"Hey, you're American. Why do...?"
Jeff here. Got a small rant to give.
Being an expat (living outside your country) brings challenges, apart from adapting to another culture, food & language. One fun challenge is getting asked questions, as if we could speak for our whole country. Expats who read this blog include our close friend, Kit in Korea and Jeff's sister, Jeannine in Saudi Arabia.
How much we immerse ourselves depends on factors like, whether a spouse is 'local' (as in Kit's case) or if we work & reside in an area designated for expats (Jeannine's case) or just motivation to find "change" (as I'd call our case).
But I can guarantee that in all cases, we get asked many questions the local people have about our own country. Early questions, most questions compare lifestyles: "What do you eat?" or "What was your house like?"
Some tougher questions require tact before answering: "Is it true you must pay for university?" or "Who voted for him...twice?"
Such questions are usually fun to answer and can get great conversations started, friendships developed.
Then there are times like this, when questions can get tough to answer without getting angry.
I just got asked "Is it true that the insurance company (AIG) got $85 Billion, then their senior management expensed a week-long resort holiday, then asked for another $37 Billion, and is now planning another resort holiday?"
I was dumbfounded. I had no clue how to answer. I still don't. In fact, at first, I (foolishly) denied it, without knowing any of the facts. "No way, that can't true..." Yup, it's true.
In summary and I added links:
1. AIG makes bad investments
2. Company execs make millions
3. Stock gets wiped out
4. Company gets wiped out
5. Billions lost
6. Company and execs get $85 billion bailout
7. Execs and sales force go on $400,000 weekend retreat
8. Congress cries OUTRAGE!
9. They ask for and receive another $38 billion
10. Execs and sales force plan another retreat
Of course, people recognize such boondoggling is not limited to AIG's execs. And the recession is not limited to the USA. Asia is hurting. Europe is hurting. The whole mess is on everyone's front doorstep and people are searching for both the reason and resolution. With questions like these, we lose hope for both.
p.s. Yes, I actually used the word "boondoggling". That's funny. W.C. Fields would be proud. :)
For reference, watch this great Fields movie opening (or skip to 2:46 if you're impatient)
09 October 2008
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3 comments:
I totally know where you're coming from with your rant. I get "How did Bush win twice?" on at least a weekly basis. When asked these types of questions, in their eyes we represent our entire country of 300 million people! Expat life has its usual ups and downs and then the "interesting" moments like these.
I imagine at least one you ex-pats has responded to such questions with, "That's why we live here!" :) We ask the same questions of each other here, "How did he win again?". Depending how this election goes, we may just become ex-pats ourselves. Anyone tried living in Bruges? Michelle swears it is the most beautiful place she has seen. If not, Sarita and Caesar had great things to say about the Maldives...
Interesting post Jeff. The issue of politics obviously comes up here a lot, but I find it interesting that I don't get that same feeling as much from the people here. In fact, I'm usually quite surprised to find that there isn't as much anti-Bush sentiment here as you'd think. I think they think he's good for business...for them anyway. And equally surprising, while I don't necessarily find Saudis to be the "most enlightened" people on the planet....no small exaggeration there....they are always quick in these discussions to say that they recognize that the government and the people are two different things....even the ones that have negative feelings towards our government stress that they have no issues with the American people. And I think they already figured out that our system...right now anyway... is crooked and dishonest....I wonder when our people will do the same. And I think many of them here are as anxious to see the result of this election as we are.
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