Haha, yeah. I'll admit that that end passage was originally written as a part of a standup bit that I don't think I've ever performed. Seemed apropos for this piece so I guess it finally found a home.
Great read! Yeah, I will be celebrating the fourth here in the States. However, on the fifth, I will be heading to Thailand and Southeast Asia for a few weeks. I will try to capture a bit of the magic when I lived as an expat in Korea, Thailand, and China, and traveled throughout Asia. After my trip, it’s back to the States to begin my teaching job. Not so bad I guess, however, I could end up back in Asia to capture that magic again. Again, great read.
Cheers James. I'm envious that you get to hit SE Asia this summer. I'll be hunkered down in SK trying to earn as much money as possible since I have a couple things I've gotta pay off until I get to rambling again. Unless I can get some big fancy magazine to pay for it ;)
Ironically when I'm abroad people assume I'm Canadian, and depending on the situation, I'll just go with it. But interesting insights here, as an expat for a few years. My girlfriend and I are planning another long term trip next year and ideally we'll be turning it into a more permanent situation (what that looks like is tbd). good to know what we'll be in for!
Thanks Chris, great piece. I’ve always found it interesting if paradoxical how the best observations of a country come from slightly removed perspectives. Perhaps it’s more true for countries with larger international influences like the US than for others. I’ve often thought for Britain, my own country, that if you want to fully understand it you’ve got to get out of it!
"God bless ya, because it looks like you're going to need it."--you just summed up the messy carwreck of feelings I experienced after a week back in the US (one that included a certain Zombie Apocalypse of a presidential debate)
Well written Chris, as I sit here since 1978 in the valley you shared about! So true and so good! Your the one Chris that had the guts to "Risk It" And to give change a chance! Well I'll be heading to that El Camino in a few hours to impress my friends for a party us guys are having! "Bro's & Bomb's 💣😎💣 As I gaze out at the Salish Sea I'm thinking of you...
Ah Johnny, thanks for reading and directing wind under my sails. It warms my hear that my friends in the Valley are still blowing shit up. I see what you’re seeing there and it makes my heart soar.
This is an insightful piece that is written with great emotional stability as it navigates a plethora of domestic and overseas experiences with grace and humor.
A well-written piece – and, being one, I could only chuckle at your description of Canadians. (Graffiti seen in a Munich Youth Hostel bathroom in 1999: “I’m so sick of the Canadian inferiority complex.”) I think that in the Gyeonggi-do largish city I first lived in from 2001 to 2003, Canadians were numerous but still outnumbered by Yanks and also in the presence of a fair number of Brits, so were a bit more subdued than your Busan counterparts. I was of course happy to gnash my teeth at the crimes of American imperialism ™, but was aware enough of the horrific things my own government had done to be very active in any Tim Hortons / Tragically Hip-fueled patriotism. Also, in 20+ years in Korea, the two biggest foreign assholes I ever met face-to-face were Canadian, so… yeah. (Both were active 2002-2004, so the post-“English Spectrum Incident” crackdowns and calls for basic competency among English teachers did seem to clear out the worst of the riff-raff.)
Also brought to mind was the Simpsons episode (ca. 1993 or 94?) where the family’s on the beach and they hit up the local equivalent of the Quik-E-Mart but the proprietor tells Homer, regarding fireworks, “I’m sorry sir, state regulations state that… (looks both ways and opens a door to the back room) Come with me… celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing a part of it up.”
Cheers for the comment Matt. I hoped people wouldn't think I was taking cheap shots at Canucks in the piece (I grew up near the border and of course love Canada) but some of the ones I met in those early days in Busan rubbed me the wrong way. Of course you can't blame Canadians for wanting to emphasize the non-USness, especially during the Busan years when we were so reviled world over, and not without cause. And yeah, I got here at the end of the Wild West days, and there were indeed some towering pieces of shit holding down teaching jobs. That would be a book in itself, or at least a good essay.
Great stuff as always Tharpy…as I think mentioned before, my dad grew up in Echo Park and once upon time when visiting my grandparents I was in that little lake with my pops on a little paddle boat!
Every time I go home for a visit I always find the US oddly both much better and much worse than I remembered it..
And all the worst we see in the US has been wrought by the liberal hegemony embraced by democrats, npr, the nyt, cnn and all the media who’ve serve as an echo chamber for each other and the liberal elite… and I Include the bushes in that cabal..,
Bacon fat, car tires, used diapers and fentanyl. Sounds like a great $18 bespoke cocktail in hell.
Haha, yeah. I'll admit that that end passage was originally written as a part of a standup bit that I don't think I've ever performed. Seemed apropos for this piece so I guess it finally found a home.
Great read! Yeah, I will be celebrating the fourth here in the States. However, on the fifth, I will be heading to Thailand and Southeast Asia for a few weeks. I will try to capture a bit of the magic when I lived as an expat in Korea, Thailand, and China, and traveled throughout Asia. After my trip, it’s back to the States to begin my teaching job. Not so bad I guess, however, I could end up back in Asia to capture that magic again. Again, great read.
Cheers James. I'm envious that you get to hit SE Asia this summer. I'll be hunkered down in SK trying to earn as much money as possible since I have a couple things I've gotta pay off until I get to rambling again. Unless I can get some big fancy magazine to pay for it ;)
Ironically when I'm abroad people assume I'm Canadian, and depending on the situation, I'll just go with it. But interesting insights here, as an expat for a few years. My girlfriend and I are planning another long term trip next year and ideally we'll be turning it into a more permanent situation (what that looks like is tbd). good to know what we'll be in for!
Thanks Chris, great piece. I’ve always found it interesting if paradoxical how the best observations of a country come from slightly removed perspectives. Perhaps it’s more true for countries with larger international influences like the US than for others. I’ve often thought for Britain, my own country, that if you want to fully understand it you’ve got to get out of it!
"God bless ya, because it looks like you're going to need it."--you just summed up the messy carwreck of feelings I experienced after a week back in the US (one that included a certain Zombie Apocalypse of a presidential debate)
Well written Chris, as I sit here since 1978 in the valley you shared about! So true and so good! Your the one Chris that had the guts to "Risk It" And to give change a chance! Well I'll be heading to that El Camino in a few hours to impress my friends for a party us guys are having! "Bro's & Bomb's 💣😎💣 As I gaze out at the Salish Sea I'm thinking of you...
Ah Johnny, thanks for reading and directing wind under my sails. It warms my hear that my friends in the Valley are still blowing shit up. I see what you’re seeing there and it makes my heart soar.
This is an insightful piece that is written with great emotional stability as it navigates a plethora of domestic and overseas experiences with grace and humor.
Thank you Kenneth!
A well-written piece – and, being one, I could only chuckle at your description of Canadians. (Graffiti seen in a Munich Youth Hostel bathroom in 1999: “I’m so sick of the Canadian inferiority complex.”) I think that in the Gyeonggi-do largish city I first lived in from 2001 to 2003, Canadians were numerous but still outnumbered by Yanks and also in the presence of a fair number of Brits, so were a bit more subdued than your Busan counterparts. I was of course happy to gnash my teeth at the crimes of American imperialism ™, but was aware enough of the horrific things my own government had done to be very active in any Tim Hortons / Tragically Hip-fueled patriotism. Also, in 20+ years in Korea, the two biggest foreign assholes I ever met face-to-face were Canadian, so… yeah. (Both were active 2002-2004, so the post-“English Spectrum Incident” crackdowns and calls for basic competency among English teachers did seem to clear out the worst of the riff-raff.)
Also brought to mind was the Simpsons episode (ca. 1993 or 94?) where the family’s on the beach and they hit up the local equivalent of the Quik-E-Mart but the proprietor tells Homer, regarding fireworks, “I’m sorry sir, state regulations state that… (looks both ways and opens a door to the back room) Come with me… celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing a part of it up.”
Cheers for the comment Matt. I hoped people wouldn't think I was taking cheap shots at Canucks in the piece (I grew up near the border and of course love Canada) but some of the ones I met in those early days in Busan rubbed me the wrong way. Of course you can't blame Canadians for wanting to emphasize the non-USness, especially during the Busan years when we were so reviled world over, and not without cause. And yeah, I got here at the end of the Wild West days, and there were indeed some towering pieces of shit holding down teaching jobs. That would be a book in itself, or at least a good essay.
In the 90's, my roommate and I would regularly celebrate the 4th by skipping the fireworks and watching Dr. Strangelove.
Wow, what a great post! Keep 'em coming.
Great stuff as always Tharpy…as I think mentioned before, my dad grew up in Echo Park and once upon time when visiting my grandparents I was in that little lake with my pops on a little paddle boat!
Every time I go home for a visit I always find the US oddly both much better and much worse than I remembered it..
And all the worst we see in the US has been wrought by the liberal hegemony embraced by democrats, npr, the nyt, cnn and all the media who’ve serve as an echo chamber for each other and the liberal elite… and I Include the bushes in that cabal..,