Our view of living in Hong Kong

As you have been reading up to now we are really enjoying our stay here in Asia. We have been very enthusiastic about our way of life which includes a lot of luxuries. We are very much aware of that. We realize that we live in a bubble and that our life is in no way representative of the life of others. As expats we have a lot of advantages like a full-time helper, a luxurious Club with gym and pool, security guards, home delivery of groceries, a beach in front etc. We are soaking up every bit of the luxuries we have...realizing full well that it's temporary. But we are sometimes painfully aware of the fate of others. Hong Kong is a very rich place but even here there are lots of people that have quite a hard time surviving. Not so much in the city but more on the outskirts and beyond.
As much as we have a hard time sometimes with the painful differences we also realize that it's almost necessary for us to live in a community of people with a similar background. Living amongst the Chinese would be very hard since there is that language barrier. It is as hard for us to learn their language as it is hard for them to learn ours. If you think of it: there are 9 different ways of saying the word 'ma' in Cantonese for instance. What you're saying all depends on the intonation....This makes learning and therefor communication quite hard. In recent years the public schools have not been teaching English in contrary to the past. The older generation still speak English a little bit but a lot of young people are very limited in their use of words.
On top of the language barrier there is the difference in culture. Based on my experience with other cultures I personally think that there could not be a bigger difference. This makes it extremely interesting. But I realize that living in a bubble has it's advantages in the way that I can interact with people without having to question the deeper meaning of everything. Maybe that can change the longer we're here and the more we start to understand their culture. I do really want to learn about the Chinese and their ways. I have noticed that the more I learn the more I am fascinated and the more I want to know about them....