First Impressions

We're home from Hong Kong.  Well, home in the sense that we are now on U.S. soil.  The next stop is Erie, PA to collect our children and our dog and than into the car for a 10+ hour drive to our house in North Carolina.  When we left for this Hong Kong trip, I had every intention of blogging about what I saw, where we went, my feelings, my observations, my musings.  But once we got there, and once my body finally adjusted, I still couldn't bring myself to write it all down.  There is this vortex of sights, sounds, realizations, emotions and fears just swirling in my head and I just can't sort it all out.  I can't summarize it and plop it down in my blog and make everyone understand.  How can I when I don't even yet understand?  After all, I'm the girl who spent an evening crying into a bowl of penne pasta at the realization that there is no Target in Hong Kong.

But what I can do right now is this.  I can tell you about my first impression of Hong Kong.  After all, that is the number one question that I've been getting, "What is it like?".

I've watched enough Sex and the City and Law & Order, the original one, to have an idea what it's like in a big city.  But seeing it and stepping into it are two totally different things.  The first thing that stands out -- the traffic.  Lots of cars, lots of luxury cars, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Lexus, Jags and even Rolls Royce, but lots of taxis too.  Lots and lots of little red taxis.  The steering wheel is, of course, on the wrong side of the car and the cars themselves, on the wrong side of the road.  As a Westerner, this makes crossing the street treacherous as we just had no idea which way to look.  Lighted crosswalks are a good thing.

But it's not just the sheer number of cars on the roads or the confusion about which side of the street they are driving on, it's the manner in which the drive.  It's insane!  If the Holly Springs police think that I am a viable candidate for multiple traffic tickets, I invite them to visit Hong Kong for a broader perspective.  All the drivers slam on the gas, brake at the last possible moment.  They squeeze into the tightest of spaces leaving just inches between their vehicles and large tour buses and garbage trucks.  They weave and merge so much that it leaves you clutching your seat belt strap and praying to God.  I'm quite certain that I'll be spending the next three years in the back of taxis with my eyes squeezed shut.  Sometimes it's better not to even look.

Eugene's office is right in the midst of this busy, downtown area called Wanchai and it really is like something you see in the movies.  Huge, huge buildings.  Lots of elevators and escalators.  They also have footbridges that connect the buildings, running above the busy streets below.  Like a maze of sorts, we were able to use these footbridges to walk from our hotel, to his office, to the bank across the street, to a coffee shop for a morning cup of joe.  Eug mastered them.  I was perpetually lost.  

Notable was the number of businesses in that area.  Actually, the number of businesses everywhere.  In our hometown of Erie and in the Triangle-area of North Carolina that we now call home, it's not unusual to see empty storefronts and buildings, places where someone's dream just never took root and died out leaving a shell of a structure just waiting for new tenants.  I didn't see a lot of that in Hong Kong.  Matter of fact, I'm not sure I saw any.  If there is space something is in it whether it's a bank, 7-11 store, boutiques, newspaper stands, cafes, everything you can possibly think of except for nail salons, I saw not one of those while we were there.  We were able to find many stores and businesses that we have here in the U.S.  I'm sure no one has ever had so much joy at the sight of a Clinique counter, finding a Toys R Us tucked up on the top floor of a mall, and a Stride Rite shoes selling the exact same sandals I bought my daughter just weeks ago.

And then there are the people.  The hundreds, the thousands of people everywhere.  And most of them are Asian, which means for the first time in our lives, we are a minority and it is a very odd experience.  I've never felt so white in my life.  When everyone around you is Asian, you can't just blend in, you stick out, you scream "foreigner", you reek of "I have no idea what I'm doing".  And just because you see another white person, don't assume they are an American.  Out of the mouths of people who looked like me I heard British and Australian accents, Russian, Polish, German and the like.  All kinds of different people, all kinds of races, all kinds of nationalities.

Of course with the Asian people comes Asian language.  Since English and Cantonese are the official languages of Hong Kong, I didn't sweat the language too much so I was truly surprised to see so many Chinese characters and hear Chinese spoken everywhere.  Without trying to offend, I have to say, the Chinese language is harsh to my ear.  Listening to the locals converse, I could never tell if they were happy or totally pissed off.   And it goes without saying that we had no idea what they were saying.  Kind of like being at grandma's house when she starts spoutin' off in Polish the things she wants to say, but really doesn't want you to hear.

So there's your overview.  I so wanted to spell everything out, make it seem like you were right there with us, taking in the city of Hong Kong.  But I realize now that that is what the next three years is all about.  That is the reason I started this blog in the first place.  I never meant to visit for a week and know it all and see it all and write it all.  I meant to go there and learn it, live it ,and write about it so that's what I'll do.

There is one thing that I did learn this past week during our visit.  If you ever think you are confident and sure of everything, come live in Hong Kong.  If you fancy yourself worldly and sophisticated, set up household there.  This past week has shown me I am none of these things.  I'm just a little Polish girl raised on the lower east side of Erie, PA trying to figure it all out.