In my German class the first lesson we learned is how to introduce yourself. "Ich hiesse Colleen. Ich komme aus Amerika. Woher kommest du?"" I am Colleen, I come from America. Where do you come from?" I am starting to see that this last question is causing me a lot of confusion....
The International School does a nice job of cross- pollinating the parents, that is cutting across each grade, nationality, and geographical/residential segment to ensure all the parents have the opportunity to mix and mingle. So, far, I have attended a general big luncheon, a 2nd grade class coffee, a 5th grade class coffee, a Langnau area (geographical area) coffee, and an American nationality lunch.
I have been amazed at the multiculture/global experience, but must admit, it gets a bit confusing. Here's how the trouble unfolds:
I introduce myself...my children, yada yada. Seated next to me is a woman who has blond hair and blue eyes, and a British accent and introduces herself as "Z, and I will be moving to London in a couple months." "Oh," I say, " You're returning to London." "Uh not actually, I'll be living there for the first time." Obviously, I'm confused. She explains, "I grew up in Nigeria (my mind thinks "was that a British colony?) for while, moved to Saudi Arabia (then my mind starts to wander...what's the connection between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia?) when my father worked in the oil industry, but then I went to boarding school in Somerset, then afterwards, married and moved to India, somewhere else in Asia, and then Dubai, and now we've been here for 4 years, and are moving on to London which will be new for us." Whew. I was exhausted putting all that together. Next I spoke with the Indian woman, M, who grew up in India, then when her children were young, moved to Singapore for 5 years, then Dubai for 5 years, and now Switzerland for 5.
The American has only spent a fraction of her life in America. She grew up in a Globe-hopping family. Both she & her husband grew up living in various countries, the list which escapes me now. Then, she & hubby both went to college in the US, and lived in the US until their children were born. They've been globetrotting since with a 3 year stint in the US at one point. Now her eldest is going to college and "as is their family tradition," he will attend a US English speaking college while they stay in Switzerland. The world is his oyster.
Here's the profile of the others I have met. The Dutch woman from Dubai, not to be confused with the Dutch woman who moved here via Hong Kong. The Irish & English couple whose children were born here in Switz, moved to the US, then to Shanghai, and are now living back here. The English couple who have lived here in Switz for 10 years and whose children were born here; they guess they are here to stay. The Chinese-American woman who has lived in London, Paris ("just fabulous") and now moving to China, but she only speaks Cantonese, but her American husband is fluent in Mandarin. Others have had one baby in each country that they have lived in....like souvenirs : ) . My son has made a friend whose dad is Canadian, mom is Russian, and they lived in Canada for years, before moving here to Switzerland. In one of my German classes is an American woman whose parents are from Italy, and who speaks Italian, and is married to a Bulgarian man, and they decided to live in Switzerland to be closer to their families. There's another American family who have moved around the US so much that they don't consider any part of the country their home. "Where are you from in America?," simply resulted in "Everywhere!" Another American from St. Louis was laughing about how the Europeans have not heard of St. L, so she tells them that she is from Chicago. We laughed because St. L is 5+ hours from Chicago...here in Switz there are 4 countries less than 2 hours away (France, Germany, Austria, and Lietchenstein). 5 hours away is considerable here in Europe, but in the US, it is merely the distance to the next city. Discussing people's residency history lived takes up a great deal of conversation and its just bewildering to me. Many of these people are hard-core Globetrotters, that don't really have a 'homeland" and don't seem to be concerned about being associated with one country.
Next, I attended the American luncheon which was wonderful. It is so much easier to be with the Americans. We laugh easily, its easy to understand them without having to discern words thru the accents, and we know the geography. So, I met K, a nice newbie (August) from the northeast. A, a lovely French-American married to a Swiss. I was seated across from M, who lived in Rome for several years, back to the southeast US for 5 years, and now Switz. Ok, it was still manageable, and then I got seated next to L. L asked me the usual questions: how long have you been here, first overseas assignment, who/where does your husband work, who are your kids, is your 7th grade son cute (?)... uh, okay, maybe not so usual. After the questioning, I turned the questions to her. She holds both British and American passports, but entered Switzerland as an American. She's lived all over the world all of her life, but went to college in the midwest. She has lived in a multitude of countries- I can't even recall them all, but Saudi Arabia was one stop, and most recently arrived here from Turkey via her American passport. Despite the globetrotting, what really confirmed that she was a seasoned globetrotter was when she mentioned that she brought an "American Size Washer and Dryer" with her. WOW! I hadn't even thought of that one!
I have wondered about the extensive address history. It is a fascinating conversation piece, especially if you are talking to someone with more mental stamina than me. It could be a connection builder in that so many people here have lived in several places, it is likely that their paths have crossed or that they have other friends in common. They could probably easily connect about favorite places, or the culture if they happen upon someone else who is familiar with their prior locations.
I realized that I can not make connections based on the zillions of places these folks have lived. I have come to understand that it is not as important to me where they have lived, but instead who they are. Besides traveling, and different cultures, what are their priorities... how they spend their days? What are their interests? What might they have in common with me, a mere rookie ex-pat with a few interesting adventurous vacations under my belt.
Armed with that epiphany, I began to turn to my companions and inquire as to how they spend their days. A unifying answer: "TENNIS" Everyone seems to play tennis. They love tennis! Several ladies belong to playgroups, workout at the English speaking gym, go hiking, take German lessons, but the vast majority all play tennis with other ZIS moms on Thursdays. Hmmm....that's something that could be fun. Of course, I'm a rookie...rookie ex-pat, and rookie tennis player. Will I ever catch up?
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