A Story

Picture this: You get off work at 9:00 pm and it's cold and windy outside. You know that your lone bike is waiting by the construction zone where 40+ migrant workers are nailing and drilling and quickly putting up that new skyscraper which seems to almost appear before your eyes. You realize that everyone who comes to work just 12 short hours later will look upon the new construction with eyes of disbelief, wondering who was there and thinking maybe it was those elves who come and fix your shoes during the night. You will be joining them as they come bleary-eyed and coffee-deprived but you know the truth.

As you step into the frigid winds, you know they have one goal: to blow dust in your eyes until you weep. You tell yourself that you live close, you don't have too far to go but you are tired at the end of a day full of teaching, correcting and practicing the utmost patience. You wish for the billionth time that you had a car but then you remind yourself why you don't have a car in this city...you value your life.

You walk to your bike and see a figure in a dark jacket standing nearby. You recognize the way the figure walks then smiles as you get near and you feel a warmness spread through your body, despite the violent wind echoing through your ears. You remember all over again what it's like to be in an intercultural relationship and what small surprises that can bring. You begin to understand that he will always be there, every night waiting next to the lone bike and the crowd of migrant workers who are anxious to get a look at the foreign yellow-haired one... He gives you a quick hug, hops on the front of the bike and you sit on the back balanced perfectly, like a gymnast on their beam.

You forget the cold....