For as long as I can remember, I’ve always thought I would get to live in Asia again.
I was born in Hong Kong and moved to New York when I was 7. I think I transferred to USC for college thinking I’d meet someone there or find a job that would take me to Hong Kong after graduation.
As fate would have it, I started dating my now husband a month before I transferred to USC. Instead of trying to figure out how to move to Hong Kong after college, I spent three years falling in love and I couldn’t wait to experience what a relationship was like when my significant other was not 2,810 miles away from me most of the time.
For my Spring semester of Junior year, I actually studied abroad in Hong Kong (ramping up the long distance by putting 8,015 miles between us!), but my heart wasn’t really in that experience. Now that I’m much older, I wish I’d lived more in the moment when I was in Hong Kong, but I know that back then I was even more frugal than I am today, and I just had absolutely no interest in LKF or going out much.
So I started working in NYC and in the back of my mind I’ve always though, “one day…” But as Eminem rapped,
He’s gon’ have a hard time explaining to Hailie and Lainey
These food stamps and this WIC shit, cuz he never risked shit
He hoped and he wished it, but it didn’t fall in his lap
So he ain’t even here
– Airplanes, Part II – B.o.B. ft Hayley Williams, Eminem
For a while I was quite resentful of NYC and felt that I was trapped here because my family’s here and Daniel’s family’s here, so it’s really tough to leave. In the last year, I’ve come to appreciate New York again and realize the problem was always just me.
In January of this year, I was having a casual conversation with my friends about summer plans (it was a moms/parents get-together, so the conversation naturally drifted to planning for EO(School)Y). I said I didn’t really know what we were doing, likely putting Olivia in a Chinese summer program. My friend Jenny asked, “Why don’t you just take her to Taiwan and study there?”
On reflex, I refuted, “No, I can’t do that!” But right after I blurted it out I started questioning why I felt that way.
I realized my friends were right – both Daniel and I have a remote job. Why not spend a month in Hong Kong or Taiwan so the kids can get exposure to the language and culture and FOOD?
I originally planned to do a month in Hong Kong for Mandarin, because I myself am more comfortable with Cantonese (😅). But Jenny learned that SWAN in Chinatown was actually hosting a two week trip to Kaohsiung.
That sounded perfect to me, as we could tack on a week in Hong Kong for fun after the program was over. Once I had the SWAN summer trip down, the rest of the summer plans fell in line very easily (which is how I know I’m following the right path in life, because I believe life is meant to be easy. Work hard, live easily?). Olivia was to spend 5 weeks in summer camp in SWAN Chinatown, then we would go to Kaohsiung for 2 weeks, Hong Kong for 1, and come back to NYC just in time for Labor Day.
I can’t begin to tell you what a fun summer my family had.
Even though commuting to Chinatown for five weeks seemed daunting at first, it turned out to be super comfortable and dare I say enjoyable on the Express Bus that happened to be down the street from my house. I got to start going into the JSQ office in the city as well, and it was so much fun working in an office again after 4+ years of being fully remote. Who knew being in the office can actually be fun when you don’t feel like you’re being watched all the time and you’re there because you want to be, not because you have to be?
Our time in Kaohsiung was so incredibly special and unforgettable. I am so grateful I got to share those experiences with the girls – Olivia for being able to study, make friends in Taiwan, Chloe for all the one-on-one time Daniel and I got to experience with her while Olivia was in class. We made a lot of new friends and parent friends, and have so many fun memories – karaoke during the typhoon! animal cafe where the animals are happy and you get to be super up close and personal with them! taking a family e-bike around the ciao tou sugar factory! – plus tons of delicious food memories.
The fun continued with our week in Hong Kong. It was my first time back since April 2019, when Olivia was still in my belly. We celebrated Chloe’s 3rd birthday at Disneyland and the Cup Noodles Museum, and we got to introduce the girls to real cha cha tengs and had the best dim sum. I can’t tell you which city I enjoyed most, but I certainly cannot wait to go back to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Three weeks in Asia wasn’t quite “living” there, but I loved that I got a taste of what life is like there with my family. I have a feeling there will be more opportunities to go back. In fact, we are booked for Singapore for Spring break 😅‼️🎉.