Comments on: Immigrant meta-culture http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2008/04/12/immigrant-meta-culture/ A Term of Endearment Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:37:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lola Garcia http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2008/04/12/immigrant-meta-culture/comment-page-1/#comment-13863 Lola Garcia Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:13:38 +0000 http://www.stubbornella.org/content/?p=113#comment-13863 Hi Nicole! I loved this post; it's a succint reflection on the way us expats/immigrants/extrangeros feel being somewhere else. I'm Canadian and came to Spain when I was 27 to perfect my Spanish and ended up becoming a little more Spanish than I originally intended. Now whenever I go back to Toronto I feel so European/Spanish and when I'm here in Valencia, well, you know the rest. When you come to the realization that all your prior assumptions about life and people are no longer completely valid it's a little disconcerting but then you accept it and learn that it's an excellent way to see the world... that nothing is really one-sided and as absolute as people may think. Anyway thanks for your insight! Hi Nicole!

I loved this post; it’s a succint reflection on the way us expats/immigrants/extrangeros feel being somewhere else. I’m Canadian and came to Spain when I was 27 to perfect my Spanish and ended up becoming a little more Spanish than I originally intended. Now whenever I go back to Toronto I feel so European/Spanish and when I’m here in Valencia, well, you know the rest. When you come to the realization that all your prior assumptions about life and people are no longer completely valid it’s a little disconcerting but then you accept it and learn that it’s an excellent way to see the world… that nothing is really one-sided and as absolute as people may think. Anyway thanks for your insight!

]]> By: Dani http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2008/04/12/immigrant-meta-culture/comment-page-1/#comment-13319 Dani Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:00:18 +0000 http://www.stubbornella.org/content/?p=113#comment-13319 Thanks for the tears Nicole. I'm a 37 years old kid from Buenos Aires, Argentina. who lived in Costa Rica for 2 years, Toronto for 3 years and Montreal for 5 years. I remember the year 97, while in Costa Rica, a couple from Buenos Aires asked me where was I from, because I had a different accent. That accent wasn't only in my voice. I'm getting different accents constantly, different colors, different understanding of cultures, including the one I learned back home. My 4 years old son, Thiago, speaks to me half in slang Argentinean and half in Quebecois French. When I'm at the phone with my parents, I get stuck with some words I can't remember in Spanish. When I'm here in Montreal, I miss the smell of my Buenos Aires. When I'm there, I wonder what I'm doing there. There's a before and an after moving abroad. Nothing will be the same. Not anymore. In some aspects I feel great about it. In other aspects, I hate it. But this is the way I wanted to live and I deeply hope that my two kids feel the same need: if they feel too comfortable to the point of becoming stuck, do some research, grab some stuff and fly away. I think you've got another loyal reader. Thanks for sharing all this with us. Thanks for the tears Nicole.
I’m a 37 years old kid from Buenos Aires, Argentina. who lived in Costa Rica for 2 years, Toronto for 3 years and Montreal for 5 years.
I remember the year 97, while in Costa Rica, a couple from Buenos Aires asked me where was I from, because I had a different accent.
That accent wasn’t only in my voice. I’m getting different accents constantly, different colors, different understanding of cultures, including the one I learned back home.
My 4 years old son, Thiago, speaks to me half in slang Argentinean and half in Quebecois French.
When I’m at the phone with my parents, I get stuck with some words I can’t remember in Spanish. When I’m here in Montreal, I miss the smell of my Buenos Aires. When I’m there, I wonder what I’m doing there.

There’s a before and an after moving abroad. Nothing will be the same. Not anymore. In some aspects I feel great about it. In other aspects, I hate it.

But this is the way I wanted to live and I deeply hope that my two kids feel the same need: if they feel too comfortable to the point of becoming stuck, do some research, grab some stuff and fly away.

I think you’ve got another loyal reader.

Thanks for sharing all this with us.

]]> By: Stoyan http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2008/04/12/immigrant-meta-culture/comment-page-1/#comment-12809 Stoyan Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:37:27 +0000 http://www.stubbornella.org/content/?p=113#comment-12809 I was at the Griffith observatory today, clearly a tourist spot in LA, and two Australian-sounding gentlemen asked me to take a picture with their camera in front of the Hollywood sign. "Where you're from?", they asked, because I didn't sound Californian (according to them, but what do a person taking a picture in front of a tourist attraction knows about local accents :P). And I thought to myself how increasingly difficult is it becoming to answer this question. Where I'm from? Well, that depends. Do you want to know where I live? Or where I was born? Or the countries I'm citizen of having lived there long enough? ;) I was at the Griffith observatory today, clearly a tourist spot in LA, and two Australian-sounding gentlemen asked me to take a picture with their camera in front of the Hollywood sign. “Where you’re from?”, they asked, because I didn’t sound Californian (according to them, but what do a person taking a picture in front of a tourist attraction knows about local accents :P ). And I thought to myself how increasingly difficult is it becoming to answer this question.

Where I’m from? Well, that depends. Do you want to know where I live? Or where I was born? Or the countries I’m citizen of having lived there long enough? ;)

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