Hong Kong Life

My Job

As my time working in Hong Kong draws to a close, I have to say that I really do love the students that I have been working with for these past few weeks. My floor is very respectful and fun to supervise. Even if there is sometimes a language barrier, we all work through it and stay positive. It is interesting to observe their relationships with each other and to watch them develop. Disputes do occur between them, but in the end they have been able to work it out and maintain a sort of “brotherhood” with the rest of their hall.

 

The City

The city of Hong Kong is definitely an interesting place—unlike any city I have ever been in before. The population of Hong Kong is over 7 million and that is quite a lot of people in such a small place. In order to accommodate so many, the city is full of skyscrapers—even more than New York City. Many of these buildings are enormous apartment complexes where the majority of Hong Kong residents live. As I walk through the city, it is evident that commerce is around every corner: from giant shopping malls to outdoor markets. The shopping districts are packed with crowds of people making public transportation ports a place of major congestion.

Public Transportation is, however, quite efficient in Hong Kong. They have a seemingly endless system of buses, minibuses, trams, ferries, and underground “MTR” subway trains. I have to say I have never waited more than 2-3 minutes to board any of the available options. This is because the residents truly depend on public transportation. Owning cars is almost unheard of because of the taxes enacted by the government and the exorbitant parking fees (which makes sense—there is simply no room for cars or parking lots in the city). The public transportation system is actually quite cheap and any form of public transportation can be paid for via “octopus card.” The “octopus” system is both efficient and convenient—the card works sort of like a “Visa Pay-Pass.” Whenever you board a bus or walk into the MTR, you simply press your octopus card to the sensor and it automatically deducts the correct fare. So many people use the octopus system that restaurants, convenient stores, and even vending machines all accept octopus payments. In the bustling commerce-city of Hong Kong, the octopus card makes transactions lightning-fast.

My time in Hong Kong was definitely a great contrast of my time through Europe. It is interesting to really see elements of “the East” overtake elements of “the West.” The architecture is prominently constructivist—like what I had seen in Russia. For example the apartment buildings were built so plain and so tall, you could see that the goal of building them was to house the most people in the smallest space. The cuisine is much different as well and actually authentic, unlike the Chinese food that we are used to in the USA. It became uncommon to find a restaurant that actually used silverware instead of chopsticks. In fact even “Western” cuisine was prepared differently than what I am used to, except for the chain-restaurants like McDonalds.

 

New Friends

Through the summer I am happy to say that I have left with new perspectives and some new friends. Besides my American co-workers, I had the opportunity to work with several residents of Hong Kong, and Mainland China. In was interesting to see us all learn from each other as our time went on. One girl from China, Lily, said that she had never before been to a dance, or heard of “being pied” among other things. As we planned activities for the students—she had to learn herself about what these strange “American” things were all about. Likewise, I learned much spending time with them on campus and in the city. I often bombarded Oscar, a resident of Hong Kong, with questions about the city and the culture and he was happy to answer. I even learned some Cantonese phrases along the way. Working in Hong Kong has afforded me a great experience that I am so fortunate to have had! I may even consider visiting Asia again in the future.

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