Hong Kong is such an interesting place. I’ve often called it the ‘New York’ of asia, its a melting pot of different cultures, races and communities. The rich of the rich and the poor of the poor all living together in a pool of almost 8 million people in an area the size of Perth City.

Different areas of the city reflect different mindsets and cultural norms. From the freshly waxed shiny marble floors, french patisseries and couture fashion galleries of Times Square to the soft wafts of incense circulating the red and gold Buddhist temples of Wong Tai Sin, it is definitely unlike any place I have yet to know.

The past few days I’ve been absorbing the energy of the bright lights, crowds and the HK chinese culture. Its been great having friends here that have been able to take me around to eat (a major past time of local HK’ers) and explain to me the ins and outs about getting myself set up here as a long term resident. Thats such a crazy thought. I still can’t believe I am here and that this place will be my home now. That this busy lifestyle and culture is now my life. It makes me realise that taking time to rest is going to be more of a conscious decision now.

I don’t want to be here in the mindset that I am apart from this. A ‘me versus them’ mentality. I want to really be a part of what’s going on over here, involved in the culture and fully engaged in everything that I am doing. I don’t want to have regrets about being here, and in full honesty I don’t, because here is what I truly believe is where God wants me to be. No matter how much of a fish out of water I am feeling right now.

Knowing the fact that God has me out here for a reason makes it quite exciting. It feels like I am living on the edge, not quite sure about what’s going to happen but knowing what ever does happen, is meant to be.

I caught up with my friend Dave tonight. Its funny how you can have friendships that pick up right where they left off. Dave is definitely one of those friends for me, even after seeing him again at christmas for the first time in something like 4-5 years, its like we had never stopped talking. Dave is an accountant, and accountants are good friends to have. Especially when you are not familiar with the currency or the expenditure of the country. So he sat down with me tonight and helped me do my budget and explained a few ‘need to knows’ about Hong Kong to me.

Some surprising things he said was that if you want to get a good deal in a shop or get good customer service you need to speak english. Don’t speak cantonese. He said he never speaks cantonese with shop attendants, unless they are small local stores. I got a mobile plan today and he reckons I got ripped off because I tried to speak cantonese with the shop assistant, and that if I had spoken in english I proberly would of gotten a better deal. I’m not sure how that works but apparently it works. We tried his theory out in one of the shops and surely enough the shop assistant was alot more polite and courteous. Bizarre.

Another interesting thing was that whilst doing my budget I realised exactly how low the tax is in HK. I worked it out I was paying less than 1% tax on my income, which I think is absolutely crazy. Less than 1% tax?! Apparently the maximum tax you will pay on your income in HK is 15% which is really good considering I was paying about 25-30% out of my salary in Australia. That proberly explains why so many people from overseas come and stay in HK; high expatriate incomes, low taxes, and low cost of living makes for a nice comfortable life.
I am moving into my apartment on Thursday and I can’t hardly wait. Living in my grandmas tiny apartment is proving challenging. It feels claustrophobic and I hate the feeling of living out of a suitcase. I can’t wait to set up my apartment the way I want it, with more space to move and a home for the very few things I do have left. I feel pretty blessed the school gives me a place to stay, the most expensive thing about living in HK is rent and that is the one thing I don’t have to think about.

Will I be here forever? I doubt it. I know its for a season. But in the meantime I am going to make the most of it. A couple of my goals for this season is to learn to speak Cantonese more fluently, to get to know my family better and to get a deeper heart for the city and the people here. Its going to be a fun ride!

I think a place can change you.

I think we can go places and we come back different. Something has changed. Maybe it is us or maybe it is them – whatever it is, something is different now.

The thing about growing up as a third culture kid (TCK), is that we’ve experienced too many cultures to ever just call one place home. I’ve lived in different cities across 3 different countries, I’ve been places, seen things and come back to find that either I have changed or the place I called home has changed. Things are never the same as we remembered it. Peoples lives move on. Time never stands still as much as we can sometimes want it to.

I have a friend who went to a third world country and he came back different. He saw pain, hunger, poverty and suffering with his own eyes. He saw small children die of AIDS. He went to try to do something. When he came back he was not the same anymore. I think it made him realise alot of things that he used to care about in sleepy suburbia seem all of a sudden small and insignificant. That there are more important things in life than finding a parking space in the parking lot. Or getting annoyed that the neighbors dog keeps pooping on your front lawn. We live a very comfortable life here in Perth.

Like I said, a place can change you.

I was talking to my friend as she drove me home tonight about her own experience of leaving the country and then coming back. We both agreed that we come back, after seeing different cultures and people, with different eyes. You come back wondering where or how you fit in this familiar, yet different home. Sometimes I still struggle with this. I wonder how I fit in. Or how people now relate to me and vice versa. Its just about different life experiences.

My best friend went to China and she came back different. She came back changed. It was good and it was part of the journey God had her on. The experience molded and shaped her into the beautiful person she is today. I wouldn’t change a thing about her.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Perth. I love my life, my friends, my church and everything else my life consists of. God’s given me so much and I am really blessed, sometimes more than I think I even realise. But I know that with me leaving this place, this country and culture, when I come back, life here won’t be how I left it.

I guess thats what also makes life exciting, God has us all on a journey. I sometimes get an itch to want to go out and do something. To dig my fingers in the dirt and grass stains on my knees, to experience something that will change me. I think life’s too short to not. I think with God we never really know how the journey will really pan out, but we know and trust that whatever it is, or wherever it is, with Him it will be Good.