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annuinI swear our dojo is like a miniature UN sometimes, with so many different cultures coming together. There's Japanese (obviously), Polish, Scottish, Chinese, Australian, Dutch, American, and I'm sure I'm missing a few more. Yesterday I found out I'm not the only Dutchie at the dojo either. There's a guy there who works for the Dutch consulate, Vincent. It was weird speaking some Dutch to someone again, mostly because I do it so rarely these days. I type in Dutch online enough to siblings and some Dutch friends, but speaking is something I do rarely, every couple of weeks/months or so when I phone home to talk to my brothers.
It was interesting to meet another Dutchie who has no desire to move back to his native homeland. I've found that's the thing that people don't seem to get about me, they don't understand why you would want to, or how you can feel that way. Even though I didn't speak to him for that long, he felt about it the same way I do, glad to leave, still love the place, but don't actually want to live there.
June 5th is the Summer Promotions test. Scary. Mostly because I'm not sure what to expect, or whether I'll actually be good enough to get to the next belt, which is because I don't know what they require for that step. Ah well, I know PreZ is going for that test, but then he won't have too many issues seeing as he already knows what he's doing, but was just starting over after a long hiatus. We'll see.
It was interesting to meet another Dutchie who has no desire to move back to his native homeland. I've found that's the thing that people don't seem to get about me, they don't understand why you would want to, or how you can feel that way. Even though I didn't speak to him for that long, he felt about it the same way I do, glad to leave, still love the place, but don't actually want to live there.
June 5th is the Summer Promotions test. Scary. Mostly because I'm not sure what to expect, or whether I'll actually be good enough to get to the next belt, which is because I don't know what they require for that step. Ah well, I know PreZ is going for that test, but then he won't have too many issues seeing as he already knows what he's doing, but was just starting over after a long hiatus. We'll see.
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Date: 2004-05-20 12:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-20 01:24 pm (UTC)Yes and no. More that you're more than just the one. Part of me will be intrinsically Dutch, part of me won't be, due also to the fact that I spent 7 years of my childhood living in the UK. It kind of puts you into the outsider category, even though you can do a convincing or even perfect imitation of being a native. So dual-sided outsiderism if you will.
And I'm happy with my nationality, I wouldn't trade it, even though I can apply for US citizenship in 2 years 9 months, and the Dutch government now actually allows dual citizenship, which it didn't before. I just prefer being an ex-pat than pat. Something was missing for me when I lived there. Even though there are things that I miss when I'm not there.
It's kind of weird, and complicated, and not too many people really understand it.