After this, we all will go back to normal, thank heavens, and I will be back loving life again. If you're still with me, read on. And if you're considering moving abroad, you might want to take note of this post. You might not remember it now, but you will later...
Okay, let's get started! I have, for the last couple of weeks, been in a horrendous funk.
Let me preface by saying that I before I moved to Hong Kong I probably heard enough advice to fill a smallish Harry Potter book. Or at least a mass-market paperback. Most of this advice I promptly forgot. Not because I wanted to, per se, but because with moving and trying to figure out how to leave my old life and start a new one, I had no bandwidth whatsoever to commit these things to memory. I could barely handle basic tasks what with my simultaneous crying and feelings of euphoria.
But, some of this advice has been sneakily making its way to my consciousness lately. Like today, for example. I remember vividly chatting with my at the time future boss and his wife in the Galleria in Houston last August. They said many wise things which I know I forgot, but one of the things that spontaneously regurgitated itself today was this: Everything will be wonderful for the first 8 months. And at month 9, you will begin to wonder what in the world you were thinking.
That pretty much sums it up.
I've been in a funk lately - I am frustrated at every turn with the smallest things, like people standing on the wrong side of the escalator, people taking too long with their Octopus card, people walking too slowly on the streets and people running too fast out of the MTR. I am frustrated with all of the grumpy people and with the people with those silly grins on their faces and those creepy tourists from unnamed countries who look at me like I'm a tasty Ribeye. I am frustrated by all of the typos and grammatical errors on posters, I am frustrated that people don't know how to use an ATM and that I always end up behind this person while 17 other HSBC customers sail through the ATM next to me. I am frustrated at just about everything. I am in the expat funk. In the midst of the dreaded 9 month curse.
Okay, okay, now before we get too fatalistic here, let me say that I'm moving through this bump in the road. And regrettably, there were several factors that pushed me not over but near the edge recently.
Consider, for example, these recent contributing factors:
I went on a fabulous trip to the Philippines (I can feel your sympathy dissipating by the second) where I had no responsibility for a week beyond eating and sleeping and hanging out with some of the best people I know. So, coming back home to Hong Kong where one must constantly be on their guard to do something as simple as getting from your front door to the MTR entrance was quite a shock to the system.
Additionally, the temperature somehow skyrocketed from the day I left to the day I returned by about 7,000 degrees Celsius. The day before I left, I was wearing a jacket and the day I returned, I almost suffered spontaneous combustion on the Jetway.
I've not made it a secret that I dislike loathe hot weather, and so far Hong Kong hasn't done too poorly. But coming back from my breeze-abundant tropical paradise where all I had to do was sip cold beverages all day to the bustling, hot, humid, windless, smoggy reality that is my life here was no good.
Additionally, and I think this is Universal for expat HK-dwellers from time to time, I have become fed. up. with the culture here. At first it all seems so new and exotic. Why, look, there's Chinese all over! Look at all of the strange and wonderful foods! That smell is simply irresistible! I once said. (Okay, lying about the last one. I am sure HK is not known for its pleasant smell, though through the myriad of wet markets and smog there is the occasional tea shop or waffle stand wafting smelly goodness).
But now it's a whole new ball game. In the MTR, people with fishy smelling body odor want to stand thisclose to you, though there is plenty of room to spare. Or, when you get off the MTR, people rush past you like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona while maddeningly walking at a GLACIAL pace once hitting the pavement above ground. These small things are just that - small, but if you don't have a good attitude about them (I'll confess, my attitude has been POOR lately) then there are plenty of infractions to get you riled up.
So that's that. I almost feel better already, like I've just done a strange catharsis.
Because here's the truth. I do love Hong Kong. My friends and I all had a whinging session a couple of weeks ago (that's British slang for complaining, by the way) where we all lamented our vacation and the fact that we were no longer on it. We complained about many of the things I've just listed out for you. And after I left, I felt bad. Almost like I had gossiped about my friend. Yes, she might be annoying and a little smelly at times, but I chose her. I chose Hong Kong. I could have stayed in Houston forever, happily living my life. But I didn't. God called me to leave, and I followed willingly, no dragging required.
So, here's the happy news. Perspective means a lot and I've gotten some over the past few days. I went to my grocery store tonight and bought 5 fruits I had never heard of before moving here. I took a Chinese lesson last week with my teacher where we laughed and laughed at all the strange new vocabulary I've picked up. I rode a bus, the MTR and a tram today and didn't have to think once about how I was getting from A to B. Every single person I know here I didn't know a year ago, and we've become closer than people I've known for years.
And Hong Kong is my place. Not because I'm here involuntarily, but because I chose it. And I do love my life here 98% of the time, which is pretty darn impressive.
So, to you, new expat, don't be surprised when out of the clear blue sky (or grey smoky sky if you find yourself in Hong Kong) you start questioning your sanity and ability to make good life decisions. We've all been there and we'll all get through it. Or at least that's what they tell me...
:o)
Til next time,
The Adventurer
