Why do ex-patriots seem so much more alive than the rest of us?
Is it because they take nothing for granted?
It is all fresh and new, no matter how ordinary?
Is it because there will always be new words to learn, new expressions to be explained?
Is it because everyone who meets them treats them like some rare & special exotic fascinating novelty just because they have an "accent"?
Are they rebels who get some odd thrilling sensation out of being where they "aren't supposed to be"?
Does it make them feel privileged?
...or perhaps sneaky cuz they are "getting away with it"?
For a while I was trying to make an effort to live where I am at,
through the eyes of a foreigner- trying to appreciate each ordinary tropical plant, flavor, activity, as though it were something unique & truly exciting...
but it isn't as easy as I thought it would be.
It just isn't the same when you have to "try".
It often seems to me that I attract ex-patriots... or am I attracted to them...
well, however that happens I seem to be around them often...
not a terribly difficult achievement on an island in the middle of nowhere, since most anyone who is here, isn't from here.
I think what I am jealous of the most is that they chose to be where they're at.
I think I've been most happy in places that I chose to be. It isn't that those places were better than where I am from but they were selected at will.
I'd love to live in a town where I was one of an impossibly small handfull of Americans. But these days... where would that even be?
Is it because they take nothing for granted?
It is all fresh and new, no matter how ordinary?
Is it because there will always be new words to learn, new expressions to be explained?
Is it because everyone who meets them treats them like some rare & special exotic fascinating novelty just because they have an "accent"?
Are they rebels who get some odd thrilling sensation out of being where they "aren't supposed to be"?
Does it make them feel privileged?
...or perhaps sneaky cuz they are "getting away with it"?
For a while I was trying to make an effort to live where I am at,
through the eyes of a foreigner- trying to appreciate each ordinary tropical plant, flavor, activity, as though it were something unique & truly exciting...
but it isn't as easy as I thought it would be.
It just isn't the same when you have to "try".
It often seems to me that I attract ex-patriots... or am I attracted to them...
well, however that happens I seem to be around them often...
not a terribly difficult achievement on an island in the middle of nowhere, since most anyone who is here, isn't from here.
I think what I am jealous of the most is that they chose to be where they're at.
I think I've been most happy in places that I chose to be. It isn't that those places were better than where I am from but they were selected at will.
I'd love to live in a town where I was one of an impossibly small handfull of Americans. But these days... where would that even be?
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