Cyber-housemates
I currently live in Sydney and enjoy my time with friends here, but I make sure to keep my connections with people from the other side of the Pacific. They were my classmates, but we went to universities in different cities. We keep in touch through video communication platforms and games.
I remember the time when all of my friends shared rooms with several other students. When we have a call, their roommates would notice and join us. In that way, I got to know some of them, and our small friend group grew bigger and bigger.
It was just like living in a big house together. We held FIFA World Cup and UCL watch parties. Without my “commentator” friends, I would have no idea what those football matches were about. Besides, it’s interesting to see them argue against each other as fans of different sports clubs. We held Chinese traditional festival celebrations and watched special television programs together. We held birthday parties, where we played games against each other and sang karaoke afterwards. We have late-night conversations, where if one of us feels depressed, all the other people would be there to listen and offer help.
It could be lonely sometimes to stay in my room, especially during the lockdowns. But when I miss the feeling of people getting together, I can always connect with my cyber-housemates across the Pacific.
Across time and space
My friends get together sometimes, but the Pacific is much more difficult to cross. Every time they travel to the same city to meet, they always call me. I was able to attend all the events through a phone: they shoot the attractions for me when boating on the lake. They give the phone a microphone when going to the karaoke, even if I can never sing on the beat because of the Internet delay. I watch them play Mahjong as a virtual advisor, sadly I’m not a mascot so I can’t provide good luck. They have dinner and ask me to have a seat as well — usually on tissues, so that we can chat together.
We once tried to share our locations in an app to see each other on the same world map. I have to zoom out a lot to see everyone. We are not even in the same time zone, nor the same hemisphere, and yet we are together.
Cross the pacific is not easy
To maintain this kind of connection, the most difficult problem to overcome is the Internet delay. Overcooked is one of the games we often play, where players cooperate as chefs to prepare meals that customers order within a strict time limit. Conversations like this always happen: “We need cabbage – chop some!” “I’ve already done that!” “Pass that to me!”“I’m on it — why are you always repeating what I’m doing!” “Because of the internet delay!”
Chatting with my friends in Sydney, I found that lots of us have friends across the Pacific despite the difficulties. Like me, some keep close connections with their friends even when they come to Australia for study. Some have made new friends via online communities. Some still keep connecting with the friends they made in Australia after they graduate and return to their home country.
I like to stare at the sea, trying my best to reach the furthest edge of the Pacific with my eyes. But usually, there will be nothing except for the endless blue. The future is like that as well. It is so mysterious that we can hardly predict anything. But when I think of my friends across that vast ocean, there’s something I know for sure –- that no matter how delayed it is, the voice from them will always be delivered to me.
