Living on the 32nd Floor

Greetings! It is a smoggy morning here in Hong Kong. Sometimes it clears up quite nicely and we've got blue skies, while other times you wish hopefully that you are looking at a storm cloud. The pollution crisis is real in a tangible way here in HK.
I found a place to hang my hat! After some pondering, I have decided on a place that is just down the block from my school- less than a 3 minute walk. It seems there is not a perfect solution to finding housing here. Something has to give- you either live farther away and spend more time on getting places, or you live close and pay a bit extra for the convenience. The place I'm in is very nice and I'm sure I'll never live in such a place in Canada. It is a complex with 7 towers- each with 60 floors I think. As is the case in many apartment complexes here, it is outfitted with many amenities- my favorites include a huge swimming pool, indoor squash court and badminton/basketball court, and work out area. There a lot of teachers around this area too, so I'm glad for that as well.
I ended up finding the apartment through a pink-shirted real estate agent named Sam. Sam is on the strange side, but he's a great bargainer that guy. He negotiated the price down an extra $150 CDN per month, so I'm thankful for Sam! The flat I'm living in is nearly fully furnished, so that is a huge plus. I get the keys for the place tonight, so I'll spend the weekend trying to get things set up. I'm excited, and thankful.
Some of you will know the names "Andy" and "King". They are students from Western that I coached and taught last year. I went out for supper with Andy and his mom this week. It was so fun to meet her. She's so cute!!! Yesterday Andy and I spent most of the day hanging out and later joined King to play some Hong Kong street ball. King informed me of a few things beforehand- 1) they may take off their shirts and they'll be very slippery, 2) they may smoke inbetween games, 3) don't argue if they call a foul, that's just the way it is, and 4) no teamwork is to be expected, so be selfish because that's just the way it is. Sounds like the way we played in China- so the transition was not too difficult. I like being back in the land where I'm almost average height. It's great! The funniest part of the night happened as we were walking along the street. We turned a corner and this old, skinny man jumped in front of me and said in a huge loud voice with a huge smile, "NI HAO, HELLO!!!!!!" And then he grabbed my hands and started dancing on the sidewalk with me. I tried to dance along, but I was slightly taken aback by his enthusiasm! Funny old man!
Anyway, I'd best get moving (get it?!). Next stop, the 32nd Floor!