Characteristic habits from my town

Kylie Kwok
Level 6
Characteristic habits from my town
People from different nations have their own styles of living, like favorite tastes of food, characteristic ways to express themselves and outstanding apparel from each city in this world. Do you know the ordinal way to drink Chinese tea? Have you seen a lot of people get in a very long line outside of McDonald’s that were not waiting to feed their hunger? Do you carry umbrella not because of rain or snow but sunshine? People not from Hong Kong might think my habits of mine are strange, but that’s very common for everyone in my home town. Let’s imagine when we blend all these distinguishing characteristic cultures to a big pot, you might think you live in a fantastic place with all kinds of elements, or you might think all different races other than yours are wacky because you’ve never seen someone look or do things like that in your hometown. Adapting to the culture in the U.S. has been the most important part for everyone’s lifestyle because we all need to suit in the society where we live with different cultures.

The method we eat or drink and dietaries are varied for different culture. In the U.S., it’s customary to pour your own cup of tea first. It’s very normal to see people pour themselves tea before the others in the U.S. That’s how my foreign friends do. In the Chinese point of view, we should pour everyone a cup of tea on your table before yourselves no matter whoever you just meet, men or women. We learned this manner when we were small. We would be considering impolite if we didn’t do it that way. After someone has poured tea in our cups, we are supposed to say ‘Thank you” or tap your finger on the table. There’s a historic meaning behind this way to say thank you. A very long time ago, a King from a Dynasty of China had made a tour in disguise with his trustful generals to observe the lifestyles of his people. Of course, nobody knew he was the king. One day he went to a tavern with his general because he wanted to experience the life of common people, so he poured tea for the general. The general was shocked and he was supposed to kneel down for this highest bestowal by the King but he couldn’t because that would expose the secret of this tour. Then he decided to tap his two fingers on the table to symbolize it. Since that, we have been using this way to thanks whoever pours us tea. This is one kind of manners we need to learn in our upbringing. Even though that’s not very necessary to follow but this habit had already seeped in our lifestyles.


When foreigners go to The McDonalds in Hong Kong, they will experience many attractive advertisements by these franchise stores. The McDonalds in Hong Kong use many ways to fascinate customers. Add 2 dollars to any of the combo meals, then you’ll get some fine work, like toys or dolls. There was one time that they wanted to sell a set of 30 snoopy toys in different period with different posts only 2 dollars extra when people purchase the meal. Then everyone went crazy and want to got in McDonalds even didn’t mind waiting in a long line only because of purchasing the meal so they could get the snoopy toys. McDonalds didn’t sell the whole set at the same time, they only sold a couples styles of snoopys weekly and only sold until the last in stock which means people needed to keep buying their food for at least three months to get the whole set. Every McDonald that I passed was extremely crowded while I was going home from school. People were all waiting in a snake-like long line for the little snoopy toy. And I saw some of them even throw away the food they had just bought and put the snoopy in their handbags or school bags. I wasn’t impressed much because people from my hometown were somehow materialistic and never care about the worthiness of spending on unnecessary. The foreigners would be confused if they face this situation in Hong Kong’s McDonalds and that’s very hard to explain if they don’t grow up in that place.

On the other hand, it's very hot in Hong Kong during summer which is from May until September. Hong Kong is a southern city of China. Even though it’s not nearby the equator, but it is still hot and humid, probably because it surrounds by sea. In the summer, we never called it strange when parents walk on the street with umbrella with their kids or girls hold an umbrella under the sunlight. We know the knowledge of the harm from sun and we started to protect ourselves. People in the U.S. might think that’s wired because they would never say good bye to sunlight. They all love it because they live in the northern part on the earth. The weather of our home town has also affected the lifestyle of us. I would be embarrassed if I hold the umbrella under sunlight in the U.S.
I’m always glad that I can experience different cultures at any moment in the U.S. I’ve never had the uncomforted feeling since I’ve been living in the U.S. It’s fun that living in a place where I can be excited when I see some objects or people which act or look interesting. However, I’ve lost in translation for some reason that I can’t even explain when I started living in the U.S. I’ll never forget the lifestyle I had in my home town, but I also started to accept the new culture of where I am now.