Tempest7: Blogger

My Reflections on Hong Kong - 2006

I have a bit of time at work and figured it was a good time to do a bit of reflecting. My travel to Hong Kong has been quite an experience. When will I go back to Canada? That hasn't been decided I will probably extend my stay in Asia. I'm a green person by nature so I love to learn. There is a lot to learn over here.

Lets see, the first shock was the amount of people. I thought boxing day shopping at Eaton Centre was crazy. That happens every night in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. The amount of people here is at a point where I don't see people in front of me when I walk, it is almost like swimming. There is a common saying that people in Hong Kong walk much quicker than people in Canada. I'll let you know after I get to Canada but for me I always step on people here. They walk too slow. The worst thing is people here have no sense of traffic rules on the street. They'll form a group and walk slow as hell down a narrow side walk blocking everyone else. I can excuse couples but groups of friends should be more considerate.

English. I came initially because I had the chance to teach English to earn money. It has been an experience being an educator. I've taught adults and children now. Both have taught me alot about how people are when they learn. I've also had a lot of time to reflect about the differences in growing up in each system. The Hong Kong kids need to suppliment a lot of their time with tutoring because they really can't get that much attention in class. The class sizes are between 30-40 students and each class runs for about 35 minutes. That's about a minute of one-on-one with each student per class. Coupled of the late night life here and the children go "bad" easily. What surprised me was the amount of people here who don't know how to use chops sticks. Pretty funny coming from the white-washed Canadian born Chinese.

But speaking of night life, everything stays open until about 11. That makes it really convient to hangout at night, the streets are still busy after 12. The working hours are insane in Hong Kong, people averaging long over-time without pay of course. They can really exploit the labour market here. I haven't even seen much of the PRC but I can expect that to be worst. I enjoy a lot of time hanging around my Canadian friends down in Lan Kwai Fong. My interest in modelling has left me aware of many of the pretty faces that wander through HK. I saw a number of models this morning actually coming to work, probably going for a casting or a shooting. Hong Kong has been pretty nice to me, there's a lot more to talk about but you'll have to meet up with me in a cafe or something to chat to hear the rest.

So far I have a love/hate relationship here. I'm learning a lot of extremes in terms of fun and tolerance but my goal has been attained to some degree. I'm learning a lot and I will continue to learn.

Just a note of interest, did you know some employers discriminate based on your zodiac sign. If you want to do business with China, the cultures are really different.

posted by Tempest7 @ 11:26