Transient Me

Our friend, Tiger, leaves for his homeland today after six years of living and working here in the US. An only child who hails from Beijing, China, he found himself among the H1-B visa holders on their way to fill the gap of knowledge workers during the dot com boom in Silicon Valley a couple of years back.

Alas, when the dot com went bust he also found himself laid-off along with thousands a year or two later. Like other visa holders, he decided to try his luck here despite the scarcity of work and his unstable status. He made his way through uncertain waters with the support of family and friends here and in China.

It was difficult. In a time where IT companies here are no longer willing to sponsor knowledge workers with H1-B visa or even hire them, Tiger changed his status to become a student and enrolled in a networking school to get certified while taking on various part time jobs. Sometimes, he would get an IT consulting job lasting only three or six months but not one company wants to hire him on full-time because of his immigration status or lack thereof.

When the hubby and I heard the news that he has decided to go back to China for good, we felt sad about it, but at the same time we also knew how hard he struggled to make a life here. So his decision reminded us of the individual’s need to find his way back home and take stock of where he is in life – to regain perspective, to renew one’s purpose. And Tiger is doing just that.

We treated him and another of our friend to a yummy farewell lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Milpitas last Sunday. I’ve never been there, but being long-time co-workers, the guys (hubby, Tiger and Ted) knew the place quite well. It was brimming with sumptuous dimsum and Chinese delicacies, all in carts pushed by the waitresses.

These waitresses would offer the food to customers as they push their carts around tables. Tiger speak Mandarin so he would ask them what was in the carts, describe the dishes and its ingredients and relay the information to us. We would then make our choices or sometimes we would point to one dish that looks delicious and interesting.

We got shrimp dumplings, pork siomai, chicken barbeque buns, and a plate of Peking duck for our entrée, coupled with bottomless house tea. For dessert, we ate different kinds of sweet fried dumplings and sesame seed balls. I had been searching for the latter ever since I got here but to no avail. At last, I found one that is comparable to Chowking’s. Yey! (I honestly forgot what those things are called at Chowking…bicho-bicho or karyoka?)

It was a nice (yet reasonable) lunch. We celebrated Tiger’s good health and future success as he return to his homeland. He said he has learned a lot from working in the US and meeting new friends that he will definitely put it into good use when he comes home.

He mentioned that he’s happy about going because his father is becoming old and needed his help. Plus, he has met someone new over there via the Internet. Now THAT is something to look forward to, we teased him.

After lunch, we drove him back to his apartment and showed him how Geocaching is done. We went to a park near his place to find a cache that he was trying to locate a few weeks ago. And we successfully found it. It was a good way to show him how to participate in the game and encourage him to start doing it in Beijing.

We drove back to his place and he “bestowed” some stuffs like books, camping gear, and heck even his old bookcase to us. I joked that we seemed to be fortunate recipients of some of our friends’ “estate” when they leave the country for good. It felt like we are inheriting something from them or they are leaving their “legacies” to us, eventhough most of these are material things. Somehow they want to leave a part of them behind. Ah, such is the mystery of human and place connections.

We said our final goodbyes and wished him luck. He said to look him up when we’re in Beijing like it’s just somewhere in California. Hehe. I forgot to tell him that I envied him. After six years, he’s going back to his homeland for good. I, on the other hand, don’t even have the luxury to go back to the Philippines for a visit yet (I blame the new homeland security…Hehe).

Seriously, I sometimes struggle with this deep yearning to go back to the homeland, not to take stock or gain perspective, but to just reconnect with family and friends, to re-familiarize myself with the sights, smells and tastes of places I’ve been to and grew up in, or simply to re-establish my center. *Sigh* If three years, going on four, seemed an eternity to me, what more would six or 10 years be? I resolve to go back sooner. I’ve been away for far too long.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Family, Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.