The Foreign Service Journal, September 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2021 87 I promised I would make a schedule to keep in touch. I never did. Do they remember me making the promise? I don’t mean to ignore them, but it just makes it easier—just forget they ever existed. I was going to see you last year. But the Hong Kong protests were happening. Then I booked my ticket for April. But then COVID-19 happened. Hopefully, I can go back sometime again, but who knows? I haven’t heard much from you lately. Hope you’re doing all right. Anyway, let me know when you’re free to call or something? Miss you! This time I beat them to it. This time I won’t get hurt. This time I will be ready. This time I won’t be tethered to an old home. I wonder though, was it easy letting me go? It wasn’t for me. I wonder if their eyes were swollen, head was pounding, or if they also slept on a pillow that was damp from all the tears. I hope they’ll still see my face in places we used to go to. Even if the lights are dim. I’m sorry, Hong Kong. Yours truly, Singapore n Brianna Hogan is a college student in the United States who comes from a multicultural background withThai and American parents. She has lived in seven countries so far. She wrote this piece, a reflection on her transition fromHong Kong to Singapore, as a high school senior at the Singapore American School.