 | | Neela takes in the night life |
It鈥檚 official. The last rent cheque is in, I鈥檝e printed off my e-tickets and my date is booked to go down and tell the immigration office: I鈥檓 leaving Hong Kong. The last month here has generally consisted of two things: squeezing in the last tourist sights on our list and organising all of the seemingly endless documents that are required for both leaving our schools and leaving the country. Yet at the same time, it has actually felt surprisingly calm and surreal. Maybe I鈥檝e finally adapted to the fast-paced and chaotic Hong Kong lifestyle, or perhaps I鈥檇 just braced myself for so much madness that it was an inevitable anticlimax. My lesson plans are filed away, what felt like a million and one things to check off my list are finally (mostly) scrubbed out, and all that鈥檚 really left to do is take a good, long look around and feel confused about where on earth the time went. But rather like when you leave your house in a hurry, or you鈥檙e about to get on a plane for your holidays, I can鈥檛 help but wonder; 鈥淲hat have I forgotten?鈥. Indeed I鈥檓 a lot more confused about the whole process than I鈥檇 thought, and hoped, to be. That 鈥渁hhh鈥 feeling of completeness and clarity is lacking, and it鈥檚 a tad distressing. I guess I thought I鈥檇 be feeling more鈥 ready, than this. Perhaps I can blame it on the weather. The Hong Kong climate is always extreme and somewhat unpredictable, but recently it has been swinging between sweltering heat and tropical rainstorms. The latter of which results in a colourful but vicious umbrella battle in the streets (in a 鈥榮urvival of the fittest鈥 style all-out war), and makes sleeping particularly difficult at home, as it clonks on your air conditioning unit all night long. Leaving Hong Kong will be difficult There are some things about Hong Kong I may never get used to. But really I am distressingly aware that in preparing to return home, my resolve about leaving is waning. There suddenly seem to be a million reasons to stay and, in honesty, a huge part of me is craving the thought of continuing on in Hong Kong. | "There are some things about Hong Kong I may never get used to. " | |
When you get to thinking of all the things you鈥檙e going to miss about a place, you can begin to wonder what on earth you鈥檙e doing in leaving. Hong Kong is pretty blooming fantastic. Aside from the brilliant friends I鈥檝e made, I鈥檒l miss the food, the MTR, the amazing architecture, the way you can pay for anything with your Octopus card, the markets, the general cheapness of everything, the fact that ladies drink for free on Wednesdays; the list truly is endless. But there are also several things about home I鈥檝e equally missed- seeing grass, seeing the sky, being cold outside and hot inside, using cutlery rather than chopsticks for every single meal, cheese, breathing in clean air, not being dripped on by air conditioners whilst walking down the street鈥 that list is pretty exhaustive too. What鈥檚 particularly upsetting, however, is leaving school. I knew this would happen. I got too attached. I鈥檓 not sure when it happened exactly, but somewhere in between my inner mantra of 鈥渋t鈥檚 only for one year, it鈥檚 only for one year鈥 and playing 鈥渇ruitbowl鈥, those tiny tots have gotten to me. The vice-principal and I decided it best not to tell them I鈥檓 leaving until the very end, as apparently there would be too many tears and tantrums to continue with any kind of lesson. I think she was referring to the children. I was kind of referring to myself. Hong Kong school life has been great Of course, aside from all the trips, sights and adventures we鈥檝e been experiencing here, the main focus and time spent of the year has indeed been school. Though I mightn鈥檛 miss getting to work for half 7 every morning, the children here are incredibly adorable and being the in-school celebrity has been heaps of fun- I鈥檒l definitely miss the drawings of 鈥渕e and Miss Jane鈥 and the little gifts that get squashed into my hand at the end of class, or magically appear on my desk (ok granted, sometimes its chocolates, sometimes its dehydrated sea snails, but the thought is there and it鈥檚 touching all the same!). But the bell is, literally, ringing. End of school, time to go home. This has, without a doubt, been the biggest adventure of my life. In many ways I鈥檝e gained from it exactly what I wanted to achieve. This has included discovering a lot more about myself than I thought there was to know, and also learning a few general lessons of life. Firstly, I鈥檝e leant that the world really is incredibly small. With e-mails, phonecards and social networks like 鈥淔acebook鈥 doing the rounds, it really is so simple to keep in touch with people, no matter where they are. And since I鈥檓 now someone with a whole host of international friends in my address book, that鈥檚 reassuring to know. Secondly, I鈥檝e seen for myself that people, wherever they鈥檙e from and whatever they do, really are just people. On the surface, the cultural divide makes us appear alien to one another. But once you get to know individuals, after taking away the little exterior things such as appearance, dress, food and general social habits, you get to see that everyone is pretty much exactly the same! The stereotypes of a culture, such as the Chinese being 鈥渞eserved鈥 or 鈥渃old鈥, really begin to break down when you actually live in it. I wonder if my Chinese friends might have a different perspective of the typical western 鈥済weilo鈥, too. Oh, and third? Well, third is something that occurs to me as a comforting thought as I pack my bags and say the final goodbyes, and something that I had to travel six thousand miles across the world to truly discover for myself. It turns out that it鈥檚 true what they say: there鈥檚 no place like home. Neela |
