Welcome Back

Everybody here seems to have such an interest-ing story about where they’re from and how they ended up in Hong Kong. I knew that there’d be teachers and staff from all over the world teaching at I.C.S. But one phenomenon I hadn’t anticipated was the presence of colleagues who are ethnically Chinese but have come to Hong Kong via the States, Australia, Great Britain, New Zeeland or Canada.

One young man who is working in our building as an aide grew up in Boston and couldn’t possibly be more American. He took a year off of university to move to Hong Kong where he is living with his grandmother. He is using his time now to re-acquaint himself with Hong Kong and his Chinese heritage. He is also refining his Mandarin and Cantonese.

Another colleague has had an even more round-about journey to Hong Kong. His story starts several generations ago when his great-grandparents were among the countless Chinese who emigrated from China. In his case, his family ended up in Malaysia. Fast-forward two generations and my colleague’s father and his new bride immigrate to North America to go to college and seminary. Because Princeton wanted proof of financial solvency, his dad had to convince a wealthy uncle to wire transfer $10,000 into his bank account just long enough to generate a bank statement that he could show to Princeton. It worked and my colleague grew up in Toronto. Later, he married a girl from Indiana. They have two kids and have been living in Hong Kong for the last several years. He goes back to Malaysia every summer to visit his folks who have since retired there and to visit his extended family. But he is only able to communicate with a few of his forty-plus cousins. Having grown up in Canada, he does not speak any Chinese and only a few of his cousins speak English.

Everyone here has got a story to tell including people of Chinese ancestry who have found their back to China bringing with them only parts of their Chinese heritage.

-Jack