Bargained Transient

When I first came to Hong Kong I cried a fair bit because I missed home, I missed my friends and the thought of making new ones again seemed all too daunting.  I think I hadn’t realized what I had bargained for in agreeing to this assignment.  I remember my first Hong Kong neighbor saying don’t worry you will settle in it takes about two years.  I also remember thinking I doubt I’ll be here in two years.

Three years later and it is only now have I that feeling I have made friends and this is with people who are new to Hong Kong.  This is because the spouses all have dinned together and knew their names.  It sure helps if you are not driving somewhere new with husband saying the following:

“His name is blah blah he works for X Company and her name is Thingyand you have met her at so and so’s place last month but you don’t know him”.

Or as one of my friends said when she told her husband whom she had invited to dinner – “don’t worry you don’t have to remember their names they are leaving soon.”

Hong Kong is a bit like that – people come and go but more than that you might live here three years and only socialize with one couple who has lived here the same amount of time once in your brief sojourn here.

Hong Kong is transient and as against home where you probably socialize with the same crowd regularly this is not the case here.