Ice Cream in Hong Kong
“Can we go now?” my mom asked impatiently.
“Not until this is over,” my brother Oscar replied.
After ten long minutes the show was finally over.
“Let’s go?” my mom asked.
“Sure, but first, where are we going?” I questioned, my face looking hopeful that we were going for dessert. It was around 9 pm, perfect time for dessert, especially when you’re in Hong Kong, one of the busiest places no matter what time of day it is. Cars were honking, lights on buildings were twinkling, and streetlights were making beeping noises, along with different voices.
We were at our dad’s apartment and had just finished watching Wipeout, a game show where you go through all these obstacles, where only the fastest people go to the next round. Before that, we were watching Cash Cab, another game show where you have to answer complex questions. My mom told us that we were going for dessert: I thought my mom was psychic since I had just been fantasizing about it. I was a bit hungry since I’d saved a bit of room for dessert in my stomach but, on the other side, Oscar was so full he didn’t want to move. My mom and dad had a bit of room for dessert too.
“Come on, Oscar,” I complained.
“I don’t have to go if I don’t want to,” Oscar replied.
“Well Oscar, you have to go. It’s our last family activity before we leave to go back home,” my mom answered. “Besides, we are not going to bring any food for you; unlike the way you three brought food for me on the first day,” she continued.
“Fine, I’ll go just because I like the dessert part,” Oscar retorted. As I was just about to put on my shoes my mom called out, “Wait, give me five minutes, I’m not done.”
“You’re telling us to hurry up when you’re not done,” my dad whispered to her. After putting on my shoes, I opened the door to click on the elevator. Since we lived on the 25th floor, it took some time for the elevator to come. After the elevator came, I held the door for my mom and dad to come in. They hadn’t finished putting on their shoes yet. The elevator then started beeping; someone else was waiting to get on it. “Get off the elevator,” my mom yelled, looking at us.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because we don’t want to have people waiting for 20 minutes just to get on it when they only get to be on it for 2 minutes,” my mom replied.
At that moment the elevator stopped beeping. I quickly pressed the down button before the elevator door closed – I know, fast reflexes.
As soon as we got down to the lobby we walked out on a fresh, crisp, and warm winter evening. (Hong Kong is close to the equator so it’s warm at all times of year.) We walked across the street to a place called Honeymoon Sweets. It is called this probably because the desserts are perfect when you’re on your honeymoon. We settled down at a table for four and started looking at the menu placed below the glass. I looked at the menu: mango soup thingamajig (it looked like little pieces of mango, a small lump of mango ice cream on the side, and mango that was blended until smooth that was added with water), taro soup thingamajig, and something called King of Fruits. At the end we went with the mango soup, taro soup, and two King of Fruits. I first tried the mango soup which was really good, the mango flavor dancing in my mouth as I started to eat it … but the ice cream, well, it just tasted like ice cream. Then I tried a bit of the King of Fruits that tasted horrible, with the flavor staying in my mouth for a long time. My mom told me to eat another bite because after your first bite, when you eat more, it gets really addicting, but it wasn’t addicting to me at all. And last I tasted the taro soup: it wasn’t as good as the mango soup and it wasn’t horrible like the King of Fruits; it tasted more like milk that was light purple and it had a bit of taro flavor.
When my mom announced that we were moving to Hong Kong I was devastated, but now, I really want to move there. We have to move to Hong Kong because my dad has a great career opportunity there. We will move to Hong Kong over the summer, which is why we spent our winter break there. We had to do school interviews and look at apartments. Moving to this city is a great opportunity because I am a city girl. I love going to malls even if I don’t buy anything. I just like to look around stores. Hong Kong is very convenient so after school you can go to every store.