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Cynthia Yeung

I associate culture shock     with foreign countries.

We experience culture shock when  we visit Japan and have to navigate our way through the complicated rituals of gift-giving and manners.  We experience culture shock when  we go to the United States and the most popular Chinese dishes seem to be 'General Tso's Chicken' or 'Grandmother Chicken'.

I never expected to experience culture shock in Hong Kong.

The fact that I consider  the  10-person  elevators in my Hong Kong apartment building  tiny shows that I have got used to the US.

'Barely four people would fit in here!' I exclaimed to my parents, as I thought of the residents of Philadelphia.

Everything - from French fries and soft drinks to trucks and buildings - is super-sized in America.

I am generally perceived as  small or slightly below average in terms of physique in the US, but  I find myself on the large side of the scale when compared to my Hong Kong peers.

And I nearly forgot that Hong Kong has a very interesting sense of street fashion.

Situated on an Ivy League campus, I've become accustomed to the  preppy Banana Republic look with the occasional Prada bag and Manolo Blahnik pumps thrown in.

But only in Hong Kong (and Japan) do you see young women - anywhere from 14 to 24 in age - wearing ruffles,  frills,  bangles,  sharply contrasting colours and completing the look with a bag endorsed by an anime character.

It makes my eyes hurt. It also reminds me that here, I'm considered horribly 'out' - a common Chinese term referring to one out of touch with  trends.

Flicking on the radio, I soon realise that I don't know the names of half the new Canto-pop stars. What's the TVB soap opera that everyone's talking about nowadays?

But my confusion and shock don't stop there. A 15 per cent tip is standard in American restaurants and even taxi drivers would expect to receive a tip of a dollar  or two.

But even as I count my savings and wander around the IFC with my friends, looking very much like tourists as we stop  to take photos every five minutes, it doesn't take long for me to realise that Hong Kong is still my home.

Cynthia Yeung is a student at the University of Pennsylvania



Culture shock