I’ve spent the last 2 months in Hong Kong for my year abroad, and I’ve noticed something: The stereotypes that I experience change within seconds.
What do I mean? We’ll start from the beginning.
I first ran into problems two weeks after I had moved into my flat, and I’d come in with some food for myself. Being a South Asian man carrying a takeaway box, the security guard in my building had convinced herself that I just had to be a Deliveroo driver, because there had to be no way that a young brown man was actually living in this building. As she became increasingly threatened by my presence, all I could think to myself was whether I was out of my depth, and whether I would ever be welcome here. Fortunately, two months later and this place feels more familiar, and I find myself thinking that I’m out of my depth a lot less.