July 4th, 2009

Okay. So I'm back home at last. :)
Let me fill you in on what happened yesterday (as I type up a super-long entry about my trip to Japan, which will take an infinitely long while).

Yesterday, I had fallen asleep after arriving back in Hong Kong. And I so I got to Aunt K's (Tsing Yi is quite close to the airport, so I slept there) and cleaned up my suitcase a bit. And then I fell asleep on the couch while holding my pajamas and stuff (because I wanted to shower before sleeping... but fell asleep. Oops). Then I woke up at 3 AM to hear my brother (who was right next to me) say, "Okay. I'm done (with his internet gaming)." (WTG, man...) And so he left and slept as I went to take a shower. And then I went back to sleep.

And so I woke at about 10 (and LilBro woke at about 11:15). After eating a small bit of food and stressing/stress-eating (because my mom called, and we got very grouchy with each other over money because she thought that I had used about 70,000 yen or so. Which, if she had let me finish before cutting me off, was not the case in the slightest bit), Aunt K took LilBro and me to eat Shanghainese food in Tai Wo Hau. And we called my cousin Ada, who lives there. And so she and her husband, Stanley, came to eat with us. We had yummies. :)
We had sweet & spice soup; rice cakes; dan-dan(??) noodles in a slightly spicy, peanut-ish soup; noodles with an eel and bean sprout side dish (sadly, I did not try this because I cannot eat yellow eel, which this was. Any Mok who has tried to eat yellow eel has had lots of bleeding and stuff. It's somehing to do with our humors or something, apparently?); Shanghainese spring rolls; xiaolongbao's (小籠包; "little basket roll") (it's a steamed dumpling with pork filling); and Shanghainese pot stickers (鍋貼). Then we ended with "doughtnuts" (red bean paste wrapped in dough and deep-fried. It is then eaten with a dusting of powdered sugar).

So then we went to Ada's apartment and played a bit of Wii. And after a bit of that, I went back to where we ate (because it was part of a shopping plaza). And so Aunt K and I walked for a while and bought some goodies -- some dried mango (yum), preserved plums (yum), Indonesian food (yellow ginger rice with some vegetables and chicken, which I wanted to try), nougat with macadamia nuts (for my mom, whose birthday is July 2nd), and different types of bread. I saw two neat-looking breads and wanted a taste-test: chestnut paste bread, which was a bun filled with a paste made of roasted chestnuts, and charcoal bamboo bread with sweet potato filling, which was a sweet potato wrapped in black dough and baked. And I also bought an egg tart because I know that LilBro loves them.
So after these purchases, I went back to Ada's. And then Aunt K, LilBro, and I left at about 6. We took the public light bus and relaxed (and put our purchases away) at Aunt K's for a little while before heading for vigil Mass. And it was exciting because I remembered how to get there even though I hadn't been there in four years. Yay! =]
(Oh, and the readings and stuff were on the electronic message board... in Chinese. And I could read some parts. And it felt very good to be able to do that, yay.)

And so LilBro and I headed back (my aunt had taken us to the church, and I had reassured her that I knew the way back. So she went home). But first, I took a pitstop at Vanguard, which is similar to Wellcome, Taste (which is a branch off of Wellcome. Except it's "fancier" because it carries more Western-ish goods. So it's more expensive), and Park 'n Shop. But it's not as popular, so it's cheaper. Which is lovely. And so I did some shopping for drinks like tea and Vitasoy beverages. And all was lovely, although this caused Aunt K to worry because she had expected me back earlier. (She called and was like, "Are you lost??")

And then LilBro and I went back. And had the Indonesian food (Aunt K and Uncle Kau had eaten while we were at Mass), which turned out to have hot peppers in it. I could handle it, but LilBro could not. So I took all of the peppers and ate them... which stung a bit but was not too tragic.

And then Zalulululu (Aunt K's son, who lives elsewhere now but still stays over some nights) came back with his girlfriend Peggie because they had just come back from work. So they ate. And I took a shower and brushed my teeth (etc.). And then LilBro, Zalu, Peggie (a bit), and I played Wii... until 4 AM.
Wait... Correction -- Zalu stopped at 2. Dave and half of me (because I was only semi-conscious at that point) played until 4.

And so that was yesterday. I'll get to today later tonight, 'kay?
I love you all. :)

Shout-outs:
Mom's birthday -- 7/2
Indepenence Day (US) -- 7/4

7.5.09
4:14 PM