Cagey asks:
I would like to know more about your experiences from living abroad. Um. Huh. A specific question? What do you miss most from living abroad – be it a specific food, cultural custom, whatever. :-)
Ah, there’s nothing quite like nostalgia for a previous life. I guess I should say first that, given the fact that I was born outside the United States, in many ways it feels like I live overseas now that I’m here in the U.S. Home for me now is wherever my parents are, but geographically speaking Taiwan and Hong Kong will always be home for me.
So anyways, on to the things I miss:
1) Easy access to public transportation of all kinds: trams, buses, the subway, taxis. I know we have public transportation here in the U.S., but it just never feels quite the same as hopping a double-decker bus in Hong Kong and careening around hilly roads thinking that at any moment the whole bus is going to go crashing into the ocean. Let me say for the record that it’s not as unpleasant or terrifying as it sounds.
2) Quick, cheap, local street food. These roadside stalls would never pass Department of Health inspections here in a million years, but holy crap, is it good. Steaming bowls of noodles in soup, dumplings, fried breads, shaved ice with tapioca, YUM. When we go back to visit now, we make it a point to eat our way through markets stopping at various places to nibble a bite of whatever their specialty is. I can’t think of a more delicious and fun way to get a meal.
3) The ease at which you can travel to other countries. Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Bangkok, Jakarta, Hong Kong, nothing is more than a short plane ride away, and suddenly you’re in a totally new country, new customs, new foods, new culture. Whereas here we might take a weekend trip to Louisville, there you can fly to another country in far less time.
4) While Hong Kong was still a British Colony, we got to celebrate British, Chinese, and American holidays. Christmas, Chinese New Years, the Queen’s birthday, it was all fair game. Obviously it’s not like that any more, but still, it was AWESOME when I was a kid.
5) The way in which Asian cities are unbelievably modern, yet retain so much of their history and heritage. You can walk around the corner from a brand new skyscraper and find a tiny temple that’s been there for ages and stands as a symbol for a religion that’s even older still. There’s just this amazing way the old and new collide in these cities that I think we don’t necessarily see here.
6) Night markets. I. Love. Night Markets. Clothes, jewelry, shoes, bags, random miscellaneous crap you would never find anywhere else, you can find at an Asian night market. They’re also a great place to pick up great street food.
7) My old school in Hong Kong (and I would venture to say students at other international schools feel the same way). There’s a camaraderie that comes from attending these schools and participating in these very tight-knit communities. This seems strange since these expat communities are by definition extremely transient, and you never really knew from one day to the next whose mom or dad would get transferred to a new post in a different country. But there is a very unique and strong bond that develops between the students, and this is something I would LOVE for Sweet Girl to experience.
8) Hot spring baths. In Taiwan, there are TONS of these places, and they are so blasted relaxing. There’s nothing like sitting in a relaxing bath outdoors staring out into the semi-tropical, lush, green hills.
9) Being close to my mom’s family. With the exception of a couple of cousins, all of my mom’s family is in Taiwan, and her family is CLOSE. It’s hard for all of us to be so disconnected from them, and I miss them terribly.
I think I need to go browse plane tickets now. Reminiscing makes me want to go back desperately.
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