Just February

I haven't updated my blog in a while, and I guess that's because it doesn't seem like there's anything newsworthy to write about. It's been a whole few weeks since I've traveled out of the country, after all! In the past couple of weeks life has just been, well, normal. At work, we brought in a consultant from Singapore for the week, so I had a lot of extra work meetings and events. I've met up with friends for Indian food. I've gone to see a couple of movies. I've had people over for dinner. I've sat at Starbucks to work on my paper for my grad school class. I've gone running and hiking. I've watched the Oscars. You get the picture.

Tonight I met up with my friend Jenn for a beer at one of my favorite bars ("Castro's", a Cuban themed pub). We were talking about all of the little idosyncracies in HK that we take for granted now, and she encouraged me to write them down. I guess there still are things that separate HK from life in the States. For example, today when I got my haircut, I also got a shoulder and neck massage with it...standard procedure here. (All for $12, I might add). I went to the horse-races on Wednesday night in Happy Valley, a huge part of Hong Kong culture. When I go to work, I take the schoolbus there and pass by the South China Sea every morning. Instead of getting in my car to drive to Indian food, I took the train, and then a taxi home. A grande latte at Starbucks is much smaller than the one in the US. When I bought produce for the week, I went to the "wet market" rather than the grocery store (although it's available there, too, I suppose...just cheaper at the outdoor market). In the movie theaters here, you have to choose your seat ahead of time when you buy tickets, and you get caramel popcorn rather than butter. I guess it's just the little things that still make life interesting here.