20151004 Ice Cream Sundaes #1: Where I'm from

Hi ,Welcome to the Ice Cream Sundae newsletter (see what I’ve done there?)! It’s my first email so I might as well start at the beginning.Have you ever experienced being both quite proud and kind of embarrassed to answer the “where are you from†question when meeting new people? If yes, I can relate to that. If not, let me share my experience.  Where I’m from is a cool story and often a more complicated answer than the person asking might expect. On the other hand it’s a bit long and it can come across as a little pretentious or arrogant. Or it’s possible that I am a little pretentious and arrogant. I usually tell people to blame that on my being French.I was born in the United States, in Long Island, New York. I moved to France, near Paris, when I was 6 years old. That’s where I grew up and studied. My father is Dutch, from Rotterdam, hence my name. I obviously have a Dutch name but I can’t speak the language. The only Dutch thing I have aside from that is probably a fondness for bitterballen. I like orange too. My mother was born in Toulouse, France, though her parents were Spanish. My grandparents had fled Spain after the civil war. My grandmother and her family were in refugee camps in the South of France, while my grandfather deserted the Franquist army and hid in French Morocco for two years before finding a ship to take him to France.When I was a child just after I moved to France, I remember it wasn’t easy to be the newcomer foreign kid who barely spoke French. I have a memory of one girl who made fun of my accent and I got upset. Later on as a teenager I became quite proud of my international background.The people I can relate to the most in terms of origins are probably from this growing community of internationals, of wanderers - wherever they come from. I like that this kind of international mixity is becoming increasingly common as more people travel around and blend. I’ve met children, teens, and young adults whom I think have far more exotic parentage and upbringing than I have. It’s making things more interesting as we mix together and travel around.I’m not only talking about the people like me who have had it fairly easy on the living and traveling front. You probably couldn’t miss the news about the growing number of refugees fleeing Syria and other countries, trying to find new and safer homes for themselves and their children. The reaction shown in the media from different European countries hasn’t been impressive on some fronts, like that Hungarian camera woman tripping and kicking refugees.Fortunately there are many people doing good too. My mother has been involved with a charity in Perpignan called “Bouge Toit†for several years that helps refugees and asylum seekers find housing and official paperwork. They take over empty government properties to give them temporary housing. There are a number of NGOs and charities who are helping with the refugee situation, if you would like to support one of them maybe now is a good time, or maybe there is something you can do locally, wherever you are.There are also inspiring stories in the midst of all this, like that of Nageen Mustafa who traveled through Europe with her family in a wheelchair. For all her hardships, she first talked about the experience of seeing the sea for the first time. She learned English by watching Days of our Lives. She wants to be an astronaut and go to the moon one day. I hope she does.Enjoy the rest of your weekend, if you’re looking for something else to read I’ve also published a blog post this week: Thinking about what to write where.If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, could you forward it to a friend who might enjoy it too?Til’ next week,Willem

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