I guess from observing my friends, what you do in Hong Kong is SHOP. And shop for thing that I would never dream of shopping for, like diamonds. Crazy stuff. I am not a jewelry person, never have been, never will be. In fact, if you look at me you will notice not even one ounce of jewelry, not eve my wedding ring anymore! Jewelry just drives me nuts. I find myself playing with it, taking it on and off. When we got engaged I had to train myself to keep my ring on. The last time I really wore earrings was in high school and at that I only wore the same pair of silver hoops all the time. I took them out for a dance concert junior year and outside of my sisters wedding I haven’t worn earrings since! I took my ring off at the end of my pregnancy with Oliver because it was getting tighter than I like (I bought my ring super loose so it wouldn’t bug me when my hands get hot or swollen), and I haven’t been able to make myself wear it since. I have tried a few times, but it always starts to bug me, I start playing with it, and then I am afraid I will lose it. So it sits in a box.
Anyway, all that to say, diamond shopping was not quite my thing. I like jewelry on other people, but not me. It was fascinating watching my friends though, and the other patrons in the shop. It was like observing some exotic animals in their native habitat. I had never considering trying on tennis bracelets that cost a few thousand dollars, and to be honest, I didn’t know other people considered it either, let alone buying them! But it was serious business to these ladies.
Now the real money was going down with the rich patrons from Mainland (see above). This guy and his wife came in and they had on some serious bling. The shop owner told us that HIS diamond-encrusted watch was worth $1.5 million USD! The wife already had on some gorgeous rings and earrings, all diamonds, and was shopping for more. After they left we asked how much her earrings and ring cost and they said, $50,000 USD. I cannot imagine that kind of wealth, that dropping that kind of money on adornments doesn’t bankrupt you. Anyway, like I said, interesting to observe for a bit, but not my thing.
The conference was nice, some of it, not totally my thing, but nice overall. I got to see some people from the old BYU days. There are actually two other dance majors in my Branch (crazy, I know) so we went to Saralee Gibb’s presentation (she used to teach in the Dance Department). Then I tagged along with someone that I didn’t dance with directly, but knew of at BYU, and that was great.
Friday night was awesome. Everyone else was going to a temple session, but I went wandering and found yoga by myself. I took the subway, found a yummy Japanese burger place that had an awesome tofu burger (I pretty much don’t eat meat anymore).
I tried to find the Toys R’ Us, we have one here in Shanghai, but the quality is not the same as the US, and the prices are crazy high. I was not successful with that, they had some crazy elevator system there, only certain elevators went to certain floors and I could not for the life of me find the one that went to 7f! I felt too stupid to ask anyone how to use the elevators, so I bagged the idea.
Off I went to yoga at mYoga. It was rather pricey, ($30 USD for one class!) but worth it, and they let me stay for a second class for no charge. Yoga studios in Asia are so different from the West. They feel more like high end spas, or even the one we go to in Shanghai that is on the shabby end still has so many amenities that are never included in a regular yoga studio. This one was on the classy end of the spectrum. Two levels, three studios, towel desk, huge locker room with showers that include soap and shampoo, steam rooms, blow dryers, and even q-tips for use after your shower!
I took Hot 26, and Hot Spine. The teacher was good, and it just felt so good to move my body. Yoga is really what my body and spirit needs. I don’t get to be on the student end of the spectrum as much as I would like, so it was so luxurious to go to not only one, but two classes in a row, and not have to worry about being away from Oli or getting back quickly. It felt indulgent and amazing to say the least.
I think my favorite thing about the classes besides the actual practicing was some of the funnies the teacher said. He did most of the class in Cantonese, but would add in a fair amount of English for me (I was the only foreigner in a class of almost 30 people. 30 people on a Friday night! Hello, ). His English was actually quite good, as with most Hong Kongers that I have met, but he used two words in ways that made me giggle. He would say “Put your chest on your fries.” And “Lift your fries up.” Fries meaning thighs! And then he would say “Stretch your cough muscles.” Cough meaning calf! It made me smile everytime. After a leisurely shower and finding my way back to my hotel I turned on the TV to find the sad news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The devastation was certainly sobering.
Saturday morning was spent at the conference and trying to connect with a friend from my Waterford/Meridian days who lives in Hong Kong. Don’t you love Facebook? I hadn’t seen Richard in years, we went to school through 8th grade together, and I’m sure we saw each other once or twice on campus at BYU, but I just Facebook him out of the blue and ask to sleep on his couch and he says yes. He and his lovely family were kind enough to let me invade their weekend. They were so much fun, and their kids just adorable. We had a great time catching up and playing the “What happened to so-and-so” game. We went up to Victoria Peak to check out the view, and then back to their apartment. They were off early in the morning for church and I was off for home.
Unfortunately 10 minutes after they boarded the plane they told us it would be delayed for an hour and a half, and then later they came on again to say there would be more delay. Thankfully I had splurged on a way expensive ($10!) yoga magazine in the airport, so I poured over that, sat there with my eyes closed for a while, and amazingly I ran in to one of my yoga students in the security check, so I went up and chatted with her and husband, and all of that made the nearly 3 hour wait on the plane bearable. It was hilarious though, the guy would come on over the intercom and say something in Chinese first, the whole plane would erupt in groans and moans while they repeated it in English, so I could never hear what they were saying, but I always new it wasn’t good!
Coming back home to my boys was great. I had a wonderful time being away though. It was strange; I have only been away from Oliver twice. Once when I went up to defend my thesis last March (hoorah for me!), and one overnighter in May when we came up for my graduation (hooray for me!) and Clarke and I flew over to Denver to the Snatam Kaur concert (hooray for both of us, that was AWESOME). Both times though I was with other people, and or, in familiar places. When I defended my thesis I was with my family, so I was still, daughter to my Mom, sister to my sisters, etc. In Denver I was with Clarke so I was still wife to Clarke, but Hong Kong was the first time since adding all of these extra roles to my list of things that define me, that I was just ME. It was actually a little strange to just be ME, and only attend to ME, and what I wanted to do. It was lovely to remember that I am still a person independent of all those other things that seem to swallow me (in a good way) when I am at home. It was a nice break, but I was certainly glad to come back home.
p.s. I have no clue how to blog, I know this looks skeewompus in many places, but I am too retarded to fix it. Maybe one day I will learn.
Funny you mention SaraLee Gibb. My Dad and his wife just finished their mission to Hong Kong in April as mental health counselors to missionaries in much of Asia. So, they got to know Sis. Gibb. Small world.
ReplyDelete