I have decided that I need to come up with some more interesting chat for you all. I keep saying to myself that I must update the bloggage, just as soon as something interesting happens in my life. Now how, you ask, can it be possible to live in crazy town and not have something interesting happen in your life every day??!

Its strange that as I approach one year in the big HK so many unusual things have become normal to me. Like the serving of chicken feet as entrees at lunchtime, much the same way peanuts are put on bars in the Uk. Or the fact that (nearly) no one holds a door open for you anywhere and it literally is survival of the fittest at the doors of the morning train (despite the fact that you can usually always get a seat and there are trains approx every 3-4 mins!).

But yet, this city still continues to catch me off my guard, and surprise me every so often with its eccentric and thoroughly different ways of life, I especially like the use of parasol umbrellas to shield yourself from the relentless sunshine. It amazes me how one day I can get so narky about the fact that I am surrounded by a busy crowd of the slowest moving humans on earth (honestly, nobody knows how to walk fast here which Im certain is actually heat related) and yet on another day it can amuse me greatly to be a giant surrounded by people shuffling along bumping into one another hustling and bustling, there can be a really big sense of energy and hecticness.

I also love that here you can get from one end of the country to the other in an hour and that it is possible to either be right in the centre of the concrete jungle, jostling through the crowds, or be rinsing out by the beach, or be hiking through the hills, or be shopping in the crazy little marketplaces, or be cruising on a boat, or be visiting an ancient temple that stands between two enormous skyscrapers or on the edge of an old rocky island cliff!

Btw… It not all fun and games… Can I take a moment to point out that I personally think that fish head soup is minging!! I was under the assumption that the head and other innard related shizzle was not that tasty but apparently there are millions of Chinese who will disagree with me!

Current news is that its Olympic fever here at the moment, and the hot topic at lunch, did anyone see the Chinese (I say woman’s, but actually the eldest was only 14!) gymnastics team? Incredible and I have been rewatching that all week. The opening ceremony was spectacular.

Personal Hk chat is that I have signed my new contract. I have around 1month left of my training year, and will spend the 1st 2weeks of September visiting factories with our quality control team which should be interesting. I have also discovered a wee language school nearby the new apartment which means I can finally get back on the learning Mandarin bandwagon, I have been terribly terribly lazy… Hk is so easy to not use Chinese but its such an important skill to have. I swore to myself I wouldn’t give up learning but don’t seem to have progressed beyond the basic phrases stage so really need to get my ass in gear!

Right better crack on with the day ahead.
Miss you all in motherland
Much love
Tx

PS: Had another cockroach invasion last night… GROSS!