One of
my flat mates is a very angry man. He shouts at me for everything you could
possible shout at a new housemate for. I brushed it off with 'he's probably
just having a bad day'. BUT really, does it really matter, and more importantly
does it require raising your voice, if there are a few black feet marks on the
bathroom floor, if my door occasionally shuts a little loudly because of the
windows being open, if the bathroom door is slightly hard to close and
therefore makes more sound than silence. I wont let there be tension, as it
really is a very small apartment for four people to be living in. I think the
whole apartment would fit into the living area of my flat on Swan Street. With
four adults living in such close proximity you have to adapt very quickly to
the other peoples living habits.
The
angry German walks around in his very small pants and shouts at me. His small
Filipino mistress is sweet but by the looks of it doesn't leave the bed, unless
to fry up some chicken nuggets to eat with tomato ketchup at around
11pm. The other housemate is the saving grace. As I said, pros and cons to
everything. Jonny is really sweet and we get along just great.
We
escaped the dark apartment. The angry German doesn't like lights on, and as
there is no internal windows, means the apartment is in pitch black. Another
reason I stay in my room, I have actual windows. Going to the toilet or to the
kitchen is quite a risky business with no light at all, in the middle of the
day. You have to sort of sense your way there. He doesn't mind me putting the
light on, well he hasn't shouted at me about it yet, if I am, for example in
the kitchen, or in the loo, though he does, apparently try and open the door
while I am in the bathroom to show me how to operate the door properly. Just a
little side note here; the bathroom is so small you can't actually sit on the
toilet facing forward, there is about an inch from the front of the bowl to the
wall. You have to sit sideways, like ladies used to ride horses. Talk about
squeezing everything in to a tiny space.
Anyways,
back to Jonny and I escaping last night. Jonny works for a PR company. He
invited me along, after mentioning art exhibitions to him a few days ago. The
opening of a Chinese contemporary art exhibition was opening on 15 Elgin Street
at the Culture Club. Jonny had
promised free food and wine so I went along, obviously, to look at the art as
well.
There
was a room full of very 'arty' types all discussing 'the real meaning behind
the word contemporary and art' and if a German painter could claim this
statement if he was based in China but was born in Germany. I headed for the
bar and had a look around. There was some beautiful prints and a very exciting
flyer, posters section; great scrapbooking material.
I met
some interesting people. An offer to do some marketing work in Bali for a lady
who has a retreat there. A nice chap who wanted me to explain why I wanted to
work in events, in order for him to pass my CV over to 'some people he knows'.
This is the city of 'I’ll introduce you', 'I have a contact there', 'pass your
info and I'll pass it on' etc etc.
There
was no food. I had another cigarette. I had eaten very little today and was now
getting quite hungry. Jonny said he would buy us a late dinner. I continued to
have very random conversations with some very 'arty' 'creative' types and
realised I really am able to pick conversations up about anything and run with
them. I had an interesting conversation about empathy, a chat about creativity
and expressing yourself through art, music and poetry, how to sell Singapore as
a holiday destination to Hong Kongers and gave my very valuable opinion on some
of the pieces. One really did remind me of Pulp
Fiction, no one else saw this but me.
We
left after a few glasses of free wine, hours of arty conversations we headed to
Pisano’s, the largest pizza makers in
town, famous for pizza's so large you can't walk through the door with it flat,
but have to tilt it to one side to get it through the door. I am
so ordering one of these when I get a job. We bought a slice each. I
must say, pizza tasted good after weeks of boiled eggs and noodles.
Another
culture rich day in Hong Kong. I even hung my laundry out of my
window, very Hong Kong.
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