Friday, January 28, 2011

Signing the dotted line...

Still haven't sent the actual contract back to HR yet but will very soon. I sent in all the stuff for the work visa. The application is pretty simple. It took me a while to take a picture of myself that I was satisfied with. Good thing I decided to get a printer/scanner last quarter. It would be so frustrating to have to go to the library to scan all my stuff.

I started looking at furniture on www.ikea.hk. I have no idea how their prices stack up with local businesses. They seem okay to me. I'm thinking that for big pieces of furniture, they're probably very competitive with other furniture stores. Their shipping rates are very good as well. So I can essentially go through the store, pick out all the stuff I want, pay for them, and have them all shipped to my apartment (that I have yet to find).

I don't think this whole thing has fully sunk in yet. One of my friends said to me the other day, "we'll miss you." And I didn't know how to respond. I mean, I think usually people say, "I'll miss you too." But I think I was in too much shock by that simple comment. Part of me can't comprehend moving overseas and living and working there for an indefinite amount of time. I don't even know how I'm supposed to feel about all this. Excited? I suppose since it's what I wanted. Nervous? Maybe.. but Hong Kong is a piece of cake next to Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Being able to speak Cantonese helps a lot.

I have to say that I am not too confident about the functionality of my Cantonese in the workplace. It will take a while for me to be able to express myself clearly in Cantonese. The good thing is that I'll be working in Hong Kong where I can always fall back on English. I hope I don't use it as a crutch though. I think it would be extremely advantageous for me to be able to function in the business setting equally well in both languages. I definitely need to work on public speaking (even in English). And right now, the thought of making a presentation in Cantonese gives me the chills.

Another thing is reading Chinese. I think I know a lot of the basics and can decipher most things. But it takes me a long time. Too long. I can't be staring at a menu forever. I've also gotten used to the being able to read fast and effortlessly in English. Slowing down to read Chinese characters takes conscious effort. My eyes keep looking around for English. I doubt I will have to do a whole lot of writing in Chinese. So I think I will focus more on reading for now. Maybe I should subscribe myself to a Chinese newspaper or magazine so that I can force myself to read. The internet is too easy. Google translate is just one click away!

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