When the West Meets the East

When I started thinking of moving to HK, I guess one of my biggest worries was not being able to adapt to the HK way of life...yes, I had culture shock, but if you really really think about it, HK is so international, you don't even need to know Chinese! Surprisingly, I speak less than 10% of Chinese in a day! All my friends are English speaking, even when I walk my dog, everyone I meet speak English because usually it would be the Filipino maids walking the dogs, haha. My entIRE social network, from work to church to friends are all English speaking...so where does the 10% Chinese come from? When I go shopping; rather I am grocery shopping at supermarkets or doing retail shopping, I would communicate in Chinese. I would also be speaking in Chinese when I go to restaurants or when I am in the mood to chat up the taxi drivers. Finally, when I say "thank-you" to the security guards and doormen at my building, I would be speaking in Chinese; however, I random do that, I have adapted to the Chinese nodding the head style to acknowledge them. If I am chatting on the phone with my grandparents, my 10% of Chinese per day will increase, but yea, that's as far as my Chinese speaking goes. With that type of language routine in my life, how could anyone think HK is a scary place where no-one speaks English? It's truly a Western paradise for everyone in the world because it's such a diversified Metropolitan. What the West lacks, HK has; excellent and advanced public transportation system, extremely low crime rate, especially since this city never sleeps, and so many places to shop and dine, there is no way you could sample the same place twice! Just when you think you've tried them all, something new will spring up, people in HK EXPECTS the city to entertain them! Alright! After all the raving, there are downfalls, duh! There is no perfect Utopia, because we are not in heaven yet; I wish the quality of a typical citizen in HK could be better, since I can understand Chinese, it is so frustrating hearing a slash of profanity spitting out of someone's mouth as you sit innocently on the public transportation! Also, if you are a low income family or not very affluent, housing is so crappy in HK, so when I complain about my 850 sq apartment, it is not intended for everyone. So ridiculous what I heard on the news today: the housing department of subsidized apartments was saying the 500-600 sq per person flats are too big for one person and they're working harder to meet the demands of individuals who require smaller living spaces. EXCUSE ME, WHADDA!???!!!