Why "Not-So-Quiet American"?

In 1965, Graham Greene wrote "The Quiet American". The novel, an anti-war piece loosely based Greene's experiences as a British war correspondent in 1950's French Indochina, is pretty good so far. I'm only about a third of the way into the book.

But it's the title that intrigues me (and cracks me up). While the American character is a spy (therefore, ideally, a quiet presence), his death also occurs in the first chapter. (whoops, spoiler alert)
Robert Stone's intro to the book points out the irony of the term "quiet American"- ie that "the only quiet American, is a dead American".

And then ten years ago a college grad by the name of Brett Dakin moved to Laos and wrote about his experiences in a book called "Another Quiet American". I'm like 60% of the way through that book- he discusses the political atmosphere and his day-to-day life in Vientiane (where I am moving), and has great insights into the culture. He seems pretty cool, calm and collected.

I am none of these things.

Even for an American, I am pretty loud. I bounce around a LOT- I like to think that it's more of a "super excited about everything" energy, not a ditzy blonde energy. During my short term work assignment in Kuala Lumpur I was dubbed the "woo girl" (which, if you watch "How I Met Your Mother", is NOT a compliment. But I don't think they meant it in the HIMYM way.)

Thus, the blog title "A Not-So-Quiet American" was born. I like to think of this blog as more of a collection of adventures and experiences from my time in Asia, rather than social commentary or blah cultural observations about things of which I only have a surface understanding. So enjoy!

My old blog (from my European adventures 3 years ago):
http://katiesbigadventures.blogspot.com/

Beginning of the "Not So Quiet American" Blog

My company needed people to go to Laos for a three year assignment, and I instantly jumped at the opportunity.  Nick, my awesome boyfriend who works for the same company I do, was more cautious. 

It started with an email from our boss. The gist of the email: "We (the company) just got a new contract for a project in Laos. The assignment is three years. Anyone want to go?"

Nick hadn't moved from Louisiana yet, and he was supposed to join me in Wisconsin a week later. I called him (in my excitement, email was too slow), freaking out and begging him to sign up with me.  While not jumping off the walls like I was, Nick was excited, but wanted a couple of hours to think about it. I promised to give him some time to think about it before we would email our respective bosses.

Three hours later, he called me. "Yeah, that sounds fun! Let's sign up for Laos."

I had emailed my boss in WI "our" interest in going approx. 2 hours and 56 minutes before I got Nick's phone call.