Maids on Sundays

Maids hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.

I don't think I ever posted anything about the maids here in Hong Kong. Here in Hong Kong it is very common to have a live-in maid. Her job is usually to cook, clean, take care of the kids and dogs. She lives with the family and she works six days a week. It doesn't cost that much and many middle-class house holds have a maid. My in-laws have a maid. We don't. I don't want one either, although I really wouldn't mind to have someone coming in to clean our apartment once a week. 

When I first arrived to Hong Kong, (it's already been a year!), I saw all these girls (yes, just girls) hanging out in the parks on Sundays. So many! I was wondering what it was about, and only Sundays. It turns out it's the maids day off and since they cannot meet at someone's home they hang out in groups in parks, all year round, rain or shine, hot or cold. 

I'm not sure what I think about it. Although all people should have the same value, it feels like they are not regarded as equals, instead they are of less value, and that upsets me. I don't know if that is the case, it is just a feeling I have. I hope I'm wrong... 

Be careful what you wish for...

Be careful what you wish for... right?  

After not been working for about six months I was absolutely thrilled to finally have a job! The job was telemarketing, although my title was Audience Development Executive, I think... It was a crappy job for me, I don't have the mental strength to work with contacting people all day. Either way it did help me get in to the Hong Kong working life. I tell the girls in that department, I have the most utterly respect for them, and I do! They manage to stay alive and healthy while working with telemarketing. Those girls are good. But it was not for me, even my boss told me so haha. 

Anyway, I was lucky enough that another job opportunity opened up within the same company and the HR department thought that I would be a good match, and so far they sure are right. I am right now working as Assistant Editor for CFO Innovation, a website with only content relevant to CFOs, Finance Directors and other senior finance professionals. I know, finance has never been my strong suit, but it's new, and I can learn, right? Heck, I am learning already! So far I am mostly reading white papers and uploading them to our website. I read press releases, read newsletters, send out newsletters and trying to learn the finance language. Everything is new and it's fun! I am so grateful to have gotten this opportunity. Let's hope it works out well in the long run too:). 

Not only did I get a full time job, 

a) I'm still both writing stories and editing for Bulletinen, the Swedish magazine 

b) I am the Editor-in-Chief for SWEA, and we are working hard on getting somewhere with their yearly magazine

c) I am taking a course to become an RPM Instructor 

Dingding says Hi!

So yes, life is busy, just as I wished for of course, but in a good way so far! I like it better when the quiet moments become rare and I can actually take advantage of those precious breathing holes. 

Yep, life is picking up and perhaps Hong Kong will start to feel like home one day... We'll see. 

Asians are bad drivers, right?

Asians are known for being bad drivers. They have that reputation worldwide. I remember when I was in New York and got on the bus to Kennedy Airport and it was an Asian driver, I was expecting a near-death experience. I know, talk about being prejudice. 

I have to say that considering how many cars and Asian drivers you have here in Hong Kong, it's very few car accident, and I rarely see bumps and scratches on the cars. So I am boldly saying that at least drivers in Hong Kong are pretty good drivers! 

Let me explain. First, riding in a taxi, a mini bus or even one of the tall buses gives me motion sickness. There are sudden turns, quick brakes and noisy. I sit there holding on for dear life following the road ahead to stay calm. Here is the thing, EVEN if they drive like this they very rarely get in to accidents! To me it means they know exactly how many millimeters or inches they have left to the car next to them, they know when to let someone get in the right lane, they use their blinkers frequently and drive aggressively but without getting agitated. 

Honey keeps telling me the reason there are so few accidents is because it's always traffic here and therefore everyone drives slow, people are so cheap and don't want to dent their cars, so they drive very carefully, and when you drive so slow there won't be any dents on the cars even if you bump in to each other. Sure, I buy that, it makes sense, people who drive in Hong Kong usually have very nice cars, Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati or Porsche are common sights. But still, it's a fine line. I still claim that despite the dizzy rides the professional drivers in Hong Kong know what they are doing. 
Honk Honk!

Where did it go?

I don't know where my work out spark went. It's gone, and I miss it tremendously. I wish it would come back... For many years I have needed one week off from work out a few times a year to get the spark to come back. This time it's been gone for a month, and I have been working out once or twice a week, out of pity. You know how good you feel after a work out, even if the thought of it before you got there was dreadful? Well, I haven't even had that... So, it's gone, and I miss it tremendously... 

I am a cardio lover, as a spinning instructor of course I love cardio. After our successful 10k run in January I wanted to run more, and farther. I started my quest to run a half marathon. I knew I could do it. I used the app Runkeeper to keep me on my toes with running four times a week, following a special training program. It was going great. I even ran 15k for the first time in my life, and it felt fantastic! 

Then around Chinese New Year I started to have bad asthma attacks. So bad that I time after time had to stop running and walk back with my breathing severely choked. That was even if I took asthma medicine before the run, and brought it along to use in case of emergency. It didn't help. Okay I thought, it's going to be better soon. I had a theory that if I ran on the treadmill I could keep going, but it didn't help to go inside... Sometimes I can run on the treadmill for 15 mins, slow, but then it gets difficult to breath again. This was in February, it's now May, and it's not really better. It sucks. I hate it. So I now try to go to strength training, weight lifting, and that's boring. I am trying to enjoy it,  but I don't really, and that is sad. I know it's good for me, but I cannot get around to it as often as I should. Any excuse it seems like is a good excuse to not work out right now, and that's not me. 

I miss my work out spark, I miss it tremendously. 

What about the weather?

As a Swede you don’t realize just how obsessed we are with the weather, until you meet people who don’t care whatsoever. Hong Kong people don’t care about the weather. They look at me funny when I talk about the weather, like, why does it matter? It’s all the same to them, (except that it's not)... To me it’s second nature to talk about the weather changes, and I love talking about it no matter if I know the person or not. It’s almost an obsession haha. Well, perhaps it even counts as an obsession?

I guess if you grew up in Hong Kong, where the weather is not that dramatically different around the year I you stopped to notice. Basically you can dress the same all year round. Even if it will get a bit cold in the winter, the cold days usually just last for just a few days. In the summer it’s usually too hot to be outside anyway, and the Air Condition is blasting so frosty that people wear the same layer of clothes inside during the summer months as they would wear outside during the winter. Does it makes sense?

But they DO have more weather change than what they think. Right now the weather is very unpredictable. It’s raining, then pouring, 20 degrees and then 29 degrees, extremely humid, after thunder not so humid and sunny, all in the same day. True spring weather, so to speak. On my way to work I may walk in a short sleeved top, sweating at 8am in the morning. When I go out for lunch it’s instead a bit chilly, very windy and black clouds all around. And when I’m done for the day and head home, it’s pretty decent, I just need a thin sweater over my shoulder and walk home comfortably. I know, it doesn’t sound to exciting, but for me it is!

I am almost as obsessed with the weather as I am about time. I always want to know what time it is. I have clocks everywhere, including in the bathroom. A good living room usually needs two clocks, no matter how small the space is. And I nearly panic if I don’t wear a watch when I leave the house. Am I weird? I don’t know, I think that’s how I’ve always been. Perhaps it did get worse over the years, or perhaps I just didn’t notice that it was an obsession before. I think I got this need to keep an eye on time from my dad… (Love you pappi!)

High Tea

Three story tower of sweet and savory treats... 

To eat High Tea in Hong Kong is kind of a big deal. They offer it at many places, but the most famous places are the Peninsula Hotel i Tsim Sha Tsui and Repulse Bay Hotel. High tea is served in the afternoon, usually sometime between 3 to 6pm. At the more popular places it's also ridiculously expensive, but worth at least one try. Honey and I tried it at Repulse Bay a few weeks ago, and it didn't let down. 

Delicious scones :). 

At high tea you get a cup of tea, usually scones with butter and jelly, and mini pastries, both sweet and savory. It doesn't look like much when you get in the three story tower of foods, but it sure is plenty. We got excellent scones, lovely savory tiny sandwiches, sweet pastries, waffles, cheese sticks and mango pudding. I ate it all, slowly, and enjoying all of it. For that price there is no chance of leaving one little crumb. It was delicious and for a once in a lifetime thing, or for a celebration of some sorts, High Tea is totally worth it. If you haven't tried it, I strongly suggest that you do so. At Repulse Bay you also get the wonderful sea view, just that is worth a lot for us who lives in the city with houses wherever you turn. 

Sweet pastries, yum! 

Reflections of the Lunch hour

Lunch hour, THE lunch hour, perhaps even hours if you are in France or Spain. After working in a few different countries I have noticed that the only place so far where the lunch hour isn’t sacred is in the US (and sometimes in Sweden). Everywhere else people seem to actually take their lunch hour seriously. Phones are turned off, operators don’t pick up, people are out eating lunch, taking a stroll, drinking coffee after the meal. No one is expected to answer their phone during lunch, and it’s okay, you just call back later. If you would get ahold of someone during lunch, they giggle a little at your mistake of calling during the holy hour, and tell you to call back later. No harm, no hard feelings, that’s just how it is. And it’s nice, and quiet if you are eating in the office.

Here in Hong Kong the lunch hour is the social hour, or so it feels. Everyone are working real hard before and after lunch, but during lunch, they don’t work. We may discuss work while eating, but that’s it. And since it’s usually cheap, (around 50 HKD or less for a set lunch), most people go out to eat. Of course there are a few people that still sit at their desk to eat lunch, but they are the exceptions that make the rule, or however you say it.

It’s nice to get away from the office for a while, especially with the weather being so nice here in Hong Kong during their winter season. People may have to work until 7 or 8pm at night, but that won’t stop them from taking that one hour break in the middle of the day. So don’t try to call someone working in Hong Kong between 1 and 2pm, they probably won’t answer… :)