She is headed back to Hong Kong to finish out her last semester and her college education as they are actually doing a modified form of in-person classes (her "main" campus is still remote and likely will be through the end of this year, if not longer). There are people that have done well with the on-line education that The Plague has enforced; she is not one of them.
Traveling back there is more a task than a year and a half ago when she went. Beyond the Visa (required for entry anyway), she must have a certified Plague test certificate with 48 hours of travel. Upon arrival, she needs to take another test and pass that. After that, she is allowed to enter the country - but then has to spend 21 days in quarantine in a hotel (there are locations in Hong Kong that are catering to this market). After that, she will be allowed to enter - with all the now expected processes of masking, limited indoor exposure, etc.
People have asked me if I have concerns. Honestly, not any more than I would have with her returning to her main campus for her last semester (Hong Kong, in terms of risk for bad things happening to you, is actually far safer than where she was going to school). In terms of The Plague, she is also probably far better off than where she was, which has turned into one of the "hotspots" for current development.
It is odd - I was a bit of a college nomad myself, ending up attending 4 different colleges in the course of pursuing my undergraduate degree. I never ended up with any kind of strong or enduring loyalty to the university I graduated from - it was just the place that I happened to gain enough credits to get on with my life. I have always been fascinated (and, perhaps, a bit repelled) by the sorts of enduring college loyalty some have as I have never understood it - although to be fair, such loyalty also seems to help in terms of longer term career goals in some cases, which Nighean Gheal may benefit from.
She is in the process of getting a remote job while she is away (some computer related gig she is able to perform from there - she even pushed back a bit on their initial offer) and already has an internship for the summer, so in some very meaningful ways this is much less of a "last semester" as it is a coda to a part of her life that is drawing to an end.
It strikes me as odd to consider - if I actually sit and consider for a moment - that we are in a meaningful way winding down a journey that began almost 22 years ago. Yes, she has been gone for the last four years so it is not as abrupt as it might be, but it is winding down and the relationship, for better or worse, transforming. And she has become her own person, different in significant ways than I am but still, I think, with the core of what The Ravishing Mrs. TB and I tried to instill. And in drips and drabs, you can still see little hints of me hidden away.
I am sure we will revisit this once or twice more - once upon graduation and return and once upon that day when she is finally able to relocate to begin the laborious process of living beyond college, but thinking of those seems to be much less of milestone than this.
Those will just be the grace notes; the main song has already faded away.
Grace notes on the nuclear family composition, but the swelling introduction to the next movement. A movement that will have threads of the old, and new bold beauty to behold.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Composer is there to make melody of anyone's life... He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Daniel was as safe in the lion's den as he was in Nebuchadnezzar's throne room.
When I was chief engineer at the classical FM station, I heard an unfamiliar piece. But I heard strains of "Ode to the Common Man" in it. I was pretty sure, but I wandered into the program manager's office and asked if it was indeed from Copeland. And it was. The Master's hand is hard to conceal... The parent's hand is as well.
Thanks STxAR. I think we like to believe that the effort we putting to trying to raise our children well will endure, at some level, through their lives. It is nice when one can see some of that come through.
Delete21 days! That seems a bit aggressive. Here in the U.S. with a negative test it is only 10 days. With a positive test one must quarantine for 14 days. I know a lot of people who simply would not be able to stay in a hotel room for 21 days without any interaction outside of electronics. I myself am not sure how I would do at that but probably better than most being somewhat of an isolationist anyway. But I'm assuming one cannot leave the room at all and that would be the hard part.
ReplyDeleteWe got started on a family way late compared to most so when our kids are of similar status in life, we will also be retiring post haste. It will be a lot of changing in short order. I'm sure I would like a more gradual rollout.
Ed - It seems to to me to, and actually that changed in December from 10 days. Given what is likely the hotel room size in Hong Kong - if it is anything comparable to the one's I have stayed at in Japan - I concur most people simply could not do it. Yes, one cannot leave the room at all - meals get delivered, if you want to rent fitness items (bands, kettlebells, etc.) that gets delivered.
DeleteWe started a bit late as well and so are at least two years out from the youngest graduating high school. I am patiently waiting until that day comes. They have been slowly leaving and so the "empty house" has not been quite a shock it might be for others, but it will be a change.
I haven't had any of my two graduate from college. It must be gratifying and a bit scary to watch them prepare to spread their wings and fly away for the 1st time.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, it can be. In point of fact for Nighean Gheal, she has actually (due to her program) already been gone for 9 months at a time in Hong Kong and Italy. One worries, of course - but one hopefully has trained them to succeed. At some point it is up to their efforts.
DeleteWhich is sort of what we hope for, right? We raise them to be independent; if it works, then they should - and will - fly.
Thanks for stopping by!