Last week was a busy one-as I had to return to Shopping Mall to work on a project that will continue over the next few months. It was our idea-but my former place of employ had all the material needed to turn it into two 18000 word documents. ( I started the week with only 2000 written). By the time I got back to the hotel room-I didn't have the energy or the time to blog.
Being back in Shopping Mall is always an interesting, somewhat surreal experience. Compared to the daily challenges of life in Germany, it feels more comfortable, more relaxed, and quite familiar. As I have noted before its like slipping on a suit that fits-but is not longer fashionable. The pants are comfortable-but you don't want to be seen in them or admit they feel comfortable. More on that in subsequent days.
So, the week's work complete, I flew to NC to see my father. Will be here for a few days and will visit with him, and do the Shopping the S.O. inevitably requests of me. The S.O. has been back in Deutschland with a bad cold. She's been sick-and cranky. And not happy I am here and she is there.
As I am typing this-half the lights just went out in the Superdome. Is God a 49'ers fan? Does He not like 109 yard kickoff returns?
I like most of the folks in the US are watching the game tonight. When the game starts back up I will have to put this post to bed. So let me give you something to watch and think about. Especially when Zealots like Paul Ryan scold us about their screwed up view of the world. I want to write more on this subject tomorrow.
"America is not the greatest nation in the world." It could be-but it chooses not to be. How to get back to being the #1 country in the world, or is it even worth thinking in those terms anymore.
If not America, then what country? What measure is greatness?
I wonder if polling was done from those of us who actually LIVED in another country and I do not mean in anAMERICAN ghetto what they would say about America and being the greatest nation?
i used to read a number of Kblogs (korea) and what I noticed was how newbies LOVED Korea when they first got there and then, almost always after 6 months or so the reality set in and they tend to hang out with fellow expats and eschew the local populace..to much hassle with learning Korea and the culture too foreign.
what was your experience if any with expats in Japan?
My experience was with two opposite poles. Those who tended to try to Japanize themselves-and took it too far and they eventually hit the "wall"-which is, not matter how you try, you can't "assimilate" into Japanese society. The other poles were those who stuck with their own kind. Except for guys like me-who chased anything in a skirt, and had male friends who were all Westerners.
Richard, I think you are missing his point. The country can be great, it has a lot going for it. But the idea of "American exceptionalism" is one of the most destructive things to America today. It is what has led to the fact free world inhabited by Fox News and most of the GOP today and a lot of Democrats as well. Assholes like Paul Ryan succeed in rejecting the relatively straightforward solutions to our problems because of it.