Welcome back!!

"Hong Kong represents the kind of Asia with which both West and East are comfortable... It offers, in that sense, a vision for the future of Asia."
-Chris Patten


Hellooooo all you blog lovers out there! Greetings from the big and beautiful city of Hong Kong! I am SO happy to say that I have successfully made it here safe and sound and without too much hassle! (Other than for the 3 months hassle prior to actually getting here...) :)

I have already been working 5 days, but it feels like weeks... let me tell you, no matter what people say, this place is NOT China!!! Maybe politically it is, but the mindset and the culture of the people is 100% different. Let me tell you why...

First of all, as many of you know, my family lived in HK for 1.5 years from 1995-1996. I can't say that I remember a huge amount of what it was like to live here. Sure I remember my school and our apartment and the American Club across from where we lived (best Nachos EVER), but I don't remember a whole lot about LIFE. The shopping, the eating, the transportation, or the uncomfort of living in a foreign country. I was more focused on how to not look like a dweeb in front of my classmates. Yep, dweeb, I said it.

Anyway, I'm not sure how much has changed since then, but I will say, that this place is LIGHT years ahead of China. In my first 2 days at work I was able to 1) get my staff ID, 2) get my uniform, 3) get a physical check-up, 4) do an entire hotel orientation, and 5) get a Hong Kong ID, 6) do Shangri-la Care training (which is 2 years overdue), 7) get a bank account, and 8) sit with the GM from the new Paris property chatting for over 8 hours about my program. Not a joke, this all took MONTHS in my China properties. These people know how to get things DONE!! And they all walk really fast too...

All of my colleagues have been EXTREMELY interested in the fact that I've been working in mainland for 2 years. In fact, most of them were appalled. I have gotten the question of, "How did you survive there?" from around 10 of my Hong Kong colleagues! Plus, most of them have never heard of Wuhan and barely know Qingdao. It's quite funny considering it's technically their country too... yet, I know more about it!! =) The first day I went to the staff cafeteria with them, out of habit, I grabbed chopsticks and ignored the nice cutlery they had. I was a tad bit embarrassed to see that I was the only one slurping and shoveling my food the way I have been for the last 2 years. EVERY other person was using a fork and knife with perfect cutting technique... ridiculous.

As for the language, the Mandarin hasn't come in TOO handy yet. The Hong Kong people all speak Cantonese which is a COMPLETELY different language I've learned. There are words here and there that sound similar, but for the most part, I'm lost all the time. However, when I do speak Mandarin, they can all understand me, but can't really say anything back. Luckily, almost everyone (minus a few housekeepers) can speak nearly PERFECT English. But they choose not to... Grrrr!! Looks like I'll have to keep building my language resume!

The rest of the week I've been whisked into my new position in... HOUSEKEEPING! Didn't see that one coming eh? I think they want to groom me for some sort of Director of Rooms position someday in the future which will definitely mean getting a handle on this housekeeping stuff. I've been following the Director of Housekeeping and the Service Manager to get a feel for the hotel, the rooms, the standards, the quality etc. It's SO different than when I followed HSKP in China. The biggest problem they have here is labor costs (sound familiar?) and so they have to maximize their employees, which means giving them RIDICULOUS work loads and overtime. The China staff were able to take their time, be meticulous, and even write hand-written cards to the guest because... well... labor is cheap! Here, they run around like mad men and barely clean the rooms to standard... well, the standard I'm used to in Qingdao anyway. It will certainly be a different environment here.

So the plan is to keep me in HSKP for 6 months and get me nice and involved. After a few weeks with the butlers, I'll most likely become a supervisor and take a few floors for myself. It should be interesting to say the least. I've never seen myself in a HSKP role, but I'll certainly make the best of it!

The rest of the week I've been walking around, learning my surroundings, and eating room service... wow, I love room service. My room is, of course, one of the oldest ones and, unfortunately, does not have a harbour view, but I certainly can't complain about how they've been treating me. I think living in the hotel won't be so bad here... =) The area around the hotel is FANTASTIC and full of good restaurants and shopping and lots of tailors trying to get to you to make a suit. Seriously, every 5 steps there's another one... Also, the hotel is right along the harbour, so it's a really nice place to walk too. And the MTR (subway) is also a 10 second walk out of the lobby... Basically, I love it here. =)

You know what else is great?? The train that goes all the way to Shenzhen is RIGHT outside my hotel as well!! =) I'm going to test it out this weekend and take the train to see Ricky!! He has already done really well there and gotten a job AND an apartment... all within 2 days of arriving! He likes it so far but doesn't like getting all sweaty from the humidity! =)

The only bad thing that I've found so far is that I still cannot seem to find MY SIZE shoes! Grrrr to Asians and their little feet...

Well, I think that's enough of my peppy blog for this week!! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and a happy Good Friday!!!

I'm already excited for visitors.... =)

Hugs and love,
Sonya Rae