An American in Asia: His Quest for Cosmic Truth (or at least a Decent Espresso)

 

Americans is Good Folk

The US is not so bad. At least that's what I'm telling myself now.

My rather harsh assessment of the US - fueled by bitterness and heavy withdrawal symptoms from a decade immersed in Asia - has had a month and a half as the front page of this site, and maybe it's time to move on.

My pining for my old life on the tropical island of Phuket has not lessened, so much as it's grown old. I'm finally growing tired of comparing Springtime in America to Southeast Asia's endless Summer and maybe I'm ready to move on with my new life in the US.

So, with the weather improving in my northwestern corner of the Union, I've been hopping on my bicycle and getting in touch with nature. Because that, believe it or not, is one advantage my new home has over Thailand.

Sure, Thailand is covered in verdant jungle (a rapidly shrinking one thanks to corrupt government officials who take kickbacks from illegal loggers), but you can't really get out into it without worrying about cobras, scorpions, leeches, drunken rogues and armed bandits. A walk in the woods is just not the relaxing experience we have here in the Northwest.

The city of Bellingham, where I now reside, has won national awards for its extensive system of parks. While I live near a shopping mall, a freeway and a few of the busier streets, I can get on my bicycle, head up the hill and within half a block I am on a network of forested trails that will take me almost anywhere in town without hardly touching pavement.

With a little more effort I can pedal out of town and, in less than half an hour, find myself on the shores of any of four or five lakes, a couple of streams, a river, two mountains or the coastline of Puget Sound.

Not bad. If I could comfortably strap a snorkel on and poke around the rocks off some of the coastal parks, my life would be complete. However, the water is just too freakin' cold.

OK, so what else?

Mexican food. I went out with my Mom last week for Mexican food and we actually had to take a few minutes to consider the rather vast array of options before us. We are nowhere near Mexico but there are at least a dozen Mexican American families in town, waiting for us to waltz into their restaurant and order chicken enchiladas with tomatillo salsa. We finally choose a restaurant on the water that also serves up a decent margarita.

Now, you can't beat Thailand for Thai food, but if you want any other kind of food, you're taking risks. It's always good to stick to a restaurant's specialty when choosing from the menu, and that applies to the entire country of Thailand. There are three Mexican restaurants in the Bangkok metropolis and none of them are going to satisfy. Weirdly, none of them even serve spicy food. And while you might get lucky and find some decent Italian food, you can forget about your New York style pizza.

Here in the US, though, I have a good chance of finding good food no matter what I happen to be hankering for, cooked, in all likelihood, by someone who is actually from the same country as the cuisine.

Now, while my enthusiasm for America might be a little half-hearted, this is all new to my wife and she's having a blast. Aside from her joy with how smooth and straightforward everything is for her at her new job, she is reveling in the cleanliness, the quiet, the safety and friendly acceptance that surrounds her.

She's made good friends, and even strangers don't seem to judge her by the color of her skin, the different color of her husband's skin, her origins, religion or anything else she's made of herself. For the first time she is surrounded by people who judge her only by her speech and actions, and although some people may indeed take exception to her looks, most have the polite sense not to blurt out their judgments to the world. This is in stark contrast to Thailand, where despite the fact that everyone is of course, Thai, an intricate and immoveable hierarchy exists, and people find all kinds of ways to look down on those who aren't a part of their tiny little section of society. For my wife, America is a revelation.

And to some extent, it is to me too. Having grown up in this society, I was not really aware of how good we have it. A decade in Asia and the experience my wife is now enjoying has been a real eye-opener. I certainly have a few criticisms I could happily voice over beers with friends but, in general, I'd have to admit that the Great Experiment is by-and-large a success, and I have to admire my people for that.

Americans is good folk.

Bloody cold here though.