"One moment, I was minding my own business, listening to a Scottish pop playlist in the back of a cab on my way to the airport in Bangkok. Next, I was a bubbling mess. By the time we reached Suvarnabhumi Airport, I was undone by the bombastic strains of "In a Big Country," a 1983 hit from my Fife brethren Big Country, which gave way to "Sunshine on Leith" by The Proclaimers - a lovelorn ode to my old university stomping ground in Edinburgh."
"I'm no flag-waving Scot. At best, I'm a small-n nationalist. I've never cooked haggis, stumble over "Flower of Scotland," and struggle to tell the difference between single malts. But I still feel the pull of home. It shapes my humor, politics, and even my aversion to self-promotion. You can take the boy out of Fife, but you can't take Fife out of the boy."
A Scotland-born man left his hometown and has spent 15 years living in Asia while raising his son in Bangkok. Sudden triggers such as Scottish songs and the smell of rain produce powerful nostalgia and remind him of Edinburgh and Fife. He does not embrace overt national rituals yet retains cultural traits that shape his humor, politics, and aversion to self-promotion. Long-term expatriate life loosens geographic belonging and creates a duality between enjoying newfound freedoms in Bangkok and wrestling with the unshackling of old moorings. Everyday irritations, missed family events, and persistent identity questions accompany that life.
Read at Business Insider
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