You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish

Today finally marked the end of my "quarantine."  I won't be overly dramatic about how much I missed the fresh air, open spaces, and general feeling of just being outside, but it certainly did feel good to be out and about again.  I don't care if it was pushing 32 degrees Celsius today.  I was raised in the South and absolutely will NOT be defeated by the heat.  Bring it, Hong Kong.  I laugh in the face of your heat wave.  Honestly, it was really humid only in the morning.  After that, I felt like I could have walked around all day.  There was a slight breeze, low humidity, and absolutely no sign of the rain and high winds forecast by the Hong Kong Observatory.  It's been a difficult adaption, but I can no longer put faith in the weather forecast, whether it be that issued by local favorite, HKO, or by my old stand-by accuweather.com.  It seems to me now that the best way to predict the weather is to look out my window in the morning.  If I see dark clouds out over the harbor, I pack the rain gear.  It is always a good idea, though, to carry an umbrella.  Even if it's not raining, it's a super-cheap alternative to sunscreen (which is unbelievably expensive here--supply and demand at work, I suppose), and all the Asian girls do it.

Here's a look at what was supposed to be a rainy day:

So I made it to morning class just fine.  I was definitely feeling well enough to go, but I still wasn't functioning at 100%.  Still, when you're recovering from an illness, it's hard to tell what's sick and what's just plain tired.  I think this morning was mostly the latter.  Nevertheless, I stuck it out and even participated in class a good bit.  Time flew by rather quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch break.  Today, however, there would be no quest for food because my lunch, although late, was already taken care of.

Let me explain a little.  You see, for those newbies who just started reading or for those who just need a reminder, my class schedule is a little weird.  I have morning class from 9:30am to 12:45pm.  For morning class, I have 2 teachers:  Han Laoshi Monday through Thursday, and Zhu Laoshi on Fridays.  I also have afternoon class, which focuses on speaking practice and business applications, from 2:30pm to 4:20pm.  For this, I have 3 teachers:  Liu Laoshi on Mondays (big class), and Xia Laoshi with Yang Laoshi Tuesday through Friday (small groups of 4 people each).  My small group, Group A, is, of course, the best.

Sadly, this week was the last week of small group classes--and I missed most of it!  I was really worried I wouldn't be able to see Xia Laoshi and Yang Laoshi before they left, but thankfully I managed to come today.  Since it was going to be a sad farewell for everyone, the teachers got together and decided to brighten things up with a pizza party.

At 2:00pm, we all met in the classroom where we have "big class" to begin our party.  The teachers ordered 5-6 pizzas from a tiny restaurant in Shatin called Tuesday Pizza.  They even brought us some drinks, although I didn't have any because they were all pretty much liquid sugar.  One of the teachers even bought a lot of bottles of sparkling juice which, like the wine it means to imitate, is very fun to open.  A bunch of the guys had turns trying to open these bottles, meaning that we got dinner and a show.  First, Jordan managed to spew the red grape flavor all over himself, his bookbag, his desk, the floor, and anyone in the surrounding area--except, amazingly enough, me.  After that, some of the other guys chickened out, but they finally came up with a creative solution.  I forget who it was, but someone opened the window and they started shaking up the bottles and opening them facing outside.  I suspect that, if I were to walk outside the building tomorrow, I would find a whole lot of mysterious bottle caps.  After Jordan's mess got mopped up, we dug into the pizza and started saying our goodbyes.

As you can see, everyone was taking pictures with and of their favorite teachers:

That's Rachel and her sister, Nicole, who came to visit her and some other family members in Hong Kong this week.

I insisted on getting a picture of 2 of my favorite people, my afternoon teachers, Yang Laoshi (left) and Xia Laoshi (right).  Hen ke'ai!

Another teacher offered to get one of all 3 of us together:

Eventually, we just wound up with one of the entire Group A.  From left, there's Javi, Yang Laoshi, Cameron, Rachel, Xia Laoshi, and me:

We were sad to say goodbye, but did get some good news.  Yang Laoshi's staying in Hong Kong for a long time!  Unfortunately, Xia Laoshi has to go back to Beijing.  Whenever we go to Beijing, though (she recommends coming for Chinese New Year), she said she'll be our tour-guide.  I hope I can take her up on that offer.  Still, Beijing in the winter will be cold...very very cold.

And, yes, if you were wondering about the pizza, here's the deal with that.  It was very...Chinese.  That's neither a good nor a bad thing depending on your tastes.  There were 2 kinds of pizza, and the choices weren't nearly as boring as cheese vs. pepperoni.  Pizza #1 was fine by me, though it's not a new favorite.  It had marinara sauce, cheese, ham, sausage, pineapple, bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms.  Pizza #2 was your basic "Hawaiian Style" with an evil twist.  The mad scientists down at Tuesday Pizza had replaced my beloved marinara with...tuna sauce.  For one thing, the only way I eat tuna is in sushi, which I only tolerate.  The "tuna sauce," from what I understand, was your basic canned shredded tuna with mayonnaise...on a pizza.  Mom, I remember your "Yuck Rule" from when I was little, meant to discourage picky eating:  if you eat a bite of something and say "yuck" you have to finish it.  Still, adventurous eater that I usually am, I didn't even dare to tackle that monster.  As you can see from the picture, not many other people did either: