Long-term fighting against Post Holiday Syndrome?
The difficulties facing returnees of working holiday to get back to their life
The moment she came back from working holiday after three and a half years, Mich Wong was at a lost. The life of working holiday was chill, but she knew she had to return to Hong Kong one day.
She was 23 when she was back from the two-year stay in Australia. She thought she could still afford one more year and she became a big fan of snowboarding after working at a snowboarding centre so she went to Japan for the snow again.
As a beginner of snowboarding, she practices a lot with the free entrance pass comes together with the job and falls in love with snowboarding.
Having a reflection on whether to go on this life of “having fun” in her third year of working holiday, Ms Wong has a stronger sense of the need to get back to “reality”. “Seeing people who were at the same age as me had some achievements in their careers and getting married, I suddenly felt like I had gone too far,” she said.
She also wondered whether she should spend more time with her family as they were getting older.
Her attitude changed as she got more mature after these years. She decided to get back to the reality in Hong Kong, but with a six-month snow holiday that she put a perfect full stop for her working holiday.
“Working holiday is not only about having fun, there must be some growth,” she said. “But the others may not know. It is rare to have a friend to ask you ‘how you have
Mich Wong (at the centre with the blue glasses on the head) works at the rental department of the snowboarding centre and learns to repair snowboards and other equipment with colleagues who also enjoy this sports a lot.
She wanted to return to Hong Kong soon, but she felt very lost. She did not know what to do in Hong Kong, worrying about the job prospect and her future.
She was sad and she extended her working holiday in Canada. “That was my most depressed period of working holiday, the mood has changed,” she said.
Despite some unpleasant experiences of working holiday makers, the ups and downs are the valuable memories. The exciting discoveries everyday make a lot of them find it hard to get back to the normal stable life back in their home countries. The period of adjustment varies for each participant, but it was not easy for Ms Wong.
“Life of working holiday was chill. You do not have to worry much about money, future and plans. You just want to have fun,” she said.
Her first two years in Australia were first in her life to be away from Hong Kong, having a brand-new life to hang out with foreigners everyday, enjoying snowboarding in her free time while working as a ticket officer at a snowboarding site, going on trips in weekends to explore the nature in this country.
become more mature?’ They only ask you how much you earned or say ‘It was cool to travel all the time’.”She believes that what she gained needs to be applied in her life back in Hong Kong.
“I don’t want others to think that the years I spent was like ‘blank’. One common thing that returnees find is not able to find others who appreciate the experience of working holiday. I don’t need you to think that I have done something amazing but at least you don’t think I was like doing nothing in that period.”
Some elderly thought she should find a stable job in Hong Kong instead of going for that three and a half years. They believed traveling should take at most two weeks and she should have come back.
“Working holiday is still uncommon for the older generations. They believe that the resume would be blank for that period of time. It was different from going on exchange since it is not for study, they may put on the label of ‘enjoyment’ on it,” she said.
She believes that she travels not to escape life but not to let life escape her. However, that was different from the stereotype others have. She had some tough times when trying to find a job back in the city.
“In one of the interviews, a boss was criticizing me like ‘how do I trust you that you are going to stay in my company wholeheartedly if you can spend years for fun?’ he was doubtful o and misunderstood working holiday,” she added.
“He questioned my devotion by looking at this experience instead of my answers and attitude in the interview. He did not believe that I would settle down in Hong Kong,” she said. She believed that not many people in the hectic city appreciate long-term traveling.
Ms Wong did not hide “working holiday” on her resume as she thought it was not possible to avoid it. She was glad that she found a boss who had studied overseas and was more open-minded after job hunting for about half a year.
Now that Mich Wong still goes traveling to places with her friends for snowboarding, same as what she did while going on working holiday (as shown on the right).
However, she is not satisfied with only working for most of her lifetime. She will still go traveling from time to time as she does not want to follow the mainstream path of life just to work and get married and take care of family.
“It was good that I wanted to get back finally instead of being forced to come back due to the expiry of visa like some others. I knew more of what kind of life I want and plan to stay in Hong Kong with that way of living. A life that I can go traveling more often. In my dream, there is no flat in it like ordinary people.”
She believes that the world is changing and more people will not want to work for a job until his or her death. Working holiday is just a way to work in a foreign country, and she believes it would become a mainstream in Hong Kong sooner or later.
Ms Wong is doing a sharing presentation to the students of Hong Kong Baptist University as invited by the Labour Department. She hopes to encourage more of the young people to embark their journeys.