Ailie in Wonderland 3

Last weekend I went to Taipei for business, then stayed over the weekend and hung around Taipei and Taichung with my friend June.

I will say, people in Taipei are busy around food, shopping, and everything else.

And Taichung is relatively slowed down.  And life there is very pleasant.  Which is my cuppa tea.

Someone sent me a “document” today…

(oh in fact I shouldn’t tell what it is..)

Thanks thanks thanks, Miss MS!

“Single ladies (aka spinsters) should not expect their future boyfriends knocking on their doors, while they watching, or being addicted to Overaged Single Queen (敗犬女王).”

It was an ordinary night in Schnurrbart.  AK asked to meet there for dinner and beer and a few chat about everything.  Then AvC came by, and we three started talking about the Hong Kong high speed rail debate.  It was just like any ordinary night.

Then we checked the bill around 23:30.  The shop was empty. I paid, he paid. I put on my jacket and about to leave.

Suddenly I lost my balance and fell on ground.

Then everyone rushed to me and checked if I was fine.  Yes, I said, and tried to sit up.

Then I noticed a red dot on the far left corner of my glasses.  It’s blood.  Not really much, but ruby red.

The staff brought me some napkins to press on the wound, and sent me to the washroom.

There was a 5mm-long wound on the left hairline.  I cleaned up my face a little bit.  Chris found the first aid kit and AvC found me a plaster, and I put it on the wound.  Shirley arranged my fringe a bit to cover up the plaster.

Obviously my forehead hit a wall corner a bit and it caused hurt.

At home, I put another plaster on the wound after shower.

Today I feel a bit dizzy.  The stomach feels terrible and rejects all solids and liquids.  For lunch I have a congee slowly.

I think I should leave office on time and take a rest — or maybe go to the Taichi lesson as usual?  Maybe some sports helps.

So this is another unfortunate incident of the week after losing my cellphone.  I think I need some luck.

… When hills were high, seas were blue.

W Holden and J Jones in “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” - featured HK in 1950s

Hong Kong in 1961

… and the days of the little Martin Booth.

No, it’s not me who found those videos, but fellow HK bloggers, who miss the old days like me.

It’s not really my wish to start my first blog post in 2010 with a chopsui.  But given my limited time… forget it.

• Spent the new year countdown with other 60 people in Schnurrbart.
• Cooked my first meal in Lucia’s place.
• The first movie seen is New York, I love you.
• Will have the first hotpot tonight.
• Finally got my curly hair trimmed a bit yesterday, so now I look less like Masaharu Fukuyama (as “Ryoma Sakamoto”).
• Almost addicted to Plurk.
• Explored some new use of Facebook, like contacting a friend whose mobile no. unknown to me (OK, finally I asked for that).
• Addicted to Glühwein, as finally this winter in Hong Kong feels like a real subtropical winter.
• Watched Anthony Bourdain’s Rust Belt episode… I (still) think this guy is cool.
• Try my best staying away from HK television drama, and all those “Golden Hits Awards” programme.
• Thinking about seeing Avatar, as almost everyone recommended me to see it.
• Reorganised my wall (the real one) a bit, took away some old postcards to make space for some new ones coming (send me one!)
• Start missing the days in the small room in Bussardweg.
• Will start flying around in a few weeks… I think it’s not that difficult to me to promote my Marco Polo Club status to Silver in this year.
• Oh yes, I start thinking about my next holidays.
• And, again, eat, drink, and be merry in 2010!

As usual, I wish all my friends and fellow readers (no matter I know you or not) a nice holiday time.

Fröhe Weihnachten (am Nachmittag habe gerade O Tannenbaum gesungen…) und einen guten Rutsch zum 2010!

Oh, and this is my Christmas Song of the Year.

We had a visitor for a few days: around 26 years old (in terms of human; in fact 3 years old), male.

After our experience with Lily I am not really supporting the idea; even if the visit is kinda temporary.  I’m too busy with everything (work, having acupuncture, taichi lessons, as well as meeting friends) and cannot guarantee returning home at normal hours; and neither can sisK. And even though sisK assured that this is a pretty maintainence-free dog, I did mention that fact that it’s not about the dog, but if the keepers (i.e. we) can keep their duty well.

And after a few days all problems came as expected: toilet training, the emotional problems due to habitat changes, etc.  Well, the kid got used to play around with people in daytime and sleep at night; but the human beings here appear only in the evening, sometimes very late at night.  And after a few hours of playing and eating etc etc it’s already bedtime.  Most of the time he’s alone in a cage.

As a reader of  The Footprint (the bulletin from SPCA), I just feel a bit guilty to leave the poor dog in my place like that.

My experiences tell me that dogs are attention-seeking animals, and one should take this into consideration before adopting one.

So finally the owner is asked to find somebody else to take care of the young guy — for another two weeks until the owner’s return from trip.

It’s said that the new caretaker got a bigger place and there is a domestic helper in daytime.    Hope it’s a better place.

Just bumped into this song some time ago… and think, sometimes we need some simple affection like this.

大事にするよ

melody/ lyrics: H. Tokunaga

いつだったか君は言ったね
この空の青さがね…永遠ならいいね
君の瞳に映る明日は何色に見えたんだろう

傘もささずに雨の中を
走るのが好きだよね、ずぶ濡れになっても
空と君を遮る方が息苦しいんだね…きっと

信じてゆくということは
何も疑わず愛せること
見失いそうなこの時代に
大事にするよ、守ってゆくよ

傷つけられ失くした理由は
自分の撒いた種が戻ってきただけさ
大事にするよ、君のことをやさしい言葉で包むよ

信じ合えるということは
どんなカタチでも見守ること
ひとつひとつをこの時代に
大事にするよ、伝えてゆくよ

大事にするよ…君のことを
ずっと守ってゆくよ…どんなことあっても
失わないよこの気持ちを終わらないよ、抱きしめるよ
いつだったか君は言ったね
この空の青さがね…永遠ならいいね
君の言葉が風になって空に舞い上がればいいね

空に舞い上がればいいね

During the past week I had my Roadshow again, and one of the primary goals was to experience Christmas Fairs (Christkindlmarket/ Weihnachtsmarkt) in different cities.

Here they are:

Drehorgel players at Neupfarrplatz, Regensburg

The "real" and mini Feuerzangenbowle in Winterhof in Bayreuther Weihnachtsmarkt

The ice rink at Karlstor, München

Weihnachtsmarkt am roten Rathaus, viewing from Alex

Carousel at Weihnachtsmarkt at Kröpcke, Hannover

Giant Weihnachtsmann at Autostadt, Wolfsburg

Students heading to Weihnachtsmarkt, Prinzenstraße, Göttingen

Weihnachtsmarkt in Karlsruhe