Working in HK

Arup's office is located at the capping end of this huge shopping mall complex called Festival Walk. It's 5 stories high with a beautiful central atrium space and a structurally extensive skylight truss system. It's very engineering dominant, so it's nice to be a part of its smaller division of urban design and planning team--much more intimate than the corporate structure. It feels like an entire month has gone by after only a week of working here. However, the entire week went by in a flash, continuously day in and day out, or should I put it from morning to night to morning again. The work ethics here is amazing, it's over drive with over time all the times, no wonder it's such a competitive economy here. Everyone is dedicated to work, work is life, as a matter a fact, it's a way of life here.

I got a taste of that "lifestyle," just from the week of working at Arup. Despite how hard working everyone is, everyone was very kind and always had more than enough time to stop what they were doing to answer all of my questions or even over extend themselves to solve my problems such as computer and account set-up. At first I thought that I had just lucked out with a very kind neighbor, but now I know that it's just the way people are. So, it appears that friendship does exist during working hours and we spent many moments laughing and exchanging thoughts covering things well beyond of the scope of our working projects.

What I'm starting to understand is that beyond the crazy 12 hour shifts people work daily, it's actually a lifestyle that locals here set for themselves: they work long hours in order to enjoy themselves throughout the day. Despite how close a deadline is they ALWAYS seem to set out enough time to eat out for lunch and have their tea time break etc. rather than finishing the work asap. My boss was concerned when she spotted me eating at my desk. She acted like my mother when she described the health risks of not eating right. So in HK, working in a team also means working in a big family where everyone makes sure that everybody is on board. Tasks are shared and beyond that snacks, food, jokes... it seems like a cultural tradition to just share everything just the way Asian families do (I'm starting to realize that my roots really do hold true!).

So for the first week, I worked day and night towards a deadline for today. Despite being totally fresh with the project in Shengzen, (a looping campus/mixed-use masterplan between the city of Shengzen & HK), with the support of many and in collaboration with our senior architect/designer, I was able to further develop an entire illustrative masterplan. This really personally re-affirmed my "abilities" in executing design. So despite the long hours, hard work pays off in a team of supportive people (who are never in any rush to go home)and the "rush" I felt in meeting the deadline was, well, exciting. Moreover, the scope of projects here are so interesting and fast pace that it's given me some purpose in life again hehehe... trust me after the past few months of being out of the corporate structure you lose sight of things.