Memories Last a Lifetime

Mom and Aunt Robin visited this past week, from April 3 to Friday, April 10th, 2009.  We had such a wonderful time together, and I was sad to see them go, though they did it with style, being whisked off to the Hong Kong International Airport in their chauffeured Mercedes.  It is hard to describe the happiness I felt seeing Mom and Aunt Robin enter the airport arrival hall last Saturday night, looking fashionable and coordinated in their black traveling outfits.   Being able to share a city that I have come to know so well, with people I love so much, was a very special opportunity.  Living in Hong Kong for the past eight months and returning home for Christmas, I have described my friends, my campus and my life, but introducing Mom and Aunt Robin to all of these sights and people made me appreciate both my life here, and my family back home.

This week was undoubtedly a week of surprises, both for me, and for the Ax women!  I was relieved (and a bit amazed with Mom) that they enjoyed the wide-array of cuisine sampling so much.  We ate Korean food, Cantonese dim sum, Thai curry, Beijing style vegetable dumplings, egg tarts and mango pudding.  Much to my chagrin, it was I, the Hong Kong “native,” who chickened-out on sampling chicken feet after Mom and Aunt Robin bit into the small, hand shaped appendages at Sunday dim sum.  This was not their only adventurous deed.  Throughout the week, be it in climbing the endless steps up to Lantau Island’s statue of Big Buddha, continuing to explore the city despite jet lag, or stepping out in Mong Kok, the most populated place on earth, they retained a sense of humor and excitement.  The only time all three of us lost this calm was in Macau, wandering through an area of the city where tourists were obviously not supposed to be, struggling to find someone who spoke English who could direct us somewhere, somehow, to a decent restaurant.

I think Mom and Aunt Robin’s Hong Kong experience was made more authentic by the time they were able to spend with Wing Wing, a Hong Kong local and one of my students.  Wing Wing kindly accompanied us to dim sum on Sunday, allowing us all to partake in one of the weekly traditions of Hong Kong families, much like Sunday brunch at Waffle House in the US.  We would have been unable to do dim sum without Wing Wing’s help, as alas, I do not yet read Chinese menus! Mom and Aunt Robin also met Gabi, another of my best friends in Hong Kong and one of the other English Teaching Assistants at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.  It was so wonderful to introduce them to people and places I’ve talked and written about, and also to allow them to see the life I’ve established here.  While Mom knows that I’m still unsure what the future year will bring, knowing I “have friends like Gabi and Wing Wing,” who are more like sisters than friends, makes her feel a whole lot better about the possibility of my remaining on.

While I’m uncertain about the future, I am sure that I will always remember this week as a very special one in my life.  It is not often that you have the opportunity to explore the world with family, and whether it was taking the high-speed ferry to Macau to see the Portuguese colonial ruins, or sitting at a swanky jazz bar with high-class prostitutes for company, Mom, Aunt Robin and I lived quite fully these past seven days!

Anytime you hear, “high-class prostitutes” that infernal part of our brain that leads us to read US Weekly and People instead of the New York Times, undoubtedly perks up, so I will give some explanation.  Tuesday night, after visiting my favorite Wan Chai restaurant and sampling vegetarian, pork and chive dumplings and broccoli fried in garlic sauce, we headed over to the Grand Hyatt’s Champagne Bar.  This was a first for all three of us; being the tour guide for the week, I thought the description of “live-jazz most nights” in Fodder’s Hong Kong incentive for a visit.  The bar was at first appearances all class, with muted colors and impeccable service, a jazz singer accompanied by piano.  As the night drew on however, we noticed several single, young, richly dressed Chinese women standing alone around the bar.  Since the Grand Hyatt is located in Wan Chai, a place notorious for its “girly-bars,” our interest was piqued.  On further observation we noticed that they were situated apart from one-another, never interacting but definitely aware of the other’s territory.  Our suspicions were further aroused noticing that while other patrons entered with friends or colleagues, these girls were obviously waiting for no one.  One seemed rather bemused when Mom being the kind woman that she is, complimented her on her neck scarf.  Perhaps high-class prostitutes are not used to compliments, or perhaps she just liked Mom’s American accent!  Either way, it was assuredly a night, and a week, to remember.