I too from immigrant stories, though both European. WW2 story. My Polish father was 21 with a child, my sister, and not finished university in England but married to do the 'noble' thing. (I learned later) No romance. An obligation after an encounter with a woman incapable of love for children, including her own.
Grandparents and other family were far away in England and letters were the only connection.
What I come to see in my life after reading this and other of your writings is that I connect to neither parents nor lineage.
Lineage is mysterious to me. And it may be for many others.
Each place I live, usually a long time, becomes home while I am there, but my personal queries are outside of family and culture and the past.
You always have so much to share! A wealth of stories. It is interesting how you have no connection to family or lineage, but I am certain you can relate to the living in-between. You have been an "expat" (hate that word!) for so long and must find yourself in circumstances where you find it difficult to belong. The more I share about it, the more I realize it is quite a universal human longing to belong. <3
Belonging. It is the name of a Keith Jarrett Jan Gabarek album!
I have realized how much I needed kindred artist spirits in my life and having found that here in BKK, I feel that belonging or connection to others. If that is what belonging is.
But to quote Krishnamurti: "We are all in the soup together." Cultural packages are only that but they certainly make us feel different from one another. Cultural difference is the root of all human issues and conflicts.
So I end up in metropolitan centers and big cities....where many cultures and people live together.
I left Canada as I never felt I 'belonged' there. Certainly not in conservative Ottawa where I spent my childhood. I did love Montreal however, and could live there again, but too cold for me!
Not having any economic support from 'family' since 18, like many who left their homelands I went to places, like Japan, where I could earn. But NEVER integrate/belong! Closed culture.
So I don't long to belong, because I already do! To humanity or maybe better call it The Twilight Zone! 😁
I love that you have found community where you are. I think ultimately it is in the small things right where we are where we can cultivate a sense of belonging. You’ve lived an extraordinary life and should be proud 😘
Not sure big community but a few good people and serious artists. Extraordinary? Not sure about that either! You have been to MANY places I will never go in my life. Not even Italy! Not south of Ajijic! 10 years in Yokohama was economics but then it was just time to move on. Here I have time to sit in a coffee shop and sketch for a few hours on a rainy afternoon. If I need a car I can afford a taxi. For me, Canada was about chasing $ to pay high and escalating rent and costs.
And money aside, I am more comfortable in the cultural atmosphere here. But I don't need to be Thai to feel it.😊
Beautiful!
Very beautiful...
I too from immigrant stories, though both European. WW2 story. My Polish father was 21 with a child, my sister, and not finished university in England but married to do the 'noble' thing. (I learned later) No romance. An obligation after an encounter with a woman incapable of love for children, including her own.
Grandparents and other family were far away in England and letters were the only connection.
What I come to see in my life after reading this and other of your writings is that I connect to neither parents nor lineage.
Lineage is mysterious to me. And it may be for many others.
Each place I live, usually a long time, becomes home while I am there, but my personal queries are outside of family and culture and the past.
Interesting.
You always have so much to share! A wealth of stories. It is interesting how you have no connection to family or lineage, but I am certain you can relate to the living in-between. You have been an "expat" (hate that word!) for so long and must find yourself in circumstances where you find it difficult to belong. The more I share about it, the more I realize it is quite a universal human longing to belong. <3
Belonging. It is the name of a Keith Jarrett Jan Gabarek album!
I have realized how much I needed kindred artist spirits in my life and having found that here in BKK, I feel that belonging or connection to others. If that is what belonging is.
But to quote Krishnamurti: "We are all in the soup together." Cultural packages are only that but they certainly make us feel different from one another. Cultural difference is the root of all human issues and conflicts.
So I end up in metropolitan centers and big cities....where many cultures and people live together.
I left Canada as I never felt I 'belonged' there. Certainly not in conservative Ottawa where I spent my childhood. I did love Montreal however, and could live there again, but too cold for me!
Not having any economic support from 'family' since 18, like many who left their homelands I went to places, like Japan, where I could earn. But NEVER integrate/belong! Closed culture.
So I don't long to belong, because I already do! To humanity or maybe better call it The Twilight Zone! 😁
I love that you have found community where you are. I think ultimately it is in the small things right where we are where we can cultivate a sense of belonging. You’ve lived an extraordinary life and should be proud 😘
Not sure big community but a few good people and serious artists. Extraordinary? Not sure about that either! You have been to MANY places I will never go in my life. Not even Italy! Not south of Ajijic! 10 years in Yokohama was economics but then it was just time to move on. Here I have time to sit in a coffee shop and sketch for a few hours on a rainy afternoon. If I need a car I can afford a taxi. For me, Canada was about chasing $ to pay high and escalating rent and costs.
And money aside, I am more comfortable in the cultural atmosphere here. But I don't need to be Thai to feel it.😊
This is beautiful Yamuna. I come from a lineage of immigrant women including myself.
So true, my friend. You must have so many amazing stories to tell. <3