Wade in' Pool

Initially, I emailed Wade back and declined the invitation. Wade teaches seventh grade in the room next to me and he is also the one who picked us up from the airport. He had invited the four of us over for dinner and a swim in their apartment’s pool on Friday night.

But it all just seemed like too much. It would come at the end of our first full week of school. Furthermore, Julie and I had the middle school Open House coming up on Thursday night –me as a teacher; Julie as a parent. And we also had a full day of school coming up on Saturday –an outdoor field day of sorts. Trying to slip in a social engagement in the midst of a six-and-a half-day work week just felt like a bit much.

But then we thought about it. As hectic as life has been in the last fifteen days, we were anxious to start connecting with people and building relationships. When Wade emailed me back and said the offer still stood, we accepted it.

It turns out Wade and his wife had invited three families over making for a grand total of seven children and eight adults in their small, 1100-square-foot apartment. Dinner was delicious; getting to know several of my colleagues was nice.

Wade and his family –like so many people in HK- live in what we would call a high-rise apartment complex, but in Hong Kong they call them estates. Estates are typically made up of two or three towers thirty to forty stories high. The nicer estates have common areas with a tennis court, perhaps a basketball court, party rooms, and a swimming pool.

After dinner, we all put on our suits and headed to the outdoor pool. It was surprisingly empty for a Friday night. Like every other day in HK, it had been about 90-95 degrees and humid, and even now at 7:30 at night it was still 85 degrees and humid. It was hot, I was sticky, and it had been a long week. I was ready for a refreshing dip in the pool, but I was not prepared for what happened next.

Maybe it was the fact that I had been up since 4:00 a.m., but I’ve never had a swimming experience quite like this one. The air, the water, and my body were more-or-less the same temperature, so as I slipped into the pool, my body had a hard time telling where the air ended and the water began.

It was very relaxing.

It was very therapeutic.

For the next ninety minutes the girls and I played in the pool, splashed around, and laughed together. I forced them to accept “dolphin rides” from me like they did when they were three years old. We were feeling so relaxed and re-energized, I even snuck them into the enclosed, otherwise-empty, men-only hot tub.

It has been go-go-go since the plane landed and this was the first time the girls and I have had extended time together to relax and hang out together. I have held off asking them point blank, “So how do you like living in Hong Kong?” because I am afraid of the answer I’d get. But here in the pool after splashing and relaxing, I finally mustered up the courage to asked Annika “So what do you think, are we going to be able to make this whole Hong Kong thing work?” Without missing a beat, she responded with a smile, “Yup.”

“Yup” and a smile.

I’ll take it.

When we got out of the pool, our hostess had brownies waiting for us back in their apartment.

A good finish to a great night.

-Jack