cool beans

Starbucks has opened a branch at my university. Let all the yuppies rejoice!

I have to admit my surprise: Hong Kong is by tradition a strictly tea-sipping sort of city. (Something to do with its Chinese heritage, I suppose.) As my sister learned the hard way, drinking coffee for your morning tea (dim sum) is simply not done. She had to resort to smuggling packets of instant coffee into the restaurant and ordering a glass of hot water every morning. Some cha chaan teng (which are like American-style diners, but with mainly Chinese food) in Hong Kong will serve a half-coffee, half-tea beverage for lunch or dinner. And, yes, the tourist and business districts have coffee shops. But it's one thing to cater to the international jet-set. It's quite another to cater to local Chinese.

There are two issues in selling victuals to locals versus selling to the jet-set. The first is taste preferences: items that Cantonese people think compliment each other -- Thousand Island salad dressing and imitation crab meat is one example -- would scare Westerners. The converse is also true: try finding bleu cheese dressing, for instance. Places like Burger King, which serve the same menu here as in America, are only found at the airport. Fish McDippers with chili sauce, on the other hand, can be bought at over 200 locations in Hong Kong.

The second issue is cost. Basic foodstuffs, imported mainly from China, are much cheaper than items imported from America. [Don't get me started about the cost of a box of mac-and-cheese here!] Meals are therefore much cheaper: in my neighborhood, US$3 will get you a take-out meal of a pork chop, lots of rice, and vegetables. Places that charge US$7 for sandwiches (um, Subway) don't stay in my neighborhood long. Pizza Hut, at US$15 per large pizza, became a "fine dining", first-date destination here in Hong Kong. McDonalds has stuck to fast food, but competes by charging a lot less here than in America.

So will Starbucks succeed here at my university? At first, I didn't think so. Starbucks serves mostly the same beverages in Hong Kong as it does in Boston. [No chai latte, though!] And with a US$4 list price for some drinks, I thought Starbucks was pricing itself out of the local market. But then my Irish classmate dragged me there yesterday. Show your student card and the campus Starbucks discounts your coffee 30%!! US$2 for a "Tall" cafe latte -- maybe the yuppie mother ship is trying to call me home!

all over but for the shouting

Life is starting to return to normal after the New Year's holidays.

Chinese New Year is often described as the Chinese equivalent to Christmas. While Chinese New Year is THE main holiday for the residents of Hong Kong, the Christmas analogy is a bit misleading. There are so many public manifestations of Christmas in America: malls are packed with shoppers, concerts and church services filled with special seasonal music, schools and offices with parties, charities and food banks out in force. Contrast this with Hong Kong. The crowds at bakeries before New Year are nothing like the mobs of Christmas shoppers looking for a US$30 DVD player. There is no such thing as a Chinese New Year carol. Except for the parade and fireworks -- sponsored by the TOURIST BUREAU, btw -- there are few public celebrations of the New Year.

Rather, Chinese New Year is more like Thanksgiving. It's a time to spend time with relatives and close friends. Special dinners are prepared. Instead of watching football on TV, people might play mah-johng and socialize. Or they could bet on the special New Years horse race. (Over HK$1 billion, or US$130 million, was spent on betting for that race!) The spirit of New Years is convivial: it's very bad luck during the New Years season to quarrel, for instance. So I spent a calm, enjoyable New Years week with my relatives. And the day after the New Years festivities, my grandfather returned to his regular shouting...

of fleas and fruitcakes

Chinese New Year is tomorrow, and everyone here has been busy preparing for the big day.

The biggest event in Hong Kong in the days leading to The Big Day is the New Year's Market. My teachers spent all last week hyping this market to us. From their descriptions, I got the sense the Market was more like a State Fair, a carnival with a few booths off to the side. Plus, this market oozes traditional Chinese culture. So I figured on going on Sunday afternoon, when "only a few" people would be there.

Hah! My first sign of trouble: it took the public bus I was riding FIVE minutes just to get to the actual bus stop at Victoria Park. (Victoria Park is similar to Boston Common in size and function.) Upon being herded (yes, by six policemen) into the park, what do I find? No rides, no festivities, no games. Just row upon row of booths. Some booths did sell the traditional New Year gifts: flowers, candies, and paper decorations. Some items were less traditional: blow-up Gods of Wealth, baby chick stuffed animals (to celebrate Year of the Rooster). But Oxi-Clean? Che Guevara T-shirts? Disappointing. Basically, my teachers conned me into attending a FLEA MARKET. And I HATE flea markets -- especially ones with hundreds of thousands of people jostling you.

Yes, I fled the Market pretty quickly. But I still had to do some shopping for New Years gifts. Mind you, New Years gifts are not as big as Christmas gifts in America. Chinese New Year gifts are similar to gifts one gives in America the first time one visits someone's home: chocolates, wines, flowers, tins of butter cookies. And like American housewarmings, it's bad manners not to give a gift when paying a New Years visit. So I went to a local bakery and bought a tin of traditional New Year's pastries for my aunt and uncle. I figure these tins were popular -- people lined up to buy them. Since my aunt and uncle are going to be busy on The Big Day, I paid them a visit two days early. But when I gave the tin of pastries to my aunt, she wouldn't accept my gift. It was as if I was trying to give her a fruitcake for Christmas.

I just hope my Chinese New Years is better than the run-up.