Post by sim on Dec 29, 2008 2:08:11 GMT -5
^I think that's one of the issues for me...I hate it when people comment on looking more X than Y, or telling me that I look like I'm Z yadda yadda. But I'm so used to it now I almost don't care, generally I just change subjects before people launch into a full debate over what I am or what I look like.
The other is that I just don't feel like I fit in anywhere. I have yet to find somewhere which I call "home". I love London, but...it's not home and I can't see myself living there for more than a few more years (for work purposes). I doubt I would go back to living anywhere else in the UK. Job prospects aren't too great. In general, the UK is too "british" and there is a lot of "british" culture I do not identify with at all. Everyone I encounter in the UK is too "white" or too "british" to understand where I am coming from.
At the same time I don't feel HK is my home- it's the closest thing to home that there can be but I still don't feel settled and it's not the kind of place I would want to raise a family (I don't think anyway- but plenty of time for that later on, bit too young for that now). I can't connect with local HK Chinese because I don't speak Chinese so I would forever be part of the transient expat community.
I can't see myself in Europe, never been to Australia..and it is so hard to get a job in the US (but I have actually loved everywhere I have been there- mind I stick to the more diverse coasts!!!). So I guess it just leaves me floating for now.
As my dad said, he never saw himself living in HK til it happened (never even thought about it)...and most definitely didn't see himself planning on retiring here 30+ years on! Hopefully one day things will just click- I guess home is where you make it but you have to want to make that place a home...
Again I'm not sure my home issues stem from being EA...I think it's a combination of the way I've been raised mixed in with perhaps wanting to find a place where I feel I fit in...I think I just want to find somewhere which could be home..or just feels like it could be, and being a non-Cantonese (or Mandarin) speaking EA (who currently does not have the time to learn Cantonese/Mandarin) I think it's harder to find that kind of place. With that I mean that if I probably spoke Cantonese, I could probably fit in with the Chinese communities in places like London more...but I can't. As even though London is fairly diverse (in comparison to the rest of the UK)...typically your Aussies will stick with fellow Aussies, your Poles with other Poles, Chinese with other Chinese...etc.
The other is that I just don't feel like I fit in anywhere. I have yet to find somewhere which I call "home". I love London, but...it's not home and I can't see myself living there for more than a few more years (for work purposes). I doubt I would go back to living anywhere else in the UK. Job prospects aren't too great. In general, the UK is too "british" and there is a lot of "british" culture I do not identify with at all. Everyone I encounter in the UK is too "white" or too "british" to understand where I am coming from.
At the same time I don't feel HK is my home- it's the closest thing to home that there can be but I still don't feel settled and it's not the kind of place I would want to raise a family (I don't think anyway- but plenty of time for that later on, bit too young for that now). I can't connect with local HK Chinese because I don't speak Chinese so I would forever be part of the transient expat community.
I can't see myself in Europe, never been to Australia..and it is so hard to get a job in the US (but I have actually loved everywhere I have been there- mind I stick to the more diverse coasts!!!). So I guess it just leaves me floating for now.
As my dad said, he never saw himself living in HK til it happened (never even thought about it)...and most definitely didn't see himself planning on retiring here 30+ years on! Hopefully one day things will just click- I guess home is where you make it but you have to want to make that place a home...
Again I'm not sure my home issues stem from being EA...I think it's a combination of the way I've been raised mixed in with perhaps wanting to find a place where I feel I fit in...I think I just want to find somewhere which could be home..or just feels like it could be, and being a non-Cantonese (or Mandarin) speaking EA (who currently does not have the time to learn Cantonese/Mandarin) I think it's harder to find that kind of place. With that I mean that if I probably spoke Cantonese, I could probably fit in with the Chinese communities in places like London more...but I can't. As even though London is fairly diverse (in comparison to the rest of the UK)...typically your Aussies will stick with fellow Aussies, your Poles with other Poles, Chinese with other Chinese...etc.