An intro of sorts…

Posted by Desi on May 7th, 2008 | Categorized as Introduction | 346 views and 17 Comments

What to say? I’m 17, a missionary kid, and live in Taiwan. I’m from a mixed background on top of everything: my father is South African, my mother Swiss. However, she is half German and half Swiss-German, and from the Italian part of Switzerland, AND grew up as a missionary kid in Sicily. So, when we’re in Europe or South Africa at the table, there’s quite a buzz of languages floating around. English, Swiss German, Italian, High German, Afrikaans, French… I think that’s all.

I used to speak Chinese and Taiwanese. I’ve forgotten it. *shame* I’m now piling up European languages (French and Spanish), which is a bit silly for someone who’s lived 15 years in Asia and doesn’t intend to actually -live- in Europe at all.

I love being a TCK. I actually find people with ‘normal’ lives rather fascinating; to me it seems unbelievable that some people think Chinese food is too spicy (I wonder how they’ll react to Indian food), or that some have never even been on a plane. I feel extremely secure in Asia. Even though there’s been political troubles about Taiwan for years now (conflict with China), Taiwan feels much safer to me than Europe does. In Switzerland, I’m actually afraid to go out at night. Too many hooligans and drunk people around, too quiet, too dark. Here, go out at night and everyone else is out too. All the lights are still on. You can order a refridgerator at 10 and have it set up in your house by midnight. You can do late-night shopping.

When it comes to home and belonging, I still have no fixed view. For years I saw Taiwan as my home simply because I was born here, and because it’s the only place I ever did not feel homesick in (probably because I had never been somewhere else before). After I left, I kept feeling homesick (though partly it was just an invented excuse during Maths class because I didn’t want to work :P). Now, 3 years after coming back to Taiwan, I find myself feeling nostalgic for Switzerland, South Africa or Singapore, even though I’ve never lived in Switzerland and South Africa and even though I did not like Singapore very much and was glad to leave. Maybe it’s part of growing up. By now, I’m even thinking of a future in a country I have never been to before. I can’t imagine living by myself in either Taiwan, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany or Singapore. But I can picture myself living in some completely strange different country, for some reason!

Hm, as for other, more general things, I like to read and write (currently I’m starting to write a story about culture shock and being a TCK / MK, so finding this group has been so fantastic!!) as well as do cross-stitch, knitting, jewellery-making, book-binding.

 Oh, and something rather funny: I’m not only a TCK, but I don’t feel at home in this century either! Hahaha

Desiree Dippenaar

Hello~ I am a second generation missionary kid, third generation TCK, and from mixed background. My mother is Swiss, my father South African, and I was born in Taiwan. I have never lived outside Asia except for two years in Germany.