Happy Pepero Day

In Korea, 11/11 is Pepero Day, when people (okay, kids and couples) give each other the stick-shaped crackers also known as Pocky. In a zany mood today, I went to the store and bought six boxes of the stuff and distributed them around the office. Sometimes you just have to amuse yourself. And if it amuses others at the same time, all the better.

Last night, after Mandarin language class (still fun!), I went up to Penny's apartment for dinner. She'd invited me earlier in the day, and I was very pleased to accept, seeing that I had no plans and nothing exciting in mind for dinner. I stopped on the way to buy a bottle of wine and was treated to a great dinner of pork, garlicky greens, and spicy tofu.

Penny is only a year older than me, but she seems ever so much more mature. Having been in the workplace for much longer probably does that to a person. Born in Singapore, she lived and worked in Switzerland before coming to HK, and her apartment is filled with art and furnishings she's collected over the years. When we talked about being weak bidders and she said, "Well, they [the men she let go over the years] were great then, but now they're extraordinary -- the heads of banks and companies." I laughed on the inside and out. Chalk that up to working in the financial sector, I guess.

Tonight, my favorite person at work, Stegmaier, and I went to the monthly Democrats Abroad event to meet up with the fellow who last week gifted us with Obama t-shirts after we expressed our desire to have them (i.e, I whined that I wanted one and he gave the ones he was holding to us). The fellow's a spokesperson for this chapter of DA, and has given lots of radio and TV interviews. He's clearly a political animal, and after the first few minutes, I dismissed him as a political hack, like all the political hacks in DC I'd ever met. In fact, he's headed there this weekend, no doubt to interview for a job with the administration. I looked at his pale, washed out face and thought, "Well, he'll fit right in."

But toward the end of the hour, after Stegmaier and I had met a series of folks -- some obnoxious, some young and annoying, some socially awkward -- the fellow noticed the socially awkward person standing behind us by himself, and said to him, "Socially Awkward Person! Come talk to this nice person right here!" gesturing to someone else he knew. And I thought, well, well. There's a lesson in dismissing people for ya, hk. Even political hacks might have a sweet, considerate side.

P.S. This blog entry was brought to you by a pint of Kilkenny ale and a bowl of ramen. Sorry if it doesn't make any sense.