I dropped Muse off with her luggage and waited for her at the bus stop to the airport. I put her bags on the bus when it arrived. I asked her for the fifth time if she had her passport and drivers license. I waited by the bus and watched as it pulled away.
Now I’m sitting here with the pets waiting for the exporter to arrive. They are late. Soon though, they will all be gone.
I’m very sad.
EDIT——
I’m back from taking the dogs and cats to the airport. I don’t know how Muse did it before. They were so scared and pitiful I actually was crying when they put their cages in the air-conditioned live animal room. There were two small white dogs in crates in the room already. They were excited to see people. Our animals looked and acted like they were being sentenced to their deaths. They were that pitiful.
Now I’m even more sad….
In less than a week Muse and our two dogs and two cats will be flying back to the States. In less than a week I’m going to be quite lonely.
This morning I stayed home to help Muse get all four of the fuzzy kids to the vet for their final health inspection and certification. Because of her flaky friend we had to wait for a hire car to get us to and from the plaza where the vet office is located. Her friend was supposed to help her take the pets to the vet in her golf cart. Knowing how flaky she is, I knew she would cancel so I let work know that I would need to stay and help. Sure enough, two days ago her friend calls and says that she can’t go but we can borrow the golf cart. OK we planned for that so no problem.
Yesterday she called Muse all pissy and gave her this lame-ass excuse about how she had to give up her golf cart for four days starting on the day we needed it. Yeah… right. Like this woman could possibly stand using the standard buses for four days. That would be beneath her. So we had to get a local hire car to come get us and take us to the vet. It’s way to far to walk with them all.
Of course her “friends” golf cart has been sitting in front of her building across from ours all day. It hasn’t moved and it was available the entire time we would have needed it. But oh well. That’s one good thing about consistently flaky people is that you can safely ignore them and plan alternatives in advance.
Whatever. At least its done now. One more thing crossed off the lists.
I believe Muse has already let the kitteh out of the bag, so to speak, but we will be coming home to St. Louis this year. Muse will be leaving Hong Kong before me to get the pets all sorted and safe. I was the first to arrive between us and I’ll be the last to leave. I suppose I should take some comfort in that I’ll get to live here in Hong Kong for just a bit longer but I also remember the loneliness of my first month here. But that was a long time ago now and I’m no longer a stranger in a strange land with no idea of what to do/where to go/what to eat. I no longer need to subsist on ham sandwiches and cans of soup. Although I may just because.
Now, when the time comes, I’ll probably spend my free time leisurely walking the street markets and shopping malls without the worry of wasting Muse’s time or needing to feed or walk the dogs. Maybe I’ll go directly from the office to a local bar with people from work and see what the night life is like before I leave. Maybe I’ll go for a hike without worrying about time constraints or anything but my own ability. Or maybe I’ll just sit in front of the computer and play World of Warcraft all night. It’s hard to say.
Actually when I say we will be coming home this year that makes it sound like something that will be happening at some far point in the future. But really it’s nothing like that. Muse may be leaving in a month or less. I won’t be here any longer than mid-August. It’s scary close to those dates already. By the end of August we will be back in the United States of America and trying to figure out life once more. This time with a baby on the way.
When we moved we did so on short notice and also threw in our wedding because it wasn’t a stressful enough experience. Now with a baby coming, I see now that we just really like to complicate things. I can offer no other explanation. We sold our house and our cars and most of the rest of the stuff we didn’t ship to Hong Kong. So add in another layer of sphincter-clenching in that we have a baby coming and we need to buy a house and at least one car but really we need two and baby stuff and furniture and Oh My Gawd what are we insane?
Yes. Yes we are. Nice to meet you.
For those of you with the time and inclination, Lifehacker has a fun Top 10 Harmless Geek Pranks to use on your unsuspecting users, friends and family. Of course, if you plan on doing any of these at your place of work, please keep in mind the mentality and patience of your co-workers and your management. No point in getting fired over a dumb prank.
I’m a big fan of pranks myself and would love to try some of these out. But like I said, I just don’t have the time. I got a call from my boss in St. Louis and was told that they were cutting my contract here in Hong Kong a bit short. It seems I’ve done such a good job here that they now want me to take over the IT for the European region and do for it the same as I have for the Asia-Pacific region. That’s a great thing of course and I’m glad they have such faith in me but I have my doubts of course. Europeans are a much different breed of people than Asians.
So needless to say things are going to be a bit crazy for the next few months. We need to figure out how to arrange getting our things moved from Hong Kong to London and make sure the pets are all taken care of. Finding a place to live should be even more difficult than it was in Hong Kong I imagine. Hopefully we can find a place near a pub. With good internet access of course.
Not only that but I’ll have to interview for my replacement here and do training and everything else that’s involved. The guy who’s leaving the lead position in London now seems to have stopped caring for how things were done quite a while ago, so it sounds like it may be in even worse shape their than it was here when I first moved. All in all, a good challenge of course but I don’t imagine it will be easy by any means. Add to this that I’m an American and I imagine that some of the existing staff will probably rebel a bit as well.
So more news to come as I have it and hopefully it will be a smooth transition (yeah right). I’m trying to get a trip there to check things out in person before hand to see what I’ve gotten myself into. They’ll probably agree to that since they did the same before I came to Hong Kong. Oh well, at least London is a bit close to the States as far as time difference goes! Wish me luck….
This past Saturday, Muse and I went to The Peak which is the small tourist area at the top of the mountain that makes up Hong Kong island. Muse had been there once before on a tour but I’d never been. Which everyone here thinks is weird because that is one of the major tourist places to visit here in Hong Kong. Well… whatever.
The weather has been beautiful here in Hong Kong lately and since I know it will be miserably hot and humid soon, I’m glad we’re getting out and about outside while we can. The Peak isn’t all that much to see actually. It’s basically two small multi-story shopping malls side by side, one with a funky shape and a roof-top viewing deck that you have to pay to go on. There’s lots of restaurants and tourist gifts and a Madame Tussauds wax museum (which we didn’t visit) and a nice path that is generally crowded with people taking pictures of the hazy but nice city skyline.
Above: A picture of the Central district skyline at night from The Peak. Kowloon can be seen across the harbor.
We ate at a Bubba Gump restaurant which had a nice view overlooking the path and a portion of the city. I’d never been to one of these restaurants before and we thought that it was funny that my first time at one was in Hong Kong. It was a bit expensive, but considering how expensive everything else on The Peak is, it was actually a hell of a bargain. I would definitely recommend it if you go to The Peak. Considerig Muse and I shared the same meals and drinks, I don’t think the severe diarrhea I had later that night had anything to do with that place.
We waited till night time so we could get some night shots of the city skyline and then we took a taxi back to Central. We had taken a bus up the mountain so we kind of skipped the main attraction of the famous Peak Tram. It’s always too long of a queue to wait in. I don’t like waiting.
June 30, 2008 12:09 pm | 
