Culture & Leisure

"Rude" maybe tourist's impression towards people in St. Petersburg, Russia, but there may be an underlying misunderstanding behind the image. St. Petersburg is always considered a must-visit city in Russia, no matter for international or domestic travellers. Being the second-largest city in Russia, the area consists of canals and world-famous spots such as the Winter Palace, Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Peter and Paul Fortress.  St. Petersburg remains attractive to tourists, but there are some factors pushing international visitors away. Russians rarely speak English. The majority of middle-aged and older people do not understand the language. According to a survey done by Romir research holding, 30% of the Russians can speak English to a certain degree, and only 3% of the interviewees claimed to be a fluent speaker. The low English speaking rate leads to a rough time for those visitors who do not speak Russian. No one can answer their questions if they face obstacles during their journey, resulting in an unpleasant travel experience. Хао Yu-Fei, a 20-years-old tourist from China, believed that language is the problem travellers face. As English is not widely-used among Russians, they cannot communicate fluently with the tourists.  "When locals answer questions with simple English and do everything in a rush, travellers get an impression that Russians are impolite and rude. We understand that being straightforward may be a characteristic of Russian, but some people might have hard feelings towards that," Xao said. Xao also noticed that no matter what ethnicity people appear to be, Russians always intend to start the conversation using the Russian language. "In Russia, many people with an Asian face can speak Russain. The locals are used to it, thus feel natural to communicate in the Russian language with foreigners." Tourists may feel insecure when facing an unfamiliar language during travelling. …

A fresh garden scent, buckets loaded with handpicked flowers and a dozen students gathered in the Aisle, a co-working space in Kwai Chung. Jang Dasol, an award-winning florist from Korea, demonstrated how to create a floral structure to his Hong Kong students . "Sometimes, a bit of asymmetry can make your design appear more interesting," Mr. Jang said, arranging the flowers at different levels and angles and wrapping them into a bouquet. He cut the dark green ribbons at different lengths. Floral design dates back to ancient Egypt, as the Egyptians were decorating their places with flowers as early as 2,500 BC. The Egyptians used to fill a wide-mouth bowl with flowers of similar pattern, which emphasised simplicity. Now, floral design has evolved into a form of art, with cultural influences such as German and French styles. Although floral design has a long history, it only becomes popular in Hong Kong in recent years, as owners are often perceived as a luxury item that people give during celebrations or anniversaries, rather than an art form. In 2017, famous Korean florist Vanessa Lee Ju-yeon introduced Korean floral design classes in Hong Kong, which popularised this form of art in Hong Kong. Since then, Korean florists have visited Hong Kong to teach floral design. Mr. Jang is one of them and this is his second time teaching in here. Despite learning the basics of floral design in South Korea, Mr. Jang's style is mainly influenced by his time in Germany, as he puts emphasis on hard lines and structural design. Using natural branches as the backbone of his design, Mr. Jang then adds flowers with softer colour to create a harmonised and rhythmic piece, balancing the hard lines from branches and soft lines from petals. Mr. Jang is a two-time consecutive winner …

As a foreign domestic helper in Hong Kong, Anni Juliana works in her employer's home six days a week up to 13 hours a day. On Sunday, her only day off, the 37 year old from North Sumatra in Indonesia spends this time on studying English and participating in creative writing. Ms. Juliana is one of the over 360,000 foreign domestic workers in this competitive city, around 41 percent of whom are Indonesian. She is also one of 10 whose work was featured in Java Tales and Voices, a creative writing magazine published last December by local charity TCK Learning Centre for Migrant Workers. "Back when I was in school in Indonesia, I always loved to write in English," said Ms. Juliana, sitting cross-legged on a lush carpet in TCK Learning Centre's study room, while her friends outside put on makeup and sequined dresses in preparation for their angklung traditional Indonesian music performance later that afternoon. "I had to go find work, but I still try my best to find these opportunities." Under the instruction of Becky Mitchell, their creative writing instructor, Java Tales and Voices was published as a compilation of creative works by migrant workers. Despite high operating costs, a number of workshops around the city have also been encouraging foreign domestic workers and ethnic minorities to tell their stories and take pride in their culture through creative writing. In her personal memoir titled Rainbow, Ms. Juliana tells a poignant personal story of struggle and hope, about how she fought to keep her family afloat and give her three children a future. "Tick tock… Tick tock… Days, months, years go by, my kids growing up. Time moves so fast. No one can control or stop it, or even push the pause button. A million tears fall. A million prayers …