Introducing myself: the halvsie nomad

Posted by serena on January 15th, 2008 | Categorized as Introduction | 274 views and 4 Comments

Hi fellow globetrotters,

I’m a TCK as well as a ‘cross-breed’. My mother is Italian and my father is Japanese. My Dad worked for a multinational so over the years I’ve lived in the U.S., Japan, Belgium, Spain, Vietnam, the U.K. and Italy where I’m living at the moment. My first language is English since I spent my formative years in the U.S. and have almost always attended international schools. I also speak Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese - though none of them as well as I’d like! (my French, Spanish and Japanese have definitely deteriorated significantly over the years!) Needless to say, I really liked some of the places I’ve lived in but I’ve also had some very difficult times in others. Since I’ve spent most of my life living in places other than my ‘home’ countries, I’ve always felt like a total ‘foreigner’ whenever I was there. I don’t know if the rest of you feel the same way, but personally I feel that language plays an important role in defining cultural identity since I’ve noticed that (apart from fellow nomads), I seem to be able to relate best to fellow English speakers living abroad. It seems strange but although I learned to speak other languages over the years, I never really felt like I was myself when speaking them and I still feel that way most of the time. I just can’t seem to express who I really am, even though the right words are coming out of my mouth.

As I mentioned, I’ve attended international schools for most of my life, so I won’t be very surprised if I run into a few old classmates here. I’m also an active member of another forum (Halvsie.com - for those of us who are half Japanese) and I can only pray that this forum doesn’t turn out to be as addictive because if it is, I’ll never get anything done!

Anyway, it’s nice to meet you all.

I was born in Tokyo to an Italian mother and a Japanese father who worked for a multinational company and was transferred to a different country every few years. I've lived in Japan, the U.S., Belgium, Spain, Vietnam, the U.K. and Italy. As a result of having spent my formative years in the U.S. and almost always attending international schools, English is my native language. I've struggled with being both ethnically and culturally mixed, but over the years I've come to love and be proud of being a total 'freak'!