Frequently Asked Questions

With being home recently, we received many questions about our new life over in Hong Kong. Many of the questions were similar, meaning a lot of people want to know the same things. I compiled the most asked questions and our answers for those who we weren't able to see and talk with.

1) How long is the flight? - The flight is direct from Chicago to Hong Kong. Going to Hong Kong is 15.5 hours and going to Chicago is 14.5 hours. We try to spend the majority of the flight awake to fight against jet lag. We watch plenty of movies, tv shows and read magazines. Plus eating the 2 meals and a snack that you get!

2) Do you drive over there? - We do not drive ourselves in Hong Kong. Having your own car there is comparable to having a car in New York City. It's crowded, busy traffic and expensive. We use all forms of public transportation to get around...blog post on that later!

3) What do you miss the most? (besides family and friends of course!) - My answer: Target, Ryan's answer: Jack's frozen pizza

4) What is the weather like? - The weather here is similar to southern Florida. It is mild during the winter (50-60 degrees) and very humid during the summer. Luckily we arrived during the best weather season so we can get used to the weather slowly before the hot summer.

5) What is the time difference? - We are 14 hours ahead of central time here which means while you are waking up for your day, I am getting ready for bed (or still browsing Pinterest, which is normally the case). It is normally easier for us to adjust time zones flying to Hong Kong, while flying back home is quite difficult with fighting jet lag. This past trip home though was not easy, with me falling asleep at 8 pm every night and up at 5 a.m.

6) What currency do you use? - We use the Hong Kong dollar. The conversion rate is roughly $1 USD for $7 HKD. The easy math Ryan taught me is for $100 HKD is $12 USD and then multiply or divide from there. I still am finding myself standing in stores doing math on my fingers trying to figure out if the yogurt is really as expensive as I think! Luckily, there is an app for that :-)

7) Is there US tv stations there? - There are a few US tv stations here to watch. We have several different types of discovery channels, TLC, E! Network and FX to name a few. The difference here is that the shows are much older (they show 17 kids and counting vs 19 kids and counting) and a lot of things are blurred or edited out. No brands are allowed to be shown or spoken, cleavage is blurred out and any background faces are also blurred out. The commercials are not for products but for the tv programs on that network. The episodes are normally aired with 1 short 'commercial' break and then previews of other shows are aired for the remaining 8-10 minutes. Luckily for the Internet, we are able to keep up on all of our favorite tv shows back home that are unavailable here (Real Housewives for me, Always Sunny in Philadelphia for Ryan).

8) Is everything really expensive? - It depends. If your lifestyle is going out to Western restaurants and bars every day and night, then yes. If you can handle going to the grocery store and some more local restaurants, then not really. Many things here can be purchased for near the same pride or cheaper than in the states, it is just a matter of looking. Getting foods imported from the US is obviously more expensive here but there are many foods that can be purchased locally. It also goes for clothes. If you need high end brands from all the fancy stores downtown, then it is expensive. If you're okay with shopping at H&M or other similar stores, then the price is similar to the states.

9) Are you working yet? - Unfortunately, not yet. It is taking some time to get my license situated over here due to the paper work, but as soon as that is settled I will hopefully start working. There are many English speaking clinics in the western districts here that I will look into work at as you have to be fluent in Cantonese and English to work in the hospitals.

10) Do you like it? - I got this question from everyone from my parents to the checkout person at J Crew (saying 'I live overseas' is a great line to get them to stop asking if you want a store credit card). The answer is, slowly but surely. I'm not going to lie, it was very hard at first to get a handle of understanding I lived here. After a couple of weeks I got that feeling you have when you're on vacation and you are ready to go home, but of course I wasn't going home this time. There are things here I've grown to love while there are still things here I quite haven't. Coming back here after Christmas though really sealed it for me. When we landed and got off the plane, I truly felt as though I was back home and not landing in a foreign county, something I didn't think I would feel for awhile. I am happy to be back home and continue on this journey to learning more about this city.

I hope you enjoyed this long post! If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to ask me here or on Facebook. We know many of our family and friends are curious about life here and it makes some people more comfortable to know more.

Happy New Year!