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Migrant Diaries 1
Aug. 20th, 2020 10:49 amEdit: Title and tag changed to reflect completely fair and deserved criticism over use of the word “expat” in the post.
I didn’t keep much of a journal when I moved to China. I was too overwhelmed and busy to really process things. I took a lot of pics, which now hurt when they show up on my Instagram memories, but I’m glad I have those. I’m sure I’ll do that for Minsk as well. But I am tentatively going to start writing here. I’m lucky now to know a lot of people who have also left their home countries, either permanently or for extended periods, so please, I invite you to shout at me in the comments. Well, all of you are welcome.
A note about the word expat: I saw a post somewhere, probably Twitter, that talked about the privilege wrapped up in the word expat. The write asserted that it was applied to rich white foreigners while black and brown people were tagged with the more pejorative “migrant.” Before I left home, I most often associated the term “expat” with British people abroad, but when I moved, the difference between an expat and an immigrant in my mind was that expats eventually return to their home countries and immigrants intend to stay in the new place, so I labeled myself “expat” because while I don’t have immediate plans to live in the US long term, I figured I would eventually come back, like when my mom gets old and potentially needs live in help. I always assumed that would be me as I’m unmarried and childless, but I don’t mind because my mom is hella cool, and as long as she doesn’t need too much medical care, I’d be there. Anyway, I’m particularly interested to hear your thoughts about how people who migrate to other countries are labeled, labels you might use for yourself, etc.
Anyway. I’m preparing to move to a new country and continent. I have a lot less time to prepare/freak out than I did the first time, which is kind of nice. I’ve made a lot of new friends who have more experience with things like culture shock than I do, who have all lent kind ears to me. As I try and get my apartment packed up, I have been thinking about all the stuff I have and now have to deal with, both here and in China. What did I think I could not live without that I never touched once I unpacked? What did I miss?
One thing I brought with me was a lot of craft supplies: embroidery floss, Aida cloth, yarn. That turned out to be a good move for China, especially the yarn, since knitting and crochet aren’t popular pastimes and stores like Michaels don’t exist. There is Taobao, of course, and I think I’ll miss that most of all, but as far as yarn, I was never able to get the variety I liked. From what I see in my research on Belarus, embroidery and similar crafts are really popular. I’ll probably bring a few projects I want to work on, but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can learn of traditional Belarusian crafts.
I’ll bring a few physical books with me, but thanks to the Internet and Pocket Friends, I didn’t feel nearly as disconnected as I thought I might. And I’ve saved a ton of fics in my gdrive (all available offline in case the internet goes out). One thing I’m bringing this time is more art and photos. I had a lot of family photos, but this time I’m bringing a few more things to hang up. I’m hoping my things will get here from China before I leave for Belarus, because I have some beautiful art I bought on trips, like a vintage woodblock print I got in Kyoto and a photo of Idaho rangeland that a friend took, that I would love to have with me. Prints and posters are pretty easy to pack in the bottom of a suitcase.
Food is the biggest worry for me. While I’m more adventurous than I used to give myself credit for, I do have a fairly sensitive tum, and I had food poisoning a few years ago. Now, I got that at a Chili’s in Idaho, so mostly I’m cautious because I remember how awful I felt. The worst thing that happened to me in China was getting some soup with peppers that made my mouth go numb. Thankfully, the experience didn’t scar me, and I learned my first new (and extremely helpful) phrase in Chinese: 不辣
On paper, Belarusian cuisine looks pretty ideal for an Idaho gal: lots of potatoes and bread and omg I am very excited to eat peroshki! But I really got to like things from East Asian cuisine. All manner of dumplings, of course, and cucumber salad and this lemongrass chicken and noodles I learned to make because I was homesick for the Vietnamese restaurant by my apartment. Shenzhen is also a city with a sizeable foreigner population, so I had easy access to tacos and amazing pizza and tteokbokki and xiaolongbao and youtiao. And Starbucks.
Okay, I know Starbucks is The Most Basic, but look. The thing about Starbucks is that each store looks very similar. Starbucks is my office. I have an almost Pavlovian response when I go there. I write a lot, get grading done, and I get a basic latte. It’s a place that makes me feel grounded. AND each regional store has really fun things to try, like the salty cheese latte they had last Mid Autumn Festival. I have an adorable tumbler with the Moon Rabbit on it. As far as I can tell, there is no Starbucks in Minsk. It’s not the coffee I’ll miss. I gather there is a pretty solid cafe culture, so I’ll be able to get lattes and the like with relative ease. What I’m going to miss is the space I have to regroup. Anyway. Back to food.
When I moved to Shenzhen, I brought Mac and cheese powder, peanut butter, and brown gravy. I only ended up eating the peanut butter. And it turns out I could buy PB there. There was a Walmart a block from my apartment, and while there were many things I found odd or disconcerting — I was never brave enough to try the meat and seafood counter — I found pretty much everything I needed and wanted. Even if it meant I spent $15 on a pack of Red Vines that was so stale it broke apart into tiny Red Vine shards, or $8 for the smallest box of Nerds.
I know I’ll probably find most of the things I need and want. But food is the fastest way to make a person feel grounded, like they are home. And home has become a lot more non-potato things. I chatted with my new principal this morning. He told me there are a couple Asian markets where they got things like red curry paste and sweet chili sauce, but since he’s never lived in Asia, he couldn’t be more specific. So I’m going to bring a few bottles of gochujang and fish sauce (which, astonishingly, I can get at my Twin Falls grocery store). I’m also bringing Reeces peanut butter cups since that chocolate-peanut butter candy seems to be the one thing I really can’t find when I travel.
One of my coworkers, a fellow Idahoan in Shenzhen, asked if she could have any leftover Idaho things I had in my apartment, like huckleberry jam, and she was so sad to learn that I didn’t bring any of that sort of thing with me. I don’t actually like huckleberries. So! What are some of the things that make YOU feel at home, no matter where you are?
I didn’t keep much of a journal when I moved to China. I was too overwhelmed and busy to really process things. I took a lot of pics, which now hurt when they show up on my Instagram memories, but I’m glad I have those. I’m sure I’ll do that for Minsk as well. But I am tentatively going to start writing here. I’m lucky now to know a lot of people who have also left their home countries, either permanently or for extended periods, so please, I invite you to shout at me in the comments. Well, all of you are welcome.
A note about the word expat: I saw a post somewhere, probably Twitter, that talked about the privilege wrapped up in the word expat. The write asserted that it was applied to rich white foreigners while black and brown people were tagged with the more pejorative “migrant.” Before I left home, I most often associated the term “expat” with British people abroad, but when I moved, the difference between an expat and an immigrant in my mind was that expats eventually return to their home countries and immigrants intend to stay in the new place, so I labeled myself “expat” because while I don’t have immediate plans to live in the US long term, I figured I would eventually come back, like when my mom gets old and potentially needs live in help. I always assumed that would be me as I’m unmarried and childless, but I don’t mind because my mom is hella cool, and as long as she doesn’t need too much medical care, I’d be there. Anyway, I’m particularly interested to hear your thoughts about how people who migrate to other countries are labeled, labels you might use for yourself, etc.
Anyway. I’m preparing to move to a new country and continent. I have a lot less time to prepare/freak out than I did the first time, which is kind of nice. I’ve made a lot of new friends who have more experience with things like culture shock than I do, who have all lent kind ears to me. As I try and get my apartment packed up, I have been thinking about all the stuff I have and now have to deal with, both here and in China. What did I think I could not live without that I never touched once I unpacked? What did I miss?
One thing I brought with me was a lot of craft supplies: embroidery floss, Aida cloth, yarn. That turned out to be a good move for China, especially the yarn, since knitting and crochet aren’t popular pastimes and stores like Michaels don’t exist. There is Taobao, of course, and I think I’ll miss that most of all, but as far as yarn, I was never able to get the variety I liked. From what I see in my research on Belarus, embroidery and similar crafts are really popular. I’ll probably bring a few projects I want to work on, but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can learn of traditional Belarusian crafts.
I’ll bring a few physical books with me, but thanks to the Internet and Pocket Friends, I didn’t feel nearly as disconnected as I thought I might. And I’ve saved a ton of fics in my gdrive (all available offline in case the internet goes out). One thing I’m bringing this time is more art and photos. I had a lot of family photos, but this time I’m bringing a few more things to hang up. I’m hoping my things will get here from China before I leave for Belarus, because I have some beautiful art I bought on trips, like a vintage woodblock print I got in Kyoto and a photo of Idaho rangeland that a friend took, that I would love to have with me. Prints and posters are pretty easy to pack in the bottom of a suitcase.
Food is the biggest worry for me. While I’m more adventurous than I used to give myself credit for, I do have a fairly sensitive tum, and I had food poisoning a few years ago. Now, I got that at a Chili’s in Idaho, so mostly I’m cautious because I remember how awful I felt. The worst thing that happened to me in China was getting some soup with peppers that made my mouth go numb. Thankfully, the experience didn’t scar me, and I learned my first new (and extremely helpful) phrase in Chinese: 不辣
On paper, Belarusian cuisine looks pretty ideal for an Idaho gal: lots of potatoes and bread and omg I am very excited to eat peroshki! But I really got to like things from East Asian cuisine. All manner of dumplings, of course, and cucumber salad and this lemongrass chicken and noodles I learned to make because I was homesick for the Vietnamese restaurant by my apartment. Shenzhen is also a city with a sizeable foreigner population, so I had easy access to tacos and amazing pizza and tteokbokki and xiaolongbao and youtiao. And Starbucks.
Okay, I know Starbucks is The Most Basic, but look. The thing about Starbucks is that each store looks very similar. Starbucks is my office. I have an almost Pavlovian response when I go there. I write a lot, get grading done, and I get a basic latte. It’s a place that makes me feel grounded. AND each regional store has really fun things to try, like the salty cheese latte they had last Mid Autumn Festival. I have an adorable tumbler with the Moon Rabbit on it. As far as I can tell, there is no Starbucks in Minsk. It’s not the coffee I’ll miss. I gather there is a pretty solid cafe culture, so I’ll be able to get lattes and the like with relative ease. What I’m going to miss is the space I have to regroup. Anyway. Back to food.
When I moved to Shenzhen, I brought Mac and cheese powder, peanut butter, and brown gravy. I only ended up eating the peanut butter. And it turns out I could buy PB there. There was a Walmart a block from my apartment, and while there were many things I found odd or disconcerting — I was never brave enough to try the meat and seafood counter — I found pretty much everything I needed and wanted. Even if it meant I spent $15 on a pack of Red Vines that was so stale it broke apart into tiny Red Vine shards, or $8 for the smallest box of Nerds.
I know I’ll probably find most of the things I need and want. But food is the fastest way to make a person feel grounded, like they are home. And home has become a lot more non-potato things. I chatted with my new principal this morning. He told me there are a couple Asian markets where they got things like red curry paste and sweet chili sauce, but since he’s never lived in Asia, he couldn’t be more specific. So I’m going to bring a few bottles of gochujang and fish sauce (which, astonishingly, I can get at my Twin Falls grocery store). I’m also bringing Reeces peanut butter cups since that chocolate-peanut butter candy seems to be the one thing I really can’t find when I travel.
One of my coworkers, a fellow Idahoan in Shenzhen, asked if she could have any leftover Idaho things I had in my apartment, like huckleberry jam, and she was so sad to learn that I didn’t bring any of that sort of thing with me. I don’t actually like huckleberries. So! What are some of the things that make YOU feel at home, no matter where you are?
