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As we've talked about this several times, I've officially moved to Hong Kong as of last week.
So it's been about seven days exactly since I moved here.
So many things happened in that past seven days.
I was complaining this to my friend. Let me see if I can find the text that I sent her.
Yeah, I said, um, here, here, here. Yeah, because I don't know. It's, I guess I knew at
at some level that I'm gonna be very, very busy immediately after the move. But I just didn't
anticipate the whole move to happen so, so, so quickly. Yeah. So I told her,
I'm loving Hong Kong so far, but I'm spent. In the six days since I arrived, I have started at
the museum, finished onboarding, used metro, bus, tram, ferry, and a cab with the uncle who
asked to navigate him in Cantonese, and viewed six flats, mostly crappy ones. But I did find
one that I liked. And I signed a contract, got a Hong Kong number, try to get a Hong Kong ID,
but found out that I need to wait until January for the next appointment. And I also found out
that I cannot open a bank account without proof of address. And then the only reason why I want
the bank account is to pay the rent to the landlord whose apartment I won't have if I
cannot send him the money in timely fashion. So, go figure. And I tried to send a deposit with my
wire transfer, and wire transfer, like kai gai sou kin, is so nerve-wracking every single time I do it.
Yeah. So that's a lot. And like, that's not even getting to my actual job, you know, of the job
that I started. But thankfully, the job part has been the easier transition than figuring out the
life logistics. Yeah. I like the people who I work with so far. They seem to be super nice,
and a lot more women than any labs I've ever been to. Yeah, actually, the science team is all girls,
except for our boss, who is a guy. So, and the two, there's two girls who are about my age as well. So
03:02
that's also new. And we each have different problems, not problems, different projects.
So we're not exactly like, working in the same project. But like, we're aware of what we're all
doing. And we share the lab space. So there's that. And I've started. So are you all from the same
kind of
background? No, slightly different. I think the other two girls have more specific degrees for
conservation science. So they learned in their masters about different techniques that conservators
use some chemistry, I believe, but like mostly in relation to the conservation techniques.
And my degree is in 100% chemical physics, physical chemistry. So like, nothing to do with
conservation. So I don't have, I have very little knowledge of conservation techniques. But I have
a sort of more deeper backgrounds for chemistry and physics. And they know more about specific
conservation. And one of the girls is actually, her project is all about how to sustainably
maintain environments in a museum. So, you know, museum artworks are very sensitive to
humidity, temperature, all these other things. And so they have a bunch of sensors around the
gallery spaces to monitor the humidity and temperature and regulate that, right, the HVAC
system. But obviously, those are energetically expensive and bad in terms of carbon footprints.
So her project is coming up with ways to evaluate it and try and improve like, sort of try and
find a middle ground of properly taking care of the collection while also making the HVAC system
a little bit more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, which I think
is a really important project for going forward. Because I forgot which university,
not university, which museum in Japan, but there was a crowdsource funding project for a museum
in Japan. I think it was a national museum, if I'm not wrong, because they basically went over
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the budget for their air, like HVAC environmental maintenance, right, for the summer. Because this
summer, Tokyo has been insanely hot. So they were like, we don't have money to keep our samples and
specimens safe. And they went on internet to ask for donations. And they made like,
a pretty good amount of money, which they can then use to supposedly
properly take care of their collections. But again, like, the deeper problem is how to do
this in a sustainable way, so that we don't need to rely on these random public money,
especially if you're a national museum that already relies on public taxpayer money, right?
So things like this. So her project, I guess, is going to be a little bit more
engineering type, like optimization problems. Yeah, I see. I see. Yeah, that sounds fun.
Yeah, it's been really cool to see other people. And I've joined the meeting with the conservators.
So I got to sit through sort of like, and listen to what conservators concerns are,
when it comes to artworks and how to handle it. And I don't know if you've seen the news,
but Hong Kong has been hit by typhoon, like the past few weeks. Like every weekend,
there was like insane amount of rain, torrential rain and typhoon. And some of that is affecting
the museum. Like there was a leak in some parts of the gallery, which is a big, big,
big issue for us, because those are where, you know, million dollar paintings are at.
So that kind of stuff we really worry about, and the conservators were very concerned about it.
And yeah, so it wasn't very, it's really interesting to sort of go from super fundamental
chemical research to a lot closer to application. And I've started building my microscope as well.
It's a little bit of homemade project. So I'm still building a light source with LED.
I'll show you the picture. It's pretty fun. Like, I spent like 30-40 minutes gluing every single
little LED pixels onto the base. I'm like, I felt like I'm doing some Natsu Yasumi no Kousaku.
Yeah. So yeah, so like the job wise, you know, it's been the easiest transition, but it's more
like life stuff, you know. Getting my Hong Kong ID, which is kind of like a residential permit,
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getting my Hong Kong number, setting up, you know, getting used to the commute.
Although Hong Kong's public transportation is great. I love it so far.
And I think it helps.
Yeah, like regularly?
Like very frequently. It's like Tokyo's subway system, but like less number of them than Tokyo.
And I don't know how old the subway system is, but they look very clean and new.
So I have no complaints. And also it helps that I am a city girl through and through.
So I'm not like the crowdedness of the city or like the commute.
Yeah, those wouldn't bother you.
Yeah, that does not bother me. And it's tiny apartments also doesn't bother me
because that's sort of what I expected. It is still expensive though. I mean, right now,
like Hong Kong rents are basically Manhattan rate.
Really?
Yeah, like I've seen flats where it would cost me like 2000 plus US dollars.
And it's like, tiny and dirty and old.
Yeah, yeah, it's like it's sad. I'm like, wow, I'm paying this much for this tiny ass place.
And but like, I'm happy with the one I found that I signed a contract for.
Again, it's a little bit far away from the station five stories up.
But both the building and the unit is clean. It's newly renovated room.
So my unit is newly renovated, but it's tiny, right?
Like, I have like, two IH stoves.
And I don't have a washing machine.
So it's a shared laundry?
No, no, no, it's a one bedroom. It's a one bedroom.
But I need to go to the coin laundry.
Oh, I see, I see. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I need to go to the laundromat, which is on the same block.
And it's like a cafe combined.
I know.
So it's actually it's actually not bad.
Not bad.
I prefer that. I've done something worse in New York,
where I had to walk like five blocks to get to my nearest laundromat.
That's a lot of work. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And also in New York, like Hong Kong.
Maybe it's too premature to assess this, but I feel really safe in Hong Kong.
Whereas in New York, I would not leave my laundry alone, you know?
Whereas here, I feel like I can put my laundry in and like,
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okay, I'll be back in half an hour and then come back.
I feel like I could do that.
But not in New York.
I just like sat there with my books and like phone.
Yeah, just wait. Yeah, wait there.
Yeah, just wait there.
So I'm still getting used to Hong Kong.
Like, you know, the one thing that is good about apartment viewing
is that it forces you to go to different neighborhoods.
So other than your current Airbnb place and the work.
So I did get to explore like a western half of Hong Kong Island.
But I'm yet to go to the eastern half of the Hong Kong Island.
So yeah, I hope I get to explore.
I also met my reunited, much like you,
my high school friend,
who I think the last time I saw her was at the high school graduation.
So a long time ago.
A very long time ago.
But yeah, she's local Hong Kong, Hong Kongese.
Honky? That's nice.
I don't know if that's the right word.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So she and I are gonna hang out a lot probably.
And she's really excited to take me around the city.
Yeah, so very exciting.
And super grateful that someone, like, at least I know one person is local here.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, now with the work people, I know a few more local people.
But this is the first time, you know, like I'm moving to a new city
in a place where I know very, very few people.
I mean, it was the same, I guess.
When I moved to New York, it was the same.
But I was in a school, right?
I was in university, where a lot of other people were on the same boat as me.
So it didn't feel that weird.
But yeah, but now as an adult.
Yeah, very different story.
Which, yeah, maybe it's a good segue to talk more about.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening.
And find us at EigoDeScience on Twitter.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time!
