Cornered

Yesterday I had about a two hour internet session cleaning up my mailbox and sending e-mails that I've been putting off, including the one that was to tell off this weirdo who contacted me and refused to identify himself. I told him things like he had no right to use my personal information and that I was cutting off all correspondence with him since he refused to tell me how he got my info. I also mentioned that he was lucky that I didn't inform authorities about him harrassing me. Let's just say it was not a very nice message. After finishing up, I went out to get some dinner and groceries at Wellcome.

As soon as I walk out of the store a man approaches me and asks "Are you Linda?" The blood in my face drains and a low yes seems to make its way out of my mouth. "I'm KK." I'm thinking, "Oh my God! It's him!" But it's not the KK I previously thought he was. I was picturing this gross, dirty old man but he's not. He's really young - 20's maybe - and a complete dork not that I have anything against dorks since well, I'm pretty geeky myself. But he's got the complete stereotypical nerdy appearance - tall, skinny, glasses, messed up hair and a bad complexion. He asks if he can walk me home. I ponder the question. "That means that he'll know where I live. What do I say?" I start by asking him how he got my contact info and he says that he'll tell me on the way home. -I don't think so. You tell me now. He goes on saying that we met last year in October. Mmm. I still don't remember. Where? At Scott Island Learning Center. An alarm goes off in my head. I knew it. He must have gotten it from my resume with all my information on it. Scott Island is the one other cram school on the island. I remember walking in, handing a guy my resume and walking out in less than a few minutes.

We get to talking and he doesn't seem like such a bad person anymore so I let him walk me partway home. He tells me he plays the er-hu (a two stringed Chinese instrument, what a dork!) and asks if I play any instruments. I tell him that I'm taking guitar lessons on the island and then we part ways at my block. I enter the wrong apartment building unconvinced that he hasn't followed me and wait there in the dark stairwell for the next five minutes. Then I sneak out to go around the complex, down to the beach and up the stairs to my own apartment where I dart into the entrance way. I take a peak out the window. No one. I whip out my keys, open the door, slam it, and put the chain on. Sigh of relief.

That night I barely slept. This may be one of the strangest things to have ever happened to me. The next day I get another e-mail from Mr. KK.

Linda,

Hi, what are you going? Are you prastising the guitar? Now, the time is
17:30pm. I know you are going to Rejoice Music to learn guitar at about
19:00pm. Right! Why I know that is I have just talked to your guitar
tutor,
Raymond Cheung. He's very nice. So are you.

Can I call you through the phone?
Bye!
KK

My God! What a nutbar! This guy actually went into my music school, met my teacher before I even had a chance to and inquired about my schedule. There's about a snowman's chance in hell that he's going to get my number.

Congratulations Linda, you've got a stalker!

Remember when I first got here in Hong Kong? I was so lonely because I didn't know anyone. I missed my friends from Taiwan and back home in the States and wished constantly to make more friends here. Well, I must have wished too hard because just the other day I received and e-mail from someone I don't know.

Linda Hung,

How are you getting along? My name is, hm¡K, KK. I am a resident of Cheung
Chau. I work in there as well. I know you have been looking for a job.
Have you got one yet?

Hm¡K! Do you remember me? I think we have seen each other twice at least.
The last time we met was at a restaurant that is near the ferry pier. At
that time, I was having rice with steak and you were having Japanese
noodles, perhaps Wu Tung, for dinner. Have you evoked something special so
far? That¡¦s¡K.  I think you may know who I am at present. Right?

Actually, I like meeting friends from around the world. This makes me
understand more people whose background and culture are completely
different. Do you have the same interest like me? If so, please pick up a
pen to start building up our friendship.

I am looking forward to receiving your message. Byebye!

Truly

KK

Now, the intention seems genuine enough however, we must remember, I have no idea who this person is. How does he know my surname? How does he know my e-mail address? Had we formally met before because I had no recollection of it? I e-mailed him back asking exactly these exact questions. This was his reply.

Dear Linda,

Sorry! In that restaurant, there is a table for two only. The rests are
for four or more than that. In the evening 21/1, were you the one who sat at
that table enjoying dinner alone? If so, you are Linda and the last
message I sent was to the right place. Actually, can we be friends here?

KK

Notice he completely disregards my questions about how he obtained my personal info. The night before I received the first message from him, I did eat Japanese noodles by the ferry pier and ate at a table for two. However, he and I both acknowledge I was eating by myself! It creeps me out when I think that I was eating there while someone was eying me from across the room. I reply to this message asking the same questions from above. This is what he says next.

Linda,

I will tell you why I have got your name and e-mail. But I want you to
give me an answer if we can be friends first. Sorry! I am so straightforward.
It is my personality both merit and shortcoming.

The Chinese Year Festival is coming, what are you going to do?

KK

Now he's being really manipulative. I told him I would be his friend to satisfy him and demanded how he got my info yet again. I'm waiting for a reply. Perhaps, he is reading this as I wait.

Check out this website. You can share secrets by sending a postcard to this address.

My New Year's Resolution

It's a little late but here it is, my resolution for the year 2006.

To be as honest and true to myself and others as can be.

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
   --William Shakespeare

The Nuances of this Dialect

After almost three months here I've just now begun to understand how to properly thank someone in Cantonese. Unlike in English where "thank you" means thank you or in the case of Mandarin "xie xie" means thank you, Cantonese isn't quite as straight forward. For months I've observed that some people here say "duo jie" for thank you and others say "m-goi." In the beginning, I would say "duo jie" when buying something in the market but after I realized people would look at me strangely I changed over to "m-goi." Then, due to my often paranoid personality, I thought people were still eyeing me in an odd way so I resorted to saying both consecutively and then switching order hoping at least one of them would be correct. It got to the point where I simply couldn't stand it anymore so I had to repeatedly ask my coworkers how to say how to say this previously believed simple and basic phrase.

According to them, use "m-goi" when someone does something for you and "duo jie" when getting something from someone else. So, at the market when buying something, after the merchant gives you the change say "m-goi" because they provided a service, while they say "duo jie" because you've given them business. At least that's how I understand it. Then add "sai" to either one of them to emphasize what you've just said - "Duo jie sai" or "m-goi sai." Now that we've got all this cleared up, maybe I can get on with the more difficult stuff like saying excuse me.

The Way of the Cantonese

Hong Kongers are notorious for bad manners and seem to have a world wide reputation for being some of the greediest, rudest people on earth. This I may have to agree with on a certain level but we must understand that this is coming from a western perspective. When I go to the market and ask for something but the merchant doesn't understand what I'm saying, generally, the latter is the one who gets upset and starts to yell, "Heh?! heh?! What're you sayin'?!" Originally, I was, to say the least, a bit put off by this, but after a while, I just started to get used to it because whether I am a foreigner or a native Cantonese person, which many upon first site of me wouldn't be able to tell, the locals would treat me with the same "rude" manner because in their eyes it's not actually being rude. It's the way of the people.

The Cantonese are rough with each other on a day to day basis. It's normality. For instance just today my coworker Stephen and I were talking about something and Candy who helps out with the office work just kept interrupting our conversation, not once, not twice, but several times and in the end, we just gave up and the string of thoughts frayed. Stephen seemed completely oblivious to her interruptions but then again he actually grew up in Hong Kong and is used to it. It didn't really bother me either because after all she wasn't being rude on purpose. Now, I don't necessarily agree with the way the Cantonese conduct their day to day business but I accept it nonetheless. Life goes on normally as it has been doing for a very long time. This society functions perfectly well with all its six million "rude" people.

I am so lovin this album You Could Have It So Much Better. Get it now. 

Leaving Beijing

An e-mail account of my disastrous departure of China's capital city...

You will not believe what I am going to tell you. Well, remember that we parted at the bus station a little after 3 pm. The bus did not start moving until 3:25 and when it did, it was barely at a snail's pace the entire trip. It arrived at its final destination around 4:30. That final destination was supposed to be the airport, right? It dropped us off at the far side, behind that tarmac. I saw airplanes so I figured that it couldn't be far away. I decided to walk but had no idea where I was going. There was this greasy motorcycle dude hawking his services to drive me to the airport and I would have used him had he not been so unbelievably obnoxious. He just wouldn't leave me alone even after I started cursing in Chinese. I backtracked to ask a guard. He said that it was just over the bridge so that's where I headed.

What was over the bridge? More highways that went in the opposite direction of the airport. The only way for me to get to the other side was to jump down one level going the other way. I then, threw my bag down and jumped over this barbed wire wall onto a tuff of grass. There was a guard standing a little way off watching the whole thing without a wink. I asked him where the airport was and he pointed down the highway. There is no sidewalk. I proceed to run through on coming traffic down the middle of the highway, for there was more room to run down the middle than the side since there was also an underpass. I run for ten minutes down the highway along the traffic ramps that lead to the arrival and departure building. No taxi would stop. I'm sweating like crazy and finally find my check in counter around 4:50. Check in has already closed for my flight at 5:15.

I can't believe this. When I bought the ticket in Beijing, the agent specifically told me that this ticket could not be changed because of its cheap price. At the time, I thought nothing of it. I'd never missed a flight and didn't plan on it this time. But it happened. The good thing was that they had another one leaving at 8:05. I waited on one line only to be directed to another line to change my ticket. One woman looked at my canceled Taiwanese visa and was about to ask someone else when I told her it was the wrong visa she was looking at. That is how competent these ladies were at Air China. After being shipped around to different counters, the last one told me that the ticket could not be changed. My heart sank. Then she said that she would do me a favor this time but that it would be the last. I succeeded in getting a boarding pass without any additional charges. Boarding time was at 7:35. 7:35 came and went. I knew I was at the right gate because everybody was speaking Cantonese. I went up to the attendant around 5:50 to ask and she said boarding was in another 20 minutes. I thought, "But the plane should have already taken off by then." It didn't take off until 8:35 and didn't arrive at Hong Kong until around 11:30. I looked at my ferry schedule and the next ferry was supposed to leave at 2:20 am. I decided to take the bus as opposed to the high speed train and save 80HKD since time really wasn't an issue. I took my time walking to the ferry and when I got there around 1:20 I lay down on a bench next to the pier. It was 2:10 when I went in to get my ticket but I read a sign that said the next boat was to leave at three and the one after that was 4:15. I looked at the schedule and I realized I misread it. The ferry from Cheung Chau to HK left at 2:20 and the one I was supposed to take from HK to Cheung Chau left at 1:30. I didn't see the boat come because I was on the other side of the pier. Shit! I waited for the one at three got on and went to sleep. A half hour later, we arrive somewhere but it is not Cheung Chau. It's Peng Chau. It took the wrong boat! This never happens. All the boats that leave from this particular pier are supposed to go to Cheung Chau but because it's after midnight, all the boats use one pier. Ten minutes later we're at Lantau. I just back tracked to the island where the airport is located. Now I'm really freaking out because I think it's going to dock here until sunrise. A sailor reconciles my worries and says were heading back to Central (HK). Now I'm thinking that I won't make it back in time for the 4:15 boat. It turns out that the same boat goes to Cheung Chau after stopping in Central. I don't get back home until around 5am, 12 hours after I was to have left Beijing.

In one of Beijing's hutongs, neighborhoods formed by old courtyard homes. 

Inside a hall at the Lama Temple in the northeast part of Beijing. 

It was a lot harder to get up there than I had previously thought it'd be. How they managed to built it is mindblowing.  

Jenn and I took a 100 Yuan taxi ride to this unreconstructed section of the Great Wall, Huang Hua or Yellow Flower.

Manual laborer in the village. 

In front of the internet cafe, downtown Chongping 

Shoe repair. Small village in Chongping outside Beijing. 

The train to Beijing West Station

The train ride here was amazingly comfortable. The following is an entry from my Moleskin travel log last Friday.

Yesterday, spent the first two or so hours starring out the window in front of my cabin. When I first stepped on the train, I had trouble opening the door. I thought I may have been doing something wrong. I struggled for more than five minutes until I jerked it opened. I sat down and made myself comfortable with the pillows. Soon afterwards, an old Chinese man entered. He must have been in his 60's. Damn, there goes the idea that I'd have a room all to myself, though, he turned out to be very gentlemanly. We waited until the train departed before we proceded to ask if we could change our rooms for the rest of the coach was empty.

I went out to ask one of the train attendants, "Duibuqi, women ke bu keyi huan fangzi."
She looked at me coldly and in Chinese she said, "You can't just jump around to where ever you please!" and walked off.
I went back to my room disappointed. My cabin mate got up and said, "Wait here, I'll talk to her."
He came back a few minutes later. "Go ahead, you wanna change your room?"
This, I came to realize later, is how most things are accomplished in China. It really depends on who does the talking.

So anyway, I got my stuff together and headed for the room next door. The first few hours of the trip was spent looking out the window in front of my room. I was so completely fixated to the scenery change from urban highrise apartments to undeveloped country side. I finally retreated to my room and lay down. We pulled into a train station and suddenly everything went dark. I tried the lights, all four of them. None worked. I thought I should see what was up so I went for the door. It wouldn't budge. "What the hell! How do you open this thing?!" I could hear people passing by. Chinese announcements were going on outside. I pulled on that lever with everything I had but to no avail. I clinked with every part of the door, even resorted to pulling a credit card out to try to break my way out of my own room, all the while getting more and more terrified by the minute. It was dark, cold, quiet, and the f$%#n door wouldn't open. There was no way to open the window. I was trapped. Thoughts started running through my head. "What if we have to change trains? They won't find me because I've changed rooms. I can't call for help because my cell phone doesn't work in this country. What am I going to do? I'm going to end up in Inner Mongolia before someone gets to me." I started furiously racking on the door and the wall that I shared with my former roommate. I was just about to lose it when an attendant came by and opened the door in a quick click. I must have looked like a mad woman when he found me. I explained that couldn't get out so he showed me. I simply had to push this nail like button while pulling on the handle. Oooooh. Why do they not have directions on these things? A few minutes later, the lights went on and the train started to move.

The food was edible but really expensive and salty as ocean water. All I ate were lunch boxes and bananas the whole trip.

The train attendants smoked. I realized this as I was reading on my bed and noticed that my sinuses were beginning to get congested. I thought I detected a faint scent of smoke so I went out to check if it was the old guy next door. I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and as I walk by the attendant's cabin I saw a woman and a man taking a drag. I went back to my cabin, picked up the "No Smoking" sign from my table and showed it to them. They were very apologetic but as I also later found out, China, especially Beijing, is one big ashtray.

Just coasting

I signed a contract with a school last week but there's still no guarantee that I'll be working any time soon because I still have to wait for my working visa to be processed which takes at least a month. In addition to all the stuff that I have to submit there is triple the amount of paperwork that the sponsoring company has to supply. The immigration office needs records of audited financial records and proof that the school tried to hire local residents by providing copies of ads in the newspaper and information about the different people who applied for the job. They need to know whether a new position is opening or if I'm to replace someone else and then if so where this person I'm replacing will go. The list just goes on and on.

I shouldn't really be complaining though. I had only been looking for a job for a week and then I got several offers.

I was telling this to Brenda, Uncle Nai's servant, and she replied, "So, it's not so difficult for you." "Really, but I had to cross the island to do interviews every day."
"Yes, but Filipinos can only stay in Hong Kong for 14 days and then you go to the agency every day and wait for some work."
"And what happens if no one chooses you?"
"Then, you go back home."
"Oh."

Right now I'm just sitting back and waiting for everything to be cleared. Besides, I've already prepared myself in the case that I have to head back to the States. I won't be too disappointed for I've been terribly homesick since the day that I arrived in Asia.

Lately, I've been hiking around the island looking for a place to rent. Living with Uncle Nai isn't as bad as it used to be. When I told him how much I would be making, he was instantly nicer to me. Hmmm... I found this amazing apartment on a small peak with every window overlooking the wide open sea. The rent isn't completely out of my price range and I'd love to live there, but I think I should save a bit more in the beginning.

I should be meeting Shelley anytime now. She's coming to Cheung Chau with her sister. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up my Chinese visa and by the end of the week I should be heading to Beijing on a 28 hour train ride to visit Jenn. She said she'll give me food and shelter while I'm there so I hope I don't spend too much money.

The job search

#1 misconception - many people think that it's really difficult to find a teaching job in Hong Kong because most people in Hong Kong already know English.

It's true that many people especially those under 40 can speak English in a semi-fluent manner but it is because most people go through special language training in their formal school or attend a private language institute to learn English. However, the main reason why it is difficult to find a job here, for I've been struggling for the past week, is because there are already so many expats here whose native tongue is English. Hong Kong is such a cosmopolitan city as well as one of the major financial cities of the world, many foreigners living here already have residency or a Hong Kong identification card. This card is the key to doing just about anything in Hong Kong from opening up a bank account to setting up a telephone line with internet to signing a lease with a landlord. The major problem is that it's really hard to get that little card.

First you need to find a company to sponsor you for a working visa. Well, all companies or schools would rather hire someone who would save them the time to file all the paperwork and this is what I heard, it's a lot of paper work. It's just a lot less hassle to get a native English speaker who already lives here because again, there are so many. Not to mention, the company has to wait four to six weeks for the working visa to get processed before the applicant can even start working.

The ins and outs of getting a work visa

The requirements for getting a work visa here in Hong Kong are quite different from those in Taiwan. I think in Taiwan the only things that need to be submitted to the government are the company contract, a physical exam report, a photocopy of the applicant's passport and one of his or her degree. From what I heard, the following are the things that need to be submitted to the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

- copy of passport
- copy of degree which should match the subject you are going to teach (if in a public school)
- copy of any teaching certificates like TEFLs, TEASLs, CELTAs, etc. (required to teach in many schools)
- resume with dates of previous working experience
- cover letter
- signed reference letters from former employers that have the dates in which you worked matching the dates you put on your resume. If you are missing a signed reference letter with working dates from a company listed on your resume, they ask you to take it off.
- a copy of your birth certificate
- a transcript from your university (helps)

I may be missing some other vital piece of personal information and even if you've got all these things, there's still no guarantee that you'll get that permit. I've heard of some people having trouble because they are Chinese American. Those guys at the immigration department look at your Chinese last name and they think that you're Chinese so they'd rather give the job to a Hong Kong citizen instead. I'm I little worried but there is a chance I can get residency through relation if I can prove that my parents stayed in Hong Kong for at least seven consecutive years. If I can get a resident Hong Kong ID. My work related troubles will be over. It's easy to find teaching work if you're a citizen here. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for some schools to get back to me.

Stepping on egg shells

I've been here for just about a week and so far I've had mixed feelings about the whole affair.

I quite like this little island. Walking though the little alley ways past the merchants selling dried salty fish and hearing the clacking of mahjong tiles in the apartments above is like walking into the past. This is where my father grew up; he played and swam at the same beach that I frequent almost everyday. This is where my grandfather, whom I never knew, made Chinese poker cards to support his family of nine. Though I feel this strong connection to this island, I also feel I simply don't belong.

I'm living with Uncle Nai (He is not my uncle. It is in Chinese culture to call older family friends "Uncle" or "Auntie") and his wife. As I mentioned before, the first night was an absolute disaster. I remember Uncle Nai saying that night right before I went to bed, "I want you to be happy here, OK! (He often shouts "Okay" like the way you would say "Boo!") I was anything but. The next day, I didn't see him at all. Actually, he didn't come home for two days. So I simply wandered about the island not really knowing what to do next. The next time I saw him was at the dinner table on Tuesday night. He didn't say a word to me about where he was so I didn't say much to him, not really knowing if I should say anything. The next day was pretty much the same thing. In the morning we all went out to have dim sum at the Warwick Hotel. Brenda had poured me tea several times and I said, "Thank you" but there was one time I failed to say it. Perhaps I wasn't paying attention. What did I hear next?

"Linda, when somebody does something for you, you have to say 'Thank you.'"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Brenda." Why do I feel like I'm 6 years old?

After dim sum, everybody goes their separate ways and he tells me to be back for lunch before 12:30. I repeat the time 12:30 and say good-bye. I go to the library to use the internet and head back at 12:10. I get there at 12:25 and everybody is at the table.
"Linda, I told you to be back at 12 o'clock!"
"No, you said 12:30."
"Yes, it's 12:30 now. I said 12:00" Everyone else agrees with him that he said 12:00. With that last word, he finishes his rice and leaves the table to retreat upstairs."
Again, he never lets me have a say.

That night I mention to him that I walked past a school on the island and had an interview.
He says, "Linda, you should not work for that school. They cannot provide you with a working visa."
"But, the manager said that they do provide working visas."
"You really don't understand, do you? You can't trust everybody."
"But then why -"
"This manager is taking you for a fool."
I'm wondering why she would even take the time to explain that I can't start working for the school until the working visa is processed, about 4 weeks. I tell him that I'm going to do a practice teaching the next day.
"Ha! That means she doesn't trust you."
"I thought that was standard practice in this business."
"Linda, I've worked in administration for many years. I know when someone is a good teacher by seeing them." He goes on about how he knows everything about people because he used to be headmaster of a school.

It was either that night or the next, I can't remember, when he went off on me about how I had a bad attitude. I wished I had a tape recorder with me at the time because I had never been faced with such blatant insults in my life. These are some of the things he said to me and it wasn't just what he said, it was how he talked to me. It was in such a threatening manner all the while I couldn't get a word in because he likes to be the one talking not listening.

"There's something wrong with you."
"You are so rude."
"You don't know how to get along with people."
"I don't know why your father taught you like this."
"Even Uncle Leung said there was something wrong with you."
"I don't know why, even you're a university graduate and you act like this."
"You don't have good manners."
"You should say 'Good Morning Uncle' with a smile."
"You are weird."
"You are so immature."
"You have so many things to learn."
"You are too proud."
"Are you offended? Maybe you are but I'm telling you this for your own good I want you to be happy and successful."

I cried that night. Partly because of what he said was hurtful but mostly it was because before this I wondered why my father had not become rich and successful like Uncle Nai and Uncle Leung. I now know that my father is a hundred times a better man that the two of them put together. They've let their money gone to their heads and think that because they have a lot of money, they are never wrong.

This island is called Cheung Chau

I'm finally here, after the headaches with the Taipei Tax Office, the anxiety of getting all the money I was owed from my previous employer (details later), the endless packing - you never know how much crap you have until you've got to move it all, the farewell lunches and dinners, the good luck hugs, the exhaustion of hauling one huge 32 kg suitcase, my PC, a guitar, and my important documents, 5 pieces of luggage in all through the airport to the MTR to the ferry to the pink house on the hill with two dogs containing one servant from the Philippines named Brenda, a woman in her 60's, I call her Auntie Nai, and last but not least her husband (also her cousin once removed) who also happens to be my Dad's long time friend from when they were schoolmates in elementary school and hence the reason why I am here.

The first night, Sunday, was to put it lightly, not so good. There was a bit of a misunderstanding. I thought I was to give them a call from the ferry pier on Cheung Chau which I did once I got there so Brenda could help me with my luggage. When he answered the phone, a man picked up with a stern voice.

"Wei."
"Hi, this is Linda."
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the ferry."
"Which side?In Hong Kong or on Cheung Chau?"
"On Cheung Chau."
"Why didn't you call us from the airport? We have been waiting so long for you!"
"Oh, I thought I had to call from the ferry so the servant could help me carry my luggage."
"No! I told you to call from the airport with free phones there."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't remember you telling me that."
"Your father has told me you have traveled to many places and you don't know this?!"
"I'm sorry, I thought -"
"Anyway, do you still remember the way to our house?"
"Uh, yea I think so. I thought someone could help me with my bags because I have a lot."
"Well, our servant has gone to sleep already."
"Oh, I see..."
"... Well, maybe I can wake her up. She goes to sleep early because she gets up early."
"... Okay, thanks. So I'll just wait here?"
"You know Sunday is her day off."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Okay you wait there."

Not that I'm complaining because he is offering room and board for no cost whatsoever but is it just me or do you also think it was strange that he did not offer to help with my bags as well? Brenda and I were both drenched in sweat after hauling the bags up to the house. And it's not like they were waiting at the airport for me with nothing to do; they were in the comfort of their own home. They could have simply watched a movie while they were waiting for me. So when I got there, he called up my father and yet again berated me scoldings.
"You made everybody so upset. You should know these things." Yada Yada Yada

So I took a shower and went to bed but didn't sleep a wink that night.

The next morning I got up with, perhaps, the worst migraine headache I'd ever had. The migraine lasted two days but subsided the second. I suspect the major reason is that I was getting over a stomach bug but the above could have had something to do with it.

I got up around 9 am and no one was around. I searched the fridge for something to eat but only found raw meat, Chinese vegetables, lots of processed sliced cheese, some cake, ice cream and well nothing suitable for breakfast, not even any milk. I found a cold fried egg and a piece of ham in a dish near the stove so I scarfed that down thinking nobody was around. Then Auntie Nai appeared.
"You get up early!"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think anyone was -"
"Where is Brenda?! She has been gone for over an hour."
"Um, I don't know..."
"Do you want some (white) bread?"
"Oh, no thank you."
...
"You should have some bread."
"Oh, that's okay, I'm fine."
"Why not!?"
"I'm full already."

I didn't see Uncle Nai at all that first day on the island so I spend most of the day taking short cat naps and walking around the bustling little fishing village.