4 ms·
The old adage is that a man can never step into the same stream twice; for it is not the same stream, and he is not the same man. Stepping back home (in our ca
by JacobAldridge 10y ago
The old adage is that a man can never step into the same stream twice; for it is not the same stream, and he is not the same man.
Stepping back home (in our case, moving back to Australia after 2+ years living in London) is much the same - you have changed, and home has changed, but you don't expect either to be different.
I think a big part is expectations. When we left, we were expecting something different, unusual, full of surprises (how bad is London coffee?) and annoyances. But returning 'home' you have no such expectations - you just 'expect' to slot back in.
But you've travelled the world, learned a different culture (although I don't profess that in our case it was enormously different), moved on with your life in some way ... and so too have all those people who stayed behind, and indeed the city/town/country itself. So you're surprised, and you were expecting it to be effortless. Shock!
(And it is the weird little things. For the first year I was always one block off with my directions. But thankfully the coffee was as good as I remembered it.)
- vacri 10y agoA Greek friend of mine said of the Greek diaspora here in Melbourne that when they came out post-war, they became 'hyper-Greek' as a coping mechanism, embracing their culture more fully. They then travel back to Greece for whatever reason, and complain about how decadent it's become. Of course, he says, Greece hasn't really changed, it's just that now the ex-pats are seeing it through the lens of being 'hyper-Greek' now.
- distances 10y agoI've heard this is indeed often the case, emigrants embracing their home culture in a more fundamental way. Maybe the imagined state of one's culture is often that of the grandparents' time, always a bit behind of the reality.
- masklinn 10y ago> Maybe the imagined state of one's culture is often that of the grandparents' time, always a bit behind of the reality. Not just that of the grandparents' time, but an idealised/extremised version of it, blurry and pastel, filtered through the lenses and expectations of those who actually lived it.
- pjc50 10y agoBritish expats certainly are notorious(+) for doing this - epitomising some kind of Imperial Britain that may not even have existed when they were born. The most ridiculous subset are those people who live in Spain and complain about "immigrants" in Daily Mail comments. They may be in for a surprise if the hard Brexit they supported happens and they lose their right to reside in Spain because the UK won't guarantee residence for Spanish nationals. (+) Not All Expats
- NetStrikeForce 10y agoCalling them British Expats does not help. They're migrants (weather migrants I like to call them when someone mentions "economic migrants") and live in a mental -and often physical- ghetto. The problem is that a big majority of them does not speak the language and, in case of creation of a points visa like some Brexiteers want for migrants coming to the UK, they will fail due to their lack of integration.
- paulcole 10y agoJust curious, did you read the article before commenting? Your comment isn't offering much that isn't in the article itself.