A few days ago, one of my studio's personnel executives called me into her office, and asked if I'd be interested in working at their Hong Kong studio for six months, supervising 60 animators working on a TV show.
I've seen Jackie Chan films, and I read newspapers, so I know the place is teeming with violent Chinese Mafioso types, and that every deadly flu originates there... With disease and corruption lurking around every corner, Hong Kong was quite literally near the very top of my list of places never to be.
So with a smug little chuckle, I said, "No-o-o... but thank you anyway!"
Whereupon I learned that if I didn't take this assignment, they were not going to pick up the option on my contract. If you're not a lawyer, here's what that means in layman's terms: "You're going to Hong Kong or you're fired."
Since "fired" was even farther up on my list of places never to be, I chose Hong Kong.
She assured me that the animators there all speak English, and the studio will cover all relocation costs, rent me a hotel/apartment, give me a per diem, and she threw in a few other "perks" designed to make it all seem like a good idea. I'm not even sure I heard everything; my world was kind of spinning...
After thinking about it for a while, I decided I'm going to make the best of it, and keep a live travel journal to let all my friends know what it's like being uprooted from your comfort zone and transplanted into a foreign environment.
