Julian @ Empedocles

I was thinking, I’ve lived in several countries and (un)funny enough, the place(s) where I found peace and happiness aren’t in any of the countries I lived full time.

• home country (soundtrack: “She’s in parties” by Bauhaus)

• current country (soundtrack: “Man next door” by Massive Attack)

This has been discussed in a previous post. A lot is still to be said about immigrants from previous country into this country. Maybe @ some other time, right now cannot be arsed because there are…

• happy countries (soundtrack: “La mer du Japon” by AIR, “Papua New Guinea” by The Future Sound of London, “Livin’ la vida loca” and “She bangs” by Ricky Martin – YES! -, “Siamese fantasia”)

Bliss: Acapulco.

Lightness of being: Bangkok.

I have enjoyed every single place that I traveled to: Quito is a magic city in its own way, and Santo Domingo really gives meaning to the term “heavy with history”. But only in those two places above I have felt myself: in the former, because the sun and the sea and the mountains engulfing me and just taking me outside of myself; in the latter, not having lived and been burned out there may have something to do with it, but that is not the only thing. I really feel that there I could be myself, as I carried no badge other than that of being a (vaguely) Latin Caucasian with a US and European passport. No expectations, no heaviness, no need to prove myself, and no baggage especially. So I could experience that environment, which was strange to the point of being shocking, with new eyes and a free mind. No preconceptions, no expectations, no frame of reference. No junk in other words. How often do you get to start with a completely empty slate?

Bad metaphors aside, I do hope that someday I can express this feeling.