I finally put my finger on what I love about living in HK. It actually took a long time for me to figure it out. I knew I loved this city, but I couldn't pinpoint why. When people asked me what I loved about HK after I exclaimed how much I love it, I'd be perplexed: "well...I hate the crowds, the cockroaches, the humidity and heat, the pollution....hmm, I don't actually know what I love about it, I just do!" Usually, I'd just tell myself and others that HK was a city where the sum is much, much great than its parts. Or sometimes I'd point out how efficient it is, how lively, how much good food there is, how international it is, how it's the happy medium of east meets west.
But the real reason I love HK - the real reason I feel so at home in this city - finally dawned on me. HK is a city full of displaced people (other than the local Cantonese). It's the ideal city for people who feel perpetually displaced, because it's a city where feeling displaced is the norm. In fact, it's so normal that you no longer feel displaced because you're surrounded by displaced people. And part of what makes a home a home is finding people that make you feel...normal, which in turn makes you feel not displaced.
Most people I meet anywhere else in the world have a strong sense of home. And that sense of home is almost always tied to a place. It is often the place they grew up or went to college or got their first real job or met their spouse. Usually, people find a place they like where they meet a group of people they relate to and something goes off inside that tells them that place is "home" and they start to put down roots. And while the concept of that sincerely appeals to me, I've learned that that's just not how I'm wired. While I feel the strongest feelings of loyalty and love for San Francisco, even when I'm there, I don't feel exactly home. I always feel a bit restless - an itch/longing to get on a plane and find myself in a new place. And that lack of anchoring has always made me feel displaced, abnormal.
Until I came to Hong Kong. In this city, I feel comfortable because there is no implicit "pulling" by anything or anyone in this city, like in most other cities. No one and nothing expects you to put down roots and call Hong Kong home forever. (I realize that I am excluding the entire local Cantonese population when I write this post - I'm writing from the point of view of an expat living in the expat community in HK). Everyone here is displaced, everyone is from somewhere else, and no one truly expects to live out the end of their days here and only here. And the irony is, living in a place that is temporary, among others who are voluntarily displaced, makes me feel totally at home.
But the real reason I love HK - the real reason I feel so at home in this city - finally dawned on me. HK is a city full of displaced people (other than the local Cantonese). It's the ideal city for people who feel perpetually displaced, because it's a city where feeling displaced is the norm. In fact, it's so normal that you no longer feel displaced because you're surrounded by displaced people. And part of what makes a home a home is finding people that make you feel...normal, which in turn makes you feel not displaced.
Most people I meet anywhere else in the world have a strong sense of home. And that sense of home is almost always tied to a place. It is often the place they grew up or went to college or got their first real job or met their spouse. Usually, people find a place they like where they meet a group of people they relate to and something goes off inside that tells them that place is "home" and they start to put down roots. And while the concept of that sincerely appeals to me, I've learned that that's just not how I'm wired. While I feel the strongest feelings of loyalty and love for San Francisco, even when I'm there, I don't feel exactly home. I always feel a bit restless - an itch/longing to get on a plane and find myself in a new place. And that lack of anchoring has always made me feel displaced, abnormal.
Until I came to Hong Kong. In this city, I feel comfortable because there is no implicit "pulling" by anything or anyone in this city, like in most other cities. No one and nothing expects you to put down roots and call Hong Kong home forever. (I realize that I am excluding the entire local Cantonese population when I write this post - I'm writing from the point of view of an expat living in the expat community in HK). Everyone here is displaced, everyone is from somewhere else, and no one truly expects to live out the end of their days here and only here. And the irony is, living in a place that is temporary, among others who are voluntarily displaced, makes me feel totally at home.
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