Last days

I should really only count yesterday as my last day, as I did absolutely nothing today except watch TV, empty out my fridge (into my stomach, suckas!), and pack. I really did intend to go hiking or just go out, but it was pouring for a couple hours, and looking as if it were threatening to pour for the rest of the day, so... yeah. TV. Sloth. Luggage.

Yesterday I pretty much did nothing at work -- a couple hours of checking some corrections, two hours or so of cleaning out my desk and desktop, a "review" which consisted of two partners coming into my office and saying "Well, we don't give offers from specific offices and we only give them at the end of the summer, but everyone's been very impressed by you." Blabbity blah blah blah. I told them they needed mechanical pencils. And that I enjoyed working there. Thus -- hug hug, kiss kiss, buh-bye.

The threat of work hung over me the whole day like the clouds today, as my officemate had left the country to go see a concert in Korea, and the senior associate said I might have to do some work until late that night. But he ended up doing everything himself, as it would take more time for him to explain how to do something to me than doing it himself. He was mightily stressed and showed it, although not towards me. No, he took it out on the IT person on the phone after his email went on the fritz -- "Do you have an answer to my question or not? I need you to fix it, and I have no time! I have no time!" -- and then when someone came around to his office to see to the problem: "Just fix it! Just fix it! You don't understand how busy we are! Just fix it!"

Fortunately, the IT guy had a cool, measured response, which I think took the wind out of the associate's sails: "Look, you don't just go to a doctor and tell him to fix the problem. The doctor needs to diagnose the problem first."

That is actually the first time I have heard anyone at either firm yell at someone else.

Anyway, the associate said, "Go, enjoy your last night in HK," and so I went, after bidding folks goodbye. As Harry, the friend of a friend of a friend, had taken me around Macau last weekend so generously, I bought him dinner at a yummy Taiwanese food place. He showed me the HK Walk of Fame, which included a statue of Bruce Lee...

...and then we went to a Russian bar and ventured into the "Ice Bar," a little room akin to a freezer, lined with vodka bottles and equipped with fur coats on the outside. Hong Kong, remember, doesn't get colder than the 60s in the winter, remember, so I suppose it's a bit of an exotic thing to do. Well, I enjoyed my shot of Grey Goose.

I'm a little bit sad to be leaving HK, but not too much. It's more the sadness that comes from the end of an experience. HK is a rather soul-less place for an expat like me, who isn't Chinese and doesn't speak Cantonese. It was nice to be given such a sweet apartment, and to buy ultra cheap goods here and there. And the food was pretty good -- I discovered the utter awesomeness of Shanghainese cuisine with someone from Shanghai, and that can't be discounted. But there's a lot of stress here, and my stomach has never quite been 100 percent these past four weeks. And though it was great to have a few days of utter relaxation, I missed friends and family.

My flight is an overnight one, but fairly short -- I leave at 12:30 am, and arrive in Seoul at 5 am. And then the week with the fam commences, which will be really, really lovely. I've got half a dozen types of snacks for my grandmothers, a Buddhist charm for my father, and Crimson Law caps for my cousins. And speaking of my father, he wrote today, finally, and he's fine. No report of anything bad from the tests. You know, I actually got on my knees and prayed last night about that, I was so worried. Thank the sweet lord.

So long, Hong Kong! It's been fun and TV-filled and stressful and stomach-achey! See ya around!