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On Saturday, all the stores are closed at 5pm and closed on Sundays. In Germany it’s worse. I’d like to move out of Cali though. Talking about it with my wife and before it’s too late. – Fabian Why is Kim moving back to bmore? I have followed his projected move to Ireland, from Singapore, with great interest. I’ve been considering a similar move myself. So I was flabbergasted when he recently mentioned he was moving his whole family back to Baltimore. Hoping he will choose to elaborate onWHY as I am reluctant to take a path someone I have read and respected has apparently changed direction on this issue. Thanks so much. Understand it may be totally personable, and he will not be willing to share the reasons... but ever hopeful! – Alliance Member Stacey G. Kim Iskyan Reply: Taral, Fabian, and Stacey, many thanks for your thoughts. I wasn’t initially keen on moving to the U.S., but a kaleidoscope of family factors (school, kids, medical) came together – and in late May we (Taral and I have been married for 20 years and have two teenage kids) decided that it made sense to be in the U.S. Of all the places I’ve visited and lived, I fit in most easily in the U.S. (American accent and passport, and I understand more of the culture and context here than I do anywhere else). That’s a nice change for a few weeks, at which point it gets a bit dull. And the things that I don’t like about people grate on me far more in the U.S. than elsewhere, perhaps because I’m too close to it. Idiots in Singapore or France or Venezuela are interesting to me,
whereas it takes effort to not allow stupid people in America to drive me nuts. I like living elsewhere because I’m always learning and adjusting my model of how the world works. I feel like I’m always learning, and I love that. (That’s not to say that the U.S. is not hugely diverse, and fascinating and challenging and exciting... but it’s all of a flavor that I’m somewhat more familiar with, and given the choice, I prefer new flavors.) At some point I’d really like to spend time in different cities all over the world – get an Airbnb in the smack dab center of town (whether it’s Buenos Aires or Montreal or Osaka or Rabat or...), and spend enough time (months) to get to know the place a bit... have a favorite steak place/coffeehouse/noodle shop... learn some of the language... feel like I understand a bit of it... and then move on to the next place. One thing that I do like about the U.S. (Fabian, to your point) is that so much is so ridiculously convenient. Everything is open and available and at your fingertips all the time. (that’s an overstatement of course... but compared to elsewhere, it feels like that). It’s incredible. And I can see how people (and cultures) can get spoiled and expect things to work (comparatively) well. Kim, I always enjoy your columns... dont always agree with your politics... give Trump
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American Consequences
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