It still surprises me how quickly you can switch from one reality to the next. On Friday I was eating award winning Chinese food with my family overlooking the HK skyline. Saturday I was jogging along the beachfront in Santa Monica. Monday I was stumbling through a conversation in Spanish over lunch with my host family in Cusco. As I walked up to my host family’s door on Monday morning, a hummingbird was feasting on nectar from the flowering bushes outside. I’m taking that as a sign that I’m in the best reality for me right now :]. Below are reflections from the fourth chapter of my seasonal migration experiment.

Reflections

It was even easier to slipstream into Hong Kong life this time ’round. Healthy habits around exercise, eating, and work formed quickly and were fairly easy to maintain even after my mom arrived. I had much less life admin because I had sorted most of it last fall (e.g. mobile phone number, China visa, apartment). My friends and I quickly found our rhythm, so we got to see each other more frequently. I spent less time meeting my friends’ kids and more time just hanging out with them. There was no bucket list of activities to check off except for planning my family’s visit. It felt fantastic! 

Even though I repeatedly mentioned how valuable I found the dinner parties, I didn’t manage to host any this fall in HK. It’s funny how a series of small changes can undermine a habit. My client meetings were moved to Wednesday nights, which is my preferred evening to host. My mom came for the month of Nov, so I didn’t have as much time. While I met many people through co-hosting dinners last year, I didn’t have the time last year to really solidify and maintain those new relationships. Given my time was going to be even more constrained during this stint, I decided to focus on my existing relationships instead. Apologies to many of you who looked forward to the dinners, I’m expecting to do them next fall.

Family time this fall was extra special! Mom was absolutely fascinated by China and described it as “dazzling”. She reconnected with an old work colleague in HK and seemed to feel at home in the city. Looks like she might be willing to spend more than a month with me next fall and even travel to Yunnan, my favourite Chinese province. We were both excited to introduce Hilary (my sister-in-law) to HK. Her parents met there in the 60s and Hilary had never been. It was fun to hunt down some of the spots that were important to her dad and see what nostalgic stories our photos elicited. Even Aaron seemed to enjoy HK more this time and tried more foods that I could have imagined! 

Several people have asked me how I will approach intimate relationships given this migratory lifestyle. To be honest, I don’t have an answer yet. I’ve gone from “maybe I’m not the partnering kind” to “I’m open to a relationship that feels interdependent”. The chances that I enter into a relationship with someone who wants to spend time in the same 3 cities as me seems low. However, constraints breed creativity and I’m curious to see what might emerge.

The Stats

Here’s the data from this chapter of the experiment (including regional trips):

• Days I spent in Hong Kong: 66 (only slightly longer than last year :/)
• Days of family time in Hong Kong: 27 (same as CDMX, woohoo!)
• People I saw in Hong Kong: 76 (70% more than last year)
• People I met for the first time in Hong Kong: 58 (still almost 1/day even with my mom’s visit, but less than last year)
• People I hung out with 3 or more times in Hong Kong: 39 (double last year, 26% of everyone I connected with)
• Kids I met/saw in Hong Kong: 17
• Visitors passing through that I was able to see: 18 (almost 2 per week)
• Total number of people I connected with in Hong Kong: 151 (18% more than last year)

Here are my “Stop Start Continue Change” reflections for my second chapter in Hong Kong:

Stop

• Cutting my time in Hong Kong short for reasons that seem reasonable at the time :p
• Booking flights that land and depart at ridiculous hours 

Start

• (Re)start a dinner party series 

Continue

• Prioritising more time with existing friends over meeting new people 
• Getting my mom to come visit for at least a month 
• Keeping ‘ready to eat’ frittata and salad in the fridge 
• Joining a gym that offers functional training and regularly going 
• Going to one grocery store instead of 3 to find what I’m looking for even if it costs more
• Going to Bangkok for health checkups and diagnostic tests, so cheap and efficient 
• Meeting up with friends that are traveling to the region 

Change

• Stay longer! 
• Practice my Chinese more, maybe formally with a teacher 

That’s all for now. If you’re interested in more stats and reflections, you can find them for London here, Mexico City here, and Hong Kong here. I look forward to sharing what it’s like to return to Mexico City soon. First Peru!