where are you from? and does it really matter?

living the life of an expat can be a lonely affair - or so I thought. it actually doesn't have to be - it depends on what you make of it. one of the aspects I love most about this life is the fact that you meet people from all sorts of places, backgrounds, personalities and philosophies. and it makes you question your identity over and over again; brings out different shades of grey every day, does away with stereotypes whilst it reinforces them too - the world really isn't black and white.

and so I have spent most of my time here speaking spanish for instance; totally adapting to the spanish spanish accent to the point where I like it - I used to think it was harsh and spanish people prentencious. the ones I've met here are neither.

and so I have also participated in my first 4th july celebration. in rwanda, 4th july is liberation day; in the US it's of course indpendence day. the american friends I have here organised a big moto polo tournament followed by a pig roast. who would've thought that I would participate in an american patriot celebration? well, certainly not me. but here we go - it's really just another excuse to have a party ;-)

and in the same vein, we are organising a party in celebration of 1st august - swiss national day this coming saturday. who would've thought that I would be involved in organising a swiss fancy dress party involving typical swiss games? well, certainly not me. but here we go - it really is an excuse to have another party. and it also an excuse to share your identity, or at least that one part of it, with your friends; to transmit some of the things that you have grown up with, that have shaped you.

this is the fascinating thing about living abroad - you assimilate traits from the people who surround you, the cultural limits become blurry - to be fair, culture is too often used as an excuse for all sorts of differences and similarities anyway - and at the same time being far from 'home' makes you reconnect. at least for me it has been this way. on the other hand the question arises whether what you remember as 'home', what you think is 'swiss' (or any nationality you like for that matter) really is that. and now we're venturing into the depths of identity, memory, culture and all the powerful paradigms this brings with it. I will not explore this in detail here; but think about it - it's interesting!