Comments on: Guest Blogger City Girl: Three Things to Know About Being a Longterm Expat

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:11:22 +0000

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

Thank you, Susan.

http://ovarianpain.net
.-= Susan´s last blog ..Right Side Ovarian Pain =-.

By: j

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:49:23 +0000

So Cherrye, do people still know right off that you are an expat…I bet you still sound like a Texan:)

Ha! THEY DO, J. It is stamped on my forehead! ha ha They usually ask me if I am English, though… and once someone thought I was Polish? Mah!

By: PeterScherman

PeterScherman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:52:42 +0000

It’s great to hear about these expat stories. Cherrye originally wrote about being an expat in Italy, which I never was, but I was an American expat living in Costa Rica for twelve years back in the seventies and early eighties.

At 6’3″ and light hair, I could never hide my “foreign-ness” from the Ticos (as Costa Ricans are known). Even after marrying a local girl and having three children born in my adopted homeland, in many people’s eyes I was always a “gringo.” But I learned Spanish and spoke it well, so that once locals started talking to me, they were immediately at ease. Language is, after all, the great communicator. You can never fully understand a culture until you learn the language intimately.

After 12 years I returned to the States. After so many years of speaking Spanish, my English was apparently tinged with an accent, and, like City Girl, people couldn’t tell where I was from. That eventually wore off, and now all my northern friends KNOW I live in the South (Virginia) ’cause there’s just somethin’ that creeps in that y’all who live here understand.

City Girl mentions how you remain an expat forever, no matter how long it’s been, and that your identity gets caught up in it. Even though I’ve been back in the USA for over 25 years, the 12 years I spent in Costa Rica remains a fascination with people, and since living in rudimentary conditions with no electricity for a long time really shapes you, I am who I am in part because of that experience. You learn to explain it to people after a fashion. It took me years to distill the answer to the questions “What were doing in Costa Rica?” down to one sentence. “I was a hippie farmer.” That always leaves ‘em wondering!

I wish everyone could experience living in another country for a time. I know I learned to appreciate my country far more by leaving it than I could have by never getting the perspective from afar.

Thanks for the insight, Peter. I can already see how living in Paris and now Italy has changed me… let’s just hope it is all for the better! ha ha

By: City Girl

City Girl — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:35:31 +0000

Cherrye – Thank you so much for having me guest blog for you.

Nyc/Carribbean Ragazza – have loved your blog for a long time – I feel more in touch with “home” than I have at other periods in my life here. It’s funny how it ebbs and flows for me.
.-= City Girl´s last blog ..Guest Blogging At My Bella Vita Today =-.

By: nyc/caribbean ragazza

nyc/caribbean ragazza — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:52:59 +0000

Very interesting. My parents lived in America for years but never lost touch with "home" even though they became citizens. I look forward to reading her blog. I am proud of your parents for holding on to their heritage. I pray that no matter where my husband and I are we will be able to share our heritage(s) with our children. have a great weekend. .-= nyc/caribbean ragazza´s last blog ..Michael Jackson dead at 50 =-.