Monday, September 28, 2009

People keep asking me

Are you excited to go home?
Home??!
My home is still here in San Ramon! How can I be excited about living in Ghent which I know only from The Ghent Festivities?

But yes, somehow I’m excited and frightened simultaneously.
What’s wrong with me? I used to love the excitement of change and I didn’t mind to start again.
Now I feel tired and dull.
I live in a kind of grey world, I feel like I can’t enjoy it anymore here and even though I’m anxious, I’m very curious to learn what’s about to come out there.

Anyway, I really try my best not to make this moving a big deal. Maarten is quite a sensitive boy so it should be better without any 'big goodbyes'.
But we still had to prepare him for the change.
He is looking forward to live ‘close’ to his grandmas and all the friendly uncles and aunties, but...there are a lot of ‘buts’ and 'whys'.
And I've already noticed ‘some’ changes’ in his behavior.

Quite understandable since California is where he grew up. His home is here, even though he actually was born in Belgium.


As the experts say, growing abroad has a lot of advantages for our children. They may learn foreign languages and their exposure to varieties of cultures may add to more respect and tolerance for different norms and values.
But how about their friendships? They have to start again and again. Will their relationships remain shallow because they know it’s only for the time being?

As for Maarten, I guess, we don’t have to worry about that. Not yet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Přeju hodně štěstí. Domov pro nás, cestovatele, nemůže být jedno geografické místo, domov je něco, co si neseme sebou a co si dokážeme vybudovat znovu a znovu - a vy to určitě dokážete.

Pro Maartena jsou v tomhle věku domovem hlavně rodiče - a ty má prima a budou s ním na cestě. Školní kamarádi ještě nejsou tak důležití jak budou o deset let později. Uvidíš, že tě nakonec příjemně překvapí, s jakou samozřejmostí vpluje do nového světa!
Carol Hrochová