Baseball and Expat Life

For those that know me it should come as no surprise that I've got a travel bug and plan to expatriate one day. It's like I know this secret that no one else does, or at least very few of us do, and that there are even fewer of us who actually act on it. What is it that keeps everyone stable and uni-country bound?


My Cornell buddy Ivan S. flew into town yesterday for a 2 month PhD research stint here in the Bay Area, having just finished 16months fieldwork in Vietnam on remittances and transnational capital flows. What better way to reintroduce him to the area than w/ a good ole' American baseball game, Philles vs. Oakland. Good times, even though we didn't make it there until the 6th inning! One of the great things about baseball games is that you've got a whole lot of time to just shoot the shi% and talk about anything and everything under the sun; this is especially true after boozin on 2buck chuck all evening.

I asked Ivan if he was sad to leave Viet when he did, implying that 'life is good' in a land where the Dollar stretches and food, entertainment, culture, etc. are abundant. I respect his opinion b/c he has lived abroad both in childhood and adulthood, as his father is a prof of international development and he a grad student in transnational related topics. In short, Ivan is glad as hell to be back and is sort of done w/ the international fieldwork. He likes clean air, English, and all the amenities that come w/ living in the developed world. I'm always sort of surprised to hear this kind of response, and wonder if and when it'll happen to me. I'll let you know when it does.