What's it like?

I've been noticing lately and thinking about perceptions. Particularly, I've been struck by people's perceptions of Asia. Whenever I tell someone I lived in Hong Kong, usually I get some sort of response (after the initial "Wow, you lived in Hong Kong?!") that is along the lines of "You must be so glad to be back in America." I get a little defensive about this. My family especially seems to have some negative ideas about China, and still don't completely understand why I purposely put myself there for a whole year.

I get a range of misconceptions. Some people think I lived in a hut. (Sorry to burst that bubble, but HK is all high rise apartment buildings and skyscrapers, with some smaller buildings and houses thrown in some of the New Territories.) Some people think I was killing my own dinner. Again, not true. I actually had a nice grocery store I went to for food ... just like in America! :)

While things were definitely very different there, it wasn't quite the destitute experience some think it was. I think the most offended I got was recently I was talking to someone about the Chinese basketball player for Houston (I'm totally blanking on his name right now ... sorry!). This person I was speaking with said, "I hope they don't send him back to China! I'm sure he'd do whatever he can to keep from going back to Beijing," etc. I just thought to myself, "It's not that bad! Just because it isn't America doesn't mean it's bad." I knew a girl, Ronica, who was from Shanghai but went to a university in HK. She did an exchange program right to our own state of Texas for a semester, and travelled all over the U.S. while she was here. I saw her when she got back to HK, and she loved her time in America, but was happy to be home. I asked if she thought she would want to return to the States, and she just shrugged and said if the opportunity came up, she would. But her home is China, and she prefers it there.

I guess all I'm trying to say is, while it may have it's problems, Asia isn't quite the stereotype, police state some people think it is. It's frustrating to hear negative things about a place you love so much. It's beautiful, and different, and unique.