First Impressions

I was struck with a bout of nervousness when I found my driver in the airport. He was standing there with a sign that said "CGSH/Miss Teale" and didn't speak a lick of English. Taking one of my bags, we headed outside, where I was struck with a wave of heat and humidity, and then he left me by the curb to bring around the car. Suddenly, I was struck with flashbacks of Egypt, and a similar airport pick-up - my hopes for this summer adventure mainly revolve around things that happened in Egypt that I would like NOT to happen again, including the nasty housing situation that awaited me at the end of the ride from the airport.

My fears were totally unfounded. After a short wait, the driver came around the corner - in an air conditioned Mercedes, unlike the Cairo 1960's taxi for hire - and loaded my bags into the trunk, rather than attaching them to the roof with bungee cords. Definitely off to a better start! And once we were on the road, only one thought was running through my mind - "This is as unlike Cairo as it could possibly be."

The best description I can think of for Hong Kong is that it's kind of like a jungle, with a slightly futuristic city coincidentally stuck in the middle of it. It's lush and green - thanks to the ridiculous rainfall and humidity - and the buildings are tall, shiny, and often impossibly designed. (In fact, my own office building - the Bank of China tower - is one of these controversial architectural experiments.) The islands, including Hong Kong Island, are insanely hilly, so nature and civilization are impossibly mixed, the roads are narrow and steep, and there are stairway alley shortcuts and overhead pedestrian walkways everywhere you look.

It's pretty freaking cool.

My "serviced apartment" is halfway between a dorm room and a hotel room, small but with a kitchenette and a huge window. The controversial shower - billed on the website as a "funky cubist" shower from which you can "watch satellite TV" - is actually glass-walled, so that you can see from the shower into the rest of the room (yes, including the TV), and the bathroom is painted lime green. There could be more storage space, or more space generally speaking, but considering the shortage of space in Hong Kong, I'm finding very little to complain about - again, a far cry from the apartment I was delivered to that fateful first day in Cairo. (The photos above are the view from my apartment window.)

Soon after I arrived, I met up with my Hong Kong Cleary mentor, Young, to head over to the office and view the Handover Day fireworks (Handover Day, 7/1, being the day that Hong Kong was returned to China by the British). The office building is INSANELY cool, and I got a chance to see my office and wander around. At our level, the building is a triangle, so there are crazy angles and weird hallways, but I love it, and there's some pretty spectacular artwork for me to appreciate on those not-so-busy days. The fireworks were pretty spectacular, too - first, fireworks were set off from the tops of a bunch of the skyscrapers (including ours, although we obviously couldn't see them), something that apparently takes place every couple of weeks. Then, from four boats in the harbor, the real show started. I don't have such faith in my writing abilities that I'll attempt to describe the fireworks display - it's sufficient to say that I don't feel like I'm missing out on the Fourth of July anymore.

Afterwards, Young and I came back to pick up Jason and Jonathan, the other summer associates rotating through Hong Kong right now. They'd landed just too late to come see the fireworks, but Young wanted to take us all out to dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant nearby, where I had some delicious food and unnecessary mothering - Young kept dishing up our food and making sure no one needed anything, something I'm sure my mom will feel better knowing - and then it was back to the building for some much-needed rest.

I'm unpacked - although I need to go ask for some extra hangers - and settled in, and soon I'm off to find myself some food, some money, and maybe even a phone. Today is a public holiday - the day off to go with Handover Day, which fell on a Sunday this year - so I have a day to get adjusted and spend some time relaxing. And tomorrow morning, it's into the office for us, and the holiday ends.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good six weeks.