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/
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