Thursday, March 2020 I used to wonder how it feels to have a non-Indo boyfriend, but dating a Hong Kong guy had never crossed my mind because back in university days, no local guys would talk to me (maybe I got into the wrong uni haha). When my boyfriend and I first went on dates, I was skeptical that this will last long. But here we are, surviving our first year with a lot of surprises everyday..

Language barrier is REAL

English is the only common language we speak (no, I still can’t speak Cantonese). While our English is not that bad, it is also not our mother tongue. More than often, we directly translate Indonesian/Cantonese words to English and cause each other confusion lol You can’t swear or say random stuffs in your own language too

👩🏻‍‍: “anjirrrrrr” || 🧑🏻: “ahh diuu”

👩🏻: “duh sakiiittttt” || 🧑🏻: aw painfuuuul (coba praktekin, kurang greget yakaaaaan)

In fact, it’s not only language, but also culture barrier..

Experience Hong Kong at its best

What could a better to experience local culture other than living the local life. Three very Hong Kong things I experience:

• Eat in a very traditional places with all canto manner and language
• Make luo han guo by boiling the fruit
• Join protest

Enough said. My mom scolded me after #3.

Going on dates

We do hang out like basic couples (movies, dinner, window shopping, etc) but living in Hong Kong gives us perks to walk on the seaside, chill on the beach, or run along the harbour. And all by public transportations.. (Bayangin udah rapi mau makan cantik, naiknya tetep MTR hadeu luntur deh make up minceu)

We don’t get each other’s jokes

You know those moments when you find funny or relatable memes in Indonesian/Cantonese and you really want to send it to your partner. We can’t do that and the struggle is real HAHA Once translated, the jokes lose their meaning. So, you gotta laugh alone ha ha ha you can’t even send him all those stupid stickers in Whatsapp..

He complains so much about Indonesian food

I tried to feed him with Indo’s food that I loveee, and the responses I got:

• Martabak > 🧑🏻 “ew too sweet”,
• Fried chicken > 🧑🏻 “so oily”
• Send him seafood photos > 🧑🏻 “why everything is fried?!”
• Tempe > 🧑🏻 “wahh, can u bring some more to hk?!” (this one’s approved #tempeislife)

Some people compliment me lately that I lost weight, the true reason is my boyfriend doesn’t feed me well 🙂

Ohh, he’s not Indo???

Just like how people here always think that I’m local, a lot of my Indonesian friends mistakenly think that he’s Indonesian too #AllAsianLookTheSame

Opening soon: Apang Noodle in Muara Karang

In Jakarta, a lot of Chinese restaurants’ names start with A (e.g. Kwetiauw Akang, Bakmie Aloi, Bubur Ateng, A.. A.. A… you name it). I learnt that my boyfriend is called Apang because his name is Yip Chin Pang. Applying the rule, A + Pang = Apang. Doesn’t it sound like a noodle shop already? So, I told him one day you can open a Hong Kong noodle shop, Bakmie Apang it is!

All jokes aside, it really has been a whole new world with this one. Thanks for being a joy amidst Hong Kong tough life.

 

Happy 1st Year, Apaaaaaaannng! Cheers to many more fights, arguments, and being annoying until we pissed each other off

 

P.s. If you have experience of dating a Hong Kong guy, let me know what do you think and how is it different from dating a guy from your country (just want to know if all the weird things he does are Hong Kong thing or it’s just my boyfriend HA!)

In disbelief that it’s been a year,