Hong Kong Chronicles: The music in my head

I have a story to tell you. But, I need to preface it with another story.

In a previous post, I likened moving to a new culture to rhythm and music. Some of the music that plays in my head is from movies that I watched as a child every year when the networks would air the movie.

Now that I live here in Hong Kong and have the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world, I realize that some of my childhood influences are unknown. As pervasive as American TV culture is, there are elements that are still uniquely American phenomenons. One of them is the movie, The Wizard of Oz. I have asked a few of my friends who were raised in Hong Kong and others who are westerners raised in other countries if they are familiar with the movie. Either they aren't familiar or are just vaguely familiar. When I think about it, it makes sense...it's a film about the Plains States are there are a number of things about the movie that make it uniquely American.

I grew up in the 70's before the advent of the VCR. (I'm dating myself a bit.) The networks would air two movies annually that we made it a family event to watch every time...The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. The TV guide would come out, my parents would tell us the movie is going to be on the Friday and we pretty much scheduled our week around watching the movies when they aired.

With that explanation of my childhood, there is some music that is ingrained in my head. It won't leave. When situations echo those memories, the music plays in my head. Very loud. I've been in Hong Kong for 9 months now and when I ride my bike in a skirt...






I have this vision in my head and the accompanying theme song playing in my head. The faster I have to ride, the louder it plays in my head. When I have American friends visit me and they rent a bike, we sometimes even sing the music out loud.






This is from the part of the movie before the Twister hit Dorothy's house. This character eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. The theme music that accompanies all of her entrances accompanies me while riding my granny style bike in a skirt.