[Apologies for the picture, I’ve somehow buggered up the
formatting…never mind].
Just over 4 months in, and we both keep saying how it feels
like we’ve been here forever. Often people assume we have been here for much longer,
so acclimatised are we. But it’s not so long a time after all, and this week
has been out to humble us.
First of all, last night we hashed. I’ve got much fitter and
faster; able to run up hills; better
used to the heat…and so has Claire, with much joint hill-running recently. But.
Most hashes start and end in the same place. So no matter how high you go, you
know you’ll get it all back on the way in. This week –as the map shows –we started
right down at sea level, then went up to the highest point on HK island. Via
another couple of hills. In 30 degree plus heat. In 90+ humidity.
In this hash, I was getting confident and a bit cocky –
convinced I was always top 5 material. But this route and these conditions did
me in. I tried to keep up with the big boys. And then, when we hit the second
massive hill, I just ran out of juice. I had the ignominy of stopping halfway
up a hill, stifling the urge to cry or curl up and die, and waiting for the
next passing runner to beg some extra water. I crawled in to the end point 20
minutes after the leaders, looking like death. For the record though, Claire
did the same height gain via a 2km shorter, less strenuous route in a great
time – she’s come on leaps and bounds…and knows her limits. Unlike some.
Lesson number 1 – until you have done a proper hill run in
the heat, don’t be a cocky bugger.
Our other newbie humbling this week came in the form of
making friends in HK. We have built up enough of a friendship circle to invite
over 20 people to Claire’s birthday this weekend. At least 8 of those we see
quite regularly, and would consider as pretty close friends. Have we not waxed lyrical
on this blog about how relaxed and friendly everyone is here, how easy it is to
make friends?
There is of course a flipside. People arrive often, and meet
people fast. But this means, people leave. All the time. So this week, on hearing
that a couple in our flowering friendship group are going to up sticks and
leave within 2 months, it felt like a huge blow. And we realised that this is
one of the pay offs of HK. You make friends, and become close quickly in this
extreme place. But almost everyone is transitory. So you will always be rebuilding
and remaking that group. And that will be hard – to make close friends fast,
but know they could be gone in months.
Lesson number 2 – Hong Kong is transitory. Learn how double-edged,
as well as wonderfully exciting, this can be.
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