Dear TEL readers,
Welcome to the continuing adventures of our widely scattered species, homo expatus, where we explore the expat life.
From the comments I have received to date, there is no clear concensus about which facet of the expat life we should explore next. Not surprising, really, given the broad range of backgrounds and worldviews (from your experiences and from your windows). Plus, expats are not exempt from the delightful sensations of personal disasters, geopolitical mood swings, and economic gravity shifts afflicting the general population.
So let me summarize the four options we have been considering with an invitation for you to comment publicly below or send personal email to me (rgreenzzu at yahoo.com). I reserve the right to make the final decision and, if I don’t like some of the comments, I reserve the right to take my ball and go home. Wait. No, strike that. While it is always an option - in most cases, anyway - for an expat to go home, returning to my hometown is a most unlikely decision for me. I am where I am because of choice and, frankly, my current city seems, to me, to be the best combination of quality of life and standard of living available for me and my family. For this year, anyway.
Option 1: Follow Torgeir Higraff on his 2023 sojourn to Mt. Everest and other spots around the world. He will be visiting Mt. Everest with the purpose of answering the burning question: Is it still a worthy objective (“because it is there”… attributed to Sir Edmund Hillary) or has it become the world’s tallest tourist trap?
Option 2: Back To The Creek. Make a sentimental in our imaginations back to our various hometowns where we were young children. Recall the admittedly romanticized views we have of that era when we were not the mature, stable, Spockian-level logical adults we are today. (“I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then”… attributed to Bob Segar.)
Option 3: Time Capsule Cooking. If memories of our childhood offer an inviting escape from our present realities, one special facet of our youth - the foods of that period - is especially enticing. What if we, as a community, recall the favorite foods of our early years? Each of us remembers foods associated with a time when we were young and innocent and had nothing to regret yet. But, the emphasis would be on the foods - ingredients and techniques and technologies - more than the regret-free memories. Be forewarned: Many of those foods were not calorie-free. (Bon appetit… attributed to Julia Child.)
Option 4: The 18th Floor Homestead. Have comforts and conveniences become too pervasive in our modern urban lifestyle? Has our interdependence led to stress, complications, and preemptive updoses of hypertension meds? What if we explore how to return to a quieter, more peaceful lifestyle while continuing to live in the megacity? (“Simplify, simplify”… attributed to Hank Thoreau)
Other submissions will be carefully considered. (What, me worry? … attributed to Alfred E. Neuman.)
Let me know, please.
Randy