The terms "living abroad" and "pursuing an international career" can often seem quite glamorous to those who have never done it before, and in some respects, it is. You meet all kinds of neat people (and some just plain WEIRD), you get to do things that you may not have even thought about if you never left your 'home country', and you see things, and accept things, that in your past life may have been completely unacceptable.

Learning about and acclimating to a foreign culture (even if you are ethnically of that area) grants you automatic exposure to things that are new and different, forcing a person to take off his or her 'glasses' and embracing the very paradigm shift that it is.

But there's another side about life abroad that is a little more subtle, and that is the whole notion of "reinventing" oneself amidst new environs. I doubt that anyone actually moves abroad with the INTENTION of being a 'different person' (sans criminals I guess). It's just something that happens as you learn to let go of what you used to know. It's a normal part of adjusting to a new environment.

Believe me, I've known a few people who refused to change their way of thinking when they moved to Taiwan and after a year or two, left with a bitter taste in their mouths of the people (Taiwanese people SUCK!) and the area (Taiwan SUCKS!), which to me, is unfortunate. On the flipside, I've known many to completely lose sight of their own moral standards, living a life of indulgence and to the point of no return (as in, they can't go 'home' even if they wanted to). An addiction, of sorts.

Living abroad means that you get to operate outside the guidelines of the social structure from which you come. You can choose to live as the 'locals' do, or, you can be a free-wheeling 'foreigner' with absolutely nothing outside of the local laws to stop you, or something somewhere in between.

No one can dictate what is right or wrong -- each person shall have his or her own unique interpretation of how they wish to live their lives, and that in itself changes over time -- but to have no standard at all, or to forget altogether what it means to HAVE a standard, can really mess a person up in the long run.

And I've seen that happen too.

The key to maximizing one's experience abroad is to understand yourself well enough to know what you can and cannot accept against all the various external influences that come your way, without trying to impose those standards on others. That's the only thing you CAN do under such circumstances and MAN am I ever going off on a tangent!

What I meant to write about was Friday night at the Tied House in Mountain View and how challenging it is to try and see everyone - old friends and new ones - in a very short amount of time! I also wanted to delve into the dynamics of how all of the above transfers to life back in the U.S., now that I'm planning to return. Wow, talking about digressing in a huge way.

Oh well, I guess I'll try again tomorrow!

LOL!

This is what happens when I'm back home for the holidays. Am definitely getting lots of sleep, drinking water, eating fruit and getting myself back into shape (just came back from running, YES!) but man do I have a little too much time on my hands. I should be cleaning up my business plan this afternoon. Been trying not to think about that for the past few days by request, but it hasn't been easy.

Per usual... wink wink.


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