Tempest7: Blogger

Illegal in Hong Kong

Well, as if things weren't going great already I have a new problem. I was already stressed with the addition of a few new students that don't speak a lot of English and unknown to me I was being watched yesterday by a government representative. He came to check on the employment status of everyone in the building; just my luck a spot check. Apparently Phoebe said this has never happened in the last 2 years she's been running business there. Of course at this moment in time I'm waiting for my HK ID but I don't have a work visa. So yes, big trouble, he took down my contact information and that was that. I finished off the day and we had our little talk. Basically it isn't worth risking me getting caught again; which I agree. So for the time being I should stop working until I get my Hong Kong ID. Additionally, as a teacher I have several areas which need improvement. I didn't know but one of my co-workers was bad mouthing me behind my back. Welcome to Hong Kong I guess. Phoebe is really good about it though, she was very straight forward about my issues, what I do well in and what I need to improve upon. Her concerns are legit but also raises the question if I should continue working there.

I had just finished doing a budget for myself for August. This really changes my budget now, but actually my original budget did not have a lot of flexability. Things that I am still in need of are a suit for interviews, an external storage device to put my travel photos on, and a visa for traveling to China.

Today the first thing I did was go to the immigration office. When I enquired about my status they need to forward it to the Right of Abode department. The estimate though is 6-8 weeks. If I count the 2 weeks that I've waited already that means at the earliest it could be at the end of the month before I get my HK ID. Since I have the day off I walked back towards Causeway Bay stopping off at different shops along the way. I found a nice suit at Mitsukoshi, the ladies had fun helping me out I think. The suit was nice but a bit over budget sitting at $3600 HKD. Well I'll consider it since Bernard stressed the importance of having a suit that doesn't appear too cheap. But, is too cheap really that bad? I can't bias myself so easily so I went to G2000. The low end suits really do look cheap here. Their high end line of wool blended suits were much better compared to their low end. Luckily it wasn't very busy since it was in the middle of the day and I got the cute sales girl's attention all to myself. Gralia or Grania I think her name was, I don't know what is harder in Hong Kong, remembering their Chinese names or remembering their English names? Still my favourite so far is Chloe. We found a suit that seem to fit, pin stripes on a dark gray. I thanked her for her time and later on met up with Gloria. We headed over to Times Square and tried on several more spending a lot of time with different combinations at G2000. I forget the name of the shop but their comfortable dress shirts were over $1000 HKD each. The rich lifestyle is really rich. But for now, budget Freddy needs to concentrate on his interview suit. Since this is my first day looking I need time to sit and consider my alternatives.

posted by Tempest7 @ 11:00