It’s this time of the week again. Sunday evening blogging!
This week I spent in Taiwan. There was this huge conference called APAIE. It’s the world’s third biggest conference on international education. Since I’m working for a university agency, I was there meeting for potential partners or old friends. I happened to meet many people that I have encountered somewhere. It was such a great week! Exhausting, but great 😉
The conference was held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. For me the city was already familiar, since I spent there 5 months in 2013-2014. Kaohsiung is the second biggest city in Taiwan. It has only two subway lines, which makes it simple to go around the city. Also going there from Hong Kong was really convenient, since there was very affordable direct flight that takes only an hour to Kaohsiung. I feel that I should start going there more often for example for a weekend.
Being in Kaohsiung was very nostalgic. The atmosphere there is relaxed and people are nice. Taiwanese people like to enjoy life so they are smiling a lot. Also, eating out is cheap. When I was staying in Korea and Taiwan, I had this 10€ per day budget. I’ve tried to have that in Hong Kong as well, but it’s very difficult. In Taiwan, you can get so much more in a day with 10€ than in Hong Kong. People also speak quite clear Mandarin Chinese so it’s a good place to practice your Chinese. For me, Taiwan is important, since four years ago I was going through a difficult phase in my life. When I arrived to Taiwan to study Chinese, everything became clear and all the worries disappeared. I started making new friends and enjoying life. I still feel that I want to return to Taiwan to study for Masters or MBA, but for now, I want to get some work experience before continuing study.
This week was a good experience to experience conference life. After spending time at the conference, you still spend time with colleagues or the new people you met. And when you finally arrive back to hotel, there are about 20 emails waiting for you. But hey, it’s life! I got a pile of business cards and lots of new contacts. Now comes the hard part… follow-ups and staying in touch with all those people.
What happens next? I came back to Hong Kong for one night. Tomorrow I’ll be flying to Japan for two weeks. First there is Slush Tokyo and then some work related stuff. After that, few days of visiting friends and then back to HK.
My blog posts are getting shorter and shorter. Also with less pictures. I have to brush up. Now need some sleep.
Almost forgot that today is blog posting day! So how was my week?
Last time I posted some pictures of seafood I enjoyed on Sunday evening. Well, it didn’t go that well. I got food poisoning and started vomiting at 5:30am. Then came diarrhea. Then came fever. I had to skip work for two days because of that. Didn’t really like it, since I had lots of things to do. It didn’t even go away after two days. I think the whole week I have been feeling a bit weird. I have to be careful with fish. Lucky I don’t eat fish that much.
What else. I was actually planning to try writing a blog little by little everyday, but coudln’t because of food poisoning. Next time I have to try harder. Anyways, the reason for this would be to be able to write about my everyday feelings more precisely. Writing about feelings from Tuesday on Sunday is sometimes hard, so maybe I could express myself better by writing eeryday. Next week’s challenge 😉
Currently I’m in Taiwan. I came here for business trip. There is this huge conference on international education that I’m participating in. Going to be so much fun. Hopefully I can meet many new faces and some old faces as well. I was going through the participation list and there should be some people I know already. We arrived here today with my boss and colleagues. Getting to know the premises and eating some delicious local dishes. I didn’t really remember how nice place Taiwan is. Compared to Hong Kong, it’s so wide. In Hong Kong everything is small and there are lots of people. Here, the pedestrian ways are almost empty. We were talking about the goals of this trip and I set one of my personal goals to become more emotionally familiar with Taiwan. After all, this is my third time here.
This week was also interesting kendo-week. Although I couldn’t participate on Wednesday, on Saturday I had a match with one of our clubmembers. It was an intense match and I was able to see it on video afterwards. My kendo looks like I’m really old man. I have to start excercing more to get my speed back. I actually happened to bump into a personal trainer on a street (she gave me her business card). Now I’ve been chatting with her to make a plan to lose some weight after my business trips. I don’t dare to set any goals yet, but so far I’ve tried to be a bit careful about not injuring myself. I have some background on overdoing sports and some injuries related to that so this time I’m trying to be smarter than before. This also explains, why I haven’t been doing kendo more than twice a week. +20kg overweight might not be the best situation to start running around like a 19-year-old.
It was also a positive surprise to be able to get a prepaid-simcard at the airport. When I was here last time, 2013-2014, that wasn’t possible. In fact, it would seem that getting data-simcard has been getting easier in Asia. Same in Korea. Same in Japan. When I was studying in these countries, I had to rely on Wifi. At the same time, in Finland it has been super easy to get mobile-internet from the local convenience store. Having access to internet makes life so much easier.
Well, busy week a head. Life is good. Cheap food, cheap tea. Sorry, no pictures this time. Going to have a short post this time.
This week I felt that I’m slowly getting used to Hong Kong. Although, I might have felt similar before, this time the feeling was stronger. On Monday, I went to Toastmasters, and people had started to remember my name. So I’ve been there enough times and made myself memorable. Yay! I also started feeling that I belong to the club Achievers.
Also at kendo, I started feeling that I was part of the club. I’ve been thinking about culture shock and how it would affect me, but so far my feelings have been getting better lately. I’ve also tried to stop drinking coffee, since it seems to make me hyperactive and I would lose my concentration at work.
Work has been well. Things are progressing. Business trip to Taiwan and Japan are coming soon. Looking forward for them.
I went to China on Friday for a business trip. My boss asked me on Monday, if I wanted to go for few meetings. It wasn’t mandatory for me. I wasn’t sure would it be beneficial for me. I mean, of course it would be, but would it be enough to spend a day in Shenzhen, rather than staying at office preparing for Taiwan and Japan? Then I remembered how our kendo-sensei (grandmaster) had talked about taking initiative in life. I have to be willing to take the step towards unknown rather than waiting for someone to tell me to do it. So I told my boss, that I want to be the main speaker at the meetings. He was okay with it. So I would be the one leading the speech as much as possible. And that’s what happened, more or less. There were some parts I wasn’t so sure, so I would let someone else to explain them, but other than that it was a good experience. As I’m doing sales work, I need experience on meeting people and some feedback on how I’m doing it. It was a good trip and a good thing that I took initiative to want to speak more on the meetings. I once heard, that participation works better for memory as well. I think if you just listen, you’ll remember 30% of the converstation, if you take part, it would be more than 70%. I have find source for that. I’m sure others have heard similar.
This week there was All Asia Hong Kong Open Kendo 2017 tournament. I couldn’t participate this time. I never really liked competing, but seeing people do it here, made me more interested as well. There is going to be another competition in end of April and I think I’m taking part there. Kinda excited. But from most of the preparation time, I will be on a business trip. I have to find way to make my self fit for the competition. Maybe gym or something. Huh huh.
After the competition, I stayed with all the masters for dinner. There were also lower level kenshi, but most of them were master-level. The good thing about after-kendo is, that that is the time you get most of the new teachings. On a bus trip to the restaurant, one master was telling me the importance of how to hold the sword. Later another one told me his view on how to swing the sword without using too much energy. I think learning new things goes in small steps. It doesn’t really help, if someone tells you everything at once, but you have to digest everything bit by bit. This is what I have also liked at kendo in Hong Kong. I get small bits every time. I just still feel that my body isn’t up in the speed for practicing so maybe I should start jogging or going to gym or something.
Kendo food
Getting late. Need to sleep. New stories next week! Probably I will be writing from Taiwan! See you then!
It’s this time of the week again. Time to make some ideas public!
This week was a bit out of ordinary. First I was trying to get back to working speed after my trip to Korea. Then on Wednesday my boss, my colleague and I headed to China for a business trip. One business trip after another. Nice. It was first time for me to experience China. I actually liked it. I thought China would be really crowded and dirty. But Guangzhou was actually quite nice. But my boss was saying that it has changed a lot in past years. I have a double-entry visa, so I can go there again at some time. Maybe there will be a new business trip for me in few months. Who knows.
It was a good trip. We learned a lot about markets in China and how to develop our business there and met potential partners. Lots of new ideas came during and after the trip. For me, it was professionally and culturally a good experience. It was also nice to notice that I do know some Mandarin Chinese after all. I could follow some discussions and sometimes give really short (few words) comments. I’m improving! Yay! I think these past few weeks have been a real boost for my Korean and Chinese abilities. Now I’m more confident in continuing studying these languages. I think it was a good thing to come to Hong Kong 🙂
On Saturday one person from the local kendoclub is returning to her home country. We had a farewell keiko (practice) for her and afterwards went to restaurant for a farewell dinner. Both occasions were really memorable. She was given a chance to practice with everyone for a one really short match (30sec, ipponshoubu). There were like 25 of us so it had to be given short. The dinner was traditional and we could enjoy local dishes and drinks. I decided to use my ToastMasters skills and was the master of ceremony for her farewell dinner. I organized everyone to share their feelings and later a question-and-answer session. We ended the dinner with Japanese way of doing Ippon-jime, where everyone claps hands together at the same time, representing the closure of the evening. It went really nice. I also got really good advice and comments from sensei (grandmaster). I’m glad that I decided to continue kendo in Hong Kong. A hobby is such a nice way to connect with local people. I’ve been wondering, do I have too many hobbies here in Hong Kong and should I slow down a bit? Well, let’s hope I don’t burnout. Wouldn’t be the first time… uhh.
Kendo dinner
On Sunday I met a local friend. It’s funny, we hadn’t ever met, but since she also studied in Osaka at same university as I did in 2010-2011, we became friends. We had so much good food today. We went to a restaurant that arranged food in really cute manner. Unfortunately it didn’t stop me from eating these chic-shaped buns 😉 (they tasted like pineapple)
We also went to Hong Kong peak. Last time that I went there, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see anything. This time it was less foggy. Was a nice view. Nice way to spend Sunday.
We also went to Madam Tussaud’s wax cabinet. I’ve heard about it but never actually visited. All the models looked so real. Huh huh. Had an important phone call with president Obama, change of seats with the Royal family and a pose with man from the stars (famous Korean drama, for those who don’t know).
Writing a blog is quite nice. What I find challenging is that during the week I get these good ideas to what about I should write. When I actually sit down to write, I don’t remember these good points. Maybe I should start to take notes. Or write during the week.
Well. This was for this week. China, kendo, food… had a good week. Time to call it a day. See you next week!
Huh huh. What a week. Yesterday I returned from my business trip to South Korea. I met many potential partners and many old friends. The trip wasn’t the greatest success, but still a success. I was able to grow on professional and personal level. The trip was very refreshing and I’m glad I was able to visit South Korea on these circumstances.
First I want to say that my Korean has taken a great step forward. I don’t feel shy and scared to open my mouth. I don’t say, that I’m good at it or that I’m a proficient user, but speaking out is not hard anymore. This is a huge step. I mean, you can be good at a language, without being able to speak (good at listening and reading), but what people usually see out is what comes out from your mouth. Although I still have problems understanding what people are saying to me, this is a good step to continue learning. I still have quite limited vocabulary so I should study more words. I call this learning style “do nothing and improve”, because that’s how it feels. I have been practicing Korean with a private teacher, tutor and friend, but I think I took a step forward in Korea. I used to feel this way with English and Japanese. Both languages came to me from TV, so I didn’t feel that I was studying that hard in order to improve. Next one is Chinese. Have to keep learning. But for me, learning a language seems to take at least 5 years so that it starts coming out without fear.
Staying in Korea felt natural for me. Eating kimchi everyday and taking subway around Seoul. I’m g lad I have been to Korea so many times so moving around was easy for me. But the interesting thing is that when I came back to Hong Kong, I also felt like returning to home. Although I’ve stayed here less than two months, coming back here felt somehow relaxing. I thought, it would have been a bit stressful, since I haven’t completely gotten used to life in HK yet. I also got a new apartment. Now I have my own small apartment with own kitchen and own bathroom. And TV. I haven’t really had chance to watch TV in Hong Kong. Although I prefer to watch my favorite shows online, having TV in apartment makes the life less lonely. Today, Pokemon was on. I watched it to pick up some words in Cantonese. Small steps. I hope I can find a channel with English news so I get to know what is happening around HK.
Pokemon in Cantonese. Maybe I’m too old for this, but it’s good practice.
The professional growth happened when I was meeting potential partners and they told me what the field of international education is like in South Korea. I got new ideas on how to conquer Korean markets. It might be hard, but I think that I should still put time and effort in Korea. My boss has told me, that in Asia volumes are big. The start might be difficult, but when people start buying, there will be lots of buyers. I hope that will happen with us as well. Have to keep working hard and studying Korean hard.
I also met a dear friend of mine who gave me ideas on education in Asia. Not just her, but many others said that there would be more demand for studies in Europe or Finland. Have to think about that. I understood that Finnish universities haven’t been that interested in international markets in past few years. A pity though. There would be lots of people who want to study in Finland.
I also learned something new about culture shock. So far I have felt that I have gone through the cycle in 6 weeks. If I think about my life in Japan in 2010-2011, I think it took longer to go through all the phases. I was listening to a intercultural training and I learned that it can actually take longer. So instead of trusting all my past experiences, I should consider the situation again. I also learned that for interculturally minded people the cycle might be slightly rising, rather than going roller coaster of emotions. Anyways, this would explain, why I haven’t felt all the phases of culture shock after my arrival to Hong Kong.
Anyways, about travelling between countries. I have experienced, that visiting cultures many times is more important than staying there for long time. Or at least, it has helped me a lot. Maybe it has something to do with your brains needing time to process all the information. When I stayed in Japan 2008 for three months, I learned to speak Japanese, but almost forgot it in two weeks after I went back to Finland. When I went there back again in summer 2009, speaking was much easier, although I hadn’t spoken that much Japanese in Finland. I felt, that everytime I went there, came back and forgot, went there again and remembered, the language became stronger. So maybe similar is happening with Korean now. I’ve been there many times, but the actual growth has happened when I’m outside the country. Or this is how I’ve felt about improving in languages for the past 9 years.
This is it for this week. New week coming ahead. Going to have a business trip to China. First time for me to go to Mainland China. Huh huh. Looking forward to it.
Yet another week passed. Waking up problems still occur. Haven’t found a solution. Maybe it will get better soon. I’ve been trying to be merciful for myself. There has been lots of changes lately. First, I came to Hong Kong. I haven’t really gone through the “honeymoon phase” of culture shock. The one where everything is super cool. I think I’m just so used to Asia already. I also had to move out from my current apartment, which is a stress, but in a way relief that my next apartment is not shared anymore. Yay!
I’m currently in South Korea. I came here for a business trip and today visited a study fair. I’ve been working hard and preparing for the trip, but now it’s finally happening. I will see the fruits of my labor. Being in Korea actually feels really good. Right after I left the airport, I’ve been feeling much better. Not sure why, but it could be because I’ve been in Korea so many times and I have friends here so the emotional connection is much stronger than in Hong Kong, where I’m first time.
Today I was able to meet many students who were interested in studying in Finland. Although I’m not working for any Finnish university, with my background being working in one and having friends who studied in Finland, I could answer all the tricky questions about what is required, how much is tuition and where who can study and what. Mainly people were speaking English, but in few cases I had to use my (bad) Korean and explain the some basics about studying in Finland. It was actually quite fun. I could do that more. Maybe even for living. I also met few people who had studied in Finland. It was very interesting.
I’ve also been enjoying Korean food. It does taste so much different than Korean food in Hong Kong. Or Finland. Much better here. I should come here more often. Maybe in future, I get to travel to Korea more often.
Next week is going to be very active. I have to be looking for new clients and meet new partners. I’ve done telemarketing before, but this kind of marketing or sales is a new experience for me. Luckily I get to be in a familiar culture. It’s going to be a really good experience for me.
I still would like to meet few friends while I’m in Seoul. I hope they have time to meet me. I hope that I will have time to meet them. Huh huh.
I’m not really sure what to think about the education market in Finland. What I have talked with people, it would seem that Finland still hasn’t understood that they have to start marketing our universities for paying customers. What I understood, that up until now, when there hasn’t been tuition fees for international students, universities haven’t been interested in getting many students. There hasn’t been need, because having many students would only bring more work, but not more money. Although there would have been lots of potential students to come to Finland to study. But from this year fall, non-EU students have to start pay tuition fees. It changes the game radically. Now universities really have to think where to get paying quality students. Let’s just hope that they understand it sooner than later. For now, I’m happy that I’m working for an agency and not for a university.
Shorter text than normally. I’ll report on my Korea trip next week!
This week has been weird as well. I thought that after last week, my sleeping problems (or waking up problems) would go away. Well they didn’t. Waking up every morning is so difficult. I’ve started going to work late and leave really late. Once I even tried to wake up myself with coffee by putting a cup of coffee next to my alarm. Alarm rang, I drank coffee, fell asleep again. Didn’t work out. On days like Monday and Tuesday, I had evening hobbies. Monday for Toastmasters and Tuesday for storytelling. Wednesday was for kendo. Thursday hanging out late at work. So was Friday. Huh huh.
On Friday, there was an accident at my closest subway station (Tsim Sha Tsui). I heard that some Chinese old man had tried to commit suicide by burning himself inside subway. My train didn’t stop at my station, so I had to walk from the second closest station back home. Later I heard that it was a firebomb attack and 18 people were injured. This made me thinking, that maybe I should spend more time following the local media. Maybe I can’t prevent anything, but at least I would stay in loop what’s happening here. I heard about the firebomb from my tailor. Maybe I shouldn’t rely on my tailor for new information about what’s happening in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2069900/five-injured-fire-breaks-out-hong-kong-mtr-train
Saturday was for doing laundry and kendo. Wednesday’s practice went really well. I felt so energetic. Saturday I couldn’t really adjust to others way of doing kendo, so I was a bit upset. I talked with one european kendo-player and he reminded me that the style everyone does here is quite different from Europe and Japan. It takes time to adjust to new ways of doing kendo. Need more practice.
Saturday morning I also had a session of Chinese with my tutor. She said that I have improved a lot since we started studying together in autumn. She also pointed out that it is easy to teach me, since I know so many Chinese characters. When you have basis in Japanese, learning to read Chinese just requires learning new ways of pronunciating characters. It’s actually a great advantage, compared to people who don’t have any background in any Asian languages. But still, my handwriting sucks, which is understandable, since I haven’t really spent that much time writing anything in Chinese or Japanese. Typing is okay, since I know which characters to use and how they are pronounced.
One of the reasons for writing a blog was that I would also share my work experience to others. So far I haven’t talked about my work that much. I’m working for a company that is a university agency. Asia Exchange provides alternative possibilities for study abroad and study exchange programs. Traditionally universities have partner universties, where they send exchange students. I’m sure everyone who has taken part in exchange study program, has gone through some kind of bureaucracy that limits the mobility. There can be limitations on where who can go and study what. There can be limitations on how many students can go to one partner university. There can be limitation on your grades. If you have too bad grades, you can’t go study abroad. With us, there are no such limitations. By paying affordable tuition, it’s possible to experience study abroad in Asia with Asia Exchange. (www.asiaexchange.org)
So what do I do? I support the marketing in Asia at our Hong Kong office. There has been email contacting, cold calls, a campus visit and from next Saturday, I’m going to Korea for a business trip to find partners and clients. Nice. Then there is a business trip to China. And Taiwan. And Japan. So much fun 😉
Being an university agent isn’t that easy. Although we have a great product, many universities don’t want to play with us, because we are an agency. Sad, but true. Maybe they’ll change their minds at some point. I’ve worked in two universities before, and from what I have seen, I can say that university-university partnerships aren’t always that active. Partnerships are made for many years, but there might be very little activity going on. Originally I wanted to work in a university where I could promote exchange studies and help students to get awesome experience abroad. Perhaps working for an agency is a better option. At least for now. Also, getting networks and meeting people here in Asia is important.
On Sunday, I went to Stanley Market with my friend. It’s on Hong Kong island and seemed to be a residential area. Although there were lots of tourists, the atmosphere was really different. Sea, mountains and nature made it feel so different from being in the central area. I’m glad I was able to go there. Afterwards, I met another friend from Taiwan. She was visiting Hong Kong and our schedules happen to meet. Enjoyed a long talk and some lightshow at the Victoria Harbor. It made me want to go to Taiwan again even more. In March, I’ll have a business trip to Taiwan. Looking forward for it 🙂
I also visited that Moomin Cafe again to take picture with the Moomins. It made me feel good to be connected with Moomin again 😉
“Three fat hippos.”
This is it for this week. Next weekend I’ll be in South Korea. Let’s hope that I’ll have enough time to write again.
Huh huh. It’s already been a month since I arrived to Hong Kong. Life is normal. This week was quite difficult for me. I had expected that the culture shock phase will come and I think it happened this week. Although the earlier week was a bit depressing, I didn’t think that the situation would get any worse. First, I have to say that nothing bad really happened. Waking up in mornings was more difficult than earlier. Although working was a bit less productive, I could achieve something.
This week almost every morning I was feeling depressed. Even if I slept 8 hours, I was still super tired and sleepy every morning. Then I tried sleeping 10hrs, but it didn’t help the situation at all. This gave me lots of stress. I still want to be diligent in my work. Luckily, I could get support from few dear friends. It helps to hear from others that sleeping problems are normal when you are changing time zones and getting used to new culture. Although I have gone this through many times, every time feels a bit different. Also, getting rid of the idea of working too hard every day helps. I think I should be more gracious to myself and what I do.
So, this week I was taking it easy. I wasn’t feeling that good everyday so I tried to relax. Skipped kendo also on Wednesday, but I was able to participate on Saturday. It was fun, although the practice is more demanding than back at home. I still feel so slow and tired, which is okay, since I had a long break. Everyone else is just so fast. Need more practice.
Work has been okay. I’m planning on how our company can expand in Asia and then I’m executing the plan. Been making cold calls to South Korea lately. I even had to brush up my Korean so sometimes I can ask for right person if the person on the other side doesn’t speak English. I’m also going to have a business trip to Korean in two weeks. Looking forward for it!
So how did my Chinese New Year go? In my last post, I said I would write something about CNY. On Saturday, there was a parade. I suppose it was okay, but my expectations were quite high. There were lots of dance groups performing and then bigger companies having their floats (car like moving parade-thingy). Disney was there and LEGO. Also saw some Star Wars characters. I suppose there is a Jedi Academy here as well. At least we have one in Finland in Kerava (smaller city close to the metropolitan area).
The thing that I didn’t like about CNY is that shops were closed. Except 7Elevens. My tailor was also saying that this is the only holiday when people are on holiday and visit their families. I can’t really blame it on them. It’s their culture and I’m happy that they are having some time off. I heard that on every other holiday, people work like crazy so they deserve some holiday. Maybe I was just expecting that stores would be open, since in Japan and Korea stores seemed to be open even during holidays. This wasn’t my first CNY. I spent CNY in Taiwan 2014. That time I didn’t take part in any activities. I was a bit depressed that time. A friend of mine invited me to her family dinner, which was nice. I could experience some traditional Taiwanese CNY. I thought I could practice my Chinese that time, but everyone was talking Taiwanese. Heh, nice Lauri.
On Sunday, I visited a shrine with my friends and then went to this wishing tree. You would write a wish on a paper that was tied to a mandarin, then throw the mandarin in to a tree. Very interesting method of delivering wishes. Also, there was huge fireworks. Everyone was talking about it. Some Finnish friends had a plan to go to the Hong Kong Peak mountain to see the fireworks from there. When I jumped to a bus heading to the Peak with my friend, I learned that it’s so foggy that you can’t see anything. Everyone had gone to harbor to see the fireworks. My friend and I just went there together. Well, it was foggy. Couldn’t see anything. But I heard that it was also so foggy at the harbor that nobody could see anything. So, I suppose we didn’t miss anything. A pity though, since the fireworks should have been awesome. It had been so good weather for few weeks but then at the night of fireworks the weather was terrible.
Perfect weather for fireworks!
Monday. Some time at home. Went to coin laundry, since laundry service was closed. Taking easy. Office closed. I think I did something productive, but can’t remember what it was. Hmm. Or maybe I didn’t. But you don’t have to be productive all the time, right?
All in all, life in Hong Kong is quite fun. Although I don’t drink or party, there are lots of things to do. Although there have been some emotional setbacks, which are completely normal, life here is okay. I could stay here for longer. I just have to find a proper apartment for myself, if I’m staying for longer. My current contract still lasts for two weeks, so I can’t stay here forever. I have to start looking for a new place. Let’s hope I get lucky with my next apartment.
Today, Sunday, I’ve been chilling. Studying some Chinese. Sleeping. Reading. Doing laundry. I went to a park close to my place. The park was full of home helpers. I’ve heard that Sunday is a day-off for home helpers (mainly Filipinas and Indonesians), so they all gather in parks (or night clubs) to hang out and enjoy their lives. So the park was full of music, dancing and picnics. And a vending machine that stole my money. I should get out more, even if I don’t have anything planned. But it’s actually nice to spend some introvert-time alone. Maybe next weekend I’ll go out more.
Some CNY pictures:
Yesterday was also my birthday. Yay, happy birthday me! I stayed low. No partying or anything. I went to SverigeShoppen, a Swedish imported product store, and bought some Finnish chocolate and salt-salmiakki candies. Yummy!
Salmiakki candies and Finnish chocolate
This is it for this week. New post again next week.
This week has been sort of difficult. Waking up in the morning is so hard and it feels like my brain starts to work at 2pm or 3pm everyday. It takes out some productivity from my workdays. But still, I managed to achieve many things. I’ve been waiting for cultureshock to kick in. Maybe this feeling was because of that. So far I haven’t felt the “honeymoon”-phase when everything feels great and super. Also I haven’t had so much emotinal struggles as well. Maybe I’m just getting used to adjusting new places. After all, this isn’t the first time I’m living abroad.
This week I’ve been trying to get back to my hobbies. On Monday, I went to a local Toastmasters club. They were supporting and welcoming as always. We even had a Chinese dinner afterwards and they invited me to their Chinese spring party in February. On Tuesday I went to JCI (Junior Chamber International) workshop on using Photoshop and MailChimp. It’s actually funny, when I was like 7 years old, we had Photoshop at home and we used to play around with it. Mainly with cut and paste features. Like cut your face and put it on a car, so it would look like you are driving a car. Haha. So much fun in 1996. Anyways, I never really learned to use any “real” functions of Photoshop, so it was interesting to learn how to use Photoshop properly. Or start learning.
On Wednesday I went to a local kendo practice. It’s been a while since I was on the path of the sword, but it’s actually quite easy to get back to it. I was the only westerner and everyone else were locals. The culture at the dojo (training hall) was really Japanese. Actually, maybe even more harsh than what I’ve experienced in Japan. A difficult thing in getting back to kendo is that I haven’t used kendo-muscles in long time. My muscle-memory knows how to play, but I don’t have muscles anymore to be active. At the free-sparring, I could barely move my legs anymore. Then all those eager and energetic young kendo-boys come to challenge me. I didn’t really feel bad about the situation, since I knew I’m not in shape. My body was so sore after the two hour practice. After finishing, the sensei (teacher/grandmaster) was giving detailed tips for everyone at the club. Unfortunately Saturday’s practice were cancelled because of Chinese New Year. Next Wednesday kendo again.
Smelly kendo equipment
On Thursday I didn’t have any hobbies. I studied some Korean with my online-teacher and then decided to rest. I even went to footmassage, which was awesome. The masseur poked my calves and knew immediately what to do. He said, one hour would be good for me. He was explaining how some muscles or nerves in legs are connected to upper-body. He could even tell that my back was sore as well. Eventually he gave me 90min foot- and fullbody-massage, and it wasn’t even that expensive. Except my thights, my body wasn’t sore anymore. I have to go there again.
Friday evening there was a Finnish pub night organized by FinnCham (Finnish Chamber of Commerce). After work, I took a ferry to Hong Kong island and located the pub where the meeting was held. I met so many new Finnish people. Some had stayed here for a short time but some had stayed over 10 years. People have different backgrounds and objectives, so it’s a good thing to learn about what others are doing. Maybe I have to use these connections someday. Afterwards we took a tram to Wan Chai and went to look for a club or a place to party. We learned that the entrance is free but you have to buy a 10€ drink in order to stay and party. This seems to be normal in Hong Kong. Didn’t really like it so we took taxi back to Lan Kwai Fong. LKF seems to be “the place” for partying in Hong Kong. Instead of going to a club or bar, people were hanging out on streets and drinking cheap beer from 7eleven. We used to do that also in Korea, but here it felt more like the club activity is expanded on streets. Lots of people smoking, getting drunk and going crazy. Didn’t really enjoy that so I started heading home a while after.
Lan Kwai Fong – The Party Place
Saturday started with struggling with washing machine. I had heard that it might not work properly, so I was using laundry service close to my home. The laundry service is unfortunately closed for Chinese New Year, so I decided to give it a try with the washing machine. So, I put laundry in, selected a program, nothing happened. Got it, I have to turn on the water. So I turned a valve and water started pouring into washing machine. Great, now it’s working, I thought. My neighbour and her kids were preparing to go out so I was just observing them while having instant coffee. After they had left, I went to check on the washing machine. It was flooding. Great. I should have turned off the water. Water on the floor, how to fix this? First I tried cleaning it up with a small Heineken towel, that I had gotten in a Taiwanese club. If I bought few beers, I would get a small towel. Such a memory from Taiwan. Anyways, then I remembered that we have a mop and a bucket. So I started mopping all the water on the floor. Lucky I had realized it sooner rather than later. So the water flow is not automated. After rinse, I had to turn on and off the water like three times. And there was no spinning. Everything was super wet. They probably won’t dry before Monday. Oh well, I have time. Maybe in the future I’ll just keep using the laundry service.
Washing machine from hell
Sunday. Chinese New Year activities. Maybe I’ll write another post about CNY. Took so many pictures. So many things happened. The start of the week is going to be slow because of the CNY holidays. I’ll make a summary. Just wait for it.
Week two. During the week I keep having good ideas about what to write. Maybe I should write them down. Actually, I’ve been feeling like I’d like to write everyday, but maybe it’s better to stay be patient.
Anyway, this week I’ve been trying to get some new hobbies. I didn’t manage to go to Toastmasters, but I went to a storytelling workshop on Tuesday. It was very interesting and I got lots of feedback for my story about my hassle with flight tickets to Hong Kong. I hope I can visit this workshop regularly, since narrative and storytelling is in very important role when conveying information and feelings. I should practice more my storytelling and public speaking.
One thing I like about Asia is cheap tailors. In Finland, getting a tailormade suit would probably cost an insane amount. I just got a new ordermade suit for a about same price as I would get a cheap suit in Finland. My previous suit was also ordermade, but in South Korea. Here I managed to find a tailor, that is fairly priced and seems to have good quality fabrics. But I can’t really tell before I’ve worn the suit for some time. It might be that cheap suits go bad in short time.
Saturday was a nice day. First I visited a UK study fair and talked with some UK universities. Since I’m working for a university agency, getting some information on the field of international education and study abroad programs is necessary. In short time I got lots of new information. I had heard that UK students aren’t that eager to study abroad, which many of the universities agreed on. I also found out that there are lots of summer studies for elementary to high school level. The programs are really expensive. Although we work on university level education, I was eager to hear about education on other levels.
After that, I rushed to an event organized by Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (Later FinnCham). It was a casual meeting, with drinks and a game involved. We did this “Amazing Race”/TreasureHunt game (in Finnish we call them rastikisa) where you go around the city and then answer a quiz or do something silly. It was fun to hang out and bond with other Finns. I remember when I was living in Japan, I didn’t really want to hang out with other Finns. Or any Westerners. But I started to open up for international atmosphere when I was in Taiwan 2014. Funny how things change.
As a part of the game, we visited Moomin Cafe. Didn’t know that such existed in Hong Kong. We got free pins also. I should visit there some day and order something funny. They seemed to have pancakes and burgers. Very Finnish dishes indeed.
Sorry for the blurry picture. We were in a hurry. Have to go back there to get a better picture.
On Sunday I’ll try to relax. Have to save some energy for work next week. I picked up my laundry. Locals seem to be taking their laundry to a laundry service here. It’s convenient and costs like 5-8€. This time I had more laundry so it was closer to 8€ but last week it was only 5€. We have a washing machine, but nobody really seems to know how it works and I heard it’s not that efficient. So handwash or laundry service. Handwash takes time.
For next week my calender is almost full. Daytime working, evening Toastmasters, JCI event (Junior Chamber International), Kendo, Storytelling and on Friday, FinnCham bar night for Finns and Finnish-minded people. Oh yeah.
Lauri Lehmusvirta 