An Englishman in New York (and other expatriates)

Thomas of the Newsrackblog queries German expatriates, and other-flavored expats in Germany.

Here's what he wanted to know. (Prepare yourself for a longer post - are you sitting comfortably? Got your favorite beverage and snacks? Can you hear me now? Good.)

Where do you live abroad? For how long? Where do you come from? Why did you decide to live abroad?
I live in the heart of the Silicon Valley: San Jose, California. Moved here in 1990. I was born in Tauberbischofsheim and grew up in Wallduern in Baden-Wuerttemberg, the southwestern part of Germany. Come on, repeat after me: Baden-Wuerttemberg. Yeah, I know ... easy for me to say. :-p

Moved to Munich in 1984, started working at Apple Computer Gmbh in 1989, and discovered the joys of email. Promptly fell in love with one of my email pen pals, and moved to the US to get married to him.

When did you take up blogging -- before or after moving abroad? Was being an expatriate a reason for blogging?
I started blogging in November 2001 (here and here are the beginnings) - after moving back to Germany, actually. I'm not sure whether my double life has anything to do with it. A little bit, probably: I still keep two blogs, one in English and one in German.

Do you enjoy living abroad? How long do you think you'll stay?
Yes, very much so, which is why I am back here again. My return didn't "stick". I suppose you really can't go home again. In any case, it's hard to beat California. I can see myself staying here for the rest of my life. I'm even considering applying for citizenship. (I'm still a German citizen, with "unconditional permanent residence" as the greencard is formally called.) But don't worry, I'm not planning to run for office.

I think I got lucky: I accidentally landed in the place that was a perfect fit for me: a good balance of city, suburbs, and countryside. The ocean only 30 minutes away from where I live is a HUGE plus. Enough cultural events and venues for a little Euro-snob like me. And lots of different people from all over the world. If you want to stick out like a sore thumb in California, you gotta work really hard at it.
And I discovered my true calling. I landed a job in Apple's R&D division, and found myself among lots of people whose thinking really clicked with me. Turned out I was a geek, and didn't know until I was surrounded by them. What better place for me than the Mecca of Geekitude?
Yeah, I'm sticking around.

Do you feel in touch with the country you've left behind? Do you feel in touch with the country you're in now?
I do feel in touch with my current home - California, that is. (For the purpose of this survey, let's ignore my opinion that the US is not quite in touch with the rest of the world right now. But let me state for the record that I realize that California is not representative of all of the US. We are the freaks, as one of my friends likes to remind me.)

I feel a bit less in touch with Germany. Yes, I keep in touch with my family and friends, I have a few German friends here, I speak, hear, read and write German on a regular basis, I read German newspapers online, but of course I'm missing out on daily life and pop culture. But regular visits should do the trick for me.

Can you point to political or other views that have been changed or deepened by being an expatriate?
I don't think my political views have changed much. Any changes in that arena may just as well be a function of me getting older and slightly less rebellious. I do know that before I came here for the first time, I never consciously considered moving to America - far be it from me cultured European to stoop so low as to mingle with the shallowness, culturelessness and stupidity of the US. It didn't take me long to lose that prejudice. I see things with a bit more differentiation these days. (Some say I have simply traded one set of prejudice for another.)

How do you think living abroad has affected you and your writing?
In December 2001, I wrote:
"Looking back now, 12 years later, I'm grateful for how much I've gained. Learning to live in another language made me smarter, I think, like my brain gained another dimension. You look at life through the filter of another language, and it takes on new colors. You have different ways of saying things, different codes of acceptable and unacceptable behavior, different aspects of life that are emphasized - and you even sound different."

I believe very firmly that living in a different country, and especially living in a different language, makes you more open-minded. I've always enjoyed getting my assumptions challenged.
How has it affected my writing? I can't say, really. I've never considered myself a writer, so I don't keep track of what and how I write. Looking back at old emails and letters, I find that I'm largely the same smartass I've always been.

Comments

[Joel]

You're milking a lot of miles out of this!

[Thomas Nephew]

Thanks for the answers! One thing I didn't get: who is the Englishman in New York?

Another: are you saying you now just don't mind "stooping so low"? ... :)

Glad you're enjoying California.

[Elke Sisco]

"Englishman in New York" is just a song title. It's from Sting's Nothing Like the Sun and always pops up in my head when the subject of ex-pats comes up. (There's a sound sample at Amazon.com; click on the link above and scroll down the page to the track listings.)

I still mind stooping low, but I found out that living in California is far from stooping low. :-)