公司聚会

On tuesday night I went out to bowling and had dinner with my team members from Oslo and Bergen. Since we are quite international (3 Norwegians, me, 1 English, 1 West German and 1 East German), it is a good chance for me to learn about them and their background.

They asked me about Hong Kong and how it was affected after 1997, and about the counterfeit stuff. While the Germans talked about the fall of the wall in 1989. It was always good to learn about other people's experience.

However, I do feel that there is a big misconception of how people picture China and Hong Kong. Who is to blame?

I told them about the changes in HK was minimal since it was pretty much the same people who continues to rule the place. The counterfeit things are becoming an issue in China due to their lack of knowledge of the copyright concept.

My East German co-worker was 14 when the wall fell and all he remembered was that Coka Cola was for sale in stores for the first time and he drank so much of it till his mouth changes color. His parents both lost their jobs and the social benefits disappeared as the Soviet moved out.

So the question regarding the timing of change was discussed. Removing the wall too abruptly caused some issues for some people, but had they delay the move, it may never have happened. So we can just let history decide whether it was right or wrong. As for my co-worker, he did got more opportunities now and is living happily in Norway working as a Senior Developer (a title I hope to get in a couple of years).

In the restaurant the dishes I recommended was complimented. They were just surprised that I wasn't eating with chopsticks. The fact is that in the restaurant we have a plate to eat on and it would just be silly to pick up the rice from the plate with chopsticks. It would take forever.

Overall it was a good evening.