Same town, different times

I left town (New York) on Oct. 4, high on the knowledge that I had a sublessor, anxious about starting over again, and not at all excited about anything.

Since then, I've played the part of a chauffeur, counselor and cheerleader in Seattle to my relations there, and favored child, functional illiterate and newly minted adult to my relations in Seoul. All while being simultaneously badgered and reassured about my singleton status.

And now I'm in Hong Kong again, having a harder time adjusting to the expat mindset and lifestyle than I expected.

It was only two years ago that I was here, sitting on the same type of couch in an apartment in this very building, with the same exact layout, going to work down the same long, incredible escalator to the same office in the same office building in the same area of town. But then, the office was hopping. My officemate told me that on an exceedingly good day, which was rare, she might leave at 6 or 7. More usually, it was like 9 or 10. A bad day was leaving after midnight. A really bad day involved barely leaving at all.

On each of the past two days I've been at work, my officemate (a different senior associate) has left before 6:30. Today, I asked half a dozen people if they needed any help. No one did. Most didn't have any work themselves. The partner suggested that I reach out to the partners I worked for in New York and offer my hours up to them. "It's no secret that we're slow here," he said.

It's strange to be here, and stranger still to be not working all day. Perhaps that's the problem, the reason why I feel so distant and odd. When you practice law for a living, and there's no law to practice, what are you, then? Especially when practicing law pretty much takes up your whole life? And if this is the type of reaction you have after a year of practicing law, what do you do when you come across a lull after practicing for years? At least right now there's very little expected of me, and no pressure to bring in business.

Well. I feel odd, I'm guessing you can see, and I don't know why. It could be the economy. Or it could be that I'm in a city I never found charming, after coming to the realization that I love the countryside much better than the mean streets. There are even fewer trees here than in New York, and though half of the island is thickly forested, you can't see much of it from the crushing density of Central and Mid Levels.

Ah well. I don't know what I expected -- I guess to feel a little excited? -- but there's not much that turns out to be what you expected. Maybe I just need more time to adjust.