Observations

Yesterday, I went to open a HK bank account. I had to wait in line for about half an hour and was able to just stand and people watch. Here is what I observed:

1. There was a lady in her mid-eighties to nineties standing in line a few spots in front of me. Since the line was so long, the lady behind her told her to go sit down and she would call her when it was her turn so she didn't have to wait in the long line. Everyone takes care of the elderly in HK, I think that's so nice, although this is true pretty much everywhere haha.

2. Belching in public is completely normal and accepted. The lady in front of me let out the largest belch I've ever heard and I was shocked that nobody laughed. Of course, I couldn't hold in my laughter. I was standing there with my hand over my mouth shaking from laughing so hard. It was pretty embarrassing, but I couldn't help myself! The harder I tried to stop, the worse it got. I kept my head down the rest of my time in line.

3. When I got to the bank counter, the lady there was very nice. I have never heard Cantonese spoken in such a sing-song-like voice before. I found that my Cantonese has improved a lot since I first got to Hong Kong a few days ago. Well it probably didn't improve that much, but I am a lot more comfortable with it now. I noticed that some of my thoughts come naturally in Chinese now, rather than in English, which surprised me. When it became time to count the amount of money I wanted deposited, I started counting out loud automatically in Cantonese. I found that I no longer have to translate things in my head before saying it out loud in the right language for most things.

After the bank, I went to The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to check the place out. A good portion of the 1.5 hour trip there was on the metro. An American couple stood next to me on the train, and I listened as they talked about art school. Everyone else on the train was carrying on conversation in Cantonese. Hearing English through one ear and Cantonese through the other was pretty fantastic.

 The metro stop I got off at was called Choi Hung, which means rainbow in Cantonese. After the metro, I had to take a min bus to get to the campus. Finding everything at HKUST to check in was the most confusing thing I have done since I arrived in HK, more about that later.