Last week in Hong Kong!!

It is official my last week in Hong Kong! Although my experience here has been great, I am so ready to come home. Considering I am one of the first American interns to work in the democratic party, I believe it has been quite a success. Although at first it was difficult to communicate and it seemed like there was minimal work for me to do, now I have been working hard and had many projects to complete before I leave for the US. I feel like my time here has been both beneficial to me and the people I work with, I feel as though I have made long lasting relationships with both my supervisors and the other interns in my office. Because I am the only native english speaking person that has worked for the Democratic party, I have been able to help them prepare a great deal of research for the english speaking people in HK that would like to learn more about politics in China. I feel that I have been able to help teach the people I have worked with a more efficient way to research and have information for people interested in their work. Because politics tend to be ethno-centric, there are many foreigners moving to hong kong so it has become much more important for them to be more accommodating to people who do not speak Chinese. I was very surprised at first to find out just how many people even in a former English colony do not understand English or even speak it on a regular basis. They have increased english teaching in schools as well as in their daily use and I believe that me working for my organization has helped them realize just how important my time and the english speaking world is for their political growth. To be honest, I am not sure if there will be any interns from America after me, but if GMU decides to put another student with the Democratic Party, I believe I have paved the way for them to succeed. I have been extremely open to forming friendships with the other interns by going out to lunch and dinner with them frequently and even tonight I went and had dinner at one of the other interns flats in downtown hong kong and spent time with her and her family. It is considered quite an honor to be invited into a Chinese person's home, so I feel very special. I truly hope that I have represented our school and the US in the best way possible! Anyways, this past week has been great. I have been working hard on summarizing many reports related to the global competitiveness in HK and how to boost their economy. It is truly amazing just how innovative and hard they try to be as efficient and accommodating to the local people as well as the many different people that choose to come to HK. I have learned from my classes on research the best ways to find and summarize information, and it seems like my supervisors have been very impressed with my work ethic and writing abilities, it has been quite rewarding! Especially since recently my work has been related back to global inequalities and how to make HK more globally efficient and competitive my opinions and knowledge I have gained prior to my experience here has really come in handy. Also, in regards to personal experiences while I have been here, I have really been noticing and am finally getting use to some of the distinct ways that people interact with each other. At first I was at times taking offense to the way that people were seeming stand offish or almost afraid of me but I realized after open discussions with co workers that the people are much more reserved than most Americans.  Sometimes due to the cultural differences, the people may seem hesitant to interact with strangers or foreigners but because I have really tried to break through that barrier and show the people, especially the ones I work with that I am truly open to their culture and to learn as much about them and try as much food, etc. that I can. It is amazing what can happen when you express genuine interest and willingness to learn about another culture. A whole new world will open for you, as long as you are willing! I feel that I have gotten everything and more out of this experience that I could have asked for and will remember and cherish my time here for the rest of my life :)