#16

It was another quiet morning for me. Spent the late morning and the afternoon watching the Trevor Linden retirement ceremony and the subsequent hockey game. Yup, that's right, I watched the ceremony and game from HK, come on, it's Linden. Couldn't call myself a Canucks fan if I missed it. Stepped out quickly during the first period of the game to get lunch for me and V's mom. She hung out to watch the ceremony and game too. V's family are probably one of the most fanatic Canuck fans I've ever known. I have friends who have certain members of their family watch and support the Canucks, but V's whole family all cheer the Canucks with a passion like I have never seen.

Oh right, lunch. I ran down to the nearby mall to pick up some McDonald's. Now, I know what you're thinking, McDonald's!? WTH!? But, with my restricted diet, lunch time is hard to find the kinds of food I can eat. Lunch time in Hong Kong is a carb lover's paradise. It's all about quick food slapped down over rice or noodles. Two things I can't really eat in great quantity anymore. Hong Kong isn't a very salad friendly place I suppose. I tried to make my own the other day. V and I had gone to the local 'white' supermarket to pick up some salad stuffs. Now, it's not a Whites only supermarket, it just has foods that cater more towards white peoples...or people who are 'white' like me. Anyway, salad fixin's, not so good in HK. In fact, quite terrible. But, what I have found, is McD's has a very good grilled chicken salad that's really quite fresh and quite healthy surprisingly enough.

V tells me that the grilled chicken burger here in HK is nothing like the grilled chicken burger in Canada. It's quite a popular sandwhich here because of the style in which they grill the chicken. The same chicken is used for the salad and it's quite tasty. The McD's menu here in HK is also quite interesting, with menu items like an Ebi Burger, Chicken Wings, Fresh Corn, Fillet-O-Fish sticks and even Clam Chowder, it's quite a bit different than back home.

After the game, I had some homework to do...not some much work I had to do, but I needed to proofread/edit something of V's. So, I spent the remainder of the afternoon working on that. I figured that I could take my time with that and then enjoy the rest of my afternoon before I had to get ready for the wedding. Fat chance of that happening. As soon as V came home, I was asked to head down to the local supermarket and pick up some stuffs we were running low on. So, I rushed out and gots the goods. Meanwhile, V and her family were getting ready for the wedding. It was funny, once V, her dad and I were ready, V's mom was still trying to get ready. At one point as we were trying to leave, V's mom suddenly couldn't find her shoes, both V and her dad were super unimpressed. It was pretty funny. I think V said something like ' both Daddy and I had to work today and we were able to be ready on time.' It was really quite funny.

Anyway, back to the wedding. Who was getting married you might ask? Her cousin Kenneth. Nice guy. He was very gracious to invite me to his wedding. Anyway, time to dawn the tailor-made suit. There are few chances that I have to wear such fine haberdashery, but I really enjoy the exercise of getting dressed up and heading out for a fancy affair. Felt like I was more appropriately dressed than some of the people there; like the guy show showed up in a striped polo shirt with track pants and a non-matching track jacket.

Anyway, there was lots of family, photo taking and good times to be had. Seeing everyone dressed to the nines was pretty cool too. Even her little cousins were all decked out. I, myself looked pretty swank. Not as good as Jiggy Swank, but then again, who does?

One of the things that stood out at the wedding was a tea ceremony. It looks like the newly married couple visits all of their elder relatives, a fact that I wasn't made initially aware of. In any event, they visit each of their aunts and uncles and serve them tea. In return, the aunts and uncles and whoever else, present the couple with lai see, you'd probably know them better as the tiny red envelopes filled with cash given out at Chinese New Years. They're also given at special occasions, like weddings. So, here's the joke; I was unaware of this particular ceremony, and one of V's uncles decided to explain to me exactly was going on. He explained pretty much what I just explained, leaving out the part where I as an unmarried younger generation, didn't have to participate in the tea ceremony. He then told me that for HKD$1000, he would supply me with the necessary goods to perform the tea ceremony. Slightly skeptically of his proposal, I hinted to him that his offer sounded a might bit sketchy. Luckily, V came along around that time and whisked me away to go look at wedding photos and stuffs. Still, think he was trying to scam me though lol.

Also at weddings, there's usually a kiddie table. I was fortunate enough to be seated with the kiddies as they are quite amusing. Anyway, we were given tiny bottles of bubbles to blow at the bride and groom as they walked past us to the head table. Many hours after that, the kids decided that it was time to play with bubbles. So, off we headed to courtyard where much silliness and laughter ensued. It was pretty funny.

Finally, I know many of you have probably been to weddings in the past. There's always an aunt or uncle there who comes up to you and asks you something to the effect of 'So, your next right?' Yeah...I got that and then some. Questions, questions, so many questions. I'm not entirely sure how I weaseled my way out of answering the questions, but the final implied comment to me happened at the end of the night. Kenneth (the one who got married), his Dad came by our table and singled out V and her cousin Jennifer (Jennifer is a few years younger than V I think). In any event, he commented to me, after he spoke to them in Cantonese, that both of them were watching the wedding ceremony very intently. The actual wedding itself took place in New Zealand. This was a wedding celebration for all of their friends and family in HK. Sort of a re-enactment of sorts. The ceremony was played on a project. Anyway, He told me that V especially seemed very interested in the happenings of the wedding. It's funny, because when the the video came on, they were still serving food. There were a bunch of people leaving at that time some more people milling about in front of our table blocking our view of the screen. So, when the people at the table in front of us left, V moved up to that table to get a better view of the screen. Of course, I went with...but, just before we moved tables, like I said they were serving some food at our table, and I thought to myself, 'I hope there's food there when I get back.' There's another wedding a few weeks from now. V's cousin Ben is getting married. I'm sure the aunts and uncles that didn't ask me this go round will probably ask me at the next one. :P

The night finally came to a close and we taxi'd back home. I packed my suit away till next time and called it a night. Oh yeah, when I was hanging away my suit, I noticed that it said 'Specially Made For Jeff Yip'. Hey! That's me!