Come Fly With Me....

Come fly with me, come fly, let's fly away - Frank Sinatra

Ever since my Sr Director broached the possibility of a delegation to India for this Midwest suburban kid, I have had thoughts of living abroad stuck in my head. Is stuck the correct phrasing? I'm not really sure if it's strong enough. I can't seem to exorcise the thoughts of a delegation to some exotic locale from my brain. It's something I viewed as the possible opportunity of a lifetime and something that, alas, was only a mirage and is no longer even a shimmer on the horizon of my future. But that doesn't mean I can't think about it, can't fantasize what my life would be like living and working in an enchanted kingdom where English, my native tongue, is not the primary linguistic form, where the American way of life, the American Dream is not the ideal by which one evaluates the quality of passing days, where my features do not blend in with the natives. The fantasy has me living in a new country, experiencing the depth and breadth of a new culture every couple of years. What a charmed life that would be.

To me, living in a different country would be living a life which parallels, which shadows Columbus discovering new worlds, Lewis and Clark learning the secrets clearly visible to the natives, Ponce De Leon discovering the fountain of youth for each new culture would need to be experienced with the fresh eyes of a child. I would be exploring new frontiers, frontiers new to me, frontiers as different from mine as the sun is from the moon where each frontier would be viewed in the reflection of my cultural context. That new perspective would help me to also understand my cultural biases better and, hopefully, make me a better world citizen.

How would this play out? I can see a progression along a few different lines. One would be to live in a zone say Europe then Asia then Southeast Asia then South America until I covered all the major areas then, when phase one is done, I would start again and pick different countries in those zones. Another path would be to choose the most challenging countries to live in first then move on to those that are more Western in their ways. A sort of trial by fire with the fire getting gradually less hot. I think, though, that I would like to travel along linguistic lines. I could start in Spain because I do know a little Spanish then move on to other Spanish speaking countries; Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and the rest of the countries South of the US border. Next, Brazil or Portugal because Portuguese has some similarities to Spanish and, I think, would be relatively easy to pick up once I was fluent in Spanish. Then on to Italy where the spoken word has a song like quality then France followed by Morocco and the rest of the French speaking African countries finally any other country that spoke a variation of the Romance languages, with the possible exception of living in Canada which is essentially USA North. Next I would lean toward visiting to the Philippines because the language spoken in that country, Tagalog, has some roots in Spanish.

Romance languages being exhausted, I would need to make my next choice. The Germanic speaking countries, probably not because I would have spent considerable time in Europe so there would not be much that was radically new.  Russian speaking could be a good choice because that would cover most of Eastern Europe including far Western Asia. Asia would probably be the next choice because the Asian cultures are very different than Western cultures and would provide the biggest shock to my system, a system which would have become to used to experiencing differences, a system in need of a radically new perspective.

What would be the optimal duration to stay in a new country? I would have to say at least two years. During year one, everything is new and, I would expect, overwhelming to the senses, each holiday or festival a sensual overload. It would be only during the second year when the newness had worn off that I would be able to settle into the rhythm of a country, allowing me to truly see and enjoy the festivals and the subtle nuances of daily life. I fear any more than two would be too many because the once new might become repetitive and possibly border on the mundane.

The most challenging aspect of this life style would not be having to grow accustomed to new foods, new cultures, new languages. For me the most challenging part would be that I would not be able to see my loved ones on a regular basis. I don't know that I could handle being away from those dear to my heart for an extended period of my life. And, the friends I made while on a delegation would change every two years. In some respects, I believe my personality could handle the routine of two year friendships because I have a tendency to not form deep rooted, lasting bonds with people outside of my family or with someone that is not a love interest. Actually, I believe that subtlety of my personality may be the key ingredient for me to not only survive delegations but to thrive in a different country every couple of years. As for my loved ones, I would be most happy to have them pack their bags and come fly with me.