. A TV SCREEN IN THE SHOWER!! I'm sorry, but that has to be the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. There is also a TV in the master bath (opposite the toilet -- heh heh) and in the kitchen as well. Everything was brand new and pristine. Then we noticed the security cameras throughout the apartment. I was told you can log onto the Internet and check what is going on when you are not home (meaning: check to make sure your slave is working hard). There is even one in the guest bedroom. To anyone coming to visit: you have been warned!

Though small, it was completely perfect for us. Tater even has a room to his own (the slave room of course). Our only conditions were that they let us have the dog, and they knock down a wall and turn it from a 3 to a 2 bedroom.

So even in writing this, I am getting my hopes up. There is already an offer on the unit, but our agent is going to try and make a better offer to one-up them!

Quitter

I quit.

Not my job ... but I finally quit Japanese lessons. I had no idea how hard it would be, and I was spending four hours a week in lessons which I knew would all be time wasted in the long run.

I could tell my heart just wasn't really in it when I never seemed to want to study (and you all know how much I love to study -- seriously, I do!). In some ways, I think I more-or-less fired my teacher than quit. He was such a nice guy, but I spent so much time staring directly into his mouth trying to get the correct pronunciation of the words that I'm pretty sure I know his brand of cigarettes. He was a little flaky too, and we never seemed to have a solid direction to the lessons.

So now I have an extra four hours per week. I would actually love to pick up German again. Don't think the company would be willing to pay for that, however.

Bathroom Antics

As you might imagine, some of my funniest moments happen in the bathroom. I suspect I'm the only person who brushes their teeth after lunch (even worse opting for the all-organic apricot flavored toothpaste). Needless to say, the looks I get indicate how weird I must appear to them.

Very often, as I absent-mindedly lean against the counter while brushing away my sub sandwich, my pants encouter a completely soaked bathroom counter. The counters aren't usually simply wet -- they are often so wet there are no dry patches, making it difficult to tell they are wet in the first place. As I lean against the counter (resulting in a wet spot just about crotch height), I wonder who the hell does this?! Today I figured it out.

My office is on the same floor as the embassy for the United Arab Emirates. I originally thought they were simply the culprits who smoked cigarettes in the bathroom (they were), but today I got to witness their hand washing habits.

As I brushed my teeth, one of the guys from the embassy came in to wash his hands. He slowly rolled his sleeves all the way up past his elbows and began to douse his arms with cold water (I knew it was cold because it was splashing all over me as well). He then took a huge wad of paper towels, soaked them in the water and washed his entire face, head, heck and hair.

Thinking he was done, I surveyed me general wetness on the right side of my body (I wore a white shirt no less). But he wasn't done. He proceeded to take his shoes and socks off and wash his feet as well! I left the bathroom at this point, fearing that seeing any other body parts get washed in the same sink I brush my teeth may be detrimental to tooth care.

Brunch Error

Today we went to La Fourchette for brunch. The menu was kind of confusing -- and we accidentally ordered the price-fix brunch. The menu had a title: "Sunday Frog Menu." I thought that was odd considering it was a French restaurant. It was way more food then we ever would want. And it came with grilled frog legs. And Adam ate them.

No Fly Zone

I just want to start be acknowledging I'm being grossly immature in this post.

I love my job here in Hong Kong. In many ways, however, it's far from ideal. I used to lead a huge team. Here, I'm a one-man-band. I struggle to connect with candidates both on a basic linguistic and cultural level. It's tough to convince someone to come work for us when you have trouble understanding each other.

But what I love love love is the travel. And now I have to stop. In a staff meeting this week, I was only paying half attention as usual:

Director: blah blah blah blah budget blah blah blah 11 million dollar reduction blah blah blah no travel blah blah
Me: *ears pricking up* -- No travel?!
Director: Well, it's not quite no traveling, but blah blah blah ...

I began mentally scrolling through all the travel I had planned in the coming months. Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Belgium, Switzerland ... I had a full schedule planned! I broke down sobbing right in the middle of the staff meeting. Just kidding ...

I went back to my desk and tried to decide what travel to cut. It was like deciding which of my children to let drown. Japan was the first to go - I did all of my meetings over the phone. Then Malaysia and Switzerland. Belgium (the trip I was dreading for some reasons I'll share later) stays unfortunately. Maybe the U.S. team will buy my ticket to Singapore? Better not get my hopes up.

"You can fly coach to Tokyo," suggests my manager. I already fly coach as it is, so that gave me no peace. So until then, I guess I'm just forced to simply enjoy Hong Kong. Man, I don't really have any tough problems do I?