Comments on: How Expat Life Changes Your Perceptions of ‘Normal’

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 12:16:04 +0000

In reply to Stuart. Yeah, I guess they had a pretty rough couple of weeks. Usually Bangkok smokes my lil' hometown on nearly every metric, but ironically, they're the ones who had to put up with an actual flood instead of just hoping it didn't hit them. :)

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 08:32:01 +0000

I know this is an old post, and I am not even sure if you (Greg) will see this comment or not, but I clicked on the link to your hometown newspaper to see where you were from, and sure enough, as you warned in the last paragraph, the top news story on the front page is “Flood evacuees will be allowed home tomorrow”.

By: Francis

Francis — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:56:38 +0000

Thank you for writing this blog it just told me a lot .When I told my family I was still going to vist Bangkok they all said I was nuts.They told me I would get hurt or worce.
I know I will be safe being there .My only concern is if protests happin again .I would be stuck paying a lot of money and not be able to go visit the things I want to see.
I must say if was there when A coop or political unrest happin.I would be on the next flight back to New York. I can handle the shit that happins in the USA not that.

By: lee

lee — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:34:28 +0000

what's that quote? if you look long into the abyss, the abyss looks back into you or something of that nature? Well that sense of the abyss is often what i feel as the disconnect. It's not that the people aren't trying to relate, they just can't. I've been back in the states for a couple of years, and there isn't a day that goes by that I understand that It's never going to be the same, nor would i want it.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:52:05 +0000

Thanks for posting guys. It is interesting to ponder whether your environment changes you, brings out what was already there, or has no effect on what was already there in the first place. Maybe a combination of all three? However, as Marjory mentions, she’s a woman without a country. This reminds me of when I go home to visit friends – no matter how long our history is, there is still a disconnect there because of what I’ve seen and done. My friends who have stayed together don’t have it… it’s a different type. That’s what makes me think that traveling and living overseas has changed me… or perhaps everyone else has just stayed the same?
~Greg

By: Marjory

Marjory — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:29:11 +0000

I think it’s really that the past is a place you can never go – even if you stayed in your hometown – you can’t go visit it – no time travel allowed. It’s just more obvious to you when you’re an expat.

And by the way, everything changes you – even if you never go anywhere – and, conversely, nothing changes you because down deep at the core, you are still that boy from Okotoks too just like I’m that girl from Lethbridge. It’s just that since you haven’t been in Okotoks the whole time, you changed in a different way than the other people.

I think the thing that I find difficult is that because I’ve traveled around so much, I don’t seem to have changed in the same way as anyone. A woman without a country. (sigh)

By: Alain Miles

Alain Miles — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:54:18 +0000

In a nutshell, Greg!

Provided you notice the lake is there, and you're not afraid to jump in.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:54:51 +0000

V - some very good points (even if you did call me a dickhead). It is interesting to hear the long term expat pov from a female perspective.
GJ - awesome post as always. Bonus points for use of the word "skid"

By: Vincent

Vincent — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:45:53 +0000

I honestly don't believe its the expat life that 'changes' you. If you're a small town boy - its the city of millions which will change you.

You don't have to be an 'expat' to feel the difference between living in a city of 50'000 and a city of 15'000'000.
i don't completely agree with what you wrote about how Bangkok Changes these poor farang farm boys into crazy wacky sex maniacs. This is not BKKs problem - some guys are dickheads - Period.

I do whole heartedly agree with how living abroad breaks away the cage of social perceptions we are brought up in. Security is an illusion nurtured by Government - National Culture & Education to keep us (its citizens) under control.

Ignore it and two things occur : either you become an outcast or hermit or unabomber ... or you see what your social environment truly has to offer ; there-in you understand the abyss that exists between thinking you are in a free society and actually being free.

That is IMHO the true gift of living abroad.which is why i started my post with the remark "I don't think the expat life changes people". Because in my 10 years in Sin City - I have met but a handful of people who have truly experienced this "gift".
The rest live the golden illusion of the life of the plenty admist the world of the lesser.

just my 2 cents, Greg.

cheers.