Two attrac­tive women in air­line uni­forms greet­ed me as I entered to bag­gage area of the Hong Kong air­port, hand­ing me a guide to Winterfest activ­i­ties and a book­let of coupons. “Welcome to Hong Kong. Merry Christmas”, they told me, and I was hap­py.

I’m set­tled back into my room now, feel­ing very com­fort­able and at ease. My trip to Beijing was almost non-stop, going from one place to the next. For some rea­son I feel at home here, even when the bed isn’t mine, even when my cat isn’t here to sleep with me, even when my friends aren’t here to talk to. I was relieved when the plane touched down, when I could smell the Hong Kong air, when I could see the per­vad­ing Christmas lights.

People are try­ing to con­vince me to stay here, even though the tech sec­tor is prob­a­bly in worse shape here than at home. I’ve always con­sid­ered liv­ing in Hong Kong, but have nev­er tak­en it seri­ous­ly because of the ter­ri­bly humid weath­er that’s around for most of the year. Now I’m turn­ing the idea in my head more and more.

I’ve grown to love this city, the atmos­phere, the peo­ple, the cul­ture, the spir­it, in such a pro­found way. I think I under­stand what Dina was telling me about, after her trip and the attach­ment she devel­oped to such a for­eign land. When I first got here, I was won­der­ing weath­er or not I would find leav­ing dif­fi­cult.

Now I’m just hop­ing my eyes won’t well up when my grand­moth­er sees me off.