Tweet of the Day: Do You Know Anyone In Korea Like This?
Although he has lived in Japan for 25 years, Pico Iyer doesn’t choose to learn more than a smattering of Japanese because he says needs mystery and “a sense of open space in life, something to offset the sense of the familiar.” https://t.co/0JpPZ4e03m
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) April 23, 2019
I could rant all day about expats who spend years in a foreign country and never bother to pick up the local language, but since I’ve already done so on my own blog, I won’t pollute yours with my ravings.
Um, me? 😳
My wife is that 1 1/2 generation Korean. Born in Seoul, emigrated to Hawaii when she was 11. Fluent in both languages with no accent (well, Hawaiian “Local girl” accent, if I’m being honest).
I lived in Korea for 5 years last time and never picked up more than a few phrases because she was at most a quick phone call away.
I did a lot of traveling around the peninsula, and never was more than 30 seconds away from a Class A translator. Either she was with me, or a short phone call away.
Northeast Asia is an astounding and eclectic mix of sweet and sour. I like a lot of it in moderate-sized doses. Maybe 2-4 weeks at a time…
Perhaps I should say that I have just under a year of “boots on the ground” counting business and personal trips. South Korea in particular has been a welcoming place because of my attitude and their culture. My last trip was in April 2014 and it was wonderful. Most of you know about why we disn’t go in 2016-2018.
I think folks who live as an expat for over a couple months get to know “what’s what” and build their own niche. I daresay I know a lot more “foreign” folks in the US that have chosen not to mix than folks from the US (or Indians born in the UK who moved to the US) in Asia who have chosen not to assimilate.
The area in Texas where I live has huge Indo-Pak, Chinese, Korean, and Hispanic communities. The area has GREATLY changed since 1988 when I first arrived. The Eastern Asian folks are friendlier than the Western Asian folks and the Southern Asian folks seem to hold everyone else in contempt. It’s okay. This still America and we can still associate with who we like.
As to forcing people to adopt the local habits? Not my circus. Not my monkeys. This “Pico” dude married a “daughter of Nippon”. That is, quite frankly, enough for a Confucian culture to be able to place him–and learning the language will not elevate his status.
I understand the Gray Lady’s point in publishing this was to trash America; but I think he moved to Japan because he has no roots, and his wife does.
Pico Iter travels in a rarified atmosphere. He is a true intellectual. Japan happens to be where he resides physically, but as this indicates, he is not interested in being a part of it or of anywhere.
Iyer. Darn tablet.
Got this uncle no one talks about.
Electrical engineer, smart guy from what I’m told. Lived in Vallejo, CA with my aunt and their two small children. He left on a business trip to Japan in 1963, and never came back. Never wrote, never called, never heard from again. Everyone suspects he found some sweet young thing and just decided to start a new life. May still be there for all anyone knows.
Word Problem:
If Billy’s dad walks at 4 miles per hour, and it’s a mile and a half to the gas station, why has it taken him fifteen years to go get a pack of smokes?
MTB, is the answer, “Billy’s mom”?
Either “Billy’s Mom” or “Stacy’s Mom” would have been acceptable.