It's a Decoration

American custom does not generally involve eating chicken heads. Neither does Chinese custom, but this does not stop them from displaying the severed head on a plate with other, more edible parts of the bird: Yes, that is my hand. I'm sure I touched grosser things on the NYC subway. Incidentally, this was taken at my birthday dinner, shared with all of these amazing people:

These are all people from Dramatic English, except for the girl in the green. That is my fantastic new flatmate, Kazumi. Kazumi won, beating out hundreds or perhaps even dozens of other applicants. She is Japanese and wants to be a translator and has agreed to translate my memoirs into Japanese. Reserve your copy today. The freak with the jazz hands is Tim, of course. Sitting down from left to right: Cloris, Vera, Angel, Joan, and Eric, the new guy. Vera and Angel are displaying the "birthday buns"--filled with lotus seed paste. Also, we had to eat a specific type of noodle; a long variety to coincide with a long life.
Just to spice up your life, here's a blurry night-shot of Hong Kong: It's been one of those no-day-off weeks, so I have no photos of new lands or exciting cultural discoveries. So I'll try to thrill you with my own fascinating internal observations.

Masculinity. Herein lies a wide cultural gap. I've seen men, grown men, professional men...wearing a tiny Mickey Mouse backpack. Mickey is hardcore. But if you are even more of a bad(a)--(censored for the children and my dad), you adorn your van with sparkly boas and Hello Kitty paraphernalia. Yes. Here, Hello Kitty means tough guy, whereas in America, it means, kindergarten girl.

This may not be an impressive photo, but the name makes up for it: The Splendid Bronze Cauldron of the Return of Sovereignty. It's at the Po Lin Monastary (home of the Big Buddha). May not look like much, but really it's quite Splendid.

At rehearsal today; little kids:

"My grandpa eats scorpians. Not the cooked ones, the live ones."

The older kids:

"Enoch, what is the number one rule when you are on the stage?"

Enoch: "Never put your butt on the audience's face."

"Right!" I should have given him a chicken head for that one.