Florence Leung, aged 35, began working as a cabin crew after graduation, but was laid off in October 2020. She has since begun working as a florist and has her own online store on Instagram.

After 13 years of carrying this restrained hairstyle in dark brown, it is finally time to dazzle with dusty rose pink!

The new hairstyle was recommended by my hairdresser. I was open to the idea since I was out of work. The final product was amazingly colorful and I thought, this is the real me!

For a while I doubted myself. After being laid off, I wansn’t quite sure what type of job I should look for. The freedom offered by the career as a cabin crew was like heaven for me. I was sure I couldn’t stand working in the office, nor could I endure work as a salesperson or waitress.

I know who I am: active, unrestrained, and scared of being bored. This was also why I began studying floriculture as early as March 2020, which turned out to be the best preparation for my being laid-off.

I received the formal severance notice on 21 October. In the previous ten months, I only worked on two trips. The first one was a round trip to Sydney spanning the Lunar New Year. Back then, the pandemic had yet to spread, so both flights were full and most of the passengers didn’t wear a mask. By the time I worked on my second trip, it was a round trip to Manila in August, the business class cabins were nearly all empty.

Since the roster was empty throughout February, March and April, I tried to find something to occupy myself. But what should I learn? Although I liked to cook, I didn’t want to become a chef or to bake. Professional makeup was also out of the question, I was lazy and didn’t want to help others with their makeup. This meant pedicure was also not my cup of tea!

I spent a lot of time surfing on the Internet and finally settled on a class on floriculture. The class took place from March to May and included knowledge on corsage, wreath, flower box, tabler flower, bouquet and flower arch. Despite taking the course, I still felt that this was only a pass time and I would still be a cabin crew until 55 years old.

It only took a few lessons for me to discover my love for flowers. It was something that I could sit down and be patient with. Floriculture is like writing insofar as everyone has their own style. The same flowers and the same techniques could nonetheless yield very different bouquets of flower. Some of my classamtes prefered different shades of pink, others preferred the shape of pompoms or hydrangea. As for me, I liked to let the flowers express the energetic life that they contain.

I’ve acquired my knowledge of floriculture from four different teachers. Although the style of some teachers might not be to my liking– such as red rose with purple carnation – I acquired a lot of practical knowledge. Such knowledge also came in handy for purchasing flowers at the market. Which florist offered the best flowers? What about the best deal on leaves? The most fleshy succulent plant? These are knowledge that must be passed from word of mouth and could not be acquired on YouTube.

One of my teachers took me in as an assistant in her workshop. I helped her with various chores such as trimming the leaves. Not long afterward, my teacher got pregnant and offered to sub-lease her workshop to me at $2,400 a month until September. The workshop was inside a co-working space in Wong Chuk Hang. Although it was a small and humble workshop, there was a big wooden table in the common area which I could use to tend to my flowers. The air conditioning also meant that I could keep my flowers fresh.

In order to motivate myself, I opened a new Instagram account soon after taking over the workshop. It served as a platform for me to post my own floral work. With a stroke of luck, I received my first order after posting a handful of photos. It was my first time taking charge of the whole process – from choosing the type of flower to sending the product to courier. The profit margin was low but the satisfaction was immeasurable!

While fate had it that I would become a florist, I still couldn’t forget my life as a flight attendant.

I was born into a family that has strong ties with aviation. Dad worked in aircraft maintenance and was entitled to concessionary air tickets. This was why we visited many different foreign countries ever since I was a child. My sister and I decided long ago that we would become cabin crew and work until we retired. Turns out, we both realized one half of our dream, and my sister even married a pilot.

No one could have guessed that the novel virus in 2020 would force us all into unemployment.

I have no resentment against the company. I understand that this was a rational business decision. After all, the entire aviation industry has gone into the ice age. The company is not a charity and couldn’t afford to feed tens of thousands of people for years on end.

It’s just that I’m sad to bid farewell to my beloved mode of life.

No longer could I go on to those fantastic journeys. Work in the aviation industry enabled me to meet many like-minded friends and travel all around the world. The most unforgettable experience is witnessing the mass animal migration in Kenya. As we sat inside the jeep, we saw thousands of wildebeests crossing the river, as well as lions lurching towards their prey. The Milky Way in Africa still resonates in my mind. Nor could I forget the Fox Glacier of New Zealand, which I could no longer compare with the Perito Moreno Glacier of Argentina. I have yet to visit Cuba, the place where my husband and I planned to spend our honeymoon.

I could no longer be too picky and insist that all daily necessities should be bought from their places of origin. In the past, I only used facial cleansers from Japan, detergents from the States, and yoghurt from Australia. The extended pandemic became my buffer to get accustomed to a “normal” life. Yet, it still felt bad every time I had to purchase daily necessities at a premium.

The pandemic has decimated and disrupted the aviation industry. I guess there’s no going back to the old days for a few years at least. This is why I might have chosen to resign even if I were not laid off. If safety protocol dictates that I should be trapped inside a hotel room, unable to shop and sightsee, the job would no longer appeal to me. Furthermore, when the pandemic ends, I’m sure the demand would skyrocket. Passengers would be even more demanding than usual and the cabin crew would suffer.

Descending from the air back on land, I was fortunate enough to discover a new runway. Best wishes that my ex-colleagues could also find their new directions soon.

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