By AMU WU
The sight of Starbucks with its pine-tree colored emblem and the outline of a smiling caffeine goddess, either makes me feel incredibly warm and cozy or homesick. In this case it is the later.
Two weeks after I left Hong Kong I feel a growing distance between myself and my friends and family. I miss the Desperate Housewives suburban neighborhoods (aka Westchester), the penthouse on the Upper East Side, the view of the Sotheby's Building from the 16th floor, and the fantasy of a domestic life with home cooked meals, bubble bath, and Leave it to Beaver and the image of myself as June Cleavor. I am now in Hong Kong, a neon-lit fast-paced city packed with buildings and people, and loneliness catches up to me.
As a native New Yorker I've always felt the tug of war and the intense feeling of love hate with the city, but I realize that it isn't so much the city or Starbucks that I miss but rather friends and family back home. The e-mails have died down, as have the Facebook pokes, and I believe it has hit them that I may not be back at home so soon. Out of sight out of mind.
Hong Kong is as international a city as one can get. There is every kind of transportation imaginable including HK$2 tram rides and a sleek underground subway. There are shopping malls with brands galore, and in many ways this is also a city for foodies. The university where I am working has a tapestry of cuisine from dim sum to American-sized sandwiches. And from the first day my friend, who brought me here from the U.S., tells me about the Starbucks on campus.
The Starbucks at the University of Hong Kong is one of the best kept secrets, it is 30 percent discounted for all staff and students, and has an outdoor seating area surrounded by decorative palm trees and umbrella-shaded tables. The place is a magnet for faculty, staff and students who seem to be sucked into the caffeine-laced world. The more I visit it and drown myself in caffeine, the more I think of New York and the Manhattan skyline.
Just as I started to long for red,white and blue, my aunt and uncle took me to the American Club tonight, which occupies two floors up at Exchange Place. When the elevator went ding up to the 49th floor, I was faced with a bronze emblem of a bald eagle and some overly friendly Filipino women who sat us at a nice table at the corner.
From the window I caught a panoramic view of Hong Kong, and the bumper to bumper traffic at rush hour. The view reminded me of New York's Time Warner building and the view of Times Square at 42nd Street and I quickly shifted that thought and focused on tackling the glass of gin and tonic and the surf and turf dinner, and a cheesecake. Literally a slice of Americana.