Blind Dating for Friends

Attempting to make friends here has been quite similar to going on blind dates.

Before I came to Hong Kong I began following an expatriate website to get the scoop on the city. The site is actually how I managed to find my apartment. It's a great resource for just about anything. From finding great restaurants to finding tickets to the Justin Bieber concert last night, it really has everything.


An area of the site that I've become very interested in are the socializing forums. In this area you can start groups about activities you enjoy and other people can join them. From there you set up social events, and voila, instant friends.


Last week I saw a posting from a woman named Betina asking if anyone would like to grab drinks. Since I hadn't done anything remotely social since everyone from work left, I thought, "what the hell, I'll give it a go." We messaged back and forth, exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up Saturday night.


At this point, I was so excited to get out and do something that I decided I should have a back up just in case plan A fell through. So, I began reading the forums again and found another woman, named Brandy, looking to get drinks Saturday night. Once again, we exchanged numbers and said we'd meet up Saturday.


I heard from Betina early Saturday evening. We decided to meet at 10:00 PM at Lan Kwai Fong, an area of HK with lots of bars and restaurants. So, I go dressed, hopped in a cab and headed over to Hong Kong Island. 


By the way, I'm pretty sure this is one of the bravest things I've ever done. I mean, Betina could have been a 65 year old crazy lady... or worse, a 65 year old crazy man pretending to be a woman.


Lucky for me, she was neither. Betina is in her early 30's and originally from Copenhagen, Denmark. She works for a popular European active wear brand, and manages their office in China. She's really lovely.

Around midnight I heard from the other expatriate, Brandy. She ended up meeting up with us at the bar along with her friend Natalie. Brandy and Natalie are both teachers, and originally from Canada. I didn't have the "friend at first sight" feeling that I had with Betina. Something about these girls seemed off.


Moments after sitting down, Brandy got up and disappeared into the street. Weird. She came back to the table about 10 minutes later. Immediately after returning, she excused herself and Natalie, saying they needed to use the restroom and would be back soon. Uh, red flag. I'm going to guess they were doing coke, but I'm sure there are even crazier drugs here that I've never even heard of.


We decided these probably weren't girls we wanted to spend more time with, so we left.


We ended the night at a little wine bar sharing some small plates. Turns out she has a love for food too. Win.


I got a another message from Betina yesterday telling me she had read about a whole group of expats getting together for dinner. I decided it would be a great opportunity to meet more new people, so I printed out directions, hopped on the MTR and headed off to dinner with 15 potential new friends.


There were folks from New Zealand, Belgium, the UK, Canada, Australia and a couple other Americans as well. Everyone was so nice. I can't express to you how amazing it is to have a conversation that isn't in broken English.

Best of all, I already have plans for tonight! I'm going to a birthday party at an art gallery in SoHo. How posh.