Back to the Grindstone!

It appears that the government actually wants me to work! I would never have believed it, but I received an email yesterday telling me that since I was gone from my specified duty location for more than 21 days, I would be charged with one day of being Absent WithOut Leave (AWOL). I would not have found this so distasteful had I had any control over the circumstances, or even if I would have been stuck in a location that felt at least tolerable. Unfortunately, however, I was stuck on a base that I would rather have never been with no way out due to runway maintenance and such at my base. I am not sure how things like this are normally dealt with, but it seems this time around, I am getting a bit of the short end of the stick.

Of course, being back in Shindand is a bit of a shock after my three weeks away. I did not teach my first day back, and yesterday and today I will only teach in the afternoon. Tomorrow I will happily be back in the classroom starting in the morning. Amazingly, I am really happy to be back; I really missed my students. I always find it difficult leave my students.

I have so many things to write about my time away that I am not so sure where to start. I think I will ponder it some more and attempt to write about all of it later. Ask questions if you have them so that I can have more of an idea what to write about.

Meal in Hong Kong!

I haven't been feeling the best during my time here in Hong Kong, so I decided to do a lot of napping and treat myself to a meal at the hotel restaurant. It seemed like it would be a little on the expensive side, and it probably was, but it was well worth it!

While I ordered everything together, they brought it out in courses. I was entitled to a sample of some sort of crab cake and snow peas with some sort of sauce. Then they brought out the tea. I waited for what seemed like forever for the next course to come out. This course was the soup: snake soup with chrysanthemum.The snake tasted like chicken and the chrysanthemum added a touch of sourness, sort of like a dash of lemon.

After that came the main course: Lamb curry cooked in spiced coconut milk gravy, flavored with lemon grass, ginger, garlic, and chili. I had to purchase a bit of steamed rice separately to combine with it. It was spicy  and quite a large portion. I am glad that I ordered the half portion; I don't think I could have handled the standard!

I finished off the meal with a nice desert: pan-fried pineapple and mashed pumpkin cake. I didn't recognize it when they brought it. It was 4 dough like balls that were coated in coconut. There was a drizzle of gstrawberry sauce on either side, a stick of whit/black swirled chocolate on top, and 4 blueberries, 1 half strawberry, 2 grapes, a slice of honey dew, 2 slices of watermelon and a slice of pineapple to the side. The melons and pineapple formed a kind of tent as a way of accentuating the plate and setting off the four balls.

It was the type of meal that makes one understand the importance of aesthetics in culinary delights as well as the taste. The cold sweetness of the fruit offset the hot, not quite sweetness of the main desert dish. It was a satisfying, pleasureful way to end a meal.

If I had been with someone else, the hour or so that this meal took would have been joyfully well spent. On my own, it was a bit drawn out and slow. Interestingly, as long as the servers took to get the meal portions out to me, they were very attentive to my tea needs. They seemed to know exactly when I needed more, and they were there to fill it... at least most of the time. There were a couple of times that I was out of tea and was uncertain what to do. They left the teapot on the table, so it was easy just to pour it myself, but knowing that they were supposed to pour it left me in a bit of a quandary. Would I, by pouring my own tea, be insulting their service? Would I be stepping over some imaginary  line that one should not step over. I could see how one who is used to being served would find it difficult to be in a situation where the idea of being served either was not there or, worse, was ambiguous. How odd the shoe fits.

After the meal I was given the bill to sign so they could charge it to my room. They did not give me a reciept; I should have requested it. I am really not trusting that everything is going to go alright with it. I have already had experiences here that would make me slightly distrustful, so I am a little on edge. I guess we will see what happens when I check out in the morning.

All in all, the meal was a decadence I may have to treat myself to on occasion in the future.