quirky hong kong
as sebastian and i were walking up water street today with intentions to head over to pokfulam road, we stopped and i bought him a banana.
as i was paying for bananas, my eyes rested on the pokfulam post office, and it reminded me of a 2004 post office incident.
i had received a packet from a friend and took a break from the nicu to trot down to the post office (if you take the #55 bus it drops you one block from the post shop and picks you up across the street from it) and pick up the post office. i felt so proud of myself because i had actually gotten off my tookus and down to the post office.
postal offices are very efficient in hong kong, and there was maybe one person in the line infront of me. after they had collected their parcel, i stepped up to the counter.
"good afternoon, how can i help you?" the fellow greeted me.
"parcel pickup!" i smiled back.
"where’s your form?" he asked me, quite properly.
and then i realised i had forgotten it. oh bloody hell.
"i forgot it" i confessed. then i realised that language was going to be a barrier, so i lifted up my handbag and indicated that the paper was not going to be found on my person or my accessories.
the fellow asked for my name and address, which i happily supplied. he came back with the packet, and asked me, "who is it from?"
and then i realised that although i was very good friends with this person, i could only remember her screen name. it was a brain blurp. honestly. i thought, thought, thought, and then, i was SO PROUD, i blurted out…
CLEO!
and then i realised, no, no, that was the screen name i first knew her by. oh crap.
this fellow was very sweet. he saw me wracking my brains, and he made seven dashes on the paper
– – – – – – –
and then nine dashes underneath that
– – – – – – – – –
and then, like a miniature wheel of fortune, he started filling in the letters:
"S"
S – – – – – –
S – – – – – S – –
and then he started N, R and L
S _ _ L L _ _
S _ N _ _ R S_N
and i remembered her name – SHELLEY SANDERSON!
there is no way that in canada i would have gotten at this sort of treatment. i would have been politely asked to go home and get my "pick up your packet" (written in french and english) form. this is another great thing about hong kong.
like you needed to hear another great thing about this city. the thing is, there are plenty more to come.
