Hong Kong in 2021

 Hello, still in HK as we near the end of 2021. Kids in the same school, husband in the same job, we’re still living in the same building. Spent the last 2 years mostly at home and not socializing. 

We’ve been lucky that it never got very bad with COVID here in HK. We made one last trip to Singapore in 2021 and tied up some loose ends with our bank accounts and government accounts. Honestly, the kids also went for interviews in UWCSEA, one was accepted and another was not. So we can't move in the middle of a global pandemic if only one of our kids has place in the school of our choice. And now, I’m glad to say we live in HK instead of Singapore. We love the school the kids currently are in. It's not perfect but it's a place that they're happy in. AND it's a place that HK parents with kids in local schools would break a limb to get their kids in.  

Universal masking: the one factor that saved everyone in the early days. I thank most HKers for this. I did it too- You’re welcome. 

The borders are shut to non-residents who are unvaccinated. 21-day quarantines for those from high risk countries. I’m grateful for these measures, because it keeps us all safe, the schools open, life goes on pretty normally. Tourists from certain countries cannot enter HK yet. This arrangement suits us- the city is quieter and more pleasant these days. 

Hong Kong in 2020

 Hello all, we’re still here in HK.

It’s been tough here since 2019.

First, there's the anti-extradition law protests in HK and then COVID..

But it’s definitely given me a new level of respect ✊ for Hong Kongers, and for Mainland Chinese as well. 

I hope everyone can live together in cooperation for a new future. I hope I don’t sound like a propaganda machine. If everyone respects each other, then there is hope.

When HK Hospitals started to buckle and there weren't enough beds for mounting COVID patients, China sent a team of medics, and construction teams to build makeshift hospitals for HK's COVID patients. I read that these teams were subjected to HK people on the streets yelling abuse at them and being generally unwelcoming. THEY CAME TO HELP YOU. Make that make sense.

The whole word blames Chinese people for Covid. For example: Americans (random people walking in the streets) seem to blame Chinese people (also just random people walking on the streets) for the thousands who lost their lives to COVID in the United States. Not because the average American cannot afford Healthcare. And not that their hospital system just did not work.

People with Oriental features everywhere else in the world will face some form of discrimination, vitriol, resentment from others. Abuse in all forms.

I get it, I DO get it.  

I mean, I'm angry at the state of the world right now, too, thanks to unpoliced practices from a country that SHOULD tighten their control more. Not under any illusion that China definitely has the immense power and the resources to learn and grow a thousandfold from this. China: Not enough hospitals? We'll build some right now and it'll be done in a few weeks! Not enough doctors? We'll get the army to send doctors and medical interns and students where you need them tomorrow! 厲害. However, glaring weaknesses in the American Healthcare system were exposed to the world to see- and I wonder if, under their current leader, are they ever going to learn and fix those gaps? Hmmm. Nah.  

And my great-great grandfather did come from China too. I am 华侨 and wherever I go, I'll get that abuse. So I'll stay put in HK and ride this out with my family.  

Snippets from SCMP

Oh, Hong Kong parents. They try and try and then fly off on the wrong tangent. And then keep flying off further and further on that tangent. WHYYYYY. Tsk.

25 IB perfect scores in ALL OF HONG KONG.

27 IB perfect scores in ONE SCHOOL (Anglo Chinese School) IN SINGAPORE. I am sure that number is higner for ALL OF SINGAPORE.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/singapore-schools-score-better-results-in-ib-exams

Red Tape here, there, everywhere.

Currently embroiled in a never ending red tape saga with 2 governments of countries which we lived in. Singapore and Australia. Got to renew our PR every year under a ton of paperwork.

Australia & Singapore governments are very advanced- they all have social media accounts, they all have online services and systems for everything.
Singapore especially has a super efficient system accessed using Singpass. EVERYTHING is efficient. Except if a little incident occurs that falls outside of their set processes, their system is not built to handle it. They refer to their upper management, who refers it to their higher management, CC the email to everyone in the universe, ask for double confirmations on everything. It's almost as if the individual human capital working in the company is devoid of any human ability such as: intuition, judgment, flexibility etc.
Hong Kong is the same as the above EXCEPT they don't bother to even refer to their upper management or CC the email. They just tell you: CANNOT in English. But there are ways around curveball incidents in their government system that I'm so grateful to HK's system for.

Australia, for the most part is excellent. Efficient- most problems are solved when speaking to a human. It's their processes that aren't as high tech. However the problem in Australia is the cost of labour. So overseas call centers for Australian services are very common. BUT there are people in Australia who still use the black & white fax machine, people working in offices who can't scan....
Japan- for all their lauded operational management processes, hang on to their fax machines and outdated people too...

Every country it seems, is doomed to bureaucracy.

Singapore vs. Hong Kong.

A daily recurring theme on The South China Morning Post is comparing HK vs Singapore for everything. This recurs in my mind about very single fucking thing lately since I've moved to Hong Kong.

And for 9 months, Singapore has been winning in my mind each time.
Preamble: Sorry if I come across sounding like every blind patriotic Singaporean bot human that you know.

Everything is more efficient in Singapore. Everything works. Let me preface this by saying: I have only taken the MRT in Singapore a few times, I always drove everywhere though.
Everyone is more polite and friendly to me in Singapore.
People speak English in Singapore. Singapore is multicultural. Chinese, Malay & Indians. Plus your expats. HK is 80% Chinese. A bigger number of the average Joes in Singapore speaks English better than the number of average Joes in Hong Kong. A number proportionate to the population. There is no hyper-focused international outlook for the very local locals. No attempt at it at all because there is no need for it. Speaking putonghua fluently, is gaining more ground/popularity speaking English fluently. Simply because it is deemed to be more useful in their kids' future in Hong Kong. In my humblest opinion, local Cantonese-speaking parents try their best to speak to their kids in broken Canto-English or broken Putonghua. But this is not going to do anything to improve their spoken English for International School entry interview practice . On terrestrial HK TV channels, even on cable channels like NOW, HOY, Viu etc. most programs have no subtitles in English. English programs have traditional Chinese subtitles and simplified Chinese subtitles. Japanese or Korean programs are only subbed in 繁体字 or 简体字. SO YOU KNOW WHAT- I have been learning Chinese. Not my kids' international school style simplified Chinese. I have been learning Traditional Chinese and Cantonese Jyutping. DAMN it is hard. Cantonese people don't do things the easy way. And I live here, so I'll learn to speak what people speak here. Learn to read what people read here. So that nobody has to speak English to me or translate anything for my benefit. Because I'm the one who moved to live in Hong Kong.

Generally- People in Singapore are happier than people in HK. On the surface at least.

-Singaporeans have a government that is big on control, but they appear to actually do good for the people. No subdivided homes in Singapore. If you dare to peep a protest, you would disappear. But everyone's prospering. Everyone's happy. Read this British expat's essay about Singapore.
-HK people are always protesting loudly against their joke of a puppet government. Nothing happens, yet the activists often disappear as well.

Citizens in Singapore look wayyyy happier than people in HK. The SG Government gives them enough to keep them happy, they make their money and their family lives comfortably.

-In 1965, tiny island of Singapore declared its independence from Malaysia. There was no resources, no land, nothing. People were poor, there was crime. A tiny island. BUT it took an intelligent, fearless leader with so much foresight like Lee Kuan Yew to get everything in order. It helped that he was a Cambridge Graduate, spoke English fluently, without a trace of an accent. One could say that he was an epitome of western-educated Chinese Singaporean elite.

And Singapore today, is far ahead of Malaysia economically, socially and every other aspect that can be measured with parameters. (Sorry Malaysia. I was born in Malaysia but I owe Malaysia & love Malaysia enough to speak the truth.) Read all about it!↓

-In 1997, Hong Kong ceased to be a British Colony and was handed back to China.

-Some of my HKer friends (who have an extra passport) say that this is when HK gained their independence. How? What? HK just became part of China again. That's not independence. So, these western-educated people who have a Canadian/American/Australian passport in their back pocket, (but are sick of getting nowhere in your careers in Canada/USA/Australia, aka "the promised land" to their migrant parents) but are back in Hong Kong to earn the bigger paychecks and have their high flying careers BUT prepared to bail out anytime!

50+% (dare I say even more) HK people: "HK is not China! We demand our own rights!" Says ALL  Occupy Central protests of 2011-2012, 2014's The Umbrella Movement, Youngspiration party's elected delegates for HK's Legislative Council flubbing their oaths for some attention to their cause etc.

Pretty desperate measures by HK's youth, its future.

50+% (possibly much, much less) HK people: "HK and China can continue to prosper together! *whispers* "But as long as we make money, we don't have to like each other or anything. We can always bugger off to Vancouver or Toronto or London or Sydney anytime." 

Taiwan declared its independence from China. And it is surviving, despite China's immense power. BUT HKers say that HK is not China, but they just don't have the guts to go the route of declaring independence.

Unlike Singapore, HK have not welcomed foreign migrants and given them PR easily, HK has actually given them a place in everyday HK life & given the chance to foreigners residing 7yrs and above the chance to become a permanent resident, above the status of  expats.

Rental per square metre is cheaper in Singapore than Hong Kong. (at the time of this post)

Subdivided housing in Hong Kong.

Spaces are for humans, not hamsters. Greedy landlords rule in HK, taking advantage of the fact that rent is unaffordable to the average HKer. 

There are no subdivided flats in Singapore because the government would crack down and hang you out to dry like pickled fish.

Singapore's landscape of HDB flats. One of LKY's

greatest legacies.

The Singaporean government created subsidised HDB flats for those who cannot afford the rent.
Life is good for everyone & no one complains.

The caliber of education is. Much, much higher in Singapore.

In what respect?
The National University of Singapore is ranked #1 in Asia in 2017, according to Times Higher Education.
Local Singaporean schools are better than local HK schools. English is better. Mandarin is better. Science, Technology and Mathematics are miles ahead.
International schools in Singapore are better than International schools in HK.
-No debentures. But higher school fees in Singapore.
-STEM is well ahead of HK. Go on, my kids have been in both systems, I dare you to compare IF you have had the same experience.
-Facilities are bigger & better in Singapore, way bigger than any school in HK. New Territories included.
-My 5th Grader is sitting here doing probability after school in HK, which she had already done in 4th Grade in Singapore.
-Our international school is the most popular because it's known as a happy school with happy kids. It's also full of HKers who have "done their time" in the foreign countries and got that extra citizenship in their back pocket. But ya can't take the HKer out of them, and it's full International School Tiger Moms. At least in Singapore, the Tiger Moms are the Korean or Indian moms in International schools and Singaporean ones in the local schools.

Lately though, I am noticing a few positives about our new life in HK. 

Hear me out first: My kids have a Chinese surname, thanks to my husband. I have one too. I am xxxx 太 here in HK. Chinese people (not mainland China) are the majority in HK. We are also the type of Chinese (华侨) who speak "native" level English that all HKers and Mainland Chinese aspire to. Those who can afford it are in Vancouver, Australia, U.K. doing their time or have done their time, so they're back here with high level careers- as the elite.

The expat circle in Singapore was a friendly, supportive bunch of women. Nicest people.
And there are nice expat women in HK as well, but it isn't as much of a community here. I suppose if we were to break it up into Sai Kung expats, Discovery Bay expats, Southside expats etc. then you get more of a community.

For self entertainment reasons, I totally love it when Singaporeans or "Expats" (Oh hi, Real Singapore Expat Wives Facebook group friends) mistake me for a local and kick me out. For certain reasons going incognito sometimes suits me. Heh heh. I could go incognito in HK as well, because it is honestly better to do that in HK. But when I open my mouth, my accented Canto is a dead give-away, dammit.

Currently Singapore is accepting way too many spoilt, entitled "serve me-NOW" expats mostly working in Finance. Many of them with their full package of perks including accommodation, school fees, a car, chauffeur, annual trips home etc. That tropical expat life and eventually getting that strong passport is such an expat magnet, honestly. Life can get just as insufferable there in SG as you think it is for HKers in HK with the influx of Mainland Chinese elite who send their kids to international schools and drop a ton of cash on property.