The International Experience

The International Experience

Since my return from eight years in Hong Kong last December there have been numerous people asking what my time living and working in Asia was like. I have attempted to expand on what the experience was like but I thought I would take the opportunity to place it in words on my blog.

Living in a foreign country may not be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but when the opportunity presented itself it was something that I quickly accepted. My wife needed a little more persuading as she was leaving a great job for life in an unknown environment.

The thoughts I will mention are in no set order.

·         Hong Kong was a very ‘easy’ culture for somebody from a western background to live. The influence of the British is still vibrant within the city. English is widely spoken, there are all of the shops and services that you are used to experiencing at home in Australia.

·         Initially when we were looking to go overseas Singapore was our preferred destination. We had been to Singapore a few times and were very comfortable with the city. As fate had it I missed out on a position in Singapore and a few weeks later ended up accepting a job in Hong Kong. In hindsight Hong Kong was a great option for our family. We loved the crazy Chinese atmosphere that exists in the city and makes it a truly Asian destination whilst Singapore seems almost too western a city for Asia where the taxi drivers speak better English than their counterparts in Sydney or Melbourne.

·         Professionally moving to the Australian International School was a very safe option. Teaching mostly Australian students using the New South Wales curriculum (of which I was familiar) was quite a straight forward task. I was surrounded by colleagues who had a similar background and experience.

·         After eight years the time came to move my family back to Australia for a variety of reasons. There are many teachers in international schools throughout the world who move from one school in a particular location to another. This was not necessarily the case with the staff of the Australian International School due to our school year running from January to December whilst the majority of international schools run from August to July in sync with the Northern Hemisphere school year. If the opportunity arose for me to ever move to another international school there are three locations that I would be interested in: Beijing, Shanghai or Bangkok. Who knows, maybe one day we will decide to do the international thing again and I may end up in one of these Asian locales.

·         Obviously when you move anywhere there are going to be numerous things you miss. First and foremost for us was family and friends. You never get over the longing to see these important people in your life. Technology came to be a great assistance in this area whether it was Skype or Facebook. We missed clean air, space and other intangibles that one requires. It was hard to compensate for the things that we longed for but we tried to find substitutes as best we could.

·         We met wonderful people during our time in Hong Kong who will be lifelong friends. Through all aspects of our lives in HK we came across people who enriched our lives and whose company we enjoyed. We look forward to staying in contact with many of these people.

·         Professionally I was afforded many amazing opportunities during my time at the Australian International School. I worked with experienced and talented colleagues who assisted in my development as an educator. Having a 1 to 1 laptop program at school fostered my interest in the world of ICT and its uses and potential in the classroom. I was able to attend numerous professional development sessions that were incredibly beneficial and got to travel to a variety of destinations in Asia and Australia for these sessions. My fascination for the country of China was nurtured by taking students to Beijing and Shenzhen on excursion on a number of occasions. In whole, I am a much better and more experienced educator from having spent eight years working in Hong Kong.

·         My passion for the sport of rugby was indulged whole heartedly throughout my time in Hong Kong. I got to coach and play and travel to Singapore, the Gold Coast of Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Shanghai for rugby matches, coaching and playing.

·         I wanted to immerse myself in a foreign language (although of course English is widely spoken in Hong Kong).  I embraced the language of Putonghua (Chinese or Mandarin if you will) and saw the importance of learning this dialect.

·         Of course I was attracted to the financial side of living in Hong Kong. In 2005 when my career started my salary was going to equate to an increase from what I had previously been earning. The big influence on my salary during my years in HK was the fluctuating Australian dollar. Having to send money back to Australia with the dollar continuing to rise was incredibly difficult. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was wonderful as the dollar hit a record low in terms of our time in HK. Two large financial positives of working in Hong Kong were the 16% tax rate and the excellent bonus I received at the completion of each two year contract. Costs in Hong Kong were quite reasonable with the marked exception being rent and property which were ridiculously high. Hey I could even buy Australian beer from the supermarket in Hong Kong cheaper than I could buy at home.

·         I am addicted to travel and seeing the world. Being based in Hong Kong allowed our family to have access to a variety of destinations that were close at hand. In the eight years living in Asia we were able to explore the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, marvel at the sights of ancient Petra and float on the Dead Sea in Jordan, trek up the Great Wall of China (a number of times) and relax on beaches in India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand just to name a few of the travel experiences we had. There is absolutely no way my family could have had these wonderful opportunities had we not been living in Hong Kong.

·         Hong Kong and Asia still influences us greatly now we are back in Australia. It will always be a significant part of our lives that will be remembered with great fondness for the rest of our lives.

Overall was the eight years in Hong Kong a positive experience? Without a doubt and I have few regrets about the time I spent in Asia’s world city.