Hollywood rain and cigarettes

my thoughts are lost in translation as i watch the roof tops dissapear in a mist of monsoon rain pouring down in china town tonight. quiet lightning in the sky, quiet empty streets...

im making myself some green tea, the rain makes it so cool compared from todays hot sun. i think it should be about 24-25 degrees (celcius) now. ;) so i guess it was nearly 30 earlier today.

been reflecting on all the "strange" things i face here. like the fascination of badminton, im not saying everyone in asia likes badminton (or maybe they do) but its big here. when i lived in my old apartment and sat on my balcony people played badminton outside. here where i stay now, people play badminton in the alley. today i passed a badminton-shop, a whole shop for badminton (!?), ok a section in the sport-shop but a whole shop... one time when i was visiting in a village a guy asked me where im from and told him im from sweden, his reaction "wow, if i ever go to sweden i go there and play badminton, then i go back. in sweden, very good player". eeeh, ok. haha, i had no idea. thats just one of all the things i come across here. something that was a bit flattering the first time it happened but became something i got to hear a lot and still do hear. its the girls, it can be the first time i meet them and they ask if we can be sisters. ehm, nice that you like me and all, but im not 7 years old anymore... i dont know if its something local or is it watching too many girl movies where the characters are sisters? it feels abit rude to say no, and yes, that is just too intimate, i just smile and after that im called sis. haha, i dont know how many i have now.

things you dont see as much on the europe side is long fingernails on guys, here almost everyone has. it creeps me out a bit, but i heard there is reason for it. if your finger doesnt touch one of the lines by itself on the finger next to it, you can grow your nail and thereby it will balance it and give good luck or something like that.

but its all these small things, that makes it a bit funny living here from time to time. there are things here that just amaze me, both good and bad, some just goddamn annoying.

something i do have a secret fascination for is the local music, the karaoke, the videos... its so good and bad at the same time i just fall in love with it. from living with chinese people before i have heard plenty of chinese karaoke by now and how horrible it might sound its just so good, it has this certain charm and at the karaoke bars they are not shame to sing loud. and now when ive been with some native ibans i have got the same feeling for their music. i can sit and listen to the local radio and actually in secret cheer a bit too myself if a song i recognize starts playing. haha

wish to put up some videos, but maybe next time. later!