There’s No Place Like Home

Posted at October 23, 2010

I watched a movie the other day with Lily that featured the famous song sung by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. You know, that little ditty entitled Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I mentioned that it had been a long time since I had seen that old classic movie and Lily gave me a puzzled look which betrayed the fact that she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. As much as I love where I live, I have to admit that sometimes it feels like a long way from home. I just couldn’t fathom the thought that someone had actually not seen, nor even heard of, The Wizard of Oz. The next day at work I asked Pablo if he had seen the movie and I received the same puzzled look. Oh my god, was my muzzled reply, where have you people been living! Well, once I settled into the fact that The Wizard of Oz ain’t that big down here in Latin America, I started feeling a bit lonely and isolated. Of course, I am sure I would get the same puzzled looks back in South Carolina if I asked someone if they had ever seen or heard of Cantinflas. One big problem about being an expat is that sometimes you get that icky feeling that you just don’t belong….ANYWHERE! As much as I feel isolated and alone at times here in Costa Rica, after being here for the better part of a decade I am sure I would experience the same sense of culture shock if I decided one day to pack it all up and repatriate. I believe the best way to shed those feelings that often send would-be expatriates fleeing back to the U.S. with their tales tucked between their legs is to let go and immerse. But immersing yourself in another culture doesn’t mean that you have to lose your own. On the contrary, it just means that you become that much more culturally rich….a bicultural person. To do that requires a good healthy dose of humility, which many expats still harboring silly notions of “American exceptionalism” in their bony brains are lacking in. There is nothing exceptional about being a “cultural bigot,” which is what you are if you actually try to live in a foreign country and at the same time reject even the slightest notion of adopting or adapting to their culture. Even though it is sometimes hard and awkward and can be even downright humiliating, the reward you get, both experientially and from a personal growth perspective, is well worth the anguish.