star ferry night

Tonight, I took the Star Ferry by myself for the first time. It was only five minutes from Tsimshatsui to Wanchai, but still, my first time. I am not a tourist. I actually live here.

i am blue bird

Golden birds fly toward a glass. On the glass is the reflection of a jewelry shop.

It feels as though I have only just in the last two months found my direction here in this city.

It often seems to me that this place is made of glass.

questions and answers and other streetcorners

Last night I had my first lesson of the program titled Professional Diploma is Creative and Critical Thinking. I brought a bottle of green tea, arrived class a few minutes early to find a seat by the window where I can catch a tiny glimpse of a Mongkok streetcorner.



I love Hong Kong people, though I have yet to come to define what kind of sentiment it is. At the same time, I hate them. I hate them when all they seem to talk about are people’s appearances. I hate them when they come to class expecting me to tell them all the answers. I hate them when they talk loud on their cell phones. It doesn’t bother me when people from other countries do these things. But I hate it when Hong Kong people do these things, as though the people are my own children.

erased photos and the ghost in the elevator

Taken at the St Alps teahouse in Sheung Wan, an hour before the silent skit started at the Civic Centre. A Kelly Chen's best hits CD was playing in the teahouse. The songs, curiously, remind me of Canada, and I remember how when I was listening to the songs in Canada, they would remind me of Hong Kong. It also occured to me just now that last week, in Tokyo, I visited a cafe-patisserie called Alps. I had taken photos there which I had accidentally erased.

But tonight is tonight and I was at this particular teahouse in Sheung Wan. The silent skit was a one-man performance exploring different lives that interact with the elevator.

Throughout the skit, a ghost appeared in the elevator, and there was one character who constantly used one hand to cover his face. In the final scene of the skit, the character struggles with the ghost, and the character is able to put his hand down and expose his face.

on the tram

And so begins August and in a few days I'll be off to Japan. It was around August of last year when I had the idea of coming to HK. Now I'm here. Then off to somewhere in a few days. Shifting this way and that on this smudgey timeline is what I do best.

After the show in City Hall, instead of taking the MTR, I decided to take the tram from Central to North Point, breathing in the city along the way. From the time I got here, I have been trying to figure out exactly what this 'love' is that I have for this place. I am still not able to articulate it concretely, yet from the different shows and concerts that I have attended lately, I feel there is a circle of like-minded people who share the some passion I have. In the midst of oppression is where we produce our best work. It's when things happen too fast that we shine when we decide to slow down. Love is hard to explain. Much like asking my girlfriend or having her ask me, "Why do you love me?"