Writers Abroad Magazine Issue 5 | Page 7

WRITERS ABROAD MAGAZINE: THE THIRD SPACE There’s No Place Like Home BY LAURA BESLEY Every summer my husband and I go back to England to visit friends and relatives. We’re both teachers and have therefore always been lucky with how much holiday we get. When I was still teaching full-time, we used to go back to England for three weeks (and were still able to go somewhere at Christmas or Easter – sometimes even both – to satisfy our wanderlust). Now I am mainly a full-time mum (I only teach on Saturdays) and feel even stronger about going back to England every summer. Because it’s possible, I go for longer (my husband always has to return early to go back to work); partly to escape the oppressive heat of a Hong Kong summer and partly because I want my son to spend as much time with his relatives as possible. On one of the many sunny afternoons in England a friend of mine asked me whether we’d ever considered owning a car in Hong Kong. ‘No, not really,’ I replied. ‘The congestion is a nightmare, as is the price of parking. And the public transport is so good. I suppose it would be nice for getting out a bit more at the weekend, to the beaches or the New Territories. If we lived there, I might.’ ‘Hang on a minute,’ he said. ‘Haven’t you lived there for seven years?’ We both laughed, but it got me thinking about how I felt about living in Hong Kong. My husband and I had been living and working in Germany before Hong Kong. When our contracts ended there, we’d decided we wanted to live somewhere a little bit more exciting. I’d been to China once on holiday – and loved it – and my husband had thoroughly enjoyed a year in Japan previous to us meeting. We applied to Japan, South Korea, Oman and Hong Kong. We decided on the two-year contract at the British Council in Hong Kong. That was in 2009 and we’re still here. The main reason is professional development. My husband has done extensive training with the British Council and each time they have demanded, as repayment, that he stay another year. He has now moved to a university to gain some all-important experience in the tertiary system. 6 | November 2016