Ex-Pat Summer

This was our first experience of an "ex-pat summer".  I have to tell you, I don't particularly like it.  Now, to be fair, our summer was crazy busy and hopefully not every summer would be that way.

The vast majority of ex-pats in Hong Kong go "home" for the summer.  Many own homes in the country they are from or even in another country.  I have a friend from Ireland who owns a home in Florida and that is where they go for a portion of their summer in addition to going to Ireland.  Some don't own a home and they spend the summer going from one relative's house to another or renting a house for part of the summer.

For us, going home meant spending part of our time in Pennsylvania visiting friends.  Travelling to see family in New Jersey, Tennessee, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia and Michigan.  Spending some time in San Diego where we now own a house and where Kaylin stayed to work for the summer.  My parents are in San Diego also.  Of course there were a few camps and college visits for PJ along the way.  It was very important to all of us that we try to see as much family as possible.  While we were not able to see everyone, we were able to see many, including Dave's 96 year old grandfather and my 94 year old grandmother.  Dave was able to see all of his siblings and I was able to see two of mine.  Sorry Maude and Kit:(

There was many a car ride where someone complained about the hours spent in the car.  Thankfully our time at the destination always made it worthwhile.  One of those rides was a particularly bad drive from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island.  The drive took 3 hours longer than it should have and complaints were at an all time high.  Then we walked into Dave's grandfather's room.  His hand went up in the air and he said, "Oh, oh, it's my family from Hong Kong!"  PJ looked at me afterwards and said, "That reaction was worth the drive."

While we did enjoy all of our time spent with family and friends, this left us feeling like we were on the road most of the summer and living out of suitcases.  I will say everyone was ready to return to Hong Kong by the end of the summer to see our dogs, sleep in our own beds and unpack.  Now some of my friends who have been ex-pats for awhile told me that I will learn.  They say everyone does that their first summer or two and then you learn to just park yourself and let people come visit you.  I don't know that I am capable of doing that.  One of the hardest parts of being in Hong Kong is not seeing family and missing family events.  I know that if we just stayed in one place all summer we would not get to see a lot of our family.

We are very thankful to all of our family and friends that housed us or came to visit us throughout the summer.