#expat

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[kas-e]

More views from the atop the Balkans.

[longreads]

Letter from Manhattan 2

On trying to be a "world citizen"—and how expat life rarely delivers on its promises.

What does it mean to be a citizen of the world?

In this new Longreads essay, Thomas Dai writes about a formative year he spent living and working in China in 2017-18, in an apartment complex called Manhattan 2, when US-China relations were on the cusp of unraveling.

In Chengdu, I eventually lost track of my backstory, my wants. Was I an aggrieved American sheltering abroad? A diasporic Chinese recalled to his mother ship? The reality is I was many things. . . .

I came to Chengdu not knowing that a time of cosmopolitan dreaming was coming to an end—not just for me, but for so many other navel gazing expatriates. Now that I’ve left China, and don’t know when I may return, I feel more chagrin than ever about how much I took my time there for granted. That’s the thing about cosmopolitanism: It bamboozles you into thinking the world’s interconnectedness will always win out; that borders may shut, but only for so long. And in the meantime, you never actually feel like you’re living in Chengdu, or Bangkok, or Paris, because to really be in a place, you have to recognize you might lose it.

Thomas explores the ways that expat life rarely delivers on its promises, especially for those born in between cultures. This essay is an adapted excerpt from his new book, TAKE MY NAME BUT SAY IT SLOW, published by W. W. Norton.

Read the full essay, “Letter From Manhattan 2,” on Longreads.

[lithuania-unfiltered]

along the Neris river...

peace found...

This area is found along the Dūkšta educational trail in Neris Regional Park in the village of Bradeliškės. It was quite difficult with many points of ascension & descension. The Dūkšta stream was created by glaciers. The trail brings you on a 5 km circular journey. It is one of our favorites!

follow our journey on YouTube!

[gregor-samsung]

" Mi sembra uno sciupio venire al parco e non vederlo per intero. Sprecare la giornata è una cosa che mi preoccupa. Non intendo la produttività, ma proprio il piacere di godermela. Non sono contro la produttività, ma bisogna definirla secondo termini personali. Non mi sembra mai uno spreco di tempo venire al parco. In fin dei conti, sono le persone che fanno un luogo. Posso stare dappertutto con le persone giuste. Sì, dico sul serio. Anche se mi piace passare da solo un sacco di tempo. No, non penso di essere molto riservato, semplicemente non vedo l’utilità di condividere tutto. Non è così che funziono. Trovo che non ci sia nulla di affascinante nel raccontare tutto a tutti, anche a se stessi. Ci dev’essere un po’ di mistero. Dove mi sento davvero me stesso? Non saprei proprio. Mi sa che sto ancora cercando di capirlo. "

Ayşegül Savaş, Gli antropologi, traduzione di Gioia Guerzoni, Feltrinelli (collana Gramma), 2025; p. 148.

[Edizione originale: The Anthropologists, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2024]

[thesatirefuggler]

I don't usually do this. But here we are.

I'm an American artist living in Thailand with my wife. No safety net. No fallback. When finances hit zero here, they hit zero fast — there's no system designed to catch a foreigner.

I need to fund a 3 month visa extension to stay legally in the country. That's 140,000 baht — $4,313 USD. Without it I'm out of status here.

I create satirical art under The Satire Fuggler creatures, characters, political satire sold as prints. It pays the bills when it works. Right now it isn't working fast enough and the clock is ticking.

If you can help, even a little

I've set up a GoFundMe. Anything helps.

GoFundMe

If you'd rather buy art than donate, that works too.

Shop

PayPal

[gretute]

Study of a small snippet of a traditional Korean painting - five peaks, the sun and the moon ☀️🌙 (sun, moon, and 2.5 peaks not pictured)