Thank
God for the diversity in New York City and the variety of cultures represented
at Babson college for helping my transition to Hong Kong go so smoothly.
Honestly, I feel like I’ve been l've been in Hong Kong for almost two
days already and surprisingly I don't feel ANY culture shock at all. I honestly
feel like I can take a bus and I'll be back in New York. I know I told myself
that I did not think if I could ever live anywhere else besides the US, but I
can definitely see myself living here. It feels like a very large version of
Chinatown in the US.
Before I start talking about how it feels to be
a student in Hong Kong, I want to point out a few differences:
For starters the exchange rate between the Hong
Kong dollar and the US dollar is 7.7 to 1 so for every USD I have 7.7 HKD.
This means I have a lot of buying power, which I have been taking
advantage of lol!! As hard as it was for me to believe, I have already spent
about $500 in less than two weeks. I've been telling myself that its because I
need to buy all the essentials and I'll start spending less money, but I really
hope that's true.
Next I'll talk about the restaurant
scene. So there are a myriad of different restaurants here that serve full
meals of good food for less that $10 USD. You can even get a good meal for less
than $5 USD. I'm no restuarant connoisseur, but I know what I like and so far I've loving
everything...except the ox tongue, which was not what I expected. Just to recap
what I just said, I ate ox tongue for the first time. For all you Africans, and
Latin Americans this may not be that big of a deal, but for me it was a leap of
faith. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I just feel like it wasn't prepared
properly. I also ate a dragon fruit for the first time.
To continue what I was saying about restaurants, at
every restaurant, they serve hot tea with the meal unlike in the US where
they serve cold water. If you want cold water you have to specify that you want
cold water because if you just ask for water, the person serving you will
probably serve you hot water. The first few times this happened to me I thought
there was miss-communication due to the language barrier but I was
informed that I would have to specify. Also if you want to thank your server
for the tea, you just tap your pointer and your middle finger on the table
twice. (For the sake of brevity, if you want to learn more about why
people tap their fingers when tea is poured you can read this article http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chineseteaandliquor/f/finger-tapping.htm).
Another aspect of the dining culture that I can't help but say I feel in love
with is the fact that you don't have to pay your server a tip. It is seen as
disrespectful to pay a tip. Not say that I am cheap or anything (cough cough),
but I'm trying to be more frugal to stretch out every cent that I have here.
One thing that made my jaw drop was when I went to the mall and saw that
Pizza hut was considered fine dining. To get into a Pizza Hut, you have to wait
outside to be directed to a table before you are served. This is truly culture
shock.
One major thing that I have observed is how structured the culture
is here. For example, I went to the movies the other day and on my ticket it
had an assigned seat like professional sports game. Also since the culture
emphasizes more community right instead of individual rights, the police have a
right to arrest and detain you without cause. So I can get arrested for not
doing anything at all, but from what I hear that almost never happens. Most of
the crime here is intelligent crime. I will be blown away the day I
see a public fight here.
To wrap things up, I want to point out a few not so shocking
aspects of culture the culture.One they drive on the opposite side of the
street. Most people don't throw away their garbage in fast food restaurants. I
went to KFC once and everyone just walked out with their trays still on the
table. Finally littering is a huge offense, you can be fined up to
$5000 HKD for litering. Although I haven't seen anyone get fined for that, its
still something to be conscious of.
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