We just went to a wedding of a friend whom we originally met in New York who is from Mexico, marrying an Australian and moving to Brazil. Their entire courtship is based on traveling around between different countries and time zones. They commute between Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Australia, the USA and Mexico like stops on the Septa train here on the main line. Which made me wonder - how does one become such global a citizen?
Clearly language is a requirement. Being deftly bilingual offers entry into any number of jobs and opportunities. Spanish and english alone unlock whole continents. Chinese is spoken pretty often as well so that would be another good one. Any language beyond one automatically bridges gaps and makes connections.
But how do you get to the point where you think not only of moving from New York to Connecticut but maybe London or Dubai as equally viable? That mental shift, that comfort level with immersing yourself completely into another culture is fairly unusual among Americans. There is a sub culture of American expats working for American companies around the world like my brother who has worked for Chevron in Africa, China and now Kuwait. But this primarily entails living in little American enclaves, having your kids go to American style International schools and shopping at American style supermarkets. You keep to your bubble, socializing with other workers in your assignment. Going out on your own is a whole ‘nother level.
My sister certainly went in that direction - she moved to London for graduate school and never left, in fact is still there 35 years later with a career, husband and children - all with proper British accents. That is immersion!
But I still don’t think that shows the flexiblity of these amazing newlyweds. She left one country and put down deep roots in another; they float between countries like ballet dancers, amassing friends, mentors, projects, job opportunities. They know completely different neighborhoods via living in them, having a favorite restaurant or coffee shop they can go back to in any number of countries. Have special and separate traditions or rituals for when they are in Sidney, Los Angeles or Mexico City. This fluidity is remarkable and I am just a touch amazed by it.
But how do you get to the point where you think not only of moving from New York to Connecticut but maybe London or Dubai as equally viable? That mental shift, that comfort level with immersing yourself completely into another culture is fairly unusual among Americans. There is a sub culture of American expats working for American companies around the world like my brother who has worked for Chevron in Africa, China and now Kuwait. But this primarily entails living in little American enclaves, having your kids go to American style International schools and shopping at American style supermarkets. You keep to your bubble, socializing with other workers in your assignment. Going out on your own is a whole ‘nother level.
My sister certainly went in that direction - she moved to London for graduate school and never left, in fact is still there 35 years later with a career, husband and children - all with proper British accents. That is immersion!
But I still don’t think that shows the flexiblity of these amazing newlyweds. She left one country and put down deep roots in another; they float between countries like ballet dancers, amassing friends, mentors, projects, job opportunities. They know completely different neighborhoods via living in them, having a favorite restaurant or coffee shop they can go back to in any number of countries. Have special and separate traditions or rituals for when they are in Sidney, Los Angeles or Mexico City. This fluidity is remarkable and I am just a touch amazed by it.
For all my love of travel my husband is the one who is closer to this spirit than I. He after all is the one who left Ireland at 21 and moved to France to live for the next 16 years. Then for some reason he married me and left all that behind and moved to the US. Just now he was trying to convince me to pick up and move to the charming Mexican town the wedding was held in! I think I suffer more from the isolationism that inflects almost all Americans, more or less. Our country is so big, moving from NY to California, or Florida to Texas is enough of a shock and enough of a pain for family get togethers and lifestyle re-arrangements. Why throw a totally different culture and language into the mix? Scary.
I am being seduced by the neighbors around me who live just down the road from their parents and siblings. Grandparents help out with babysitting, cousins pitch in for pot lucks, everyone gets together for shares at the beach house. This is very tempting. Would I like for my family to stay within walking distance of each other for as long as I am alive? I definitely, definitely would.
But there is that whole wide world out there and I so want my kids to know it, to swim in it, down to knowing minutia like how to hail a taxi in Quito (arm up, palm down) versus NYC (hand straight up in the air) versus Paris (go to a taxi stand). I want them to feel equally comfortable traveling by Tuk Tuks as trains, have no compunction about eating street food ever and never be a snob about where they sleep. So we travel. And maybe, maybe they will edge me into being as global, as cosmopolitan and as comfortable in the world as Lourdes and Jules.
But there is that whole wide world out there and I so want my kids to know it, to swim in it, down to knowing minutia like how to hail a taxi in Quito (arm up, palm down) versus NYC (hand straight up in the air) versus Paris (go to a taxi stand). I want them to feel equally comfortable traveling by Tuk Tuks as trains, have no compunction about eating street food ever and never be a snob about where they sleep. So we travel. And maybe, maybe they will edge me into being as global, as cosmopolitan and as comfortable in the world as Lourdes and Jules.
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