Mishmash

This week was full of many random and exciting things. I battled my flu/cold and finally won after doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. I actually didn't even get out of my pyjamas. I laid on the couch and watched what seemed like 100 episodes of Entourage. This, I have found, is the cure to the flu. Tea and Entourage. It was a good thing I won against the flu, because I had a busy week ahead.

I don't want to make it a habit of talking about work on this blog, partly because work is my least favourite part of my Hong Kong adventure, but also because this is a public site and don't want to share a lot of details about the company I work for. I had a very exciting work week though, so this post will be my "no work talk" exception.

I played publicist and handler this week to an author and may-jah financial big wig this week. I have spent weeks planning his trip to Asia, thinking of every last detail and working torturous hours just to get ready. Well, last week was finally the big week. Big Whig's trip didn't get off to a great start--I had arranged a driver to pick him up at the airport and when I received a call from the Big Whig from the airport telling me there was no one to pick him up, I knew it would be a challenging few days. You would think that Hong Kong is the perfect picture of efficiency, and in many ways it is, but in so many ways it's not. I often hear people say "Welcome to Asia" after some sort of avoidable blunder. I never really understood it until my 10:30 p.m. phone call from Big Whig. Everything turned out well I am happy to say, he was pleased as punch with the media tour I had set up for him. The highlight for me was going on location with CNN to this amazing spot that overlooked the Hong Kong Harbour. As I looked out at the skyline, the CNN correspondent in my periphery, I allowed myself to feel the tinge of excitement that was lingering in my stomach. I also realized as I guided Big Whig from interview to interview, and from event to event that I have learned so much in only seven weeks. I knew where I was going and what I was doing. While the climb up the learning curve is far from complete, I think I have reached a much more manageable incline.

My week was also a mishmash because I attended the annual staff dinner. The evening was strange and filled with so many random occurrences I don't know if I can do them all justice. First off, my boss decided that the marketing team would go in costume. So not only do I stand out because I am tall and gleaming white, but now I had to put on a costume and bring more attention to myself. The theme of the evening was Hollywood Glamour so without my knowledge or consent it was decided that we were all going as characters from Alice in Wonderland and I would be the Red Queen (or the Queen of Hearts). I wasn't familiar with the Red Queen, but after some brief google research I concluded that she was mean, ugly and in some cases quite fat. Great. Not my idea of Hollywood Glamour. A make up artist was hired and I was transformed into ugly Red Queen. Not too many people were in costume at the event, mostly people opted for tuxes and gowns. I felt like a circus freak in a room full of models.

The entertainment was one of many oddities that evening. The first act was a child Michael Jackson impersonator (isn't that an oxymoron?) who performed a melange of the King of Pop's hits. The second act were dancers who incorporated so many different styles into their 3 minute dance that they looked possessed. The rest of the evening was filled with hours of strange contests and employee awards. Guess the Cantonese movie star and Hong Kong Dollar Bingo (they call out serial numbers on dollar bills - if they match your own money - you win).

The meal was about 20 courses long. There wasn't much for my vegetarian palate, so I gave in and had bbq'd pork. It was probably the best thing I have ever tasted in my life and even now I still get hungry just thinking about this bbq pork. It is a specialty in Hong Kong and it may just convert me back to a carnivore. The tough part of the meal came when shark fin soup was served. Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in Asia and is a symbol of affluence. It is also one of the major contributing factors of the decline of the shark population in the world. 100 million sharks are killed each year, a large portion used for shark fin soup. The brutality of the killing is one thing, but when sharks are killed for shark fin soup, only a small part of the shark is used. The rest goes to waste. It is considered rude to not eat what is in front of you during a communal Chinese meal, but I couldn't do it. I didn't make a scene, I just used the fact that I was abstaining from eating shark fin soup as my form of protest. It's not only sharks though, a major contributing factor of the decline of the tiger population is because tigers are used in Chinese medicine. With half of the world's population in the region I am living in, it's no wonder that a species can go extinct just because its body part is popular in Asia. I realize that have to be careful to respect the culture I am living in, while at the same time stand strong in my beliefs. Shark fin soup was one of those moments for me. One of the table guests later asked why I didn't eat it, and I used the opportunity to share my views. He said he knew the problems with shark fin soup, but chose to eat it anyway. We spoke at length about it and I think I may have convinced him to give up shark fin soup for the time being. It may be one person of a billion, but at least it's something.

To lighten things up a bit, I have posted a picture of the ugly Red Queen (Alice is sitting next to me). This was as I was about to yell Bingo - my serial number had been chosen!