Flooring or Frooling?

For some reason, the Internet is not working at my apartment and I'm sure you all were waiting with baited breath to hear my daily adventure. Well, there really wasn't one. I took a long walk home last night and noticed there are so many hardware and home improvement stores in Wan Chai; it's amazing. The selection is actually really incredible - sinks, hardwood flooring, tiles. I passed at least 30 of them on one street alone. I obviously have no need to go in, but it's neat to see.

I was a little offended that I only got propositioned once on the way through the ho' stro - it must be the rash that's dampening my appeal. It wasn't even a real proposition; she just screamed at me "Beer! Beer! Ten dolla! Only ten dolla!"

It's amazing how they all speak multiple languages here. Almost everyone at my office speaks at least three - English, Mandarin and Cantonese. I know this is a total mean stereotype, but I still crack up at their struggles with the letters "l" and "r." On my way out the door, one of my co-workers was asking me if I liked using my Blackberry. Only it didn't sound anywhere remotely close to that word. It sounded more like, "do you enjoy Brackbelwy?" Okay, so I'm thinking this must be some kind of food that I haven't tried yet, so I shrug hoping she won't repeat the question. But she persists. "You know ... you have Breckbawwy, right?" Hrm ... did she just diagnose my mystery face rash? I don't enjoy it, so that must not be what she is taking about. She pushes on. "You know. Brachbalwy! Bjechbawly! Brackbelly!" Finally she looks me right in the eye and says very slowly, "brrraaaaccckkkbbbeeeewwwwwyyyy." Ah ha, I've got it! "Yes, I like using my Blackberry very much."

I'm actually getting much better at understanding:

Umbrerra = Umbrella
Et Tot = Egg Tart
Mar = Mall

As I sit here in my office, I can hear coughing, sneezing and sniffing all through the office. I don't think anyone was sick when I got here, so it's totally all my fault. Only I bet they have no immune system to fight off the American strain of this bug. Maybe we're finally getting our payback for SARS ...