In Nothing We Trust

Tom made it back ok yesterday! We unloaded his suitcases, which contained a few treats for all of us. American girl gifts for Natalie (thanks Gammaw), new Nine West boots for me (thanks, errr, well, thanks Visa), some Halloween candy including candy corn, and cycling shoes for Tom. Plus bounce, Neosporin, 12 boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and other daily necessities. Of course if you have seen Tom's Facebook comment, his mega size bottle of Shout was confiscated at the Dayton airport. Apparently it can be used as an explosive device. Basically they are saying that Shout is like carrying gasoline in your luggage.

Unpacking made me reflect a bit on life as an expat. Specifically our way of accumulating "stock" items which we deem critical to survival! In the US, I used to get excited about receiving a gift of Argentinian wine occasionally (thanks Jorge!) or French wine (thanks David!). If we travelled to St. Martin, we'd bring back a bottle of flavored rum. When visiting Florida, we always returned with shells. Oh, and the wine I had shipped from Napa? When we travelled, we bought tokens of our trip, not commodities. None of which were deemed critical to my survival. But somehow our survival skills kicked in when it came to the idea of a partially empty suitcase traveling through the myriad of security checks on it's way back to China. Doesn't seem to matter where we are traveling from, as long as it isn't China. Now when traveling to Thailand we load up on Tiger Balm and Skeetolene mosquito repellent. In Singapore, there's a store where I can buy WD40, a Gap, and an organic Grocery store. In Hong Kong, we spend hours looking in the bookstores at children books (bookstores are 90% English. thank you British Empire...). The funny thing is, a lot of what we buy, bring back, and hoard, can be found in China. But we have all learned to assume there is a bit of "fakeness" in everything. At least we assume there is a potential for cheating. So, we source from other locations.

Why is this interesting? This concept of ensuring that your family has everything it needs to survive did not manifest due to some health issue or lack of food to eat. It arose from the concept of an empty suitcase and the knowledge that you CAN bring back 7 boxes of Apple Jacks and 2 jars of Peanut butter. I believe it is rooted in the real need to retain some sort of connection back to the culture that most of us feel we have abandoned. Heck, most Americans can't verbally define our cultural when pressed for it. It has always been hard to describe our American culture to someone who is not American. Connecting to this elusive set of American values and sophisticated society through the ability to locate, procure, and obtain breakfast cereal is a uniquely American cultural identity. That identity is wrapped up in the idea of "trust". The concept that Americans are not very trusting. This value seems to be even more obvious here in China where we are living in a society that is built on a strong net if implicit trust. The whole concept of Guanxi requires a high level of trust. The Chinese friends we have trust us for who we are and what we might be able to bring to the the relationship. I believe that those of us who have been here a while, learned to accept this behavior and some people even thrive in it. I feel our family has adapted in in many cases are in fact thriving. I rarely feel the need to immediately pay back debts. Though this may be more rooted in my "frugality" values ( think this sounds nicer than calling me a cheapskate"), I'd like to believe is due in part to my adaptation to another culture. However, this transformation goes out the window when we are putting together our U.S. Shopping list.

So while our experience here has afforded us some Level of cultural adoption, it is clear that commodity hoarding is not something that most American expatriates will be giving up soon.It's just a matter of time before one of us shows up on A&E's Hoarders. The up side to this is that most trailing spouses are fully equipped to land a great job in Supply Chain Management upon return to the land of Cheap Cereal!