>From: "altamira" <altamira@ecpi.com>, Sun, 18 Jun 2000
>When I was younger, I used to like to go to a foreign country whose language
>I didn't know, taking with me only a couple of changes of clothes and enough
>money to buy food & lodging. I found that it was a good way to find, sort
>of, the essence of myself, apart from all my possessions and friends and my
>"place" in the society of which I was a part. But I was always glad to
>return home. The thought of being in a foreign time from which I couldn't
>return is a bit daunting.
I'm doing this now, but it's the same time period, not a future time travel
and my total possessions are with me.
My "place in society"? Doesn't exist for me. I could walk into any
place and act like a completely different person, and no one would
know that it wasn't me, and there would be absolutely
no repercussions. It's a (very) bizarre kind of freedom. It's even
more bizarre operating at about a language understanding of 50%,
like living every day as a partial deaf-mute.
My two best friends currently are a Greek and a German. I'm surrounded
with Germans (mostly), and then Italians, Austrailians, French, British,
Mexicans, Hungarians. My office-mate is Russian. There has been noone of
my culture around me during the last 2 years. Sometimes it's hard to
find my equilibrium being among so many unfamiliar cultures for so long.
But people over history have done this during war times. And it could be
more difficult. My father left his home country forever during WWII.
Now I find that completely daunting.
Amara
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Amara Graps email: amara@amara.com
Computational Physics vita: finger agraps@shell5.ba.best.com
Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/
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