Expat Life?

Met a friend for lunch. She's been on holiday for 3 months, will probably spend the next 2 months looking for a job in Hong Kong. Yeah she's Malaysian, been working here for god knows how long. Longer than I have anyway. Next week will be her third time in Hong Kong, she last visited last month before the Chinese New Year. So it was a nearly spontaneous decision to move there - so suddenly, considering she just came back from her trip last week. Plus she's never had any interest in Hong Kong.

All this came about as she last went there. Met up some expat friends there, mostly single like her, their freedom and lifestyle was what she was looking for. We concluded after our hour long talk that life isn't about work. We have to learn to enjoy life as well - plus doing what we like.

The expat life apparently is very appealing. Expats generally stay together and party together. They see only the bright and happening part of the cities, and with their high income and no commitments - all they do in their free time is enjoy themselves. I remember reading somewhere that expat living in Asia are probably the luckiest. Singapore used to rate among the best place to work, including HK. I think nowadays Geneva or Zurich got the #1 spot in the world. Most of Asia are beyond the top ten.

I suppose it could be fun la.. when I was spending 6 months in Japan, it was alright, but not entirely appealing. Do I wish it could be longer? Yes I do. Do I want to live there for years and years or forever for that matter? No I don't.. maybe 3-5 years would be enough for me in Japan. Maybe I can stretch that to 7 years.. I don't know. I guess most expats have the same idea, people I've asked say they cannot imagine living in any one place for a long time. Which also includes their own country.

But to pick up and leave takes quite a bit of courage - or desperation I suppose. For single people with no commitments the expat life is a takeback to the college days, with freedom and friends, although now with improved finances. When you think of life, it's really the same wherever you are. I always like to ask people who are considering these drastic changes in their lives why they want to go. It is usually because they don't like the way their life is going, or they hate the way this government or that company is doing something, and eventually their reasoning will lead to them not liking something about their life. People choose to change because they want things to be better (common sense!). At this point it's good to consider one thing: you choose how your life is going to be. You choose if you want to be happy or not, the place doesn't really matter. Your happiness or your life depends on how you look at it and whether you want it to be happy. In the end, what we really need to change is our point of view.