The rain in Hong Kong falls mainly at 0830?

It was raining when I awoke and still raining at 0820 this morning, so that might be a severe blow to my theory that it always rains at 0830 in Hong Kong. As someone once said, “The plural of anecdote is not data.”

I’m still not running (for those who read my “Hanging Smart” blog), but the excellent gym in the condominium where I am staying enables me to shed an undignified 500 kCal per day. It’s undignified in the sense that, in addition to the calories, I also shed around a litre of fluid in a huge pool on the floor. For local users of the gym, all Chinese for whom perspiration seems not to be a problem, I must be a disturbing sight.

On the way to the conference, I went to hear Mass at the Holy Rosary Church. When I say “hear,” I must explain that it was in Cantonese. I heard it perfectly, but had no idea what was being said. Luckily, there was the appropriate standing and kneeling at various points to let me have some idea of where I was in the liturgy. I normally attend the earlier English Mass, where the majority of the congregation is Filipino.

Sunday in Hong Kong is the only day Filipino workers—mostly in domestic service—have to themselves. After attending church, they gather in vast numbers in any shaded area to talk, eat, trade, and catch up with friends. It’s a moving sight, because they seem so happy, yet earn so little, most of which they send back to families in the Philippines.

Yesterday, after conference activities, Graeme Smith (entry passim) and I met David Thompson, PhD, RN, FAAN (“Hanging Smart” blog entries passim), who was passing through en route from Australia. A former resident of Hong Kong, he is now professor of cardiovascular nursing at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. He is heading to the United Kingdom and then to the United States.

David Thompson, Yours Truly, and Graeme Smith.
The black substance is purely for medicinal purposes.

At night, I had the pleasure of dinner with Amandah Hoogbruin, PhD, RN, from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Amandah was a master’s student at The University of Edinburgh in my very early days there, and she was responsible for helping me get my first research grant and my first major development of a measurement scale—the Caring Dimensions Inventory.

Yours Truly with Amandah Hoogbruin,
editorial board member of Nursing Open.

Restaurants were packed and people were queuing. I have often seen Western tourists being turned away at these times. However, we got a table without a problem while people still seemed to be waiting. I should explain that Amandah’s parents were Chinese. This gives you a small insight into one of the undercurrents of Hong Kong society. Racism is too strong a word. Rather, it is being comfortable with one’s “own kind,” and I have seen this often enough to report it without fear of contradiction. I still love the place.

My conference attendance today took in an excellent session titled “Publishing: A career road for you?” presented by Susan Gennaro, DSN, RN, FAAN, and Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP/PMHNP, FNAP, FAAN, editors, respectively, of Journal of Nursing Scholarship and Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. It was aimed at novice reviewers but, as a fellow editor, I found this very useful. I am always happy to plunder other people’s PowerPoints for ideas. I should mention, also, that Griselda Campbell, my good friend and colleague and partner at Wiley who oversees the health and nursing portfolio, also attended the conference and “manned” the Wiley stand. Wiley sponsored the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame awards and the session on publishing.

It may not have rained at 0830 this morning, but it rained most of the remainder of the day. Tonight, in return for my free board and lodgings with Professor and Mrs. Smith, I take them out to dinner, their choice of restaurant. Graeme is a fellow Scot, a fellow Aberdonian, who understands how painful we find it to part with money. If he chooses the restaurant, I’ll be solvent. If Maggie, who is Chinese, chooses, it will be expensive.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.