Like Tree1Likes

stay or go

Closed Thread
Page 4 of 8 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... LastLast
  1. #31

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    4,279
    Quote Originally Posted by sylvesterjay:
    Not to be outdone...Toronto is listed as the most ethnically diverse city in the world, with an estimated 50% of the population born somewhere else, and with every nation represented.
    That 50% is made up of 49% Hong Kong Chinese and 1% others.

  2. #32

    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    95

    ..stay or go ! ... there or here !! .... we all wander... inside or outside.... !!!

    cerebrus.... are you standing still !


  3. #33

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    21
    Quote Originally Posted by cerberus:
    i do love HK, that's why i came here, and for many of us it's easier to get by here since we have a bigger relative advantage, even tho that too comes at the cost of being pigeon-holed and barred from most employment opportunities. i seriously talked to an acquaintance about driving a cab part time, seeing as i love driving pretty much more than anything else, and the reaction was shock mixed with laughter and disgust. perfect example.

    and the housing situation here is simply ATROCIOUS. there can be no tolerance of such a thing.

    please keep the posts coming, but tell me in simple term GO of STAY. i would love to have that. thanks.

    Nobody can tell you in simple term GO or STAY. You know yourself better than anyone else. Just think of what's important to you, and see if you can get it here or there. If you love driving so much, then forget about hk. I love driving too. I can never forget the beauty of Pacific cost hwy, and I did 40,000 miles per year. If you have a kid, you will think for him. Do you want him to grow up here or there.
    What makes up a cosmopolitan? Highly concentrated concrete buildings with polluted air in a small place? Then hk is no doubt a cosmoplitan.
    I love hk too, that was the HK 30 years where people tend to be "warmer" or more compassionate. There is a saying that the caring heart of HK is thiner than a piece of paper. I admit that it is little overstated.
    gwei lo is not a degrading term. You could pretend you are lost and approach babes and ask for directions, and then keep going.

  4. #34

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    543

    bush and KIA, i'm from the midwest myself. it is very much multicultural there, and i also can't agree with comments regarding assimilation and melting pots. it's not true that americans all think and act alike, but the fact that we're rather uniform sometime is, i believe, a good thing. what's the point in claiming to have a single society if everyone goes in different directions and can't meet?

    i didn't say the states were the most cosmopolitan/int'l, but rather among the most so in the world, and certainly more than anywhere in east asia. for sure london and toronto also qualify. there're plenty other places in the world enjoying similar levels of integration.

    and as for gwei lo being a good word, i don't want to hear any of that. "it's rspectful", "we use it all the time but don't mean anything bad", etc etc. you know how many times i retorted by calling the person using gwei lo on me with a "yellow devil" or something of the sort, only to have them incessed and ready to fight me. how come they can call me a foreign devil but i can't reply in kind while claiming to be innocent?

    but that's not the issue at hand.


  5. #35

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    543

    bush and KIA, i'm from the midwest myself. it is very much multicultural there with likewise over forty percent born outside the country. and i also can't agree with comments regarding assimilation and melting pots. it's not true that americans all think and act alike, but the fact that we're rather uniform sometime is, i believe, a good thing. what's the point in claiming to have a single society if everyone goes in different directions and can't meet?

    i still say the states are almost absolutely the most cosmopolitan/int'l, certainly more so than anywhere in east asia. for sure london and toronto also qualify. there're plenty other places in the world enjoying similar levels of integration. this can be easily measured by looking at how many people want to get in compared to every other nation state worldwide.

    and as for gwei lo being a good word, i don't want to hear any of that. "it's respectful", "we use it all the time but don't mean anything bad", etc etc. you know how many times i retorted by calling the person using gwei lo on me with a "yellow devil" or something of the sort, only to have them incessed and ready to fight me. how come they can call me a foreign devil but i can't reply in kind while claiming to be innocent?

    but that's not the issue at hand.

    sig, i too think HK's a bit on the cold side. there's very little compassion here for others, but i can live with that. and i knew someone sooner or later would bring up that song...thx max!

    please keep writing...it's making me feel better just knowing there's someone out there understanding of my situation...friends and family back home want to help but can't due to lacking our insights and perspective.


  6. #36

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    HK/US = CX/CO
    Posts
    111

    On the last note of Cerberus -

    The question is:
    If you come to a melting pot, does it hurt to melt a little?

    After growing up & living in 7 countries; one thing I have learnt is "Everyplace have pluses & minuses; and at the end of the day one will be happy only if you focus on pluses & start ignoring the minuses".

    By the way - please before stereotyping Mid-West; spend some time on Diwon Avenue in Chicago where 10 different cultures assimilate in span of 30 blocks or go to Pittsburgh's Polish / Hungarian neighborhoods or visit a middle-eastern restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan arguably for the best Hummus available; on the western side of river Nile.

    Last edited by howard_roark; 05-12-2005 at 06:17 PM.

  7. #37

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    KT South of the Tracks
    Posts
    742

    Obviously as with anything, all sources should be considered before the text. Most people here will have lived elsewhere and will either be here because they wanted to escape where they were or because they wanted to experience something/ somewhere new.

    Also bear in mind that people from any given country cant be taken as a 'typical' example of that country because such a small percentage of any country have actually travelled outside it.

    I guess whether you should Stay or Go depends on your life philosophy. The Art of Travel (Alain de Botton) would be a good book to read because it looks at things like the concepts of expectations - the grass is always greener concept - but in relation to places.

    Personally, I think London is the best city in the world, but then im a Londoner at heart so its to be expected. But it has a good mix of what i want from life. That said, when i was there i HAD to leave occasionally and run away to the west country for a few days to recouperate and chill out a bit

    That said, i dont think i could stay anywhere for more than a few years because i like to keep moving about and keep experiencing things and moreover places. (though one day ill settle somewhere - when i can afford to get a few places, hehehe - just need those lucky numbers) If you are like this then GO.

    If you are happy enough but are finding that the 'drag' of life is getting to you then i think this is the same everywhere and you should STAY.

    Everywhere has its pros and cons and they will sure enough get to you eventually. Thomas More never got round to making Utopia a reality, evens Walt Disneys attempt was f****d up! It isnt out there.

    HK has a lot of plus points, but its hard to say how these balance against the cons for you without knowing your situation...


  8. #38

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    543

    well said roark, very true. not sure where this stigma of the mid west comes from, we actually have more immigrants than other parts of the country which of course entails multiculturalism by default. ah devon avenue. yes, very vibrant.

    laughing monkey, going to the states would be the end of my travels for a while, since it's going back to the starting point, which is why i'm so terrified of committing.

    thx and have at it more!


  9. #39

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    647

    I'm living in Ohio right now, a bit north of Dayton. I know of maybe one or two other asians living in this town. In about a 20 mile radius, there's probably five of us, and three of those are a family.

    Chicago's a great town, really. But culturally speaking, it's probably the sole bright spot in the Midwest, except maybe for the college towns (Ann Arbor, Lansing, etc.) Using Chicago as an example of the entire Midwest shouldn't be right, because Chicago's not actually representative of the Midwest area.

    I've been around to more than a few Midwest states (grew up in Ohio), and I've lived a few years in HK. There are a lot of things to like about the Midwest. Diversity of culture is not one of those things.

    If you want to go back, more power to you, and good luck. I tend to think that we all see the grass as being greener on the other side.

    Not that there's any grass to see right now. It's about -10 deg C right now and about four inches of snow on the ground. Oh, and sheets of ice everywhere.

    Quote Originally Posted by cerberus:
    well said roark, very true. not sure where this stigma of the mid west comes from, we actually have more immigrants than other parts of the country which of course entails multiculturalism by default. ah devon avenue. yes, very vibrant.

    laughing monkey, going to the states would be the end of my travels for a while, since it's going back to the starting point, which is why i'm so terrified of committing.

    thx and have at it more!

  10. #40

    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    647

    Oh, also wanted to throw in on the "gwei lo" remark. I've been called chink and worse here, and I've gotten some comments that are just plain dumb (one girl asked me how living in Japan was when I told her I was from HK). It's the same everywhere you go, the US is certainly not some shining city on a hill in that regard.

    BTW, can anybody come up with another word for white man in Chinese? I don't know of one. Is the word offensive? At one point, it was, but that was close to fifty years ago. Some people probably still use the term with a lot of hostility, I don't doubt that. Most people probably use it because it's really the only term around. It's like the word "sh*t" or "f*ck". Years ago, only used occassionally, bad word you didn't throw around a lot. Walk around nowadays and see how often its used in conversation.

    Also, seeing as you're currently living in their country, I can see how someone can be offended that you're calling them a "foreign devil"...seeing as how they're not actually foreign.


Closed Thread
Page 4 of 8 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... LastLast