Comfortable

Three complete cycles of the four seasons have passed with me living here and however subtle they may change, I've become acquainted to the differences in humidity, rain, and heat. It's now a familiar pattern, actually lending me to feel a sense of comfort in knowing what's to come-- whether it is sunny weather, extreme humidity, yellow/red/or black rain, I am well aware of its conditions. Hong Kong’s skyline has become my backdrop with calming effects—I now look up at the towering buildings for comfort rather than sky. Seasonal festivities, excessive holidays for Eastern and Western traditions such as Christmas & new years followed by a month long of Lunar new year; Easter break then Buddha’s birthday and etc... loud Honkers speaking Cantonese, overly dressed girls, girly guys… speaking broken Cantonese myself & getting my orders wrong and sometimes token English. Travelling on mini-buses, double decker buses, super-efficient subway system. Waiting in line for everything, flowing with the massive crowd and putting up with people that really bad at multi-tasking while walking (just non-drivers), squeezing get-togethers into tight apartments. Going through mega shopping malls with bridging pedestrian corridors, and disorienting layouts with mazes of bridging connections and elevators going around and around just to get to a restaurant or shop at the top floors. Pre-booking or reserving everywhere I go or else there’s not seat since there are millions of people around. Delicious range of high to low end restaurants open 24/7. All of the big chains I’ve grown comfortable having: 7-11, Mc Donalds, Watsons, Mannings, Maxims, Japan Home, Starbucks etc... All this and more have become a part of my daily pattern and to some extents routine. Coming back to Hong Kong after almost a month away feels warm and inviting, it has taken me this long to realize that it’s quite nice here after all. Other cities are beautiful and amazing and new to explore but they don’t feel as safe and predictable as how Hong Kong has come to be for me. Tokyo was amazing with its myriad of destinations whether historical, scenic landscape, architectural, traditional, it offers a variety for everyone’s taste. However, its transit system was so complicated that I wondered why a fantastic city like that wouldn’t ensure seamless connectivity… the way Hong Kong’s MTR works (minus the fact that it is an over-dominant individually owned operator). The people in Tokyo were nice but not as accepting of foreigners as the Cantonese here. Beyond the city, I’ve come full circle with finding my place here with people that also share my views in the world—the large expat community which typically comes and goes. It is alienated although well received and accepted by the locals for what they are: extended visitors or “white” foreigners working and living in the city. There aren’t too many places in the world where young, heck middle aged professionals literally from all over the world can freely congregate to share views and ideas without the encumbrance of social pressure faced in traditional community systems. We are all free to explore here, and to pursue what we want to pursue, however selfish. So three full years and I’ve come full circle. All my identity crisis: the internal turmoil, the doubts in the social-economic or planning system as something invalid for humanity has settled into the not-so-bad-after-all stance. At this point in time, there’s nowhere safer, nowhere more fitting, nowhere I’d rather work at, nowhere I’d rather be. I am glad and plain comfortable living here.