conversation with another repat, in the rain
standing in front of arena, waiting for gotan project concert, it’s raining. bumped into a friend who also lived and studied in china. after the usual catching up, here’s an excerpt from the conversation.
me: “will you be going to china again?”
he: “hm, not likely.”
me: “so you sticking around here?”
he: “not sure, probably not. brazil! brazil is the place i am heading to, man! that’s my kind of place!”
me: “oh nice! it’s kind of like my bond with brussels. that’s my kind of place.”
he: “you mean, you like this kind of rainy weather every day….?”
this is the reason i love repats so much, they have such a happy-go-lucky approach, are not burdened by the heaviness of daily life, and generally have an attitude - if i am not happy or if i don’t like it, i will change. people who have lived abroad generally have a sense of what kind of city/place suits their “style”, their sensibility, their “qi”. for the friend above, it’s brazil. for me, there are a couple of places. i am still observing and listing to myself, feeling the pulse of belgrade…
