After reading through many fascinating “Ask the…” threads and trying to figure out what unique information I could offer, this is the best I could come up with. I hope people are actually curious about this.
A diplobrat is exactly what it sounds like, akin to a military brat but with diplomat parents rather than military (surprising?). In my case, my father is a diplomat for the South Korean government and consequently I have moved around the world for most of life. Now I am back in Seoul after completing my undergrad in the US, to be conscripted into the military.
Please feel free to ask any questions, however personal because I have little reservations about openly sharing intimidate information with strangers.
This has kind of baffled me too. And to clarify, to call them ‘riots’ would be inaccurate since there is little violence involved. More like large scale demonstrations.
Anyway, I think it’s more to do with the general rejection of President Lee Myung Bak’s many uber-free trade plans, and the FTA deal is at the forefront. The most level-headed answer I can decipher is that a large scale importation will hurt the domestic cattle industry, which is why a lot of farmers are behind it, and also that Koreans eat parts of the cow not consumed by Americans that is more prone to carrying mad cow. For whatever it’s worth, Japan’s agreement with the US has much stricter regulations, which is what the protesters are pushing for. My more cynical answer is that Koreans like to gather in huge droves (e.g. 2002 World Cup) and the general dissatisfaction with the economy and rising prices of gas and goods has manifested in these massive candlelight vigils. Maybe some of the middle-aged folks want to go back to the heyday of protesting of the 80s when they had a (IMHO) real reason to confront the government. Now it’s easier and more fun since they won’t get beaten down and thrown in prison. It’s like a big picnic, but one that feels important.
In S. Korea’s defense, there have been other countries with strikes and protests that are more or less to do with gas prices, and with the FTA deal thrown in, this is the way S. Korea’s reacting.
So the answer is…???
How many schools did you attend as a child? Did you go to special prep-like schools for non-natives when you were in other countries or did you go to “regular” school anywhere?
Eh… All over the globe, I guess?
Here’s a rundown of the places I’ve lived (visited I would have a harder time remembering):
Muscat, Oman (too young to remember much)
Seoul, South Korea
Toronto, Canada
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
State College PA, USA
All in 2~3 year intervals, except State College and in Seoul’s case I’ve come back to a few times but never for more than 3 years.
Including kindergarten and college, I’ve attended 7 different schools. Not that many more than the average kid.
While in Trinidad and Guatemala I went to an international school that followed the American curriculum and in Canada and S. Korea attended public schools. I went to a Korean middle school for 2 years and my Korean reading and writing skills were crap (still is) so I had a hard time keeping up. Took a little bit to adjust to Confucian values where corporal punishment seemed to be the solution to everything. Ironically the greatest ‘culture shock’ involved my native country. In hindsight though, I don’t resent it at all and the rest of the world could learn a few things from Korea’s reverence of education and educators. Though Korea takes it a step too far, IMHO.
You don’t state whether you’re male or female (although the “conscripted” comment may offer a clue). How do you feel about the Israeli/Palestinian state question? Were your parents ever diplomats in the middle east?
Hopefully go to some sort of law school in the English speaking world. But that can be extremely expensive (especially in the States) so I’m not completely sure. I have a few years to mull it over while I’m serving so I’m not in too much of a hurry to decide.
I’m male and we were in Oman for a few years but I was too young to remember. With that in mind, I don’t know if my opinion’s any more valid than the next guy’s concerning Israelis/Palestinians, but it seems like both sides are victims. If I had to choose, Palestine more so than Israel. Of course that doesn’t mean violent retaliation is called for, but I can see how they may feel that they’ve been wronged.
When I was too young to remember my family did an extensive Europe/North Africa/Middle East trip that I do not remember at all. I would want to do that trip again, because that first time really didn’t count.
For where I would want to live, Toronto is probably my favorite in terms of where I’ve lived. I’ve always wanted to try San Fransisco but not from personal experience, since I’ve only seen its airport a few times.
There are lots of places I want to visit still but living somewhere unfamiliar and new is something I’ve had enough of. What feels novel when you’re visiting some place gets old real quick when you have to live there. It goes from “oh hey they have leisurely pace about things here, that’s cute” to “the cable company said they’d be here two weeks ago, cultural differences my balls.”
Quite frankly I don’t really feel like there’s any particular place I would consider my “home” and it gets to me sometimes. But it’s a small price to pay for everything I’ve gain, I suppose.
Not trying to be snarky but I’m not sure what you mean by this question. They’re good people?
I didn’t mean anything in particular by the question. It’s just that most people have never even met a diplomat. I thought you might have an interesting perspective.
I see. As far as I can tell, diplomats are fairly regular middle-class type folks that just happen to move a lot as a part of their job. Middle-class in terms of their country of origin, of course.
If you want to hear something that’s a little more out of the ordinary, there was this one American diplomat who had a secret lovechild in Africa that he’d been sending money to. Incidentally his (legitimate) son was this huge liberal White guilt kind of guy and I think he was sort of pleased that he had a Black (well half-Black anyway) half-brother. Nothing to do with perspective, but it’s something, right?
The American diplobrats sometimes did in Guatemala but I personally didn’t really get any sort of special security. The American embassy also had an SUV tail the school buses of the international school I went to after a hijacking/kidnapping incident that happened with one the buses a few years before I got there. Security in general was very tight in Guatemala.
Not necessarily because I was a diplobrat, but rather a foreigner in Guatemala, a friend and I were harassed by the cops (they wanted bribes) and didn’t leave us alone until I got the embassy on my cell phone. At my first attempt one of them yanked the phone out of my hand and detached the battery and tossed it. They even cuffed my friend at one point to scare us.
Since they aren’t American, republican/democrat doesn’t quite apply but my dad generally votes left and my mom right.
While in Guatemala the car I drove had a diplomatic license plate so the cops technically weren’t allowed to stop me. Not sure how it works but I know foreign diplomats in Canada and the US don’t get that benefit. The way I heard it explained was that it depends on how powerful the country your representing is relative to the country that is hosting you. So American diplomats probably can do whatever they want wherever they want.
I mingled everywhere with the possible exception of Guatemala. I did with the Guatemalan elite (who were stuck up assholes), since they often sent their kids to American schools. With the economic stratification in mind (there’s basically no middle class), it would’ve been to difficult to make friends with ‘average’ Guatemalans since sadly their living situation was worlds apart from mine. Plus my Spanish sucks.
I am familiar with the term and I do identify a lot with their description. I identify to the point that I almost feel like some Forer effect is at work, and I’m not the type that reads an astrological profile and says “OMG THAT’S ME”.