By Ann Li, Kary Hsu, Catherine Xu & Sharon Shi
Cat Wong Yuen Ting, 17, is not an ordinary teenager. She has already experienced many life stages, she said. Finishing school, finding a life-partner, starting her career and pursuing for her professional goal.
Cat is now a hairdresser, majoring in the field of being a technician, who mainly makes use of different chemicals to dye, perm and straighten hair.
Before she embarked on this field she said she had life troubles. She did bad academically, made bad friends, spoke foul language, drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes when she was only 14, she said.
At the age of 15, she committed criminal offence, she said. She stole dozens of phones from her classmates. She was caught by the school and the matter was reported to her mother, a single working parent.
Her mother was so furious that she took Cat to Shanghai, where her mother was working. She was left alone in a hotel room, all day and night, while her mother worked. When she went back to Hong Kong, she was told she would not be charged by the victims.
This incident changed her life, she said. She entered vocational training school and chose to study hairstyling. There she found her interest to be a technician. In two years time, her skill sharpened. She is now working at a well known salon in the upscale mall Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong.
Wong met her boyfriend, Yau, in school. Yau stayed with her during her hard time in Shanghai, she said. They now live together n a public housing apartment in Ma On Shan.
She said that she might be naive and immature, but she cherishes every past moment in her life.