Lets Go Kiddo

I went out last night and got a chance to watch a World Cup match.  It was S. Korea v Ghana and I was all in for it.  My friend JY is Korean, so I had a bit of an interest in the match.  Also, I have a general interest in futbol, especially on the world stage and it was great to experience that internationally as well. A blend of folks were around us, mostly Thai, so it was a weird mix of Asian pride for Korea and rivalry of Thai people who cheered for Ghana.  Mix in a few other expats who had a rooting interest in the match for advancing their country or potential match ups in the next round and it was a cool mix of people.   A few times, I got cheers’d by random strangers and the match was a good one.  It was a community type feeling of all of us watching together.  It didn’t matter if you were cheering on one side or the other, what mattered was good futbol, good company, good fun, and that it wasn’t life or death.  It was a game.  A w...

Part of this expat life is adapting.  Part of it is accepting.  Part of it is doing the best you can with what you have.   We have a small kitchen with no oven and only two small burners.  You eat out, you eat simple, or you eat after a creative process.   On Thanksgiving, we got creative with it.   For us, J and myself, Thanksgiving is a special holiday to us.  Even when it was just us and we weren’t traveling we would make thanksgiving.  I’d roast a chicken.  I’d make it special.  We would spend the day cooking and just being us. As we got older and then married and then had a kid, we would still keep that up.  Make it a day for us.  We’d nibble all day.  Hang out.  Watch a movie.  Just be us.  Our world expanded.  We’d have friends or family for the day.  Nothing changed.  It was still close knit.  It was still just us doing our thing.   Covid changed that, made things v...