Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Hong Kong Valentines Day

February 14th

Happy Valentines Day, Hong Kong style. Talk about cheese! Jeez… anyone who thinks Hallmark created Valentines Day has never been to Hong Kong where you couldn’t find a Hallmark if one did exist and where the holiday is put up so high on a pedestal that single Kongers wallow in self pity for a full day over it. I read that 20% of VD flowers in HK are purchased by women who ship them to themselves at work. Seriously. I don’t know if it’s that much different or if my perception is just different because it seems to be so much cheesier here. Stuffed animals and cartoon characters are the big gifts here. Little old American me thinks give me a bottle of wine and something to eat and we’ll call it good. Now, I’ve had my share of fancy Valentine’s Day in the past, but I think I’m growing out of that. Maybe.

All that said, my GL “picked me up” with some very nice roses and we went to a great Tapas restaurant in SoHo named Boca. I usually hate when people put things in quotes that they shouldn’t, but since neither of us has a car, it’s funny to think of my GL picking me up. Even though I live close to school, getting to my apartment from campus is pretty time consuming by public transportation, so his picking me up is a sweet gesture. The Sangria was pretty watery, but the eggplant with goat cheese made up for it. After dinner we went to an Italian wine bar for a night cap and then started on the hour long train ride back into suburbia.

I often wish that my school was located on HK Island. I would love to live closer to the action with the exception of Sundays (when I will NEVER step foot on HK Island again). It’s not like I’m in the type of suburbia we know in the states. I live in urban suburbia, it just takes a long time to get here from where I like to hang out.

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