Living and Working in Hong Kong

May I ask what kind of work you do

请问一下你在香

- in Hong Kong?

- 港是做什么工作的？

- Construction work. - Construction? - Yes.

- 翻地盘啊。工地吗？是的。

- About how much do you earn a year?

- 一年大概挣多少钱呀？

- 420,000.

- 四十两万。

- Would it be convenient to visit your home?

- 方便去你家看看吗？

- Sure, if you don't mind.

- OK，不塞耶。

- Not at all. Is that okay?

- 没事没事，可以吗？

- It's fine.

- OK啦。

If I had a bit more money,

要是我有钱一点，

I would live on a lower floor.

我就住下面去了。

- What's this? - A mailbox. Every

- 这是什么？損傷啊，香港每一个

household in Hong Kong has one. - Oh.

屋企都会有的。哦。

If anything happens, they won't

他得，真有也不会哇，

call you; they'll write a letter

打电话通知你，要不就是写信，

- or mail a notice. - How much is your

- 给信通知你。你在这里房租

- rent here per month?

- 多少钱一个月啊？

Including utilities and stuff,

加水电那些的话，

- it's about 8,000.

- 差不多八千。

- Is this a subdivided flat? - Pretty much.

- 这里是趟房吗？差不多吧，

- Very few aren't. - How many households

- 很少没有趟的。那这一层有多

- are on this floor? - Only... some share two,

- 少户啊？只有，有的同个两家，

- some share three. Ah, here we are.

- 有同个三家。啊，我们到了。

- Ah, how big is your place?

- 啊你家有多大呀？

- It's two meters this way.

- 这样子就两米。

- A bit over two meters.

- 两米多。

- Lengthwise, it's six meters.

- 打竖就是六米。

I feel like this place

这里我感觉也不

- isn't very small. - For Hong Kong,

- 是很小耶。对于香港来说，

it's not cramped at all. - Yeah.

不塞的啦。嗯。

Because for many average families,

因为在好多普通家庭的话，

a place this size

他这些这么大，

could have four or five people living in it.

应该可能都会四五个人住咯。

Living here all by myself is already

就我一个人住在这里已经算很

very luxurious. In Hong Kong, people use

奢侈的了。香港都是比较用些

more compact, mini-sized

mini一点的家

- furniture and appliances.

- 具家电啦。

You can see that almost everything

可以看到好像所有东西都

- is a miniature version. - This sofa,

- 是缩小版的。这个沙发，

it looks like a sofa,

它看上去是沙发，

but it's actually a sofa bed.

但是它是沙发床来的。

When pulled out, it's two meters.

拉出来有两米耶。

And then, here is where I dry clothes,

跟著，这里我是晾衣服，

right here. As for this bed of mine,

在这里啦。我这铺床呢，

I bought it on Taobao,

是我自己在淘宝那里，

and used some expansion screws

就是我就自己用些拉包螺丝这

- to assemble it myself.

- 样拼出来耶。

- Can I take a look at your bed?

- 可以看一下你的床铺吗？

- Sure. - These stairs are only as big

- 可以。这个楼梯只有一个小

as a small square. Wow, I don't think

方块这么大。哇，我好像正

I can go up facing forward; I have to turn sideways.

着上不去，我要侧着身才可以，

It's really quite narrow here.

这里还是挺窄的。

Wow, the bed up here is actually pretty big.

哇其实上面这个床还是蛮大的，

It's just right for one person.

一个人住是刚好。

Ah, here is an air conditioner mounted on

啊这里还有一个香港独有的卡

the window, which is unique to Hong Kong.

在窗户上的这种空调。

Why don't you live with your

那小姐为什么不跟家

- family instead of living alone?

- 人一起住，要自己住啊？

Because it's too crowded, with too many people.

因为太挤了，太多人了。

Over a hundred eating, 70 or 80 living there.

一百多人恰咯，七八十人住咯。

Living with them, there isn't even a door,

跟他们住就是连一个门都没有，

- no privacy.

- 没有隐私。

- No privacy. You even have to

- 没隐私。去洗手间都

- queue up for the toilet. - You make

- 要排队这种。你平均差

around 30,000-plus a month on average,

不多是一个月是三万多块，

do you feel that in Hong Kong,

你觉得在香港

- the pressure is high?

- 压力大不大？

- It's quite high. - Why would...

- 都大的啊。为什么会一

Why would a girl choose Hong Kong

个女孩子选择到香港

- to work on construction sites? Because other wages

- 来做工地啊？因为其他那些工资

are too low to cover my, uh,

太低了，维持不到我的，呃，

living expenses. After work, I

生活开支咯。收工之后我会去

do some part-time jobs,

做些part-time咯，

sometimes doing odd casual gigs,

有时去做一下流民啊，

washing dishes, and so on. Comfort is for

洗一下碗啊。舒服是留给

- the rich, after all. Over the years, do you have

- 有钱人的嘛。这么多年有没有什

- any rewards? I just bought

- 么收获呢？就在佛山买了

- two apartments in Foshan.

- 两套楼咯。

- Wow, that's amazing!

- 哇，好厉害。

Many people look for other avenues.

好多都是找外路咯。

Mainly, you either find someone

主要要不就找个自己

you like in Hong Kong to marry,

喜欢的香港人结婚咯，

or you do investment immigration,

要不投资移民咯，

- depending on which one you prefer.

- 看你自己喜欢哪个啦。

To work on Hong Kong construction sites,

在香港做地盘有没

- are there requirements? There are "Three Treasures":

- 有什么要求？有三宝咯，

you must have a Hong Kong ID card,

一定要有香港身份证，

a Green Card, and a worker registration card.

平安卡，工作证。

Here is the Green Card,

就是这个平安卡在这里，

these two are

它是两个是

- strictly required. So on Hong Kong construction

- 一定要的。那你在香港工

- sites, what do you mainly do?

- 地上面主要是做什么？

I do everything; whatever the boss tells me

什么都做的啊，老板叫做什

to do, that's what I do.

么就做什么的啦。

Electrical wiring, cabling, painting.

接电啊，搭线啊，油漆啦。

- 2,000 dollars. With all these side jobs,

- 两千块钱咯。兼职了很多嘛，

what is your dream after saving

然后你存这么多钱以后是有什么

- all this money? My dream is not having

- 梦想吗？我的梦想就是以后不

- to work in the future.

- 用上班。

Gotta run.

得润。