Sunday 29 January 2012

Ken jij een Verborgen Immigrant?

"Ze zijn er wel maar je ziet ze niet. Ze lopen rond maar je hoort ze niet. Mogelijk vallen ze ook niet op, maar misschien toch wel een beetje? Ze doen niet mee met de laatste mode. Bepaalde spereekwoorden kennen ze niet. Hun taal is anders, wat voor accent is het toch? Ik kan het niet thuisbrengen."

Ja, zo was ik ook toen ik vanuit Afrika in Nederland kwam studeren. Ik was er wel maar viel niet erg op. Ik deed niet mee met de laatste mode. Op mijn middelbare school in Zimbabwe moest ik dagelijks een schooluniform dragen. Trouwens ik heb vanaf dat ik naar de eerste klas van de lagere school tot dat ik naar de universiteit ging altijd een schooluniform gedragen. Wat weet ik nou van de nieuwste mode in Nederland? Mijn accent? Het is een Engels accent in mijn Nederlands. Na de vele jaren Engelstalig onderwijs heb ik er een zachte "t" aan overgehouden. Het schijnt dat ik het woord "thee" toch anders uitspreek dan de meeste Nederlanders. Een verborgen immigrant noemen ze het ook wel. Kinderen die een deel van hun leven in het buitenland hebben gewoond en dan terugkeren naar hun "paspoort" land. Nederland is mijn paspoort land, mijn ouders zijn Nederlanders. Hier kan je meer lezen over mij.

Third culture kids zijn kinderen die in een ander land opgroeien dan hun "paspoort" land. Vroeger was het zo dat het vaak was vanwege het beroep van één van hun ouders. Meestal was het de vader die een diplomaat, zakenman, zendingswerker of ontwikkelingswerker was.

Vooral het terugkeren naar Nederland kan een flinke uitdaging zijn. Dat was het in ieder geval voor mij. Eigenlijk was het voor mij ook niet echt terugkeren, want ik had nauwelijks in Nederland gewoond. Wij kwamen wel regelmatig op verlof maar dat is toch heel anders dan hier wonen. Verlof betekende altijd dat wij weer weggingen, wij zouden weer afscheidnemen van Nederland en van onze familie hier. Op mijn 19de kwam ik alleen naar Nederland om hier te studeren. Ik was een verborgen immigrant, ik zag er net zo uit als mijn medestudenten maar ik voelde mij totaal anders, ik dacht anders, mijn reverentie kader was anders. Ik kwam er toen achter dat ik heel erg beïnvloed was door de landen waar ik in Afrika gewoond had.

Er is onderzoek naar gedaan in Amerika: "Third Culture Students, an exporatory study of the transition in the first year of college" door Dorothy S. Wiegel, University South Carolina 2010.

Deze 3 dingen hielpen studenten om een goeie start te maken op de universiteit:
  1. De mogelijkheid om contact te hebben met docenten
  2. De mogelijkheid om vriendschappen te sluiten met internationale studenten
  3. Een ouder of een familielid hebben in hetzelfde land
Wat ook van belang bleek dat het fijn voor de studenten is om hun eigen verhaal ergens kwijt te kunnen.

Mijn advies is zoek iemand die naar je verhaal wil luisteren. Schrijf anders een dagboek of begin een blog. Lees ook mijn 5 tips voor jongeren die vanuit het buitenland in hun thuisland gaan studeren. Wil je meer over dit onderwerp lezen dan lees het boek "A Global Nomad's Guide to University Transition" geschreven door Tina Quick. Het is ook mogelijk om lid te worden van TCKid.com an online community voor third culture kids daar zal je meer mensen ontmoeten met een soortgelijk verhaal.

Meer lezen?
Herken je het verhaal? Was jij ook een verborgen immigrant? Heb je nog adviezen?
Foto met dank aan Doberman van Morgue file.

Friday 27 January 2012

Teenagers: the sky is the limit?

Wow! It's amazing, these two 17-year-olds from Toronto, Canada managed to launch a lego man 24 kilometers into the stratosphere. The whole enterprise cost them less than $500. They used a weather balloon, some cameras, determination, creativity and a certain mind set. They were thinking "out of the box". Well it certainly gave them "different" view of the world. A nice inspiring story.


You know third culture kid teens or expat teens are a little like these boys. They are often creative, can be determined and think out of the box. So what is it actually like to relocate across the globe with teens and how many kids are there out there making international moves. It's really hard to find the amount of kids moving. I did find some figures about the number of kids attending international schools.

At the moment there are more than 6000 English speaking international schools in the world. In 236 countries of the world (click here if you want to know in which countries) you can find an international school. There are 2.979.680 students attending these schools. Source: www.iscresearch.com. Most of the students attending these schools will be third culture kids or cross culture kids.

Here in the Netherlands there are 12.500 students attending international schools. Source Factsheet JGZ

4 tips when relocating internationally with teenagers:
  1. The best time to move is at the beginning of the school year because that's when the groups are forming.
  2. Include your teenagers in the preparation of the move. Take them with you to see the new country. Allow them to be part of choosing the new home and school etc.
  3. Acknowledge their emotions. Maybe they are angry about the move or sad.
  4. Consider taking the family pet along. Our dog made an overland move when we moved from Malawi to Zimbabwe. My dad drove our car from the one country to the next and took our dog along too. He had company on the road and we had our pet in our new home.
Do you want to read more about moving with teenagers? Check out www.Internationalfamilytransitions.com

This week I found an interesting blog: Expat Teens Talk. It's worth a visit. The blog gives insight into the life of an expat teen. Here is an example of a blog post: The positive aspects of being an expat teen. You know these teenagers are all over the globe even the sky is not the limit.

Do you have any tips when relocating with teenagers? I would love to hear them.

Related posts:
Image thanks to Taliesin Morguefile

Sunday 22 January 2012

Book review of "The Globalisation of Love". There's love in the air, all around the globe.

I heard about the book “The Globalisation of Love” on The Writer’s Abroad Radio show. Jo Parfitt interviewed the author Wendy Williams and my interest was awakened immediately. When I started to think about it, I realized that there are so many people around me in a multicultural relationship (a GloLo relationship as Wendy calls it in the book). I have neighbours, colleagues, family and friends around me in multicultural relationships. Even my own relationship brings together different cultures. The reason I choose to write a review of this book on this blog is that I have a feeling that third culture kids (TCKs) probably have more chance of entering into a GloLo relationship just because they mix with people from lots of different nationalities. Adult third culture kids usually love traveling too, so you have more chance of meeting your sweetheart on the other side of the globe.

The author Wendy Williams lived in 6 different countries and worked internationally for 18 years. Wendy is Canadian and she is married to an Austrian and is living in Vienna. They have an Austro-Canadian daughter.

GloLo couples have to bring together in addition to two personalities (which is already big challenge) their two worlds. In the book Wendy touches on different issues that are all part of a multicultural relationship, for example religion, language, location, food, and children. There is even a separate chapter on the topic of meeting the parents, this event often includes lots of traveling. Wendy has interviewed many multicultural couples and has included many examples and funny illustrations of things these couples differ in. I like all the examples because it makes it easy to relate to the different topics.

The children of GloLo parents are called GloLo children. They could actually be called Cross Cultural Kids, that’s the term introduced by Ruth van Reken.

In the book there are several Top 10 lists, like the Top 10 GloLo celebrity couples (glad to see that our Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and our Argentinean Princess Maxima are included in the list). There are also Top 10 clues that you have GloLo children.

I can imagine that this book would be really good for couples that are extremely in love (living in the “love bubble”) as well as not so in love and struggling with multicultural issues in their relationship. The book is down to earth and helps you get an idea of what the consequences are of starting a GloLo adventure together. The book gives you “food for thought” while you enjoy reading it. Even parents and other family members of couples in a multicultural relationship should read the book because it will help them to understand the challenges faced.

You know love is in the air and it is all around the globe, so it’s good that there are books like this one.

“There is a world of multicultural romance happening out there and it is all captured in The Globilisation of Love.”

www.globalisationoflove.com

Related posts:

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Verzameling van mijn beste blog berichten over kinderen die opgroeien in andere culturen

In juni 2011 ben ik begonnen met deze blog "DrieCulturen". Het bericht Welkom op deze blog geschreven op 12 juni was mijn eerste blog bericht. Inmiddels heb ik al meer dan 100 blog berichten geschreven, zijn er al meer dan 10 duizend pageviews, en hebben mensen uit meer dan 50 landen van de wereld deze blog bezocht. Ik moet eerlijk zeggen dat ik echt blij verrast ben. Dit had ik van te voren niet verwacht. Wat leuk!

Nederland op een koude winterse dag
Ik ben hier begonnen in het Nederlands maar gaande weg schrijf ik nu meestal in het Engels. Het bereik is groter in het Engels maar ik vind het ook leuk om toch regelmatig in het Nederlands te schrijven. Ik wil graag een overzicht maken van mijn beste Nederlandse blog berichten. Hier komen ze dan.
  1. Waar kom je vandaan?
  2. Aga Magnolen's Third culture kid trailer Kort filmpje is zeker de moeite waard.
  3. De voordelen van het opgroeien in het buitenland.
  4. 10 Nadelen van het opgroeien in het buitenland.
  5. Ontdekken dat je een third culture kid bent
  6. Tweetalige opvoeding
  7. AOW en kinderen in het buitenland
  8. Nieuw boek "The Global Nomad's Guide to University Transition" by Tina Quick
  9. 5 Tips voor jongeren die vanuit het buitenland naar hun thuisland gaan om te studeren.
  10. Wat missen Nederlanders in het buitenland?
Er is een bericht die ik zelf erg leuk vond om te schrijven en dat is: Spiegeltje Rondreis met opa en oma met kleinkinderen in Verwegistan. Op de één of andere manier komen mensen regelmatig via google hier als hun zoekwoorden "Spiegeltje Rondreis" zijn. Ook het mooie blog bericht over Tropisch bloemen en verhaaltjes word via zoekmachines vaak gevonden. Een recent verrassend bericht gaat over alle verschillende nationaliteiten en verschillende talen die gesproken worden in Nederland: Veelkleurig Nederland.

Het is misschien leuk om te weten dat Expat On Air van Radio Nederland Wereldomroep zaterdag 21 januari 2012 over kinderen ging die in het buitenland waren opgegroeid, ook wel genoemd: third culture kids. Ik was te gast en kon iets over mijn ervaringen vertellen. Je kunt het hier naluisteren: Niet weten waar je thuis hoort? je bent wellicht een TCK!

Mocht je nog tips hebben over goede websites of andere tips die betrekking hebben op kinderen die oproeien in andere culturen dan hoor ik het graag. Ik zou graag meer reacties willen ontvangen om te weten of je hier nuttige informatie hebt gevonden. Alvast bedankt!

Thursday 12 January 2012

Language Links for Parents Raising Multilingual Children

At the moment the blog post Bilingualism and growing up abroad is the blog post with the most comments on this blog. On twitter I also realised that I regularly retweet tweets about third culture kids learning new languages. I am really glad and thankful that my parents raised me bilingually. We spoke Dutch at home and English at school. For those who do not know, I grew up in Africa. I would like to encourage parents who are considering raising their kids multilingual: please do it and please stick to it. Your offspring will thank you some time in the future. Maybe it is not the easy road to take but it is worth it. I read this quote recently and it just stuck with me. I love it.

"One of the best presents a parent can give is the gift of a language" http://bit.ly/nD6iFM

I want to share the links of some of the posts I read. I hope you find something juicy, spicy and just what you need.

Top 10 Resolutions to Help Your Children Learn a 2nd Language  

Excellent post from Prof. Genesee about bilingual children:

"One of the best presents a parent can make is the gift of a language" http://bit.ly/nD6iFM

Talking about bilingualism http://bit.ly/AkyDH5 Including a tip for a good book: A Parents' & Teachers' Guide to Biligualism.

Wow! Patricia Kuhl: The Linguistic Genius of babies http://bit.ly/eI5dzc Exposing American babies to Mandarin. What happens?

Gestures can ease language learning

Research shows fewer reading errors with Dyslexie, a new font by Dutch graphic designer, and dyslectic, Christian Boer  http://bit.ly/ihH5iv

7 Habits that will help your child become bilingual

12 Common Myths and Misconceptions about Bilingual Children:

Read & listen to a mum teaching her kids Indonesian. She's raising them trilingual

Immigration and Language:

Zie hier vragen & antwoorden over meertalig opvoeden bij   

Tweetalig opvoeden, het moment is aangebroken. Ik hoop dat het lukt!  

Please add any advice, tips, links or words of encouragement in the comment section. I really appreciate that. Questions are welcome too.

Related posts
Image thanks to Manuere, Morgue File.

Friday 6 January 2012

Guest blog by An African Gypsy: A story of an Adult Third culture kid


I was born in ex-Yugoslavia in the 1960’s. My divorced mother met a Sudanese student of Agriculture when I was five. Later, they got married and we moved: first to Iraq then Libya and traveled extensively by car through Turkey, Greece, and Egypt.

When I was twelve we settled in Khartoum, Sudan where I attended a Catholic school for girls and lived on a farm by the Nile. Sudan was a melting pot comprised of Coptics, Syrians, Greeks, Egyptians, Lebanese, numerous Sudanese tribes as well as the expat community. An entire generation of multiethnic and multifaith children.

There was something exhilarating and never monotonous about having all these customs, cultures and beliefs blend in one place, constantly something new to learn. Bewitched by the music, folklore and language of each country I have visited or lived in, I still love applying the intricate patterns of Henna and wearing the colourful Tobe. (A garment indigenous to Sudan that is draped around the body and worn loosely over the head) My favorite facet of such a lifestyle was accepting everyone equally. Colour, race or faith made no difference to me. Most people I grew up with were mixed race including my siblings who are also Muslim.

On the farm in Sudan
Even though I loved Africa I missed my grandparents, my father and my hometown. Also, I didn’t fit into any of the existing *categories* in the Sudan. I was not half Sudanese as many of my friends were and I was not an expat child whose parents worked for embassies and foreign companies. I grew up immersed in a Sudanese household, with a Sudanese stepfamily and half African siblings but my outer appearance didn’t fit my colloquial Arabic dialect or my unconsciously native mannerisms. Little children would run after me on the street giggling and shouting, “Halabiya” (Gypsy) due to my fair skin. (In Sudan, people from a gypsy origin are lighter skinned) Or they called me “Khawagiya”. Foreigner. It didn’t feel good.

As I get older, my birthplace, my hometown of Osijek by the Drava River tugs at my heart more urgently. I get emotional over Balkan songs and jokes. I miss the aroma of local bread, the delicate peaches, and chestnuts in the winter...the fields of sunflowers. On the other hand, the magnificent Nile, the scent of mangoes and jasmine and the rhythm of African drums call me just as powerfully.

Nowadays, I live in Dubai, interacting with people from 198 nationalities. Listening to the soothing echoes from a host of languages intrigues me in countless ways. Here, I blend in.

This interest in multiculture has led me to pen stories about individuals who are displaced, then thrown together in a culturally alien setting and how that changes them. My novel ‘Dubai Wives’ follows the lives of eight women from ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse backgrounds and their transformative journey in the glamorous metropolis of Dubai, a place as intricate and complex as the woven threads of a beautiful carpet.

Through all my writing and inner self searching I have realized that I will probably never be completely content in any one place, cursed and blessed by the countless forces that  have shaped me.

Good sites for third culture kids: http://www.tckworld.com/ and the Global Nomads Group

                                         ******************************************** 

Thank you Zvezdana Rashkovich for your guest blog! It's my honour. Zvezdana is author of the novel Dubai Wives. On her website www.zvezdanarashkovich.com you can find more information. We met on twitter @SleeplessinDubai in 2011. We have in common that we both grew up in Africa and are both (adult) third culture kids.

Monday 2 January 2012

Ever heard of carbide shooting? This third culture kid did it in Malawi

Traditionally carbide shooting is done on new year's day or new year's eve. So last Saturday I went to our family farm in Friesland (the north of the Netherlands) where my uncles just have to shoot carbide.

What you need:
  1. A milkcan with a lid that fits on to it (the milkcan has to have a small whole in it).
  2. A piece of carbide stone (white, see photo)
  3. Some water
  4. Some fire, to light the explosive gas
  5. Some patience
  6. Some protection for your ears, because there is a loud bang when the explosive gas comes in contact with fire.
I actually found a website that explains about carbide schooting: a Dutch favourite sport. On the internet I read that carbide shooting is still popular these days in the Netherlands.

When the explosive gas explodes after coming in contact with fire the lid of the milkcan flies about 20 to 30 meters. You have to take care that there is nobody standing in front of the milkcan at the time of ignition. Why do we do it? It's a tradition. Why do we have traditions? By the way in the second world war the carbide stone was used in the carbidelamp a lamp used on bicycles.

When I grew up in Malawi we celebrated new year with carbide shooting too. I have no idea how my father got hold of the carbide stone and maybe it is better that I do not know. I hope he did not take it on the plan, because I can imagine that that would be rather dangerous. In Malawi we did not have a milkcan bit we took a small tin can with a fitting lid, a small whole in it. We added a little water to the carbide stone in the can, put the lid on, added some fire and we made a small bang. So we had no fireworks but just a little carbide shooting. There is no new year's eve without oliebollen (here are soms photos of oliebollen). Would you call it an oil dumpling in English? It is a kind of Dutch doughnut. In Malawi my parents and our Dutch friends always baked a large pile of oliebollen. These are all part of my memories of celebrating new year's eve.

What are your memories of new year's eve celebrations? Do you have special traditions? Have you ever heard or seen carbide shooting? By the way: Happy new year to you!

Related posts: