How long have you been away from home?

[dafluff]

I think it's a common issue more to "multicultural" kids rather than expat children. It's mostly a question of how adapted and integrated you are, on how much you have been immersed (as in deeply dipped) in various culture at a young age or young adult age. Many expat kids who attend int'l schools, barely speak the local linguo and rarely get the chance to mingle with locals save for the pembantus and drivers would not understand the issue you are talking about.

I agree.

Another trait I have is that I have a hard time forming long term friendships, as all my friendships at one point sort of ended when we moved. Sure I keep in touch with a bunch of them, but not much beyond the "hey how are things" message every now and then. I also have almost no attachment to material goods. Every time we moved, I lost a bunch of toys/furniture/instruments, etc, so none of those things matter much to me. Last time I moved back to Indonesia, everything I owned was in 2 suitcases, and even those things were more of practical nature (like clothes I need to wear right away) rather than things I have emotional attachment to.

Now that photos and videos can be in digital format, I can probably move with even less.

 

[waarmstrong]

Besides family, I have categories of friends: high school, college, mainly fraternity, Des Moines, Indonesian, and now Pella. A few are in multiple groups, but not many.
Like Da'fluffer, we move relatively often and each time is an opportunity to cull the load. With a very few exceptions moves that involve crossing oceans, require only things that will fit in a carry-on or checked bag. Maintaining a Stateside and Jakarta house, as of late, has led to the retention of a shit-pot load of things we could probably do without. Seems less, though, because the pile is divided into two pots.

 

[harryopal1]

"................ Again, not that I have anything against French or France but over the years I have felt a growing distance in my concerns toward whatever happens there."

What then do you make of the present upheavals in France with the street chaos? If nothing else the impact on tourism alone will presumably impact the lives of many French people. Does this have any interest for you and concern for the final outcomes?

 

[atlantis]

What then do you make of the present upheavals in France with the street chaos? If nothing else the impact on tourism alone will presumably impact the lives of many French people. Does this have any interest for you and concern for the final outcomes?

Sorry, what upheaval are you talking about?

 

[atlantis]

@harryopal
My above answer may sound selfish but isn't far from what I really feel. I read the news but have no emotion nor have a dog in this fight. I am however not surprised.
France and french politics have done many errors in the past and there is a time when the bill needs to be settled. The time has apparently come.

 

[Pak Asam Manis]

I've been here a total of around 20 years, including my childhood years. Having lived in 5 different countries, I don't really feel any one country in particular is "home". Probably a common issue with expat children.

I agree with this (as much as I hate to be contrary to the admin's views on anything) and have had probably a somewhat similar experience. I've lived in Indonesia a total of eight years between my childhood ('73 - '77) and adult years (2011 - 16). Not nearly so long as many others here, but still it adds up to a significant part of my life (not very good with math, but about 15 %, I think). I spent much of the years in between in the USA and certainly more time there than anywhere else, and my parents / grandparents / et cetera all from Texas, USA, but I'm the only member of my immediate family not born in the US and lived in three foreign countries for at least three years each by the time I was 12. I definitely understand the feeling that no one country is exactly "home". Since I got married "home" is wherever my wife and I are living at any given time, although in a sense both Indonesia and the US are definitely more "home" than other countries we have lived in.

I have spent (cumulatively) maybe a year in the US out of the last eight or nine years, maybe less. I do plan to stick around longer this time, for a specific reason. But we would still be living full time in Indonesia if it were not for the issues of TKA / IMTA / blablabla. I can't afford to retire just yet .. but Indonesia will still be my future home, insha'alla. By that time, I should not have much reason to come back to the US, except for "comida Mexicana", and even that can be found in SE Asia if one smells hard enough ...

 

[snpark]

Sorry, what upheaval are you talking about?

PSG lost a game

 

[William King]

I think it's a common issue more to "multicultural" kids rather than expat children. It's mostly a question of how adapted and integrated you are, on how much you have been immersed (as in deeply dipped) in various culture at a young age or young adult age. Many expat kids who attend int'l schools, barely speak the local linguo and rarely get the chance to mingle with locals save for the pembantus and drivers would not understand the issue you are talking about.

Actually the term is 3YK or third culture kids, and there is a bevvy of literature on the topic, not really anything to do with an expat bubble or becoming more immersed in local life, but to do with several or constant moves and thus, in many cases not having one location or one culture to identify or define as 'home'.

 

[Imagem]

In my 22nd year. Indonesia is home. I have not been to UK now in 12 years. I have no close family there any longer. I would love to take my son to show him where I am from but we don't make enough money for a big trip like that. Instead I took him to Singapore in 2016. I hope that one day, I can take him to London.

 

[jstar]

@Imagem : He's currently too young of course but quite some schools and colleges in Europe offer summer programs. And many of them also have scholarships, even specifically for Indonesians. Some even cover all related costs...

StuNed Scholarship - CLOSED for 2019

• APPLICATION DEADLINE: Thursday 10 January 2019 | 23:59 Amsterdam Time.

Eligibility requirements Applicants must be residents and citizens of Indonesia.
Qualifying programmes All university level Summer Programmes
Scholarship value Covers all academic fees, housing fees, and travel costs. This scholarship also includes an allowance for the duration of the programme.
Description:

StuNed aims to support the development of Indonesia’s human resources with a focus on excellent Indonesian students and professionals. Furthermore, the scholarship programme facilitates contacts between people and organisations from Indonesia and the Netherlands, thus strengthening the bilateral cooperation between both countries. StuNed hereby focuses on the following areas that are of interest to Indonesia as well as the Netherlands:

• International Trade, Finance and Economics
• Transport, (Agro)logistics and Infrastructure
• Security and Rule of Law
• Agro-Food and Horticulture

How to apply: When applying via the online application system, please indicate this opportunity in the scholarship section. In addition, please expand in your personal statement the ways in which this programme and scholarships would benefit you academically, professional and/or personally.

So that is something to perhaps keep in the back of your head. It might give him the chance to go somewhere in the future...

 

[jstar]

@Imagem : He's currently too young of course but quite some schools and colleges in Europe offer summer programs. And many of them also have scholarships, even specifically for Indonesians. Some even cover all related costs...

So that is something to perhaps keep in the back of your head. It might give him the chance to go somewhere in the future...

Someone I know in Solo, got accepted in the summer school for 16-18 year olds (so the last two years of high school). The process was rather straightforward.

About going 'home'; I'm still debating whether I should leave for Europe shortly since my e-ID there is expiring. Online renewal is not possible.

I looked up the rules and regulations and it seems that in the EU countries now, they can only question your domicile the moment you have left the country for more than 2 years after expiration of the ID. Of course many governments (and even cities) don't apply the rules properly; they still give you a 5 year ID while it should be 10 years, etc. etc. So I'm a little hesitant to wave around EU laws if they reject providing a new ID card.

 

[tihzho]

I was about 33 years away from home but returned a couple of years ago to finally my home state of NY. I know now how visitors feel coming to America and its like What????????

I do miss Indonesia, I must say. After a some hysterical supermarket shopping like "OMG here's everything I couldn't find in Jakarta I've come back down and missing Nasi Padang. Amazon does have...

 

[john madden]

Ohzhit! Welcome back!

 

[El_Goretto]

I was about 33 years away from home but returned a couple of years ago to finally my home state of NY. I know now how visitors feel coming to America and its like What????????

I do miss Indonesia, I must say. After a some hysterical supermarket shopping like "OMG here's everything I couldn't find in Jakarta I've come back down and missing Nasi Padang. Amazon does have...

View attachment 915

Long time no see around these parts! Hope life is treating you well state side!

Ohzhit! Welcome back!

Hot damn! After all these years, I've only just realized what tihzo mean!

 

[jstar]

I do miss Indonesia, I must say. ........ I've come back down and missing......

Only a matter of time, F.

Another forum member, let's call him B., did miss the seasons and the winters a lot from our home country and decided to leave. I sometimes think I do too; then I'm back 'home' for a bit and curse the climate...

But I do think the older we get, the more there is a pull from the home country.

 

[Wisnu]

Not sure if I'm qualified in this thread. My home is Indonesia. We left Jakarta 15 years ago, working as TKI in Singapore, Brunei, NL, Kazakhstan and stranded in Cairo since early 2015.
Typically 2 - 3x a year back home Indonesia, most of the time in Bali, and east Indonesia, addicted with underwater Indonesia though we live not very far from red sea.
This year will be less. we plan to visit daughters in UK and US. More and more difficult for them particularly the older one to visit us here in Cairo or in Indonesia.

 

[harryopal1]

.....addicted with underwater Indonesia though we live not very far from red sea..

"Under the Red Sea" was the title of a book by the German diver, Hans Hass which was published in about 1951. His first book, Diving to adventure" got me interested in diving when I was about 11. Bought a mask (no flippers available at the time so we tried, unsuccessfully, to make some out of chicken coop wire and rubber.) but then a few weeks later flippers became available. It gave me a great deal of pleasure to interview Hass when he came to Australia after the disappearance of the then prime minister, Harold Holt at Portsea in Victoria.

Hass's black and white film "Under the Red Sea" can be found on Youtube.

 

[jstar]

Interesting. Wasn't Eilat (re)established back then? I guess in '51 there were no resorts yet filled with Russian tourists...

 

[jstar]

PSG lost a game

And an important one. You can see money itself doesn't make a team.

Wtf is going on with the British press btw? Ignoring Lukaku completely now, the toddlers?!

That's something I kinda miss with the time difference; the possibility to watch these games live. Sports bars enough here, that's not the problem. But many don't stay open that late. Luckily I did see Ajax humiliate RM but still, it's not the same.

 

[snpark]

PSG are too complacent . Win the league already by Jan so don't know how to finish a game against a real team not just 8-0 every week against French minnows