Catch 144 交換人誌

Halo

Hi !　

I’m Austin, a 16 years old exchange student from SPKC, currently

in Stuttgart, Germany. I decided to go to Germany to explore the world, to try to see the world from a different perspective. Being in Hong Kong for 16 years made me really wanted to experience something new, something different.

I am Lieselotte Thiele from Ludwigslust ( somewhere between Hamburg and Berlin ) , Germany . I studied in Stewards Pooi Kei College (SPKC) , Shatin (香港神託會培基書院) as an exchange student for 10 months since last September.

At first it was really awkward and difficult for me as I went there without knowing any German. I could tell that some people were scared to talk to me because they weren’t that confident in their English and such, so that made it pretty hard to make friends in the first few months. But now I am 8 months into my exchange year, I would say that my German improved a lot by just constantly learning the vocabulary and speaking it with my friends. 

I was really lucky to have supportive classmates that help me with my German whenever I needed help and a host family that’s very encouraging. After improving my German, I found it so much easier to communicate with people or make friends, even with basic German. There is a saying that Germans are cold, but they are not , rather , they are pretty loving and would always smile or give you’re a small nod as a hi when passing by .

My first visit in East Asia was to Thailand with my family on vacation. Me and my family love Thailand for its variety of food and things are cheap to buy. So Hong Kong is my second and my first impression  about it is the hot and humid weather. Immediately , I realize I miss home so much for the snowing , white Christmas in winter time.

But still I enjoy shopping and hangout with other exchange students in Mongkok , Causeway Bay and the waterfront . But one thing I regret is that I had not been to any offshore islands here !

If you were to ask me one big difference between HK and Germany, I would say that its about their eating habits. In Germany, they basically eat bread for breakfast and dinner , with some cheese, jam, and some ham. They rarely eat a hot meal , only at lunch time will they eat some kind of warm meal, such as potatoes and meat.

As for the daily routine, I enjoy eating hot noodles during breakfast or lunch time , comparing I only eat bread most of the time back home which I find it very dry and boring . I love almost all the sweetie here , such as mango glutinous rice ball (芒果糯米糍), Egg tart, Dim sum, even Sweet heart cake (老婆餅) which others tell me only the elderly will like it ?!

My experience of studying here is very different from Germany. Though we have long school hours here, school provides a strong community and caring atmosphere. Teachers and students are closely related. There are a lot of extra curricular activities students can join and a lot of them are free of charge. Teachers are in general much younger than those in Germany who are mostly retired. Besides teaching is not a well paid job in Germany and that’s why not much respect are shown to teachers as compared here is just the opposite, I think. One thing I find it interesting is that students are very active, keep talking before and after class, but they do not have much interaction or questioning during class which I enjoy this type of learning mode more back in Germany.

The churches in Germany and the Sunday worship to me is pretty similar. The big difference that I saw was how the church dealt with the teens and their faith. One camp that really stood out to me was JAT (JugendAktionsTage) which means teenagers action day. It is basically a 7 days camp where the teenagers have to put on an evening show with the topic of the day. For example, on Monday, the theme may be : “Let God lead the way”. Then after someone talks about the topic, we all split into different workshops such as a dance workshop, video workshop, theatre workshop etc. In the groups, we talk about the topic and how we can best represent and show this topic through the medium of our workshop, such as having a short theatre show with the theme letting God lead the way.

That’s only part of the camp, there is also an outing day where we go ice skating or Mini golfing. There are also a time every night where we talk about our day, what we thought about it and what we were grateful for. I think that this camp is very well made because it balances everything very well, from free time to working to your relationship with God. It’s also very friendly to people who may not be a devoted Christian. They won’t feel pressured there or anything. They also succeed in training the new generation of leaders in the church, as i said, we had to put on an evening show for 4 out of 7 days of the camp. In the workshops, most of the work are done by the teens, the leaders are just there to assist us and guide us along the way, this to me really trains leadership and is a great way to build a giant community in the camp. 

In terms of cultural difference, once I reach 18 ( I am now 16) , I will be expected to move out from home, to become independent. Even the language addressing “you” will be different before and after 18 , that reminds you that you are no longer a kid , you will be treated as an adult . Rather here in HK , family stays together even with grandparents , meaning living together in 3 generations, Wow ! 

One other thing I find it funny in terms of cultural difference is that we never raise hands to call for waiters in a restaurant . We regard this as impolite or annoying , as to rush people to do things even to waiters who are to serve you ! 

Now I am back to HK, I missed my friends and the slower lifestyle and much more space, feeling less trapped in Germany. Those times going party with friends and playing boardgames with my host family will surely bring to a good memory. 

Now I am back home already , my most memorable experience here is to learn to be more independent. My social skill had improved since I had taken more initiative to make new friends and brave enough to go out to explore new places by myself . Besides I learn more about money management too.

My next journey should be heading towards my University life in 2 years time. If I have a chance to go for another exchange program , I am not sure if I will choose Asia again. But re-visit HK, Yes, For sure ! 

I do have a good time for the past 10 months !