I am told that one's view of an expat assignment is a series of ups and down when you really enjoy Hong Kong them really miss the US and Charlotte. These past couple of days, I think we all were in the missing Charlotte phase. So it's day 90. Day 90. Miss our friends. Miss our family. Miss our street. (By the way McDonald Ave rules!!, yeah it does!!!!) Miss Maggie and Nicholas school. And you wonder, how bad have I f-ked up my kids by ripping them away from their friends and what they know. You do this little stressful freakout inside your head. You wake up at 3am and wonder "what the f-k?" and you fret and fret and fret.
Then everything starts to erck you. I know up to this point I have made Hong Kong out to be a Shangre La. So it will no doubt come as a shock to you to learn that in fact it is not. In fact it is just like any other big cities with its own idioscracies, its own irritants. Thus I will list some out:
1. No one says "excuse me." they simply bump into you, walk directly in front of you, cut you off, well, you get the idea.
2. It is common practice to herd at the opening of an elevator as if it is the last one down from a burning building. And yes, getting off an elevator means you actually have to fight your way through this crowd as at the same time they are trying to push their way in.
3. The City is in a hurry to go, well, I don't know. But they are in a hurry. Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone. All the time. It's as if in Hong Kong at every minute the entire population is rushing across town to be there for the birth of their first child.
So I fret and get irritated. And as I write, I notice that Maggie has led Nicholas to the green reading chair and helped him up. They sit side by side and Maggie starts "reading" to Nicholas now and he is so attentive to her. They both sit in the big green chair. And Maggie looks at me with this, not sure why your're upset, but we are fine look. And I sit here, write and think, yeah Maggie I think we will be fine.
We miss ya'll too. It's in those innocent eyes that you'll get the answers and know that you haven't f-ked up your kids, and this is just one more step in an awesome journey. It won't be forever, and heck, you'll be back before you know it.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is in a hurry here too. Trust me, folks are running like a tiger is going to swipe at their butts and they have no idea where they are going. We're just doing stuff to get to the next stuff. Hahahah. It's everywhere.
So with every little nudge, and every irkin' minute people shove their way into the elevator...just choose to chill and absorb the moment. Don't get swept into the frenzy.
You're 'go to' picture in your mind ... the green chair. :)
Take care,
Nancy
AND another thing...that land of Shangri-la....it only exists in your heart. That's where your kids and your bride hang out. You can be there anytime you want :) Don't forget that.
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