End of July I had several short circuits in my little tiny flat. My bulbs got broken one by one. I still had one and I hoped deeply that this would survive until I can repair the other ceiling lights. One day I came back from home, pressed the switch and suddenly a lot of sparking light came out ＼（〇_ｏ）／and finally my last bulb was now broken. I was standing hopeless in the darkness. It was the first midnight of August.

The next day, I immediately bought and changed new bulbs for my bedroom. At least I had some light in the bedroom. My biggest challenge was the bulb in the living room: My chair was not high enough, so I could not reach very well the ceiling light. Further on, only the glass part of the bulb could be taken out, while threads of the bulbs were still stacking in the ceiling light. They got rusty?! ＼（〇_ｏ）／I was also a little bit afraid of the sparkling. That must be not safe.

My colleague & engineer Henry explained me because of the humidity there might be more short circuit and I need to be careful. He borrowed me two torches for the time being without light. He also gave me step by step instruction for safe bulb changing.

My other colleagues helped me to buy the correct energy saving bulbs in a proper shop for a fair price. My bulbs are not common size, so I could not get them in the supermarkets…

Friends Quyen and Theo have just moved to the district where I am living, so we tried to follow that instruction without success. We have found out that the thread got melt with the socket of the ceiling light?!.＼（〇_ｏ）／ They gave me the advice informing the landlord about my dark situation. And he should call the electrician.

Few days ago an electrician (?) carrying a big jusco plastic bag with all his tools came and helped me to change the bulbs. He was accompanied by his wife, which also entered my flat. She even was not assisting his husband. I did it!!! But she kept asking his husband in Putonghua, why I am not able to change the bulbs by myself. Argh!!!!!

However, after 30 minutes 4 bulbs in the living rooms have finally replaced successfully. Hurray, I have light now in my living room! It is much brighter then before. It is like daylight! d=（＾o＾）=b　I love it!!!!

Herewith I would like to thank you also to Ben, Henry, John, T.Y., Theo and Quyen for their help, advice and support! Thank you!

I was enjoying my chamomile tea during a break from work in the pantry, when my colleague came in and discovered (°〇°;) おおっ？“Oh! You look like Miss Lipton!!! That would be a great photo! “ I was looking at him and I did not understand anything. He came back with a camera and explained “You are wearing yellow hair band and shirt, this is SO eye-catching. And SO matching!  It really fits to the tea? What are you drinking? I can see a yellow tea tag?! However, you are holding a yellow cup. A Lipton cup! Miss Lipton!” He was very excited and very happy.
Then I just realized that I was holding the Lipton promotion cup in my hand enjoying my tea (from TWININGS). Suddenly I felt like a promotion girl and started to pose. At the end we both had a lot of fun! o(^o^o)o(^o^)o(o^o^)o ウキョキョキョ

Well, this is my BEST shot:

(Now I feel like one of the candidates of the Germany’s Lipton’s next top model during judgement.)Mentioned slogan has been deduced from the original Lipton’s slogan “Direct from the tea garden to the tea cup.”

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My colleague has not talked to me for 4 days. Whenever I asked him a question or informed him about the status of the project, he just knocked his head or (dis)agreed with few words without any emotions. It seems he even did not talk to his colleagues so much recently. It is so unlike him! He likes to talk and to joke around, so I got worried. “ I’m worried, you did not talk and you did not smile recently. Are you ok? Do you have problems?” He shook his head and pushed me back to my seat. I thought he might have some private problems, which he could not talk about.

Then we had annual dinner. He was sitting on his seat like a lonely sad man. I did not asked again but tried to do some small talk about the food and the atmosphere. He only answered with his head without any smile. The next day his mood turned worst. I asked him “Don’t you feel well?” After a while I add “I am really worried about you! I am pretty sure, our team member as well. Is there anything we can do for you, please let me or us know!” He shook his head again and tried to talk, but it seems very difficult. His voice was deep and dried. He sounded like an old witch living in the jungle and planning something bad. He finally pressed few words from his mouth “ I bite my tongue! Cannot talk.Very painful.” I looked at him and asked to make sure “You did bite your tongue and cannot talk for 4 days?!”  He knocked his head. I tried to be serious, but I could not hold myself and started to laugh loudly （≧∇≦）ぶぁっはっはっ！！. One the one hand I was released that nothing else except this happened to him on the other hand I could not believe THAT happened to him FOR 4 DAYS. Unfortunately I made other colleagues also laugh because I was laughing. It was not very funny for my tong-hurted colleague. He got so mad that he did not talk with meT__T. At least I did know now why is not talking now. Sorry, J. (。_。；) ゴメンネ

Whenever I have notes, documents or tickets, which I do not tidy up immediately, I always put into my notes-collection-drawer. Once the drawer is full, I tidy up. Actually I know, it is more efficient if I tidy up those notes and documents immediately, instead of collecting them first and then tidy up. But frankly speaking, I am enjoying this kind of tiding up (and I would like to keep it!), since it is like a travelling through the past. Thus sometimes it takes few hours.

When I was tiding up my documents this time, a small passport photo fell down on the floor. The picture shows an Asian young man with black short hair, wearing a white shirt with a white T-shirt underneath, looking into the camera seriously and standing in front of a baby blue colored background. I picked it up from the floor, looked at the photo for a while and then turned it. At the back of the photo something was written by him, which I do not understand because of different languages. I can only recognize Thuong.

I met Thuong on my return flight from Germany to Hong Kong in January 2009. He was sleeping ( _ _ ).。oＯグゥー・・・   by covering his eyes with an eye mask provided by the air line at the window’s side, when I arrived my seat at the aisle. Between us a nice looking young man from the UK was sitting. I started a conversation with this guy and I enjoyed so much that I refused the ultimate offer to sit in the business class for free. But it seems I was the only one enjoying this conversation, since this gentleman asked the stewardess whether he can sit in the business class instead of me. He wished me a nice trip, grabbed his small hand luggage and left a gap between the sleeping guy and me. (・_・、) グスン, I tried to think positive and kept saying to me  “Yeah, now I have more space!”. After a short while I fell asleep ( _ _ ).。oＯグゥー・・・. Flying always makes me sleepy.

When I woke up, the light for the belt was switched off. Stewardess was offering juices to the guy at the window, but it seems they have some language problems. It seems the guy is not from Hong Kong since he do not  understand any Cantonese, also no English. I tried to help out by speaking German, Mandarin and Japanese, but I failed. At the end I drew a picture of an apple and orange in a glass to symbolize apple juice and orange juice. I called the stewardess and ordered one cup of orange juice for him. He did not say a word to me, but he smiled.  I smiled back and fell asleep again ( _ _ ).。oＯグゥー・・・.

The next time I woke up was when I smelt food. Yeah, it’s lunch time! The same stewardess came and asked “Would you like to eat chicken or pork?” The guy at the window did not understand and obviously the stewardess felt helpless. So I drew him a picture of a pig and a chicken. He pointed on the chicken with a huge smile. The stewardess kept saying to me “Thank you, thank you for your translation.” And now I (!) felt helpless. I saw the guy did not even touch the meat, he only ate the vegetables. Maybe he is Vegetarian? I decided to draw him some vegetable pictures for the next meal.

After we finished our lunch, the guy at the window grabbed the air line magazine and opened the world map. He tapped on my shoulder. It seems he wanted to show/tell me something. First he pointed on himself and then took a ball pen and drew a big circle around Hanoi in Vietnam. Then he passed me the pen. I circled Germany and he looked very surprise. I knew I am not looking German, but I did not know how I can explain I am double of Japanese and German. He showed a photo of his family and expected I also show him my family. I shook my head, because I did not have a photo. But then I got an idea. I pointed on me, then on his father and drew a circle around Germany again, then I pointed on me again, then on his mother and then circled Japan [Translation: My father comes from Germany and my mother from Japan.]. He was thinking and then took out two rings of his bag, put them together first on the family photo, then on Vietnam on the map [Nobu’s understanding: His parents are married and living together in Vietnam]. He looked at me, pointed on me, on his father on the photo, then on Germany and placed one ring there. The other ring he put on Japan. Finally he looked sad. (￣△￣) ！！ Oh no! I guess we got a misunderstanding! My parents are not divorced! I shook my head again. I took my red eraser from my pencil case and put it on his mother’s face [symbolizing my mom] and placed the ruler on his father’s face [symbolizing my dad], then placed the eraser in Japan and the ruler on Germany. I took a pencil and drew a line from Germany to Japan, and placed the ruler next to the eraser [symbolizing my father met my mother in Japan], then I placed both rings in Japan [symbolizing they got married in Japan], then I drew a line from Japan to Germany and changed the position of the two rings to Germany [symbolizing my parents moved to Germany after marriage]. I guess he understood.
During the whole conversation he did not talk at all, we just communicated by drawings, map or what ever. When he wanted to drink coffee, he drew a coffee bean and I ordered the cup of coffee for him. It was a great conversation, it was a little bit tiring, but actually very interesting. We laughed a lot （＾◇＾） ケラケラ. The empty seat between us was full of our conversation’s equipment.
After dinner I fell asleep again( _ _ ).。oＯグゥー・・・. I was too tired and powerless to continue our conversation. While I was sleeping, I sometimes opened my eyes for few seconds and felt asleep immediately again. Do you also have such moments? Well, I had a lot during this flight.  First when I opened my eyes, I realized that my blanket fell down from seat, the next moment the blanket was on my body, although I did not pick it up. Strange isn’t it? The next moment was stewardess was distributing mid night snack. A further moment was I saw a nose and two eyes…. In my dream I talked to myself: “Hey, common, Nobu. How come there is a nose and two eyes in front of you! You are definitely too tired! Go and sleep!” The next moment was much stranger: I saw a chocolate bar and two eyes! “Damn, Nobu. You are so tired! Open your eyes and have a second look and you will realize you are dreaming only!” In this moment I woke up. But there was still a chocolate bar – coming towards to my mouth and two dark brown eyes looking at me.(;° ロ°) ナンジャコリャI automatically press my lips together, because I did not want to that this mysterious chocolate bar entries my mouth. The chocolate bar did not stop and rebounds at my lips. THIS MUST BE A DREAM!! THIS CANNOT BE REAL!? Then I saw the chocolate disappeared… and I saw the face behind the chocolate bar: it was the guy… originally (!) sitting at the window, but now sitting right next to me, even removed the arm rest between us. THIS WAS NOT A DREAM, THIS WAS REALITY. Once I had realized (°_°) ぱちっ , I put back the arm rest immediately and I looked at him and I was going to blame him, that he went to far and that it is not ok…. I saw him eating the half of the chocolate bar and he nearly put the other half in my mouth again, but I pressed my lips together on time. I shook my head, looked at him and was going to remind him …. He was smiling （＾_＾） ニコッ, tapped my shoulder, pointed on my table. Wow! There was a huge chocolate bar collection and few cups of juice and water. I guess he collected all the mid night snacks while I was sleeping. Probably he could not sleep. Well, he slept all the time at the beginning (when I was talking to the UK guy). He pointed on the time of the boarding pass, his watch and on my table. There was only few hours left. My anger disappeared, because I did not feel any danger. I guess he wanted to wake me up on time for all the sweets and also for further conversation.  The only thing I did was put my arm onto the arm rest, so he could not remove the rest. This way we are able to keep distance. I just do not like (>_< )イヤッ to be squeezed by an unknown guy. 
He showed me his passport and I show him mine. We found out that we are in the same age. He showed me his China visa and I did know that he was heading to China. There was no chance to sleep any more, but it was ok, since we had a lot of fun （^＿^）.

It is amazing how we communicate, I am not familiar in sign language at all, but still we can communicate with a lot of fun! I am still not sure whether he was disabled or we just could not find our common speaking language. I do not care, because we could find our a way to communicate – our own language and it works. Don’ you think so?

When the plane arrived in HKIA, he gave me this photo, which I am currently holding in my hand.  He looked so serious on that. He left a message at the back of the photo, as well as his name: Thuong.

My mobile phone rang -  a call from my Japanese friend. I looked at the photo of Thuong holding in my hand, and I smiled and eventually I put it back to the notes-collection-drawer, where I actually took it out from. The reason is I do not where to put and … I would like to think about our conversation also next time when I need to tidy up the drawer.

Although temperature is not that high - it is about 30 Celsius degrees-, I feel it is very hot in Hong Kong recently へ（×_×；）へ ヘニョヘニョ. Humidity is high (around 80%). Actually I thought that I am already get to used it, but this year I nearly can’t stand this weather, which makes skin sticky all the time, but not sweating a lot and which let me breathing the heavy air. Well, the last one may also caused by air pollution. I am desperately seeking for natural freshness and coolness, but even under the fewer trees we have in Hong Kong, I cannot find any comfortable natural cool place. Even the water of the swimming pool or the sea is too warm (and dirty) AND there are so many people in the water. I cannot enjoy swimming, especially not when my swim mates have just finished the lunch and burping around, so everyone can smell what they have ate for lunch: garlic. Hong Kong people are burping a lot, I should get to use to it. But these days it drives me or my stomach crazy: I eventually nearly throw up. 

I was a bit released when I read the newspaper this morning. It is saying that today it will be a rainy day. Hopefully the rain can bring some freshness to Hong Kong and wipe away the humidity and also my bad mood (=_=).

Actually I do not care about my real age. From my point of view the most important is, how I feel and not what age is mentioned in my ID card or passport . Thus in the past it has happened several times already that I celebrated my wrong age birthday or told in the job interview my wrong age, just because I felt younger than I actually am (’-’*) フフ.

Few days ago, I bought a short pans. After cash payment the sales person hand over my short pans, and said with a smile “Miss, here is your exchange, your receipt and your bag.” This is quite normal. This ok. I answered happily “Thank you. Bye!” grab my bag and left the shop.
BUT then one day later, I bought some milk and bread. In my first time of my life the lady at the cashier said “Ma’am your exchange and the receipt.” Σ(Ο□Ο)　　　　がーん！I was shocked. I even could not say thank you! I just took my exchange, and left the shop.

Hey, hey stop! How come, that I am “ma’am” now instead of “miss”? One day before I has been still called “miss” and nearly only 24 hours later, I have been called “ma’dam”（；＿＿＿；）?! That’s a really fast transformation (+o+), isn’t it?!

I talked about my friend about this incident. She tried to calm me by “May be on that day you looks very young, like a girl, and the other day you looks old.” She might be correct. But it may also depend, what I am buying. What do you think?

Calm down, Miss Nobu, calm down! Well, the truth is: In future I will be probably called more often “Ma’am” (/–)/ オテアゲ. I will definetly appreciated more now, when a sales person will call me MISS.

Well, the reasons I have not had internet for such long time were
1. I suppose to be here only for 6 months. I did not want to sign a two-year-contract. Certainly HKG also have some short-term contract, but it is too expensive!
2. My notebook bought in Germany did not work well in HKG, although my very good friend repaired several times for me. *thank you echizen!*
3. All my flats I was and am living have not any telephone line. My landlords did not agree to drill holes in the flat for the cable.
4. Because of 3. my choice for internet providers was limited. Every district has one provider (monopoly). In my district it is Hutchison only.
5. I was afraid I am getting addicted to internet. This is very scary!

How come Nobu has internet @home now?
1. I suppose to be here for 6 months, I am already here for 4 years. I probably stay here for further (un)certain time.
2. My friend Prototype came to HKG in March and helped me to buy a notebook in HKG.
3. I still do not have a telephone line, but a lot of power sockets! So no need to bother the land lord!
4. Since because of 3. I was able to consider Vodafone as my in-future-provider.
5. My schedule is tied; I have not any time to get addicted to internet. So no need to be scary!

Actually I was considering to buy mobile internet from an “USB”stick (Vodafone,around 188HKD+tunnel fee/month) although I have heardt sometimes their reception is not nice, interruption might happen (T__T). But then my colleague told me that her husband has just signed an internet contract via power socket. The line is stable and safe AND it is reasonable. On the same day I went to Vodafone in my district and sign a contract. After one hour signing the contract I was able to use the internet!!! So easy, simple and uncomplicated- No installation by qualified person is necessary! My friend D. accompanied me to buy internet dated me for skype immediately for the same night.  I was extremely excited, so my friend. “Nobu, it is SO amazing, that YOU have internet! We should Skype!” ♪♪♪ （　＾＾）人（＾＾　） ♪♪♪ We both rushed homes in order to skype asap rather than talk now in real life…

5th of May is also a magic day for Mohamed! Happy Birthday!!

EDIT: I am sorry for such a delay. My right fracturd hand wrisk has still not recovered yet.

Probably whole Hong Kong was in Nodame Cantabile fever in March: we had classic concerts playing soundtrack of this j-doroma including piano pieces played by Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) and also western pianists. Those pieces had been played by Chiaki or Nodame in the dorama before. There were a lot of advertisements on buses, in local newspapers, big posters at bus stations - just in order to promote Nodame Cantabile.
Honestly I did not know that Nodame Cantabile is SO popular in Hong Kong as well.
However, I was happy meeting Nodame and Chiaki, no matter where I was in Hong Kong. I really love this dorama, it makes me so happy, smiling and laughing! Really, I can recommend this dorama to you!

Beside the airport-event, there was another big event: Nodame Cantabile (original tone with subtitels) Movie in Hong Kong Cinema. ＼（＾O＾）／ YEAH! I did not think that long, I bought ticket immediately and went by myself to the cinema in Whampoa Garden. I felt happy and my heart was jumping as I had been fault in love o（＾＾o）　（o＾＾o）　（o＾＾）o . WOW ! I could meet Nodame and Chiaki at the BIG screen! Somehow I was so happy and so excited that I missed out one detail, so after the movie my mood turned 180 degrees and I got disappointed. I was expecting a great great end (a happy end for Nodame) but I found out that the movie has been splitted up into two parts!!! (T__T)Ah!!!!!!!! I have to wait until part 2 will be released in HKG!!!!!!!! I even did not realize that there is second part, when I was watching at the trailer …. 。・°°・(;>_<;)・°°・。

除了服装的比赛以外, 也有其它的, 一个游戏是喝啤酒的比赛, 另外一个游戏是猜画的比赛, 还有麻将的比赛.
Beside the costume competition, we also had beer drinking competition, guess-photo-competition, further on Mahjong competition.

很多同事参加了. 我们有二十五个组, 每个组里有三位.
A lot of colleagues took part. We are 25 groups in total. Each group has 3 people.

我的组败局了每个比赛但是我觉得没关系,  因为很好玩 !
Our group lost all games, but I think it does not matter, because it was great fun!