Time zone, Time change and long distance frienships

France really is a weird country.
Twice a year the whole country agrees on collectively change its time zone of one hour, moving watches and clocks and every possible object that gives time.

To save power by sticking to the daylight as much as possible.

While I lived in France it seemed like a weird thing to do, but I didn’t really question the potential impact of such a change for our contacts with the rest of the world. I have friends sort of all over the world so of course, it changed a bit the way we talked, but we are not very close, meaning that apart from leaving each other messages once in a while, we don’t often talk.

Last year, Lea mainly lived at night, meaning that she was usually available to talk at the same hours as I was. But now that I live in China and that I mainly live on a diurnal rhythm, it makes it way more complicated for me to communicate with France, and the time change didn’t help.

In summer, China has a 6 hour forward gap with France. In winter, it changes to a 7 hours forward gap. Meaning that when my friends back in France wake up at 7am, it’s already 2pm for me. I know you can all do the math, but it’s hard to realise what a difference it makes. When my friends start their day, I’m already half way through mine. And when I go to bed, around midnight (okay, more like 2am, but let’s keep midnight for the sake of the example) it’s only 5pm back in France.

It might seem nothing but in fact, people mainly talk in the evening, after classes or work. And the time gap makes it impossible (or at least very unreasonable) since it implies I skip sleeping.

I didn’t realise, before leaving how much I was going to miss people. I made so many new friends last year, I hadn’t realised how much I used to socialise. It felt good to be understood and to share good and simple moments with people. But here, I have troubles finding a crowd that shares my love for small assemblies, good wine and peaceful conversations. I miss those quiet and genuine good moments. But with the time gap it makes it even harder to talk to people back in France, and I realise how easy it is to lose someone.

I should be used to it, my friends usually don’t stick around for long. I change, my opinions and aspirations change and we grow apart. And it’s fine. But it’s the first time I feel so isolated. I used to think that I can live alone and be perfectly happy, which is true, but I realise that there is still a part of me who longs for social interactions. I got used to be surrounded with people with whom I shared a lot. And I don't want to lose them. And I don't want to feel alone here.

I guess either I’ll find a new crowd here or I’ll learn to live a tad differently. Some might say that I already live way enough in my head, but never mind.