Moving to Hong Kong

We were living in Long Island.

It was 2009 when the financial crisis hit. My dad was offered to take a new job that included transferring to Hong Kong. With the collapsing US economy, that was our best option. We sold our car, and rented our house. I said goodby to my friends from school, not knowing the next time I would see them. The moving truck came to put all of our things in storage. I remember feeling the disappointment of leaving my toys at home, after all I was five years old. The picture on the right was from the last day in our house. The uncertainty of when we would come back ran through my mothers head. It was confusing and angering for myself who was so young at the time and I can only remember the stress that it put on my parents. I can still picture getting on the plane to leave everything behind. This was by far the most life changing moment I have ever experienced.

My Life Changing Story

A whole new life.

Step 1

Leaving Everything Behind.

Questions filled my head as we stepped onto the plane. What will the people be like, how will I speak to them, where will I go to school? We got lucky on the flight to Hong Kong because we were sitting in business class. I know my parents and I felt extremely fortunate to have great seats as a 16 hour flight in a seat that does not decline would be dreadful. As soon as we stepped off of the plane I could tell we were in a place far from home. The bustling tempo of life created a complete foil to Long Island. I brought a few stuffed animals and toys but I was upset to leave most of my things behind. I was worried if I was going to make any friends, or even be able to speak to them! We entered our new apartment, high in the sky and overlooking Hong Kong in addition to the Mountainous Terrain that surrounded the perimeter. It was quite a sight for someone who had always lived in a suburban house. That was certainly the day where my life had ever changed the most.

Step 2

A completely different place and Culture.

Hong Kong International School

As soon as we arrived, I knew that everything has changed. We went from living in a relatively quite Long Island town to the bustling and crowded city of Hong Kong. We moved into an apartment on "De lay gunda lay street"(the phonetic spelling). One of my most vivid memories was my new school, Hong Kong International School, but more specifically, the bus ride to get there. The geography of Hong Kong is extremely hilly with mountains flanking one side of the city. To get to my school from our apartment endured a long, narrow, windy road up a mountain. It always felt like an eternity to get there compared to back in Long Island where my school was just a few minuets away. I would wake up every morning and dread the thought of stepping foot onto the bus. Filled of screaming kids with the bus rolling from turn to turn. The culture in Hong Kong was very different to here on Long Island. The food markets were out on the street and the pollution was one of the toughest factors to living there. We would walk down the crowded streets and see vast amounts of food laid out on tables to be sold.

Step 3

Heading Home

One afternoon in Hong Kong, about two months into kindergarten at HKIS, my parents were called in for a meeting with my teacher. The reason the teacher was holding the meeting was that I was not writing "correctly". One of the customs in Asia is that everyone is taught to write with their right hand. Myself being a lefty, confused the teachers and made them very upset. I remember my parents coming home very confused on why being a lefty was an issue, their mind mirrored mine exactly. This was one of the cultural differences that I experienced first hand in Hong Kong.

After a little over a year, it was may of 2009. As a family, there were some highlights from living in Hong Kong such as the food and the travel around the island, exploring the different exotic cultures and landscapes that differ so much to home. Despite this, My mom, my sister, and I were leaving because my mom had fallen ill due to the poor pollution in the city. We need to travel back to the US to get my mom the proper health care. We got onto the plane dreading the 16 hour haul a head of us. We trudged slowly down the isle all the way to the back of the Boeing triple 7 jumbo jet. Screaming babies littered the packed end of the plane making this one of the most torturous flights we have ever been on. Air sickness did not help the matter. We touched down to JFK to be greeted by our grandparents who took us home, The sigh of relief on my mothers face as we entered our house was one of the lasting images that was stapled to my memory. Unfortunately, my dad was still over in Hong Kong for another sixth months. We missed him a lot while he was away and my moms hands were completely tied up having to deal with a five and three year old all by herself. Luckily, it all worked out in the end, my dad made it back and my mom recovered,. This will truly be an experience that we will always remember.

Final Step

How I changed.

I believe that the biggest lesson I learned from moving to Hong Kong was flexibility. From the suddenness of leaving, to the uncertainty of when we would return home, I am grateful to learn first hand the benefits of being flexible as well as be able to adapt to a changing environment. I learned to adapt when I changed schools and had to sit with students that I had never seen before and had nothing in common with. I learned how to adapt on a dreadful 16 hour plane ride. Now I can look back on this life changing event and be grateful for the valuable lessons that I have learned. I can now look to the future on how I can use these lessons to better myself.