Certainly, one of the disadvantages of living an ‘international lifestyle’ is that the very freedoms that you arrived to seek are the ones that bite you in the ass. I have been here for getting on for two and half years – which is scary, just to write – and have made some incredible friends from all over the world. This is quite an achievement, I think, and something I am quite proud of.

However, the aloofness we grant ourselves does mean that at regular intervals, friends do leave. Sadly for me, a series of good friends have left in quick succession, leaving me sitting here in PS rather at a loss on this Saturday night. It’s a pooey feeling.

The flip side, of course, can be found in my blog posts from Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, where I find myself eating and drinking with people that I can really count as friends (or sisters!) in these amazing locations. And I can’t be too sad – here I am sitting drinking a beer, I recognise all the staff and know them by name, and one of the girls just put on a CD she likes – a compilation of songs I burnt for the Cafe.

And hell. Next week I am in the Philippines. Blah!