Happy New Year from Hong Kong! It’s tough to believe the holiday season has come and gone so quickly... and that a new year has already gotten under way!
As exciting as these past few months have been, this was the first time in my life I have been away from my family at Christmastime. To make matters bleaker, for a few weeks leading up to the day itself, it looked as if my Christmas might be spent alone. Kevin, my only coworker here, went home to London for the holidays. He was quickly becoming a good friend, showing me around town, introducing me to his buddies and making sure I got to know how things worked, both in and out of the office. But apart from him, I was not making new friends as quickly as I had hoped. And with him back home, I didn’t have a holiday plan. Hong Kong was all decked out for the season, but I wasn't completely in a Christmas mood.
As exciting as these past few months have been, this was the first time in my life I have been away from my family at Christmastime. To make matters bleaker, for a few weeks leading up to the day itself, it looked as if my Christmas might be spent alone. Kevin, my only coworker here, went home to London for the holidays. He was quickly becoming a good friend, showing me around town, introducing me to his buddies and making sure I got to know how things worked, both in and out of the office. But apart from him, I was not making new friends as quickly as I had hoped. And with him back home, I didn’t have a holiday plan. Hong Kong was all decked out for the season, but I wasn't completely in a Christmas mood.
The Christmas Tree in the HSBC Building
You see, when I first arrived here, my company put me up in an extended-stay hotel in the Mid-levels, a part of town very popular with expatriates. Extremely quiet and residential, the Mid-levels is a tough place to meet other young, like-minded individuals in a similar situation as myself. Don’t get me wrong—my apartment at 2 MacDonnell Road was wonderful and I loved living up there—but it definitely was not the best part of town for a lone twenty-two-year old who had just arrived in Hong Kong to make new friends. If I stay out here for several years, I would love to move back there, but I know that I made the right decision to relocate to a livelier, younger part of the city at this stage of the game.
.
My first apartment, in the Mid-levels
Since my second or third week out here, I had been on the hunt for a more permanent apartment. And after dozens of meetings with landlords and lunch-time tours of flats all over town, I finally found what I had been looking for. One Monday after work, I went to an upscale shopping mall in Causeway Bay to meet yet another landlord. To my surprise, I was not the only prospective tenant there that night but rather one of a group.
The last place we saw on that “apartment tour” was exactly what I had hoped for. It had a nice, big living room, reasonably-sized bedrooms (at least by Hong Kong standards) and a low price tag. It was in Wan Chai, a very fun and popular part of the city, and most importantly for me, it was a three bedroom apartment—meaning I would have roommates (read: new friends). In fact, the night I looked at that apartment, I made my first new friend out here. His name is Jurre, he's a twenty-three-year-old from the Netherlands and he was one of the other people on that “apartment tour.”
Afterwards, we went out for a couple of beers in SoHo, exchanged e-mail addresses and ultimately decided to become roommates, taking two of the three bedrooms in that last flat. Before I even moved in to the new apartment, the landlords informed Jurre and me that they had rented out the third room to “a funny German guy named Julian.” That's all they told us about him.
The moment Jurre and I met Julian, a twenty-year-old German doing an eight-month internship out here, I realized instantly that I had struck gold with both of these roommates. The three of us clicked, and on December 17 (the day I moved in to the new apartment), it finally looked as though I wouldn’t be alone for Christmas after all.
With Kevin back home, I was also given the task of running our office by myself for two weeks. Although I knew from the start it would be invaluable in terms of building confidence and teaching me how things work, I couldn’t help but be extremely nervous. I mean, I had been out here for less than two months, and now I was left completely alone to do it all. Luckily, the Christmas season is generally slow in the finance world, so it was the perfect chance to learn the tricks of the trade and get firsthand experience putting things together.
Fear not, the office is still in business, and I feel so much more assured than I did two weeks ago. I have finally moved up to the next level, and I could never have done that without jumping (or being pushed) off the deep end.
With December 25 quickly approaching, my roommates and I bought and decorated a Christmas tree for the apartment, and one of Julian’s coworkers invited us to her rooftop apartment in Happy Valley for a Christmas Eve barbeque, which was wonderful.
The last place we saw on that “apartment tour” was exactly what I had hoped for. It had a nice, big living room, reasonably-sized bedrooms (at least by Hong Kong standards) and a low price tag. It was in Wan Chai, a very fun and popular part of the city, and most importantly for me, it was a three bedroom apartment—meaning I would have roommates (read: new friends). In fact, the night I looked at that apartment, I made my first new friend out here. His name is Jurre, he's a twenty-three-year-old from the Netherlands and he was one of the other people on that “apartment tour.”
Afterwards, we went out for a couple of beers in SoHo, exchanged e-mail addresses and ultimately decided to become roommates, taking two of the three bedrooms in that last flat. Before I even moved in to the new apartment, the landlords informed Jurre and me that they had rented out the third room to “a funny German guy named Julian.” That's all they told us about him.
The moment Jurre and I met Julian, a twenty-year-old German doing an eight-month internship out here, I realized instantly that I had struck gold with both of these roommates. The three of us clicked, and on December 17 (the day I moved in to the new apartment), it finally looked as though I wouldn’t be alone for Christmas after all.
With Kevin back home, I was also given the task of running our office by myself for two weeks. Although I knew from the start it would be invaluable in terms of building confidence and teaching me how things work, I couldn’t help but be extremely nervous. I mean, I had been out here for less than two months, and now I was left completely alone to do it all. Luckily, the Christmas season is generally slow in the finance world, so it was the perfect chance to learn the tricks of the trade and get firsthand experience putting things together.
Fear not, the office is still in business, and I feel so much more assured than I did two weeks ago. I have finally moved up to the next level, and I could never have done that without jumping (or being pushed) off the deep end.
With December 25 quickly approaching, my roommates and I bought and decorated a Christmas tree for the apartment, and one of Julian’s coworkers invited us to her rooftop apartment in Happy Valley for a Christmas Eve barbeque, which was wonderful.
Rooftop barbeque on Christas Eve
And at the last minute, one of Kevin’s friend’s, Dan, was nice enough to invite me to lunch on Christmas Day with a big group of his friends, which wound up being more fun than I could have ever hoped. It was a multi-course meal at a restaurant called Wagyu, on Wyndham Street, and the food was delicious.
With Dan for Christmas Lunch at Wagyu
The week between Christmas and New Year flew by, and all of the sudden it was New Year's Eve. “Western New Year,” as they call it out here, isn’t quite as big a deal in Hong Kong as Chinese New Year, but it was still a very fun night. There was a countdown and a small fireworks display, but apparently they are saving more impressive pyrotechnics to celebrate the Year of the Tiger in February.
In the end, my first Christmas season away from home wound up being memorable and very enjoyable. I couldn’t have asked for anything more! I can safely say that 2009 was one of the most exciting years of my life—finishing off my college career with a bang, taking me to four continents and sending me off on a rewarding new journey for the next stage of my life. I have high hopes for 2010 and am looking forward to all the adventures it has in store.
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