Living vicariously through this guy till Shanghai
On Wednesday night, right as I was about to start on that seven to twelve page paper that I had been neglecting, Andreas walks in and notices the youtube video I was watching (so maybe I was not ABOUT to start) and asks if I was watching UFC. At this point I smell alcohol in the room and I ask him if he was drinking and Andreas lifts up his cup and asks me if I want some whiskey. Of course since I never turn down a free drink down I gladly accepted. The next thing I know, it was three o'clock in the morning, the bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label was gone and I had just had one of the most interesting and enlightening conversations ever.
While slowly sipping good scotch we talked about all the places that we had been, the cultures we encountered and what we thought of them. Before coming to San Diego, Andreas had been travelling Asia for five to six months and he absolutely loved it. He meant to stay in Hong Kong for a week but for some reason ended up staying a month and a half and just fell in love with the city. I think he likes that city even more than I do, not sure how but he managed to find other things to do in Hong Kong besides shopping and eating. It was very interesting to hear that he thought Hong Kong English was very hostile and snappy while to him Cantonese was not. Usually, or at least for me those perceptions are reversed.
During his stay in Hong Kong he became good friends with someone he met in the city. This guy was from a rich family and he invited Andreas to his family vacation in Macau. The guy's family paid for all of Andreas's expenses and Andreas estimates they spent about $2000 U.S. on him. Talk about a generous family.
The most interesting part of the conversation was the discussion about being friends in different cultures. Andreas liked the fact that Americans were very friendly and took the idea of becoming fast friends. I agreed with this and noted that I had many personal experiences with Americans who told me extremely personal information about themselves upon the first meeting. Andreas contrasted the American attitude towards friendship with the European, noting that it was much more difficult to become close friends with Europeans than Americans. He talked about how Europeans immediately throw up a wall on the first meeting, which I found interesting. I believe Andreas noted a similar problem with Asians, but my memory is hazy because of the alcohol. During his time in Malaysia and Thailand, he would talk with people on the street and they would just invite him over to their house for dinner. As friendly as the people on the street were, the level of conversation would not go beyond that of casual chit chat. Hearing this from Andreas reminded me of the Japanese who are always courteous and sincere but would never let a foreigner in too close.
At the end of the night he gave me his email and told me that if I was ever in Zurich, Switzerland I was welcome to stay over at his place. And since he is basically living my dream right now, I am most definitely going to keep in touch with him and live vicariously through his emails until I do my own traveling in Shanghai.
Andreas left San Diego for Las Vegas the next day and after Vegas he is flying to Santiago, Chile. After that he will go where ever the wind takes him.
Andreas, you must send me all the adventures you are having because Los Angeles is just not cutting it for me. Next time we meet, the Black Label is on me.
- muffinman
