tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5801259021832341688.post2021545544468841879..comments2023-06-13T06:33:51.022-04:00Comments on Humane Security: My cultural heritage.Tukpa-Imihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878969648377816409noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5801259021832341688.post-90527903503572596122010-07-19T11:29:19.974-04:002010-07-19T11:29:19.974-04:00hi megan,
i highly recommend dragging your kids a...hi megan,<br /><br />i highly recommend dragging your kids all over the place. just don't expect your kids to have the same cultural norms and expectations as you do.<br /><br />and, don't move them their senior year--it was traumatizing for me :). i made some friends, but i will forever be a bit bitter.<br /><br />do you want to call me? i live in yenagoa.<br /><br />best,<br />alenaTukpa-Imihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02878969648377816409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5801259021832341688.post-7059848790841967152010-07-18T16:05:38.427-04:002010-07-18T16:05:38.427-04:00Very interesting reflections. And comforting for a...Very interesting reflections. And comforting for an American parent who has been dragging my own children away from America to Nigeria. It has been an amazing experience for our family so far in our three years living here but I often wonder in the not-worrying sort of way how it will play out in our children's future. Thank you for sharing your experience. I feel like we could have a several hour conversation ranging from the TCK, American-living-in-Nigeria, and general-life-in-Nigeria-issues!meganhttp://mribbens.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5801259021832341688.post-54681450168773832302010-07-12T09:19:11.054-04:002010-07-12T09:19:11.054-04:00I've always thought that the 'where' o...I've always thought that the 'where' of what you were from was not so much a place as it was a mini-culture shared by military brats and state department kids that end up growing up in a space shared by that hyper-Americanism and whatever culture you found yourself surrounded by. I had something roughly similar growing up, and I think you would be surprised by how many Americans share similar childhoods to yours: speaking two languages, belonging to two cultures, and trying to befriend people that just don't know what your other world is all about.<br /><br />I kind of imagine sitting around talking about America is kind of a support group for the self-imposed outcasts, much in the way that my parents would meet with other ROC exiles and talk about cross-straits politics, despite the fact that they couldn't be further removed from an island on the other side of the world - and the fact that they've visited China more than they've visited Taiwan just because it's so much less expensive to travel on the mainland.<br /><br />It's to hold onto a culture that, over time, has begun to slip away from them. Even if they never really knew that culture. But their parents were, or their heritage leads them back that way through the world. Especially so - if you miss it.<br /><br />I tend to find that it's easier to miss something or someone, the tighter it was integrated as a part of my life... the more I depended upon it, the more it was a part of who I was and how I defined myself against the noise backdrop of humanity. So, in other words, I miss who I was, not to say that I regret who I was becoming, but that I valued my past as much as my future.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12063721288386517218noreply@blogger.com