work

In the beginning of January three blond girls joined a toy company in HK. One was Swedish, one Finish and one Danish. Since then they have been trying to get an understanding for their new jobs and the way things are done over here.

Yesterday after a meeting with their boss they hurried back to their desks and this is the mail conversation that followed:

Statement 1 - aaaaaahhhhhhh..... as usual these meetings make me feel more confused as I walk out of there than I was before I walked in...everything is so... I can't even find the word... unprofessional, confused and disorganised that it drives me up the wall! help, what am I doing here... what am I supposed to do, are we ever gonna get some structure and knowledge about what goes on around here? how long is this confused stage supposed to last...?!

Statement 2 - I was just thinking the same! I'm just sitting and waiting for enlightenment.

Statement 3 - It is good to know that I am not the only one with that feeling... my god that meeting was awful - I feel very confused as well! When thinking about it, I have a very hard time seeing what the meeting was all about!


Well there you go, just a normal day at the office...
Toys might be us, but getting new employees into the loop clearly isn't...

catching up

I should really start from where I left you, in the year of the dog, shouldn’t I…
Ok, here we go:

• Flower market – lot and lots of people and many many orange trees. (And I now have two beautiful ones’ on my balcony!) Great fun to see and experience. On the picture: Klaus (Marietta’s boyfriend), Marietta, Phobe (a really sweet girl from the office), me and Tiina.

• Parents – arrived safely, although a bit delayed, all the way from Sweden, tired but happy. Great seeing them! Took them home and gave them a very comfortable inflatable mattress to sleep on… Only when they woke up the next morning it wasn’t so comfortable anymore, and the curtains joined the fall….

• The New Year Party on my roof top – had to be moved down quickly into my apartment as the rain made it too wet and the clouds made it impossible to watch the famous fireworks. But we had a good time anyway! (and the cute guy from the restaurant down the street came too for a short while just to say hello!)
  


• Sightseeing – HK decided to show it’s very grey and rainy side to my parents and made our sightseeing less pleasurable… However, some sights have been seen and here’s some proof. Mum and dad in Stanley.

• Being sick – dad was the first one to get sick, and once he got well he decided to give the very nasty stomach flu bug to me … Weren’t the best days I can assure you... Anyway, we’re both back on our feet and feeling stronger again.
  

This takes us to the end of my holidays and to present time again.
Why does a week off go so much faster then a week at work?!

(Oh and the money from yesterdays envelopes... 580HKD! Can we do it all over again please ;-))

red envelopes

Today I’ve received 18 red envelopes!
For good luck… (In finding a man I think..., cause it’s only single people that get the envelopes, from married people…).

And in the envelopes is money!
(Well, if you didn’t know, it’s expensive to find men!! Cause you need to try to look good all the time…You need to sign up to expensive gyms to keep fit and you need to buy nice clothes and shoes, do facials, buy expensive creams to keep the wrinkles to a minimum, wax your legs and other parts of your body so you’re more or less hairless, except on your head of course where you instead need to spend a lot of money to make the long hair, that you according to the guys are supposed to have, look radiant and shiny - all to look good. And of course all these things are done for the sake of men, not for me…. ;-))

So this envelope thing really is a Chinese New Year tradition I like!!

(PS. haven’t opened the envelopes yet, but I’ll let you know how much it is when the deed is done).

happy new year!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
(Happy New Year! in Chinese)

We are now a whole week into the year of the pig. A year that is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. So that's what I'm hoping for on my adventures here in HK. And that's what I hope for all of you too, where ever you are.

If you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995 - you were born under the sign of the pig. As a pig , you are highly regarded for your chivalry and pureness of heart, and you often make friends for life. Famous pigs are among others: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steven Spielberg.

However, I'm no pig, I'm a Tiger... And Tiger people are difficult to resist, for they are magnetic characters..., warm-hearted, courageous and generous friends... Sounds good to me! But let's do this self-admiration thing an other day, now lets concentrate on catching up instead...

It's actually been over a week since I wrote, a week of lazy days and sightseeing with the parents as well as being sick, curled up in bed. But I will get back to that later, right now I need to work a bit before I write some more, but will get back to you in a very short while, promise!

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year, before I did anything else.

flowers

It's Friday and the office is really busy. But not busy doing proper office-work, the systems are actually down for service, so people are preparing for the Chinese New Year! We're tidying the place up and getting ready, cause in an hours time we're allowed to leave... (that's actually how the management put it... a bit different from home I must say, but hey just an other thing to get used to...). People seem to be really happy about it though, or maybe it's the week off coming that are making them smile so much.

I'm really looking forward to my week off too! The parents are more or less on their way now as we speak, and in 24 hours I'll be going out to the airport to pick them up. Two good weeks are to be had, and sight seeing is definitely on the agenda.

But before that, me and the girls are heading to the flower market this afternoon. Because flowers are very important for the New Year. For decoration, but also for superstition. Certain trees and flowers bring good luck and can even help you in relationships (both in getting a new one and/or if you need to improve an old one)... This applies especially for one pink flowered tree, but you need to walk around it to make it work. And the bigger it is, the better! We have a quite big pink tree in our office building, so accordingly I walked around it yesterday! (So good luck to me!!)

Now, have a great weekend everyone.
Talk to you soon again.
Love and peace!

a love story

You should always treat people around you like you would like to be treated yourself.

Very wise words I think. So yesterday on my way home from work, passing even more people with flower-bouquets in their arms than I did in the morning, I decided to do just so. And the closest person to me was... Me...! So I went shopping... Cause that's a great substitute for love. Actually I would almost call it love...


And I fell in love in a pair of very nice shoes (just what I wanted for Valentine's too!!). Very pretty and the second best thing about them was the reduction of the price! (They used to cost 3300 and now they were "only" 1300).


So I took my new love home, lit some candles and had a cosy candle-light dinner.





A happy little love story!

Valentine’s

Happy Valentine’s everyone!

Walking to work today I passed lots of people carrying big flower-bouquets, and that‘s when I realised that it is Valentine’s… (Apparently Valentines is really big here in HK and if the guys do not manage to send their girls flower bouquets to work, well then they are in big trouble…and dinner out is a must! All restaurants are fully booked).

Being a Swedish girl I do not take this tradition very seriously. Or maybe it’s because I’m single… I’m not used to getting either flowers or dinners… Last year I actually had my hopes up for maybe receiving a sweet card in the post (cause I actually had a boyfriend then, even if he was on the other side of the world…) , but maybe the card got lost in the mail or something… However, I got a phone call, and I guess that’s good enough (see, very easy to please this girl…).

Some years ago I actually did get presents, but that’s so long ago now that I’ve forgotten what they were… (I do remember though how I surprised an ex of mine one Valentines. When he got home a path of candles were leading the way to the bedroom. And there was I with candy hearts covering special parts of my body and I had a rose in my mouth (see, this girl is not only easy to please but is also a very sweet and pleasing girlfriend…).

However that’s history and this year I’m expecting nothing...
And come to think of it, shouldn’t there be a day for us who have nothing to expect a day like this instead… For all those lonely hearts out there, or even worse - for those with broken hearts… Having a special day to celebrate happy couples love (who actually can and should cherish each other every day…), will just make the ones just mentioned feel even worse… (Cold hearted people like me will be ok anyway… (Not that I feel cold hearted, but I’ve been told I am… But those words came from a guy that I worked with/for during 6 months (no names mentioned) that never got into my pants or heart the way he apparently wanted and had planned to...).

Anyway, it is Valentine’s and I’m happy for the ones that do have someone “special” to love. Take care of each other! And I am also happy for all the people that I love - the people that touch my heart (my dear family (s) and my dear friends) and I just want you to know that. So this one goes out to you! A big hug and all my love to all of you.

PS. If I was to receive something to day a hug and a kiss would be enough to make me happy. A I love you from someone special had also been nice… Well to be honest I would have become absolutely ecstatic over the beautiful underwear I saw at the La Perla shop yester day, or why not a pair of Manolos… (See, as I said above, she's very easy to please this girl… ;-))

sundays...

Putting an idea into reality (regardless of how brilliant it is), can be quite time consuming. Especially as it sometimes evolves and gets altered along the way.

And sometimes ideas, which are brought into this world out of frustration and failure of another great idea, are more complicated than they seemed when they were merely just a thought.

But on the other hand, ideas like these sometimes actually are just as brilliant as you thought and at the end of the day they really were worth the effort (At least in, at times, a perfectionist sick mind like mine).

However, Sundays can be spent in many different ways. But when your name is Ulrica and you are “nesting”, it can be spent like this:

Try to saw the bamboo stick you nicked in a dark back ally late on Friday night into the perfect length without a metric band, foldable rule or similar. (Bamboo stick is meant to become your new curtain rail (and suits your idea perfectly of having natural earthy colours and materials as your accessories in your otherwise very white new bedroom)).

This procedure requires several turns back and forth to the bedroom with the stick in your hands, just to conclude that: no - just a couple of centimetres’ more, no – just another cm, no - actually another couple of millimetres…. before you reach the perfect length. (For you ever in doubt, yes size really does matter!)

You also have to remember to make tracks in the bamboo stick for the fishing line you bought the day before, which will function as an invisible curtain holder.

Tie the fishing line so hard that you almost break the stick at one of the ends, as it is a bit fragile just there, because that’s where you accidentally managed to do some damage with the miserable little saw you also bought yesterday…

Put the bamboo stick in place.

Start pulling threw the brown fringes that will make up your curtain. (The fringes came attached to curtain rails when you bought them, but as you didn’t like those curtain rails particularly much you decided to take them apart and create your own curtain instead. And this disassembly only took an hour or so….)

Notice how the fishing line actually is too flexible for the hold-the-fringes-tight-to-the-bamboo-stick purpose and will sack too much for your liking. So you need to do something about it, otherwise all your efforts so far will be all in vain.

Luckily you bought some hooks a few days ago that might come in handy right now… So you get them out and start looking for cracks in the backside of your bamboo stick, where you more easily will be able to screw the hooks into it. (For you who don’t know – bamboo is a very hard material. That’s why they are able to use it around here, instead of metal scaffolds, when they build their sky scrapers and other buildings).

Attach the fishing line to your newly screwed in hooks. Continue to pull through the rest of your brown fringes until there are no more to be pulled through. You’re done!

Now take some time to admire your new creation, beautiful… And realise that the hooks most likely also can function as holders of the “light-blocker” you desperately want for your big lovely windows. Cause as it is now, far too much light comes through those windows for allowing you to have any sleep-in mornings at all. And the curtains you just have created are more for style than light-blocking function of course, so you actually need something that functions too….

But you don’t have anything at home that can work as dark light-blockers, so you need to go shopping. And important missions like that can’t wait until tomorrow...

Not even though it’s 7pm on a Sunday night and you actually are very tired after creating your perfect creation, especially as you only slept a few hours the night before – and really should be wearing your Dior sunglasses even though you're inside, as your eyes fell strangely sore after last nights club-hopping…

So off you go to IKEA. (It’s only a 50 min walk from where you live – and walking never killed no one…!)

a sneaky little house-warming

At 6pm Saturday I had a little house warming for the girls (Marietta to the left and Tiina to the right).

The night included special features as:

• how to open Smirnoff Ice bottles with scissors and a lighter – it works but it would have been so much easier with a bottle opener…
• how to open two cans of corn with a potato peeler and a hammer – it also works but it’s not the best…
• first dinner cooked in my new kitchen – on the menu: a fresh rocket/tomato/avocado salad as a starter and a corn/potato soup and cheesy bread as main course.
• ulrica showing off her cocktail skills – and I did good! which also means that we did good drinking them!
  

A very good night was had and once out and about we got “picked up” by a American steward working for Cathay. And yes he was very gay, which made the whole pick up thing weirdly entertaining and funny… And after moving on to another night club on his suggestion, we got dumped! He just said excuse me and left! Not that we minded at all, cause he was too strange.. but still it was very funny… :-)

did I tell you?

Did I tell you that: standing on my balcony I have the view over “my” 25 metre pool 5 floors down.

Did I tell you that: there are 3 different ways of unlocking my door, with a key (of course), with a code (so convenient – never bring my key when I go out) and with my fingerprint!! (now that’s cool I think! Just haven’t got it working yet, but I will look into it soon…)

Did I tell you that: although my kitchen is completely new, with Gaggenau cook-top etc. plus comes with a small flat screen, it does not have an oven… Why? Because, HK people usually don’t cook that much… (very annoying anyway, as I like to cook and usually use my oven quite a bit)

Did I tell you that: my bathroom is full of mirrors, even in the ceiling… (quite kinky… but it also has got a Jacuzzi, so who cares…)

Did I tell you that: I live on Hollywood Road.

jeans

This is what happens every morning when I open my wardrobe:
Take me, have me, please put me on!!
These are the words of my jeans, and they are not just spoken - they scream this to me…, they want to be worn. And I want to wear them too; after all I am a jeans girl. But now that I live in the city of high heels and skirts it’s a constant struggle… But I try to be good (and at least put nice trousers on together with nice shoes both with and without heels. Skirts - well am not that “advanced” yet, so in my point of view - that’s pushing it…). However, 2-3 days out of 5 I succumb to my jeans' screaming… So I choose a pair and put them on, and man does it feel good! I simply love my jeans (all of them – cause I only have great ones’…).

Sadly, my jeans story will most likely change soon, not because I feel that I have to adjust more to the skirt-culture, but because of the weather… It will simply become to hot to wear them. Well at least outside… Inside it’s freezing cold – as they are real AC-freaks in HK. The colder the better… Which leads to that I some days (most of them actually) wear my jacket, a woollen scarf and leather gloves inside. Come to think of it, there may actually be hope for my jeans anyway – I can just keep a small stock here in the office and put them on once I get here. Long live the jeans!

danger

I've come to realise that blogging can be really dangerous... Well not dangerous in the dangerous way, and not dangerous for me and you, but dangerous for my employer... (but again, not dangerous in a dangerous kind of way... ) The thing is that it is much more fun to blog than to work, and it can be quite time-consuming at times... Am actually "stealing" valuable working time right now writing this comment... But I don't care... Do you?!

view from bedroom

I slept my first night in my new bed last night. Very comfortable (even though it is a bit short...). And this is the view from my bedroom window. Very different from the green garden I have at home, but this also feels good to wake up to and I like it, the big city life - very cool.

home sweet home

So this is home now! (Picture is showing the backside of my house - Centre Stage. The big window facing is my bedroom window, around the corner from it is my kitchen window and then my balcony). Am all moved now and am just waiting for my things that I shipped from Sweden to arrive. And they should arrive to my new apartment at 7.00 p.m tomorrow. So I am prepared for a late night tomorrow, cause there sure will be some unpacking to do, but it is all very exciting…

time to move

As I am just about to move to another part of Hong Kong, the time has come for me to say good bye to my present neighbours here in Wanchai (the name of the part of the city where I’ve been staying since I arrived). And although I’ve enjoyed my time here, I will leave Venus, Hot Lips, Sweet Dreams, Wild Things and Pussy Cat, with their bright blinking lights outside and young naked girls inside, without shedding any tears. Am also hoping to leave my lodgers (i.e. the cockroaches) behind…

I think most of you know how much I love my flat and neighbourhood in Stockholm (incl. the look and the feeling of the place, the convenience to everything, the restaurants and shops around it, etc etc). Well, I have the feeling that my new place will provide me with the same sense of satisfaction… Hollywood Road (my new street!) and the rest of Soho (my new neighbourhood!) has everything I want - a vast variety of food and bars, great shopping for both clothes and pretty little things, as well as beauty saloons and gym (and a yummy guy in one of the restaurants, where they also serve a yummy brunch…). My new place even comes with features I don’t have at home; such as a pool, Jacuzzi and TV-screen in the bathroom. Yes, this girl is a happy girl!

I must admit though that I have a very hard time with the smell from all the-little-corner/ a-hole-in-the-wall restaurants with dead birds (chickens, ducks etc) hanging in the windows. The smell really lingers too (feels like the whole streets smells at times) and I try to hold my breath when I pass these places as much I can and remember… So I guess you can guess that dim sums’ and other Chinese dishes do not really belong to my food of choice.

However, no need to worry about food, lots of choices around, and if I get a real craving I can always walk to IKEA and by estrella chips, candy, lingon berries, bread and cookies... Actually, might just grab one of those chocolate cookies (havre flan med choklad) right now...

xox

4 weeks in HK

Friday again... Time flies. And after 4 weeks in my toy filled office (situated in the tallest building in the picture), I feel I am starting to get somewhat a grasp of things both inside and outside these walls.

However, I am very aware of that there are an immense number of things out there for me to discover and explore and that I most likely will get confused, surprised (like finding out that IKEA only sells short beds in Asia, meaning that I more or less will be sleeping with my toes outside the bed…) and frustrated on many occasions. All I am saying is that some things are starting to feel familiar and I think I now can imagine ever so slightly how my new life here in Hong Kong will look like. And I like what I see! And it feels great to be able to say that, cause imagine what a nightmare it would be otherwise.

The city is full of feminine dressed short girls in high heels. And I walk around feeling more or less like a ugly dresses giant in comparison to them (even though I'm actually making an effort... ).
I certainly do not draw attention to myself at all by the male gender - I’m too big for the Asian guys, and the westerners find the small, petite and pretty little black haired girls with brown eyes very exotic (and don’t get me wrong, I definitely understand them, the pretty girls over here are sooo beautiful…), so all eyes are on them. This means that I can not make use of my blond Swedish charm, and that’s a change as I’m overseas, because that is usually where it works the best… But honestly, I don’t mind, cause that means that I really can turn my attention to something us girls really love to do… yes you are correct… shopping!

I promise you, I could easily walk up to our finance manager at work everyday and say: could I have a cash advance please?! (and even that wouldn't be enough….) Oh my god… please save me from this sin… and please give me strength to stand up to these immoderate temptations… or just give me more money! (now that would be the easiest solution I think, and also the most favourable one for me… :-))

The city also appeals immensely to my esthetically eye. The bars and the restaurants for instance are all beautifully decorated and very cool looking, so a lot of money must be put in to the design. And at night the city line must be one of the most beautiful in the world.

Time to go. Think a 90 min massage will put me in a good mood for the weekend.
Talk to you later.

what a success!

What a success! This is great fun!
My blog has only existed just over 12 hours and both comments and emails have poured in during the day… Thank you so much you guys!! And please keep up the good work!

Am just about to hit the sack, it’s already midnight over here, and I need my beauty sleep. Have been busy cleaning and assembling furniture (wardrobe and bed) all night, whilst singing loudly. My neighbours have now been introduced to Eric Gadd `a la moi… Excuse me halleluiah!
However, just wanted to drop you all a line before I go to bed and also comment your comments...

Well yes mum, isn’t modern technology just great!! Now you can check up on me everyday!

Greve R - kram pa dig!

And Lotta, well you where there. Just remember that I’ve seen yours too… :-)

Fighting Italians hey captain? Including physical contact as well? Assume we’re talking about girls then… ;-) Would have loved to come and see you in Rome though! But we’ll do that an other time… Come and see me in HK instead when you are off that boat of yours.

Time to sleep. Later.

The start of my blog

Hello everyone!
This is the start of my blog! Very exciting... I am a virgin when it comes to blogging - have never had one before.

However, I am convinced it will work out fine and just thought it would be a great thing to do now that I live more or less on the other side of the world. Truly a perfect tool to keep everyone updated on what's going on here in HK, and how this new adventure of mine proceeds.

And although I might be Swedish this blog will mainly be kept in English, makes it so much easier for my friends around the world that way. And I promise to try to update this blog as much as I can.

So please enjoy, and help me make this forum a great read (and view) by adding your comments.

Let the adventure start!
Ulrica