I've traveled around the world since I was born. Living in different countries and being surrounded by people who don't speak English doesn't phase me in the least.
Or, so I thought until I moved to Hong Kong. Yes, I speak Cantonese and people here speak English fairly well so that hasn't been an issue. What has been the problem is that I never realized just how soft, all-encompassing, and secure the State Department bubble was. Sure, there's only so much you can escape your environment, even if you are spoiled with drivers and nice cars but not being confronted with poverty isn't the safety bubble I'm talking about.
Instead, it's the little daily details like finding housing, getting an ID card, figuring out water, gas and electricity stuff, bank account issues, whether or not ATMs are going to charge you out the @$$, and making sure you have a means of procuring large sums of money to cover you because those same ATMs have withdrawal limits and people won't accept foreign checks.
It has been a hellish experience alleviated slightly by the fact that I have family here. When you have a company or the State Department to rely on, housing is provided, they pick you up from the airport, there's a host family to welcome you, all of the rent details are taken care of, and you can easily withdraw money through the company that you work for or through the SD because they will accept American checks.
This is how I've managed to survive and find a wonderful place to live and work:
1. USE A REAL ESTATE AGENT!! I can't stress this enough! I know it seems like it's a great idea to try to find housing for yourself because then you won't have to pay the commission fee (half of one month's rent), but trust me, spare yourself the headache and find yourself a good real estate agent. I spent hours upon hours of my time poring over ads (almost got scammed too!) and it ended up coming up with nothing. Apartments are snapped up too fast in Hong Kong for you to try to find one yourself. Go to the smaller agencies because they tend to not be so narrow-minded in what you can find for your price range and the time of stay. For example, I will only be in Hong Kong for 8 months (the minimum lease period here is supposed to be one year) and my budget was 10,000hk which is apparently too low for a decent place unless you decide to live in a small studio apartment. I went to a ton of the most well known companies, who had rude and snooty agents who just shook their heads and said it couldn't be done. Well I am currently living in a two room apartment with a large kitchen, sizable bathroom, and even a bedroom that can convert into a study. If you are staying for a short amount of time in Hong Kong, try out the serviced apartments but if it's less than a year but more than 6 months, try out the smaller real estate agents.
2. Open up a bank account immediately and find a way to wire money over. The issue that I ran into here was that I had the funds for a down payment on the apartment but no feasible way to access it. In order to actually sign a contract on an apartment here, you have to have the first months rent plus about 20,000hk as a safety deposit (this is in the ballpark of $3000 ish). They don't accept American checks here and ATMs won't let you withdraw that amount. So, either find a very international bank which you can easily access or open up a bank account with a local bank and find a way to transfer the money so you can write a check.
3. Start the process for your Hong Kong ID ASAP. It's needed for EVERYTHING around here and while you can get away with using your passport for a short period of time, try to finish the paperwork for the ID card within a couple of days of your arrival because it takes a couple of weeks before it's ready.
4. The other benefit to a real estate agent, especially a good one, is that she will be able to set up your electricity, water, and gas AND have them send the bill to you in English. She will also be able to help you set up internet if the apartment you find doesn't already have it.
5. Finally, as for job stuff, I have gotten extraordinarily lucky. Exhausted from sending out inquiries on apartments (I hadn't found on yet), I decided to go on to the South China Morning Post to see the job ads. There were a few that caught my eye (all teaching English) and so I sent off my resume, not really expecting anything. Well, this all happened on a Saturday. On Sunday, the real estate agent found me my home. On Monday, I get a call from one of the companies that I had emailed and she asked me in for an interview that day. I jumped out of bed and showered and changed, I rushed over and then, after a 20 minute interview, I was offered a job on the spot! It's as an English tutor/instructor in a private company here and it's been a great first real person job so far.
That's about it on my end for now! I hope that, should you ever choose to move to Hong Kong, my experiences will give you an idea of what it's like.
