Well, like it or not I stand out. I’m 6 foot 3 inches or about 193 cm tall. I have blond hair, blue eyes and I live in Hong Kong. I am originally from the US, but I left about twenty years ago to teach in China. At that time, I wasn’t ready to “stand out.” I taught English in a small city called Siping, and many of the students there had never seen a foreigner. There were about 50 students present on the day of my first class. I walked up to the podium to begin teaching and don’t think I even got the word “hello” out before they erupted into applause. Oh, how I wanted to turn around, and run the other way, but I knew that I couldn’t. I had to be brave. I had to face my new class. At the time, it felt overwhelming. It’s taken me a long time to accept and celebrate some of my unique differences. I think this website is another step in my journey to “stand out” purposefully.
Standing Out
One of the ways I “stand out” is being married to a Hong Kong Chinese gal. Her English is good, but she is more comfortable in Cantonese. So you probably guessed it, any time we are together with her friends, they want to speak Cantonese. For the first several years of marriage that left me completely in the dark unless someone offered to translate. I didn’t like that so I committed to learning the language.
Language
Cantonese is tough but not impossible. I think my level of Cantonese is unique and it helps me “stand out” here in Hong Kong. I still make plenty of mistakes but I am able to communicate reasonably well. My wife say my Cantonese is intermediate and we now use Cantonese to communicate with each other some of the time. For me this is huge. Native English teachers in both Hong Kong and China tend to spend a lot of their free time hanging out with other foreign English speakers. They often stay in their own bubbles of foreign relationships. They experience the world around them through the lens of the English language and Western culture.
Hong Kong Chinese people speak English and for the most part don’t want to speak Cantonese with foreigners. They tell foreigners that Cantonese is too difficult and that if they want to learn Chinese they should focus Mandarin.
Previously, I lived in China and studied Mandarin. Mainlanders are generally more willing to put up with a foreigners language mistakes than are Hong Kongers. I try not to fault HKers for this. The culture over here is very fast pace. People go to great lengths to avoid making mistakes. Generally speaking a Hong Konger’s English really is much better than a foreigner’s Cantonese. So it is understandable that a Hong Konger would feel they have to speak English to the foreigner. It’s not uncommon to meet foreigners, who have lived over here for 10 years plus without learning anything but the most basic Cantonese.
I took the above 2 pictures when we lived in MaOnShan. The first one is the view looking out what was our living room window on the 38th floor. The second one, the pier and the beach, there with the buildings in the background, is where I go swimming regularly. Being physically active is important to me, but growing up I didn’t like swimming because New York is too cold most of the year. Hong Kong is very different. In fact it’s the oppose.
Another think that is unique about me is my love for pictures and video. There are a lot of professional camera people out there, so “standing out” with quality pictures and videos may not actually be enough to really stand out. More and more people are specializing. I am grateful that pictures and video don’t need to be my bread and butter skills. At this stage in life, I can enjoy them as hobbies and occasional part time work. Feel free to look at my demo real or events page to see some of my work.