I discovered the web series Semipermanent the other day and promptly fell in love. The series is the brainchild of expat entrepreneurs Erik Moynihan and Tiffany Needham, who started a brewing company in Seoul, Korea and are now creators and hosts of this show. I'm sharing with y'all the third episode in the series, "Live To Eat," because the production values are excellent (look at the food!) and the parallel narratives of the three different Seoulites featured create a compelling portrait of expatriate life insofar as it revolves around food. The series' first episode, "The Expat Life," was almost cathartic to watch.
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As a former expat I've found myself readjusting to life in the States over these past two years with some difficulty. The best way I can describe life abroad, at least for myself, is life at boiling point. I was almost always exercising faculties I hadn't needed while living in the U.S. and feeling constantly pushed to engage with the world in new and unexpected ways. Coming home for Christmas two years ago was a grand return - but a return to "normal"? I began my post-collegiate life abroad and now find myself wondering if that time, for me, represented a paradigm shift - the development of a New Normal, or a First Normal (?). I miss living in China and find myself thinking of it with twinges of some sort of homesickness. I find myself hovering around Chinatown whenever I get the chance, relishing my inability to understand anyone and relishing more the few phrases I do recognize. New York has been a definite jump forward for me, particularly in terms of boiling point living, but more than anything it has asked me to focus and reflect. Some of the less charming words of advice (anti-advice?) I got when moving up here were: "enjoy your 4 months there before it financially and emotionally chews you up and spits you out." Sweet! Well, it's been six months now and I can't help but wonder if it isn't the city that eats you up so much as you eat yourself alive with the constant evaluating and re-evaluating of life goals and priorities. It would seem from this blog that fashion is my number one priority. It's true that style is what I love no matter where I am. It's what I do no matter how restricted internet access might be. But I wouldn't say it's my number one priority - far from it.
Erik and Tiffany's videos, thoughts and entrepreneurial spirit make me want to take some of this time I've spent reflecting (reflecting while multitasking, not like, looking at myself in a lake or something) and turn it into something tangible - maybe do something I never thought would be possible. It makes me wonder what kind of limitations on creativity a place can have, if any, and question how I'm expending my energy. Boiling is only a good place to be if you're making delicious pasta, am I right? (Did that work?) Finding these videos now also feels serendipitous because, drumroll please - I'm moving, again, at the end of the month. No roommate troubles, just the end of a sublet and someone else needs the room. The silver lining is that one of my best friends is moving to the city and we can *fingers crossed* live together. This is all simply to say that New York right now is pushing me in some new directions and asking me to cope with things outside my comfort zone - no "How to play with babies," or "Learn Chinese in a Starbucks" here, unfortunately.
I'm six months in, feeling semipermanent indeed and hoping that a tipping point is coming - or that this boiling point will soon render some totally awesome noodles. (Did it work that time?) Like Semipermanent's Facebook page here to stay up-to-date on new episodes!
