Greetings from Bangkok!
An easy trip to Bangkok; I had two seats on both legs of the journey, was made more interesting by my seat neighbor to Tokyo. She, like many others on the plane which was only two thirds full, was heading home for Chinese New Year. Although she is ethnically Chinese, she is Malaysian by nationality. Ten years ago she married a Finnish American from Hibbing, MN. She moved to Hibbing in November and almost did not survive her first winter after having spent her entire life in tropical Malaysia. Her husband then took a job in Houston, TX, and that is where they now live. She has a managerial position with Wells Fargo. In a long conversation in which she talked about how lonely she is; no family in America, no Malaysian community in Houston, her husband's refusal to do anything in Chinatown, and his emotional unavailability, she said she felt trapped. After living ten years in America with a good job she no longer feels at home in Malaysia yet has no family or real community in America. Toward the end of the conversation I asked, "So, will you go back to Houston?" She replied, "Yes, because I have three dogs."
Bangkok is enjoying a long cold snap which is predicted to last two more weeks. The temperature got down to 59 a few days ago. I hope the cool spell lasts until I begin my teaching stint a week from today. My apartment when I'm teaching has neither a/c nor hot water.
Bangkok sight: steel workers several stories high wearing flip flops.
1 comment:
I just wrote something and it got deleted because I wasn't signed in yet. Grr. The gist was: I'm glad your travel has gone well. My daughter Elsa just emailed to say her flights to Spain (spring semester abroad) were all delayed, she missed all the connecting flights, and her luggage is lost. Your seat mate sounds so lonely. I hope she finds something happy in life. I look forward to your future blogs now that I have learned how to do this!
Wendy
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