Hello from Canada. Incidentally, I found you here. You may or may not remember me. I am Tracy Lu, used to work in BC Shanghai. Hope to see you someday. 😊
Thanks for dropping me a line. Your Substack is looking great, by the way!
I guess the first thing I'd say is how wonderful it is to have a choice of where to go and who to be. The second thing is that I feel that being international in lifestyle and learning to live in another language are both about addition. Some people I've met around the world fear that they will become "less Japanese" or "less Chinese" if they become internationalised. But I don't see it like that. These other lives we accrete through living elsewhere and speaking other languages enrich us. They don't take away our national identity, and they don't rob us of our origin stories. Those remain. Thirdly, when faced with a choice like the one you mention, I have tended to go with what scares or excites me the most.
I don't know if any of that helps but happy to explain more if that would help.
Congrats on your achievement!
Thank you!
Hello from Canada. Incidentally, I found you here. You may or may not remember me. I am Tracy Lu, used to work in BC Shanghai. Hope to see you someday. 😊
Hi Tracy, it's so nice to hear from you! Of course I remember you! I hope you are well and enjoying life in Canada.
Hi Tom
Thanks for dropping me a line. Your Substack is looking great, by the way!
I guess the first thing I'd say is how wonderful it is to have a choice of where to go and who to be. The second thing is that I feel that being international in lifestyle and learning to live in another language are both about addition. Some people I've met around the world fear that they will become "less Japanese" or "less Chinese" if they become internationalised. But I don't see it like that. These other lives we accrete through living elsewhere and speaking other languages enrich us. They don't take away our national identity, and they don't rob us of our origin stories. Those remain. Thirdly, when faced with a choice like the one you mention, I have tended to go with what scares or excites me the most.
I don't know if any of that helps but happy to explain more if that would help.
Jeff