Living Overseas and Coming Back

Written by Mark White on November 14, 2006 - 11 Comments Download audio file overseas!m"#$

at %lenel%4& Mark talks to 'eiko about her time in 'an (ran)is)o, *ei+in% and ,msterdam and thewander on to the to"i) of lan%ua%es and bein% bilin%ual or multilin%ual! Mark. 'eiko, -ou/ve +ust )ome ba)k to 0a"an! When did -ou )ome ba)k1 Seiko. Well, 2 )ame ba)k about two -ears a%o3uhm3-ou know3not reall- e4a)tl-esterda- but 2 lived overseas for half of m- life3so it was a lon% absen)e from m)ountr-! Mark. Whi)h "la)es did -ou live in1 Seiko. 2 lived in 'an (ran)is)o the lon%est! Mark. Mm-hmm! 'o when did -ou first %o to 'an (ran)is)o1 Seiko. 2 went to 'an (ran)is)o in 15&2! Mark. 6i%ht! 'o, were -ou stud-in% then1 Seiko. 7es, 2 was finishin% u" m- %raduate s)hool! Mark. ,nd what was -our im"ression of the )it-1 Seiko. 2t/s3-ou know3it/s a beautiful )it- and3it/s on the ed%e of the o)ean so, it has the o)ean and the hills around it3and it is a "rett- ni)e )it-! ,s for the ,meri)an )ities, 2 think it/s one of the ni)est ,meri)an )ities! Mark. , lot of3these times with the war in and ,meri)a bein% so )onservative at the moment3a lot of ,meri)ans +oke that 'an (ran)is)o is not reall- a "art of the 8nited 'tates be)ause it is famous for bein% a liberal )it-! Did -ou find, when -ou were livin% there, that the "eo"le were reall- free-thinkin% and liberal1 Seiko. 2 did think so for the lon%est time3for e4am"le3-ou for%et that3-ou know3 -ou live in su)h a liberal )it-3even the rest of the Californians3not the rest of the )ountr-3are not that liberal3as we are in 'an (ran)is)o3for e4am"le, 'an (ran)is)o has a ver- bi% %a- )ommunit- and in fa)t if -ou work in some )om"anies3fift- "er )ent of -our male friends will be3%a-3from the %a- )ommunit-3so it is reall- a natural thin% for us to3have all the ra)ial and the se4ual orientations3and 2 reall- felt ver-

)omfortable3bein% a non-native there, but one of the reasons 2 )ame ba)k here9:;32 started to feel not too )omfortable after the 5<11 terrorism atta)k there in New 7ork! =eo"le/s mind is )han%in%3 Mark. Mmm Seiko.!!even in a liberal )it- like 'an (ran)is)o3the- were startin% to show some of the3-ou know, alarmin% si%nals of3kind of the38', first before the rest of the world kind of thin%! Mark. kind of32 %uess ,meri)a feels that it is under atta)k so ever-bod- is a little bit "aranoid! Seiko. Mmm! Mark. When -ou were in 'an (ran)is)o did -ou have a lot of 0a"anese friends1 Seiko. ,t first 2 didn/t 2 reall- didn/t seek 0a"anese friends when 2 first arrived there3 but then started to know more and more 0a"anese "eo"le who lived there! 'o 2 %uess bthe time 2 left two -ears a%o ei%ht- "er )ent of m- friends were 0a"anese3 Mark. 3other nationalities! Did -ou have Me4i)an friends1 Seiko. 'an (ran)is)os bi%%est "o"ulation is its ,sian "o"ulation so 2 had a lot of Chinese friends and >ietnamese friends3and ?hai friends not too man- Me4i)an friends3ma-be if -ou %o a little further south in California, -ou ma- see more Me4i)ans! Mark. 7ou s"eak Chinese too, don/t -ou1 Seiko. 2 do s"eak at the )onversational level! 2 lived in China for a while so 2 "i)ked u" enou%h to %et b-! Mark. What "art of China did -ou live in1 Seiko. 2 lived in *ei+in% but 2 traveled @uite a lot to some "la)es where normal tourists would not %o! Mark. Where1 Seiko. (or e4am"le like ?ibet and 2nner Mon%olia3and3 Mark. WowA Seiko. !!and some of the3near the 'ilk 6oad3 Mark. ,nd3an- other )ountries1 Seiko. 2 think 2 traveled more )ountries than 2 )ould reall- remember3 Mark. *ut a)tuall- livin% for a lon%er "eriod of time! Did -ou live in Buro"e1 Seiko. 7es, 2 did! 2 lived in ,msterdam for about two -ears! Mark. Wow, 2 love ,msterdam! Seiko. 'o do 2! Mark. ?wo -ears1 Seiko. Mmm-hm! Mark. What do -ou think about ,msterdam1 Seiko. 2 reall- felt at home! 2t/s so wonderfull- liberal and also3"eo"le are )onservative3at the same time the- are liberal-thinkin%3and -ou know it/s3vera))e"table "eo"le32 reall-3it is a small )ountr-3but 0a"an and the Netherlands have a lon% histor- of3aaam3-ou know3the-3 Mark. 3a lon% relationshi" Seiko. 2 felt ver- ver- %ood about that! Mark. Did -ou learn some Dut)h when -ou were there1 Seiko. 2 tried, 2 asked the Dut)h "eo"le to tea)h me and the- said3the- all s"eak Bn%lish3-ou know3and the- said3it is not a %ood lan%ua%e to learn be)ause nobod-

knows it3and so 23reall-32 still remember a few words thou%h! Mark. 2 don/t a%ree with that! 2 think all lan%ua%es are %reat! 2t is a %ood thin% to learn a lan%ua%e be)ause it is not +ust a s-stem of )ommuni)ation! 2t is also another wa- of thinkin%! Seiko. Mm-hm! 2 think so too, be)ause when 2 am thinkin%3talkin% in 0a"anese32 am kind of a different "ersonalit- from when 2 am s"eakin%!! let/s sa- Chinese and what little of other lan%ua%es 2 s"eak3so 2 wanted to learn3but Dut)h "ronun)iation is so diffi)ult! Mark. 2t is diffi)ult3but that is reall- the interestin% thin%3if -ou are bilin%ual or multilin%ual and -ou have another friend who is multi-lin%ual3so for e4am"le3-ou )an have a )onversation in Bn%lish or Cerman or 0a"anese or (ren)h or whatever lan%ua%e3 as -ou )han%e lan%ua%es, the to"i) )han%es -our )hara)ter, -our "ersonalit-3ever-thin% )han%esD the wa- -ou think )han%es when -ou s"eak another lan%ua%e! Seiko. Mmm!!hmm! ?hat/s true!