When I arrive in a new country, I include something in my new living space to make it familiar to me. This action presents me with the opportunity to put part of myself into a foreign context to anchor my sensibilities.

The first lesson I learned, after living in many countries, is that as an expat I cannot insert myself into the new surroundings simply by observing, questioning and exploring all their facets. It’s a series of trial and error that sometimes hurts, but always makes your stronger if you’ve the grit to stick it out. However, the one problem: I kept losing a sense of myself, leading me to became overwhelmed by the people, surroundings, sights, sounds and, in some cases, the food. That does not mean that I wanted to return to all-American staples of hamburgers, turkey and macaroni and cheese, it signified that I no longer held the aspect of myself that grounded me into something that I singularly identified with closely and personally. [Read more...]