Hong Kong

New favorite city. S., I am so upset with you for not telling me I should move there before I decided to podunk it to Taichung. It's just foreign enough to feel like I'm in a foreign country, but incredibly easy to navigate. The transportation system is New York's, only cleaner and possibly more efficient, and everyone speaks a bit of English although the general language is Cantonese. SoHo feels like London, and its population breakdown is more European than Chinese. So, essentially, I love Hong Kong because it's easier and more familiar. I guess I'm getting soft in my old age.

Statue of my uncle on the walk of stars.

It was really nice to be back in a cosmopolitan city, too. I didn't realize how much I missed living somewhere where things are usually clean, and there are upscale restaurants and bars. And I know that I'm not supposed to like trendy, but I do like trendy. I miss being somewhere I can pop into an H and M and run out with something relatively fashionable and cheap. I kept on saying that I belonged there, but even more so than New York. New York is my favorite city, but Hong Kong is easier. New York will kick your ass. Hong Kong will pretend to kick it, but then take you home to a nice dinner anyway. My favorite parts were going for a drink at Felix, a super trendy and incredibly small bar in 28th floor restaurant in the Sheraton building, dinner at a cute tapas place in Soho, and getting my hair done plus a mani / pedi at a place S. recommended. At one point, I had five people attending to me in the salon, and I felt like I should be going to some awards show in a mostly glitter catsuit or something. I'm usually not someone who goes for the chic chic (am I?); I've been going to the same Vietnamese 10 dollar hair place in San Jose for years. But this, this was worth it.

And seriously, the best dim sum I've had in my life.

The tango was super cool, too. Well, not super super cool, but super cool. The community is approximately the same size as the Taiwan one, perhaps a little bigger, but they're more into nuevo there, which was a welcome switch. I love salon tango the most, but I've been doing the same steps for four months. I've been thinking more about embellishments, so it's fine, and I do love me some salon tango, but it's refreshing to be dancing a different style. Also, the men there are willing to take me out for a spin and some are higher level than those in Taiwan. I'm working my way into the advanced crowd here though (but am I, really?), so it's getting better, but the HK crowd gave me a shot immediately. I danced three nights in a row, which was like settling back into an familiar upscale sweater. I do love me some trendy sometimes.

Traveling by funicular to the bigget buddha in... somewhere.


Bar / Club scene is fabulous too. I guess I haven't tried to go somewhere nice for a while... there are definitely upscale clubs in Taipei, but I'm too lazy and alone there to try to find people to go with, and mostly I like clubs for dancing as opposed to ambience or crowd. We ended up in an area that should be called European row, since that was the population there. People were soooo cool and dressed well, and as for man-watching, it was like being in a gay bar... super well groomed and beautiful. But straight. :) We ended up in a kinda secret place called Drop that was a fabulous place to dance. I think the dj was good (although at that point, I wasn't necessarily in a state to tell), and the crowd was awesome, and it was a fun night, to say the least. :)

I didn't want to come here. I thought it was a waste of time. I kept trying and trying to convince myself that it wasn't, that it was good for me, that I was going to get to "discover my roots," (on the count of three: CLICHE), get to know my family, blardy blar blar. It was only for two years, after all. Two years pass quick, and then I can be on to bigger and better things, like dancing tango every night, duh. But all of that justification, and I still couldn't answer the question, "So do you like it here?" I just kind of waved my hand and said something along the lines of, it's not whether I enjoy being here or not, it's that I'm used to it and it feels normal, like anywhere you've lived. But no, of course I didn't like it here. Why would I?

I had just left Buenos Aires, which was coming home, with the milongas and the familiarity: same stores, same organization, the Spanish finally clicking. Left New York, my home for seven years, just three or four shy of being a "new yorker," just left trapeze and its beloved affiliates, just left my tango lessons and partners, just left all my friends and the food and popping out of a subway stop and knowing _exactly_ where I needed to go because I just cross the street toward the B and N, past the coffee shop, kitty corner from the store with the blue awning, _that_ direction. Knowing the landmarks. Knowing where the public restrooms are within five blocks. How could I leave that for Taiwan, of all places?

Some of my friends expressed surprise at my coming here. "You? Taiwan?" their eyebrows raised in disbelief. I was like, "What?! I can be Asian." And they were like, "well, you just didn't seem the type, that's all." And they're right. I'm not the type.

But now maybe I'm closer. I love living in a country where I look like everyone else. I don't have to worry about double takes (unless I'm wearing my purse strap across my torso, in which case it's just outright boob staring. Men here don't do it so much, so they're not as adept as hiding it.), don't have to worry about someone bothering me or targeting me because I'm yellow, like yelling konichiwa or nihao, or better yet, ching chong or cheeeeena at me. I feel... normal. For the first time, in any country. I know, i know, I've lived in China, but now, my Mandarin is better, and the culture is different, like they kind of have manners, which sincerely surprised me. (Just don't get behind the wheel of a car.)

And I like being just outside of society. E. once told me that that's what she liked about being an expat; you're a little outside, so you can do whatever you want without seeming too weird. You can do activities they would just blink at stateside, because you're not one of them, just the crazy American and besides, you can't even read Chinese. I like that. I have an excuse for feeling just enough outside that I am completely myself. I'm not sure if that's what E. meant, but that's what I mean.