An American, a South African, a Chinese Man, and a New Zealander Walk in to a Bar

No, this isn't the start to some joke, but it is actually a quite normal experience for me. Hong Kong is a huge metropolitan area with people always coming and going for business or pleasure.

My place of work hires a few expats, and we also deal with many 'foreign' business people. Growing up, I used to think of someone who was foreign meant they were from a strange, far off country. Well, now I am a foreign person, who gets to meet other foreign people.

The day that this blog title was thought up was just another normal day going to lunch. A sales rep was in town meeting with our shop manager. So An American (me), a South African (our shop manager), a Chinese man (shop manager assistant) and a New Zeelander (sales rep) all went out to our local lunch area which is part food, part bar.

Many friends back home always ask about the language barrier and I tell them it is very difficult, but many people speak English. I'm not going to talk about the extreme barrier in regards to our staff (who only speak Chinese) but the language barrier is hard when just speaking in English. On the day we went to lunch, I had to listen very carefully to three completely different accents.

I have met and dined with people from all over the world, and when I get put in a situation with many different accents I have to really listen hard to what is being said. I also have to recognize the differences in wording, especially when visiting with people that learned the 'British English.' I have to remember a boot is a trunk, wellingtons are rubber mud boots, a biscuit is a cookie, chips are french fries, and lemon tea is hot water with a slice of lemon instead of cold iced tea with lemon. I don't even have time to learn Chinese when I'm trying to learn all the English to English conversions! Spelling is also different on some things as well. The entrance to work says, "Turf Care Centre" (it is funny how even my spell check on my computer thinks it is spelled wrong as well.)

Not only do I not fit in with everybody else here as I am an American, but now, for the first time ever, I've been put in to a group. I'm now called a Yank. Sometimes as I sit and listen to people from various countries, they refer to others as Yanks, Kiwis, Aussies, Pomies, etc. It will sure nice to return to the States where I am just a guy from Iowa, not the Yank from the cold part of America.