All of the Lights

{Golden Moon lantern structure in the Lantern Wonderland}

Yesterday's full moon marked the actual day of the Mid-Autumn Festival which brought most of Hong Kong out to celebrate with their friends and families. Although my fiancé and I don't have family here, we gathered with some friends at Victoria Park and admired all of the lights. I hope that everyone who celebrated also had a wonderful time with their friends and family.

--Ivy

{Me}

{The long line-up to see the Golden Moon lantern}

{Inside of the lantern}

{The full moon that shone over us last night}

Mid-Autumn Festival

{Beautiful lantern display in Victoria Park}

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a cultural celebration that I have been familiar with since childhood. Seeing stores in Hong Kong stocked full with boxes of moon cakes, and shops decorated with colourful, intricate lanterns, I was brought back to a time when I was a little girl admiring my own lantern, glowing with the light from a small, red, wax candle. I would celebrate every year with my family by enjoying moon cakes and lighting incense, among other traditions associated with this festival. 

{A kaleidoscope of colourful lanterns that I passed under during a recent walk}

I had a chance to see how locals celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The entire area was lit up with bright lanterns, and it was bustling with happy families. People, both young and old, were enjoying the festivities such as a traditional Chinese opera performance from some adorable children, and were taking in the warm and welcoming atmosphere. It was such a wonderful sight to see and to experience for my fiancé and I, and the night really brought smiles to our faces.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone who is celebrating! 

--Ivy

{Children dressed up in traditional costumes, done up in dramatic make-up, and performing for the large crowd at Victoria Park}

{Lights strung across the park, interspersed with red, glowing lanterns}

{Everyone trying to capture a photo of the Fire Dragon Dance. This "dragon", made entirely of incense, was paraded on a street in Causeway Bay}

It's Fried Rice, You Plick!

{Scene from Lethal Weapon 4 (start at 51 seconds)}

When I first came upon "The Flying Pan" restaurant while exploring in the Soho area, I couldn't help but remember the hilarious line in Lethal Weapon 4 that my fiancé once quoted to me (see above video). I wondered: are the restaurant owners using a play on words, or do they mean that the pan actually flies? Either way, I found it greatly amusing, and I had to give this place a try since it serves breakfast 24 hours a day. Who can ever say no to bacon, eggs, sausage, ham, pancakes, waffles, and French toast, all smothered in maple syrup? I certainly could not resist!

{A play on words, or can the pan actually fly... Hard to say}

A couple of friends and I decided on a night to go since we were all hankering for some nice, crispy bacon. We felt it the most opportune time to enjoy the bacon last night, while we still can, especially with the recent news of there being a global bacon shortage. So, off we went and ordered large amounts of breakfast food, for dinner. Although the food was only so-so, it had just the right amount of grease to be satisfying and tasty, and the maple syrup was enough to make this Canuck a very happy one. Yum!

{The front of the menu}

{Two Canadians and an American enjoying a good old North American breakfast meal for dinner}

{On my "Ultimate Griddle" plate (clockwise from the bacon): bacon, sausage, ham, pancake, waffle, and French toast; (centre) scrambled eggs. Not pictured: copious amounts of maple syrup, and ketchup on my eggs.}

Language Barriers

{In Sham Shui Po on the Kowloon side where there is not much English spoken or seen}

A question that I used to get asked many times back in Canada was: where are you from? I would get frustrated with this question and would almost always answer with "I'm from here", knowing that the inquirer really wanted to know what my cultural background is. I am Asian, there is no mistaking that. However, I do not see myself as any less Canadian than anyone else who was born and raised in Canada. 

{The English we did find on the Kowloon side was questionable...}

The desire to "belong" has been something that I have been struggling with all of my life. In Canada, I am never seen as just "Canadian", and when I visited my parents' home country of Vietnam, I was seen as a foreigner. Here in Hong Kong, however, it's been different. Everyone that I meet here assumes that I am a "Hong Konger", so everyone speaks to me in Cantonese, thinking that I understand everything that is being said. I wish I did understand Cantonese, though, on a particularly distressing occasion a couple of weeks ago...

During our second week in Hong Kong, I had a number of job interviews lined up after applying to posts for English teaching positions. One of the jobs I applied to asked me to come for an interview in the Kowloon Tong neighbourhood on the Kowloon side, off of the island. The trip to my interview was a bit of a disaster. We had gotten to the Kowloon side with no issues as we took the MTR (a mode of transportation that we are now accustomed to using). It was only after we were dropped off by our taxi driver in the middle of Kowloon Tong, not even anywhere near the place I needed to be for the interview, that we realised Hong Kong was not as bilingual as we thought it to be. He would speak to us in Cantonese, and we would speak to him in English, without either party understanding the other. The problem was that we only knew the address we were trying to get to in English, and the English version of street names here are vastly different from their Cantonese ones. At that point in time, neither of us (my fiancé and I) had phone plans, therefore looking up where we were in Kowloon Tong was not possible. Needless to say, we were both very angry at the taxi driver for leaving us in the middle of a place that we were not familiar with, not to mention the fact that there were no English signs to be seen, and no English-speakers around to help us.

To make a long story short, I eventually made it to my interview, albeit late, with the help of another (re: more clever) taxi driver who called someone who could speak English to us over her cellphone. The lesson, however, is that we really need to brush up on our (almost non-existent) Cantonese. It was a reminder that we are living in Hong Kong, and English does not always work, at least not that we have seen on the Kowloon side. And, if all else fails, our destinations must be written down in Cantonese prior to choosing to take a taxi. Lesson learned.

A Little Bit of Canadiana in Hong Kong

{Yo Bago, a Canadian-owned bagel shop (okay, rumoured to be Canadian-owned - if not, they really like Canada!) in Hong Kong}

Those that know me well also know of my love affair with food. I have never really been a picky eater, much to the chagrin of my mother who often had to watch me stuff my face as a child (actually, I still do this as an adult)... This being the case, I didn't think that I would get tired of consuming rice and the many yummy Asian foods found in Hong Kong, but when a friend mentioned that there is a Canadian-owned bagel shop in the Quarry Bay area, my fiancé and I had to have a visit taste.

{The Vancouver Bago (smoked salmon, cream cheese and pineapple). My picture does not do this sandwich any justice. It was delicious!}

{A Canadian flag and some good old Tim Hortons coffee in the background. The shop has to be Canadian-owned, right?}

Yo Bago serves a variety of breakfast and lunch sandwiches, most of which are named after Canadian cities such as the Vancouver (which my fiancé and I ordered, and are now fans of), the Toronto, the Halifax (made with lobster), etc. The Ottawa was nowhere to be seen, however... I must convince them to create the "Ottawa" the next time that I visit for one of their delicious bagel sandwiches which will be more often now that I know of this amazing bagel shop!

The Night Life

{A Natalie Dee comic that that explains exactly how I feel every time I am in a club in Hong Kong}

The night life in Hong Kong... What can I say about it? I don't really like it. My close friends and family know that I am not a "party-girl", by any means, and that the clubbing scene is not enjoyable for me. Since arriving in Hong Kong, I have been to Lan Kwai Fong (a.k.a., LKF, the city's most popular party district) twice, and both times I have felt the exact same way as the above comic from Natalie Dee (one of my personal favourites from her archives). 

{An example of what walking down a street in Lan Kwai Fong looks like.
Photo source here}

In terms of the "night life", it is much more... lively... than what I was used to seeing in Ottawa (which was not much). Leaving at 2:00 a.m. is considered early (!), the clothing of choice for many party-goers in LKF is a little kind of really risqué (for a conservative girl like me, at least), and having strangers' bodies right up against you all night is the norm. For some people reading this, you're probably saying: "What is wrong with this girl? This sounds pretty normal/fun to me!" The thing is, I am just not that type of girl who likes to party all night, and I really, really enjoy my personal space.

I guess that being from Canada, I was privileged to have all of the space that was afforded to everyone (lots of land, small population... Saskatchewanians know what I'm talking about!), but this whole "your personal space is mine" thing happening in LKF clubs, or Hong Kong clubs in general, is really going to take some getting used to for me. Ouf! 

The Beautiful Side of Hong Kong

{Beautiful Shek O Beach}

Between my fiancé and I, only he has contacts in Hong Kong (and I am the asian one!). Luckily for us, an old high school friend of his who has been living in Hong Kong for almost two years now, graciously invited us out to a number of outings since our arrival. One such invitation was a truly breathtaking trip to Shek O beach on an especially clear, sunny and cool (thank goodness!) day. I gasped so loudly at the beautiful scenery I was seeing of Hong Kong that other beach-goers on the bus ride over to our sandy destination stared at me and made for an embarrassing moment for my fiancé!

{Mandatory beach photo with an umbrella}

After numerous days of rain and high humidity levels (my hair does not curl that much naturally but it did in this humidity), the weather and haze finally let up, and allowed us some gloriously beautiful days in Hong Kong, one of which was splendidly spent with the sun, some sand and the warm sea.

Connected!

The thing about planning to update my blog every two days is that I kind of need the internet to do so... My apologies for not keeping up with my posts, everyone. We have been internet-less since moving in to our flat two weeks ago, but as of yesterday, we are officially connected to the rest of world! 

Something else that we have managed to accomplish at the flat is purchase an HDMI cable to connect my MacBook to our TV, and this is what we did last night: we watched PSY's Gangnam Style on our big screen.

Now that we finally have access to wifi, I promise to be posting more updates soon. Until then, please enjoy the full version of Gangnam Style (it's such an amusing video!).

A Little Bit of Rush Hour

One of my fiancé's favourite movies is Rush Hour, and it has since become one of mine as well. When we moved here, I had the sudden desire to watch the second movie in the trilogy again because it takes place in Hong Kong. A common sight in this city are the many bamboo sticks used for scaffolding like the ones on which Jackie Chan's character, Chief Inspector Lee, had to fight (see clip above). 

{The beginnings of bamboo scaffolding on Wing Lok Street in the Sheung Wan neighbourhood}

During one of our first walks exploring Hong Kong, we were in the trendy Soho neighbourhood when we witnessed a construction worker lose grip on a long bamboo stick that he was moving, which nearly knocked over a pedestrian in front of us. I am glad to say that the pedestrian was unharmed and we were smart enough to avoid that area of the street. Although a little nervous around construction workers with bamboo sticks now, I still admire how sturdy and how very "Hong Kong" they are. However, I think I would still prefer to admire them from my television screen with Jackie Chan in Rush Hour 2...

glitter/grey

glitter
{a gorgeous lotus flower in the Sun Yat Sen pond on the University of Hong Kong's campus (where my fiancé is a Master's student)}

grey
{my favourite view (from our first apartment) covered in the haze that so often blankets Hong Kong}

Hong Kong(crete)'s Crowded Streets

{The "glitter" that I woke up to everyday during my first week in Hong Kong}

My first week in Hong Kong was... difficult, to say the least. The first couple of nights were sleepless ones where I found myself quietly crying as my thoughts often wandered back to my family and friends back home in Canada. I was feeling quite homesick, and there was nothing that my fiancé (who I moved here with) could say or do, as much as he tried, to make the sadness go away. It was hard to adjust to life here, especially since we arrived without some essentials that I was so used to having back in Ottawa: working cellphones with data, access to wifi at home (the apartment we stayed in did not have internet), a well-stocked fridge, cable for the television, etc... It seems like I am whining (talk about first world problems...), but those missing things only emphasised the fact that I was no longer at home. I felt no comfort being so far away from everything and everyone that I knew and held dear to me. Add to all of this the extreme heat/humidity (I do not do well in heat), and you've got an often teary-eyed and cranky Canadian feeling lost in Hong Kong(crete). 

I first came upon the term "Hong Kongcrete" while reading more about my new home. My "research" (yep, I Wiki'ed it) brought me upon the following phrase: The traveller weary of its crowded streets may be tempted to describe it as Hong Kongcrete.  Within a couple of days, I was definitely weary of the crowds. I would describe myself as a very fast-paced walker (get outta my way!) but found it quite challenging (re: impossible) to keep my usual lightning-speed pace when met with throngs of people in the streets. It was with my own experience walking around Mong Kok (the most densely populated area in Hong Kong) that I truly understood the name "Hong Kongcrete".

Although I am admittedly still not a fan of the crowds, there was that bit of glitter in Hong Kong that made all of my frustrations about living here seem so futile (see picture above). The view that I had the privilege of waking up to everyday during my first week as a resident of the Pearl of the Orient was the glitter that made me feel that everything is going to be okay. The view had a calming effect which helped to remind me that my fiancé and I will be moving into our own apartment soon enough, where we will be able to stock the fridge (finally! so I can start cooking!), be able to stop living out of our suitcases (it's the worst), and officially settle in to our new routines (we are both Master's students). There is hope that I will make it through the heat (winter has to come around at some point, right?) and I know that I will just become another person in the crowds that I so loathed, at first - a bonafide resident of Hong Kong, my new home.

Hi from Me!

{HELLO!}

I am not yet sure how I am going to proceed with this blog, but I will be trying my best to publish a post at least every two days. As I slowly get more accustomed to the world of blogging, I ask that you bear with me. Some posts that are coming up might be old news to those of you who have been in touch with me more frequently than others. I apologise in advance if some of the things I post about sound like on-line rants (there have been a couple of instances where I've ranted out loud here - my poor fiancé... and his ears...). They might also just be plain too lengthy/wordy/boring (I like to write novels). I will, however, try to post more pictures for the sake of everyone's time. They do say that pictures are worth a thousand words.

We officially get the keys to our new apartment tomorrow (YAY!). Until we are all settled in (which for me finally means some shopping to complete the place - whoo!), I will not have too much time to write new blog posts. In the meantime, I have scheduled a couple of posts to be published soon, and also, please follow me on instagram (for those of you with smart phones, look for "ivyo13") and twitter for more frequent (re: short) updates from me.

À bientôt!
--Ivy

Glitter and Grey

{My own photo of the famous Hong Kong skyline on my first night}

Welcome to Glitter and Grey! After having been in Hong Kong for two weeks, on Friday (has time really gone by that quickly?), and many long emails (er, novels) to family and friends later, I thought to start a blog. Although the main motivation behind this idea was to keep loved ones updated, I also hope to post about new things that I have learned about living in this international metropolis and about my experiences as a Canadian far from home in Hong Kong(crete) <---to be explained in a later post.

The reason behind the name "Glitter and Grey" is because of the glorious, glittery lights that welcomed me on the night that I arrived in Hong Kong (see picture above) but also because of the grey skies that seem to be more of a common sight here than the clear blue that I know exists beyond the dense layer of smog.

While I am here, I endeavour to be seeing more of Hong Kong's glitter than grey, and that you (whoever decides to read my ramblings) enjoy the adventure with me through this blog. With this, I say 唔該 / M̀h'gōi (my go-to/only phrase that I use with HK'ers... so far...) for reading my first post on Glitter and Grey.

--Ivy