Joys and woes of repatriation ...

I've read and talked about the topic a lot and probably best description I found is in Naomi Hattaway's blog I am a triangle and other thoughts on repatriation. Especially I liked the bit about kids who develop in the cross-culture environment and will always be Stars - with multiple points of reference.

However the Circle Country and Square Country model gets a bit more complicated when you need to learn new language to be able to live in the Square Country. For people from English speaking countries it is not the necessity as in the global business environment English is mostly used to communicate. But the rest of us should learn at least English if we want to live elsewhere, though the language of the locals is helpful too ... especially when rising the kids.


And that is when it gets tricky, interesting, complicated, challenging ...

It is well known fact that kids learn languages in the most natural way and can achieve the native speaker's competence even in second-language. Some of the basics is described on Wikipedia. The older you get the harder it is to achieve this fossilization ... and for sure your kids - if you have some - will be fluent in no time (half a year experts said to get used to the language) though living abroad is not only about the language. It is also about the social life and the longer you live outside, the harder - or more challenging - it is to repatriate.

Being born in the Czechoslovakia in the fifties my parents had quite hard times to look after the family,
growing up through a bit of liberalization in the sixties there was a hint of optimism in the air - I was only 13 when we were occupied in 1968 - the solders were led to believe they are liberating us from counter-revolution,
my personality formed during normalization when we were fed by the propaganda that everything in the West is bad without the real possibility to convince ourselves by travelling,
so I was quite happy that the West-East wall fall and we were able to travel and also to work abroad ... and eventually learn the languages not just as a subject at school but as the means for communication which I was able to use in everyday life.

Coming back to the Czech republic feels like going further. I know and love my country and definitely Praha is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. However we are still on the way to democracy and miss those 40 years after the 2nd World War countries in the West used to reshape their democracies, which may not be perfect, but are functional and stable.

I know after those 20 years abroad that no place is ideal and all expatiates miss something, though not everyone is willing to admit.

I do admit that I missed:

• my Czech relatives, friends, Praha and the countryside in Germany, but it was easy enough to get into the car every now and then and it was challenging to learn German 
• my Czech relatives, friends, Praha, the countryside and changing seasons (had impression only Spring and Autumn is there) in England ... we used to bring also bread, but it is not necessary any more as English bakers bake darker sorts too.

Back in the Czech republic I'll have the Czech relatives closer, will be missing my foreign friends and most importantly my kids, that grew up while we were abroad hence started their lives there.

... that's the life
... and we go further through the black marshes along the white cliffs ...

[the saying is from the set in Voskovec+Werich piece Ballad from shred, first played in 1935

"At that time (~ middle ages) when one king sent a courier to another king to convey to him he is a sod it took time. Today you have it e ... e ... e ... e ... e ... they know it before it is said. ... Of course the truth is that today they are not so touchy. ... You understand the clown at that time had a social mission. When a king ruled the country surrounded by camarilla, separated from the nation, he wanted to know the truth. But who was there to tell this truth? There was no radio, no newspaper, who was there? So they sent a clown. Clown told the truth, the king kicked him - they always pay for the truth by the kick, that's an internationally recognized currency - the king knew what he needed to know, clown got what he deserved and ...
... they went further through the black marshes along the white cliffs."]

Forces driving me to write this blog ...

What's the matter?

Not much, I'm coming home - meaning to the home country - after 20 years living here or there depending on the jobs my husband or I got.

Having gone through the chemotherapy in a non-home-country increased my homesickness - quite common among the expatiates, particularly ladies, I've learned - to the unbearable state and for few years my main thought was I WANT TO GO HOME. That feeling was loosing the importance as my recovery progressed, but there was nowhere to return.

I put the increased homesickness down to the fact that just after the chemo my physical and mental state corresponded to one of a 80 years old in spite of being middle aged and thrilled from the job I had and generally satisfied with the life I had. However the treatment and the recovery  - not in the home country - took few years and while I needed to slow down to be able to re-start again all my connections - family and friends - needed to go on in their lives ... and I felt lonely.

Since then I seem to be drawn to the expatriation, repatriation, language education, bi-and more-lingual ... matters ... reconciling with the need to reshape my own life for the retirement slightly more than my piers that only deal with the retirement process and do not need to repatriate at the same time.

... and some philosophical essays will follow :)

... a léta běží, vážení ...

... a v Čechách máme před předčasnými volbami do parlamentu ...

... a já se rozhodla podporovat stranu TOP09, která je nejbližší mému vnímání světa.

Zde nabízím několik odkazů na jejich webové stránky, kde si můžete přečíst:

• fakta a argumenty
• pojednání o reformách  podporovaných stranou TOP09
• pojednání o politice strany

Zápasíte-li s časem, věnujte pozornost článku  5krát PROČ pro volby, nenapsala bych to lépe.

Žila jsem 20 let v cizině a měla možnost vnímat zvenčí změny, ke kterým v Čechách docházelo. Šlo nejen o natírání fasád, ale i o změny na úřadech, v dopravě, v podnikatelské sféře ... povětšinou pozitivní, pokud srovnávám se stavem před rokem 1992, kdy jsme z Čech za prací odcházeli.

Věřím, že s TOP09 udržíme vývoj v České republice na cestě k funkční demokracii.

Dva roky ubehly ...

a manžel stále pracuje v Saudské Arábii. Inu, ale, což ...

Práce je tam jistě zajímavá, o tom není pochyb - pracovat v mezinárodním společenství je vždy zajímavé a vzrušující. Sama jsem měla příležitost pracovar pár let v Evropském institutu bioinformatiky v Hinxtonu, UK, takže vím, o čem mluvím ... ale role oddané manželky uprostřed pouště se zbytkem rodiny na míle daleko by byla jednodušší, kdybych se narodila v Asii a ne ve střední Evropě ;) ... nebo byla aspoň o 20 let mladší a neměla rodinu a přátele jinde.

Ačkoliv se může zdát že si stěžuji, není tomu tak. Poznala jsem relativitu života v různých zemích (jen si zkuste jet na pravé straně silnice při pobytu v Anglii ;)), ale vracet se domů po 20ti letech v cizině, když jsme původně odjížděli na rok a půl je něco jiného, zvlášť když je naší domovinou Česká republika, která se po sametové revoluci v roce 1989 postupně mění v demokratický stát ... občas i tady si připadám jako cizinec :)  A někdy se může hodit pohlédnout na Prahu (a zbytek republiky) očima cizince.


Praha v letech po sametové revoluci vzkvétala, domy a pamětihodnosti se opravují, došlo k výraznému zlepšení hromadné dopravy, čím dál více informací je dostupných i v jiných jazycích než česky ... a knihkupectví jsou plná nově vydávaných knih včetně těch v dobách socialismu zakázaných - což znamená, že až se po návratu usadím, budu mít co dohánět. Uvidíme ...

Two years on ...

... and my husband still works in Saudi Arabia. Well, well, well ...

No doubt about the fascination of the job there - working in an international environment is always interesting and enhancing, I've had the privilege to be working for a while in the European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK so I know what I'm talking about - but playing the role of a devoted wife in the desert having the rest of the family miles away would be easier if I were born somewhere in Asia and not in the central Europe ;) ... or were at least 20 years younger and didn't have any relatives and friends elsewhere.

Although it may seem I'm complaining, I'm not. I've learned the relativity of living in the different countries (just try to drive on the right-hand side of the road in England ;)), but coming home after 20 years when we originally planned to be away for one and half taking into account the Czech land's changeover into a democratic country since 1989 is a different matter ... sometimes I feel like a stranger here too :)

Having said that it may not be all that bad to view Prague (and the rest of the republic) using the eyes of a tourist.

Prague flourished during those years after Velvet revolution, houses and monuments are being renovated, public transport improved considerably, more and more information is offered in other languages than Czech and more and more books are published including those banned before 1989 meaning that I'll have a lot to catch up once I settle back. Let's see ...

Tninking of immortality of the maybeetle ...

... or else ...
thinking about nothing and everything when I don't have anything "useful" to do or from whichever reasons nothing "useful" is at hand.

Throughout the years I came to the conclusion that having regularly time for such thinking can help your brain to sort out its content and reassess the priorities for the next couple of month/years and the lack of it can be harmful.

Growing up in the communist Czechoslovakia I was lead to believe that one only needs to work, be obedient and polite to be praised. Every deviation from the "normal" set by the communist leaders was officially frown upon.
A short relaxed atmosphere of the sixties ended by the Soviet occupation in August 1968 and was followed by another 20 years of "sleeping". We didn't live in fear or material need, but traveling to the West was very much restricted by the need to gain currency permit so we could not easily go and see for ourselves whether the capitalism is really so bad as described in our newspapers.

You are right. If you take the life as a musical,
it is much more bearable.

Fortunately few of Czech cartoonists, humorists and folk singers helped me see the life in brighter colors - Vladimír Renčín is one of them.

Coming back - now to the democratic Czech republic - after 20 years living abroad (about 4 years in Germany, then 16 years in England) I became nostalgic for a few things I've known here in the past (maybe because I'm those 20 years older ;)).
Specifically it concerns the shops.
Some call it progress or rising living standards when you have shops open 24 hours a day so you can shop for anything even during the night (providing you have someone willing to do it). There is not only bread all day long, but the selection of 5-?.  Shops back in the communist Czechoslovakia were not so full, when you wanted bread half an hour before closure time there was usually none and citrus fruits came only at Christmas.
No, I'm not longing for that time to return - the freedom to make my own choice is still high on my list of values - just think that some "progress" is questionable.
 
I think people are sometimes unreasonable and try to use "everything" what the world has to offer exaggerating their own limits (I was - trying to live in my forties like in my late twenties when we got the chance to travel freely) and it would be good to have a "closure day" when you can't do nothing but read or think of immortality of the maybeetle and relax.

Occasional essay

After some time I decided to add some news about the progress:

while still living in the UK, I registered the international library (as a part of civic association Library Kebharec o.s) that would contain mainly books in English (acquired mainly from British charities, associations and citizens), though - over the months/years I hope to be able to get books in other languages ...

... and part of the building is being renovated to allow me to stay there for a while and familiarize myself with the local countryside and the community. I trust the time will be full of new and exciting challenges.

For more information follow this blog or visit www.kebharec.cz which I plan to change occasionally.