It’s nice to go back to the real world where people have standards, personal hygiene, manners, chivalrous men and lots of delicious (non-toxic) food.
I accept the challenges, materialism and politicking that comes with the change in landscape—at least there will be quality control, standards and warmer weather. :) Best of all, fewer bogus professionals with little expertise in top positions in different fields.
I’m not really going to miss Beijing. It’s like an ex-boyfriend that you dated and knew it wasn’t going to work out… but there’s always a time and place for everything. There were great times, a handful of great friends that I will miss dearly but I know I’ll be seeing those like-minded globetrotters sooner than later. Beijing has been the hardest place to make good friends and meet like-minded snobs individuals with passion, aspirations and admirable skill sets. Although I became good friends with the little gems of Chinese creative folks, we were always living in parallel universes and it takes me about 30mins to explain a joke/innuendo/pun and I was often the walking cultural dictionary for everything foreign.
Thank you Motherland for hosting me for nearly 5 years. I learnt alot about myself, grew so much professionally, worked with amazing bosses and colleagues, rode my bike daily through winters at -15ºc, ate lots of things and got to know Beijing’s dining scene intimately from 2008-2011 doing food writing for the expat rags. Life has been so good to me and I am thankful for all the opportunities and people that came into my life (smelly or not). I also learnt that alpha personality types need to work for alpha bosses, it’s the only way forward and for the first time in my career, I found respect and happiness in the workplace.
I’m really excited to be doing what I love and to build something from scratch. Best of all +86 will now be +852, which is just a digit and an hour away from where the heart is +853.
I accepted alot of things about you, Beijing. I made do, I threw away expectations, embraced flaws and after so long, it’s nice that I don’t have to compromise anymore. I think we both knew it was never going to be happily ever after. Still, I have been very fortunate for the experience as Beijing is a great place to live. You are often left to do your thing and you can be anybody you want to be—no doubt why alot of foreigners love this country. Above all, it’s so safe and comfortable compared to what’s going on in the 2nd/3rd tier cities and the rest of the world at this point.
Thank you for the good times, and now I pray super hard that Smudge will arrive in HK no more than 10 days after me, in one piece with a sound mind.
