hello, goodbye

This is by far the worst year as far as friends moving away from Hong Kong. Many, like my family used to be, are transient and their eventual moves were expected. Others are sad surprises. At least eight of my friends who are moving back to the US originally came here for only a couple of years but then their companies left them here, either because the US economy was unfavorable, or because the Asian economy was better than expected. Whatever the reasons, a lot of friends who have been here for five to eight years are now moving away en masse. Four of them are going to NYC while three others are going to LA.

When I complained years ago about making friends only to have them leave, I was told to befriend more locals. Ironically, the local girl who told me this is moving to Oz next month. And the local girl who became one of my favorite people is now engaged and moving to the US to marry one of SB's good friends. So we both lose. At least we have our doggies. They'll never leave us...we hope.

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