Click on My Photos to see pictures of my apartment in HK.

Settling into HK
I used to say to my boss that my Chinese language skills weren't that good so that he wouldn't have a reason to constantly send me overseas (I guess that worked).
Now though, since I am here, I wish I could speak fluent Mandarin or Cantonese - I want the best of both worlds! - to be able to fit in as an expat, as well as a local. I am starting to speak a bit more mandarin with workmates though, and I guess over a bit of time I'll eventually pick up some useful cantonese.
Played Badminton last night. Sheez when was the last time I played that! Musta been in my uncle's backyard when I was about 7 or 8 years old! And it showed I think hehe, just like tennis or squash, badminton has its own little intricacies that take some skill to get used to. The speed of the shuttlecock is so variable sometimes you are too early to it, sometimes you miss it by a country mile haha. These guys I play with play every Monday night, so I'll keep persisting at it - its good exercise regardless.
Also went to a yoga class today...which was given entirely in cantonese hahaha. That was a bit of a mistake, I had to keep an eye on the instructor all the time coz I wasn't exactly sure when he was moving onto the next pose - I will definitely have to find an english class.

LAX

US immigration now takes forever! It took from 1.40pm to 3pm for me to get through the immigration line. People were getting fingerprinted and photographed. At least that cut into my wait time.

Hour 1 of wait
Take a shower to clear the head, and wake myself up a bit from the flight across the Pacific. I have no idea how long the flight took because the plane did not have the flight progress channel on the TV. Going by the timer inside the showers, I take about 20 minutes to shower, brush teeth and make myself pretty. 5 hours to go.

Hour 2 of wait
Watch WNBA action, then some live WNBA. They're pretty good, but WNBA action is a bit dull - top 10 plays was basically 10 different types of layups. I'm also reading a 'social psychology' book - '100 ways to be happy'. 4 hours to go.

Hour 3 of wait
Feeling really tired, so end up falling asleep on the couches listening to Hip Hop on the free headphones. Nothing like an afternoon nap. 3 hours to go.

Hour 4 of wait
Dinner time! So I go for a wander and find a Burger King. I am EXTREMELY disappointed with what I ate. While the Chicken Whopper was bigger than the ones in Oz, I think I would have enjoyed more eating the burger wrapping dipped in ketchup, black pepper and salt. 2 hours to go.

Hour 5 of wait
Back in the lap of luxury (Qantas Club) and I take the time to get down some details on paper so I know where I'm going when I get to Boston tomorrow. I've been trying to spot the Aussies all day, and I think I've picked a few. I'm pretty sure the guy in the Wallaby jersey behind me is one though.

And that brings you up to the present. 6 hours in an airport - I never knew it could be so much fun :)

jas

btw I haven't touched my SIA notes, which is not good...

Week 1 in Hong Kong

I arrived last week with mixed feelings for these next few months. Again I'd uprooted from home and had moved to a new city and a new project. This time for at least 3 months, possibly more. I had been thinking of resigning from my job for a while, and had come close to doing it for a variety of reasons. I wasn't sure how I would feel again about moving away from my friends and my family - and going to a place where I didn't know anyone. I wasn't sure either whether I was ready for another 6 months of long work hours and stress. To be honest I'd been getting bored of my job for a while. But that's the negative me talking though.

On arriving though I'm feeling much better about being here. I've spent my 1 week in a hotel and when I come back from Boston I will be moving into a serviced apartment on Hong Kong Island. Thank Goodness - I hate hotels.

An aside: Hotels to me are lonely places where I come back to after a long day at work, all the employees are over the top nice (I know they have to be, but its artificial), and I'm left sitting on my hotel bed, watching TV in a language I don't understand (or watching CNN/BBC *yawn*), thinking that I should do work, but not wanting to.

I have met the people I am working with, and I'm looking forward to working with and getting to know them. To be honest, Hong Kong is a place where your work is a big part of your life - but I think I'm ready to take that on. The work ethic in HK is quite strong - the 10 hour day is the norm up here - no one really leaves the office until at least 6.30 or 7.

Friday night seems to be the night where everyone goes out - but unless you are with a bunch of expats - native HK'ers aren't really big 'bar' people. But there seems to be a good variety of restaurants and cafe's in HK - so hopefully with a bit more time I'll meet some people to go to dinner with etc.

Speaking of expats - they are everywhere! Even half the Asians that I work are from Oz. I sit next to a guy who went to Epping boys! And the other half lived in either London or Vancouver. (well I've met 1 who studied in Van and 1 who studied in London - but those are pretty high odds for the first week.)

As far as the weather goes, its hot and windy in HK at the moment. You don't really want to go outside, but when you spend everyday going from home to bus to work to bus to home. You really need to go outside for a walk to get some sun. I haven't found a nice 'clear my head' walk yet, its a big change from working next to Sydney harbour and the Domain.

Its always interesting to see how the other side lives - and it gives you a chance to look at your own priorities and reassess whether they are in the right order. Hopefully I'll do some of that here.

I'm writing this in the business class lounge at HK airport :) Again, I probably could have written this in my hotel suite - but I'm just not in the right frame of mind when I'm in a hotel. I'm waiting to catch a plane to LA, then onto Boston for my company conference. And I'm quite looking forward to coming back to HK to begin my work here.