The Hong Kong commute

The morning Hong Kong commute, it was eerie, very very eerie. It was strange passing through the MTR system in HK rush hour. Deadly silence. No sound at all.

Millions of people heading to their skyscrapers to sit behind a desk. But a silent journey there. Not a sound. It is hard to describe silence in this situation. I just expected with millions of people around, that there would be some noise, voices, laughter, music, anything. There was nothing. No one spoke, no music was heard, no sounds at all. Hong Kong is the city of sensory over load, apparently not at 8am, on the underground with a million other people. Strange strange strange.

Talk about the rat race. It reminded me of when we used to have hamsters as children, Rotastack I think it was called. Tubes upon tubes connecting different little houses that the hamster ran to and from on a daily basis. One to go and sleep, one to go and exercise, in this case, a hamster wheel, one to go and eat, and one for leisure time. A bit like the corporate world, tubes connecting office buildings, you have a building to go and eat, Starbucks, McDonalds etc etc, a building to exercise, the gym, a building to sleep, and a building to work. You can almost completely avoid being outside. It's all very strange. And feels as fake as anything can feel. Thinking these type of thoughts are not the best interview preparation, just for reference. Comparing your interviewer to a hamster, not totally advisable.

I like to feel the wind on my face, then sun on my back, the air in my lungs, the sounds of the world, the blue sky, hearing people talking, laughing. I don't like the thought of being cooped up in a maze of tubes and buildings for 45+ hours a week.

I'm not sure I have the strength to be a corporate rat/hamster!

Then again, it's a good way of getting training and money......

But it's soulless! I guess they are all human too, so maybe there is some soul to be found. Only one way to find out.

A visa, an ID card, some money and some training would all be good for my new start in Hong Kong.

I met a chap last night who has done every job under the sun, which got me thinking, it's all about not worrying where you will end up as long as you enjoy the ride. Means to an end and all that. You can never predict what each new experience will bring. We all focus on the end result far too much. Where will it lead, what will be the advantages, disadvantages, constantly weighing up each experience we do. Someone who just embraces the new is someone more employable that someone who tries to predict the consequences.

I have a certain set of skills. I am very adaptable. I have a heart. I can see the good in things. I can achieve.

I want to make a life in Hong Kong. I need certain things to do that. I am prepared to do anything. I like what I have seen so far, experienced so far of this beautiful city, so it can only get better as it becomes more and more familiar and feels more and more like home.

A job is a job. Experience is whatever you make of it. You absolutely do not know what opportunities come your way. Smile, stay truthful and good things will happen. It's all the same game.

I entered into the most corporate building there is in Hong Kong. The IFC. The International Finance Centre. Doesn't fit too well with my personality. I have big blonde curly hair for goodness sakes. Everyone was sooooooooo manicured. Not a place for the curls bouncing around all out of place. I headed to Exchange Square. Another name that just brings pictures of delight to your mind, rose beds, green rolling hills, a picnic table in the sunshine under a tree swaying in the summers breeze.......or not. Exchange Square, I mean really, they have named a building based on business. Exchanging deals and money. Money money money. I can't imagine having money as my only focus in life. How utterly boring.

Yes, I would like to make some money, enough to start eating again, and maybe treating myself to a new book on occasion, but I don't need much. I was intrigued to meet the guy who was interviewing me. I thought, if they let me be me, and want to employ me for my qualities, frizzy hair and all, then I'll think about working with the borings of this world, well for a visa and HK ID card at least. How much of life and the beauty that is holds are the corporate hamsters missing? To earn loads of money and to spend it all on gym memberships, Starbucks coffees, fast cars and clothes. If you don't need gym memberships, Starbucks coffees and fast cars and can make do with a run in the countryside, a cup of green tea and walking to and from your destination, then you really don't need to earn that much. Just enough to get by.

This has changed over the past 5 years dramatically. There was a time I believed that the more money I earned, surely the happier I would be. The more secure I would feel. The more opportunity I would have. WRONG. I have learnt over the past few years that broadening your mind and opening your heart gives you much MUCH more from life than a bit of cash in your back pocket. Money isn't even real. A wise friend once told me that. So why focus on something that isn't real? Money assists your life, love makes you come alive.

The interview was brief to say the least. I don't know anything about mortgages, life insurance and wealth management. Lets be honest, if you know me, you will know how against insurance I am. I have for many years refused to live in an 'IF' society. Preparing for the 'what if'. No thank you. I'll deal with the 'oh no' when it happens but I certainly wont put hundreds, even thousands of pounds away 'just in case' something happens, and quite frankly, very rarely does. I am a positive thinker, an optimist, I will leave insurance to the pessimists and the over worrying kind. As you can imagine, I had 25 minutes of, 'do you know anything about finance?', 'no'. 'Do you have an interest in wealth management?', 'ummmm honestly? NO'. I was always told to be 100% honest and truthful. I didn't want the job anyway.

He did make one very nice point, and one I keep hearing over and over again.

'You'll get snapped up quickly'

This is all very nice to hear. It boosts my confidence and so forth. BUT it really isn't actually getting me a visa. Back to my little bedroom to send some more emails and continue my work for Feeding Hong Kong. I feel alive when doing some work for this charity. Emails with meaning. Passion emails.

I have never been so busy when unemployed in my life. I'm doing more than I was most days at my last job. It's funny how hard you work when you have no steady income and how comfortable you feel when you have one, and tend to slack off periodically. It's almost, dare I say, a bit more exciting not knowing where the money is coming from, making connections and using my creativity to try and figure out a way of getting my hands on that visa I so badly need. I might regret saying that when I can't pay my rent in a month.

It's true there are pros and cons to any given situation. I'm fed up and bored of not eating, looking a bit boney now.....I must have lost nearly a stone in weight, but on the plus side, all my clothes fit me better, and as I can't afford new clothes right now, this is good.

I haven't found work, which means I can help Feeding Hong Kong.

I'm learning about budgeting. I'm meeting new people everyday, so I'm learning more about my people skills. I'm learning the true value of things, I haven't spent a penny on anything that's not essential for living in over a month now. I only wear make up when I absolutely have too, I chew one piece of gum the whole day, I have water with my porridge, I use soap not shower gel, I only buy food from the discount section, I drink black coffee and I live with an angry pant wearing German man who refuses to have any lights on, EVER, which means I pretty much live in the dark all the time.

I'm feeling strong and confident. I'm here on a journey and I'm alive with excitement. If it’s true, that there is a point in your life that is 'the making of you', then I really feel Hong Kong is it for me.

Let the games begin. I'm waking up a little bit more everyday to the possibilities of Hong Kong