Moving overseas will be the single most exciting and petrifying decision you’ll make. Meeting new people, eating new food, seeing new places—the life of an expat is a constant barrage of new experiences.
It’s worth noting that the initial feeling of homesickness is completely normal and expected. This is especially true if you’re leaving behind certain traditions and practices that you hold close to your heart. So, to help ease you into your new expat life, we chatted to HSBC’s assistant marketing manager Rachel Au, who moved to Australia from Hong Kong and had to get creative when maintaining ties to her culture.
Read on to hear about Rachel’s experience with becoming a fully fledged expat.
What part of your culture were you trying to stay connected to when you moved?
I tried to stay connected to the Chinese traditions that I used to do every year, like celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year. It felt more like home when I did those activities. Language was another thing that I tried to stay connected with. I tried to listen and speak in my mother tongue regularly.
I make sure I keep in touch my friends in Hong Kong so I know what’s going on there and what they’re doing for the festivals. I also connected with people from Hong Kong here and we started celebrating festivals together. Keeping up with the pop culture in Hong Kong also helped. I would sometimes watch local TV and listen to local music.
What did you find challenging about maintaining that connection?
I had to put in extra time and effort to keep up with the culture and traditions back home. It didn’t come naturally when most people around me weren’t immersed in that culture. While I easily engaged in the traditions passively in Hong Kong, I would have to do certain things actively to keep the traditions going in Australia. In my first Mid-Autumn Festival here, I only remembered to get mooncakes last-minute on the day. Turned out they were all sold out around my place and I couldn’t get the ones we traditionally have. Normally in Hong Kong, I wouldn’t have missed it as there would be festive commercials and mooncake promotions everywhere. My parents would also have prepared for those traditions in advance.
It also took more effort to maintain relationships with people back home. Me and my friends tried to FaceTime regularly, but we’re not good at putting time aside to do this, especially after the lockdowns ended.
Could you tell us a bit more about Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival and how they're generally celebrated in Hong Kong?
Lunar New Year is a little like Christmas here. Families get together on the day and celebrate with traditional food like ‘Poon Choi’ (a big bowl made with multiple layers of ingredients like chicken, mushroom, seafood etc), Nian Gao (New Year cake) and Turnip cake. Older people in the family will also give out red packets [envelopes usually containing gifts like money] to younger members–it symbolises good wishes and luck for the new year ahead.
Traditionally, Mid-Autumn Festival is about family as well. We eat Tong Yuen (glutinous rice balls) and mooncakes with family on the day under the full moon. This symbolises families being together and reunited. Groups of friends will also celebrate together at night. We would play with lanterns, eat mooncakes and appreciate the full moon together.
Can you walk us through the significance of mooncakes?
I mentioned briefly that mooncakes symbolise family reunion. The roundness of the moon, the cake and the rice ball represents completeness and togetherness. Personally, it reminds me of my childhood as well because I used to be really excited about trying different flavours of mooncakes every year. It was an excuse for me to have dessert when I was a kid. Besides the traditional lotus flavour, there are all kinds of mooncakes like ice cream, matcha, chocolate, fruits etc.
How do you primarily connect with new friends while you're here?
This is mainly done through connecting with my friends of friends. A few months after I moved here, I reconnected with an old friend and she would organise gatherings with her group of friends from Hong Kong. I also met someone in my first job here who introduced me to his girlfriend with a similar cultural background and we have now become besties. After joining HSBC, I have also been able to work with colleagues with different cultural backgrounds including people from Hong Kong. Sydney is so diverse and it’s really easy to meet someone with the same cultural heritage.
Do you have any daily rituals to help remind you of your family?
I used to watch a lot of Cantonese TV shows with my family. I just watch clips on YouTube very occasionally now but watching these clips reminds me of them. In terms of food, my brother’s family over here cooks a lot of Cantonese dishes. It really helps me connect with my culture when I have that for dinner. Going to Yum Cha is another thing that reminds me of them–we used to eat Yum Cha almost every other weekend in Hong Kong.
What advice do you have for other expats who are thinking of making the same move overseas?
Everyone is different but I guess the key is to be open to expand your network and meet people. This way, you’ll have exposure to people with a diverse range of backgrounds including those similar to yours. While immersing yourself in the local culture and enjoying the diversity of cultures here in Sydney, it’s also important to stay connected to your roots. Find something that you could do to make you feel at home and don’t shy away from doing it whenever you feel like it.
Head to HSBC's international page for more help with your overseas move.
Editor’s note: this article was produced in partnership with HSBC. Thank you for supporting the partners who make Urban List possible. To read our editorial policy, click here.
Image credits: Pexels / Min An; Mick Haupt