Hong Kong state of mind

Hong Kong is a really amazing place. It has crazy buzzing streets and paradise islands with natural infinity pools and waterfalls close to hand. Fantastically efficient transport ensuring you can get pretty much anywhere in the region quickly and cheaply. Beautiful big shiny sky scrapers and that make up one of the most iconic skylines and little rickety fishermen villages built on bamboo sticks in the water. There are endless things to do; you will find it hard to get bored here. A zillion streets to wander and get lost in, incredible shopping, going from the exclusive high-end designer stores who only allow a few customers at a time, to the random assortment of goods cluttering the pavements forming the flea markets around Sham Shui Po and everything in between. You can choose to dine in one of the highest restaurants in the world atop the ICC tower in west Kowloon, or tuck into some street grub at a wonky table with plastic chairs and cockroaches underfoot. It has absolutely everything (EVEN IRN BRU!!!), and I love it all :).

Working here brings you deeper into the real character of this major world financial centre. The culture here in Hong Kong is very much ‘live to work’ which does not go well with my western philosophy. I was shocked to hear from my lovely colleague, a kindergarden teacher, how much she actually worked in her job. We started work at 8.15 and ended the day at 4.45, at which point I would be racing home to enjoy the rest of the sunlight and try to fit in some new activity before bed. Half the time I was bored in work because my lessons didn’t take very long to plan – The children were aged between 2 & 4years old, how intricate could I make their lessons? Yet my friend told me she never left the school before 6pm. I asked her what she did after school – more lesson planning. WHAT THE HELLL!? There were two teachers to each class, so she had only four hours of actually working with the children per day. The rest of the time was lesson planning! And thats just the kindergarten teachers, What about primary school, high school teachers!? Office workers I have spoken to seem to be in the same situation. Live to work is just a part of the culture here.

It starts with the children. I’m teaching now in a language centre and the children I work with have constant pressure from their parents. Parents who work most of the day, hire helpers to bring up their children and send the kiddies to a load of extra curricular activities. Schooling in Hong Kong is pretty cutthroat business and children even get REJECTED from kindergarden if they aren’t up to the high standards. Mostly this is probably due to the millions of people living in this smallish area in South China. I spoke to the Mandarin teacher at the centre recently and she told me that she feels sad in her heart because she knows she is putting undue pressure on the children to learn quickly. Personally I’m having pressure from my own boss to teach the children quickly but also make sure they pass all their exams. THEY’RE SO YOUNG! It’s no wonder people grow up here to think that work work work is how to live. I get stressed out at work because I want to find ways to teach the children most efficiently and get them to learn English as fast and perfectly as I possibly can, but the reality is that they are just little children and they don’t really want to cooperate. Years of working in customer service and studying Psychology have thankfully given me a lot of patience for the human species in general, so I don’t get too pissed off, I just take out the little pot of bubbles and make them be my friend. High fives and stickers also work a charm. But bribing children rubs me the wrong way and I doubt I’ll be sticking around here very long. The work mentality is pretty well understood here and in the grand scheme of things I cant argue that it is effective. I’m sure it is why this city is such a successful finance centre. They even have statues of legendary bankers…

I suspect that it’s why most western people coming to work here don’t stick around too long, just long enough to further their career and make a load of money before heading home, or somewhere with a better standard of living. There is this general feeling of transience in HK. So many people are passing through. Houses here (high rise apartments) are generally tiny and have sky high rent. Which is why I’m living in a little cupboard in a dorm in Sham Shui Po, along with a load of other people. It’s not ideal, but it serves its purpose for now and don’t spend a whole lot of time there. With a million other things to be doing in the city, it’s just not necessary. The BBC recently published an article about people who live in the McDonalds near my home, ‘McRefugees’.

As I haven’t been paid yet and have zero money except for essentials, living in this millionaire’s paradise can be a bit frustrating at times. Most especially annoying is the thousands of shopping opportunities literally paving the streets. There are more Louis Vuitton stores here than in Paris! As well as the largest bronze seated Buddha sculpture in the world. Contradictions are common in this little country. I have spent time hiking, exploring, wandering. I bought a really cheap guitar on craigslist and have been photographing and writing and editing, as well as socializing as much as my wallet would allow and hitting any free or cheap events I can find (TACO TUESDAYS!), but as someone who has worked in fashion retail for most of my working life (and just because I’m a girl) I really find it hard not to shop here. The place is a shopping Mecca. Once I got lost for 2 hours in one mall I was attempting to walk through, I didn’t even go into any shops and just kept walking straight! There was even a basketball court in the place, which is just ridiculously unnecessary. Right now I live across the street from a shopping mall that has a rollercoaster and a huge ice rink inside. What the funk. Anyway, recently I have devised a way around this particular frustration and even spent time learning how to make a .gif in order to communicate this experience fully.

When I told my friend Kevin about this hilariously stupid game I have concocted, firstly he was disgusted, but he kindly named the creation. Game of Robes is now my favourite free pastime. It’s mostly due to the just plain old ridiculousness of this game that I love it so. Just going into lots of shops and trying on lots of clothes combinations seems to satiate my desire to shop. Plus it’s really fun because I know I’m not going to buy anything. I have neither the cash money resources or the available space in my tiny cupboard room. Compared to the busy, straight faced people hurrying around in central Hong Kong with their business attire or fancy designer dresses this feels like a small solo rebellion. Reaping the benefits of consumerism without having to sell your soul to the devil for a high paid career and wage just to look nice. Another extremely fun thing that I have began doing is singing in public while listening to my iPod. At no point in the few weeks that I’ve been here has anyone reacted to me doing this, though I know it’s not normal. Karaoke is a serious business here. Plus people are too busy doing whatever it is they are doing to notice or pass comment. It’s not in the culture. There is always the blank faced staring to contend with, but I’ve learned now that saying hello or pulling a funny face will often crack them into laughter that can make my day.

This weekend I went to what was supposed to be a free salsa class in LKF. The class turned out to be cancelled but my colleague and I ended up friending a couple of pilots from Saudi Arabia and drinking huge bottles for Moet for the next few hours. At the third bottle my adventure detector must have kicked in and I went off in search of something new to do. I ended up in a live music bar at 6am in Wan Chai with a load of people who had met one another at a hostel. Myself and a guy from Germany thought it would be a great idea to try to sneak into a fancy hotel for free breakfast. It almost worked out until they asked for our room number and she didn’t believe that I was Mrs Wong. ‘Oh this isn’t the Four Seasons?’ asked Tobi. Our mistake. We ended up at a huge dim sum canteen and tried to cut and run for fun but got caught, either because we were blatently the only western looking people in the place or because we were both still really drunk. I thought it would be a great idea for us to go to Lamma island, which is about half an hour away by ferry from Central and has a nice beach, for a swim. We napped on the beach, had a nice seafood dinner and I got back to my little cupboard home around 5pm, extremely satisfied with my adventure.

I suppose the Hong Kong state of mind is entirely situation dependant. For me it means passing through and having a fantastic frickin time while I’m here! Life is good!