I am a 27-year old writer trapped in the body of a translator (not the kind that translates Martin Amis and Philip Roth, but the one that deals with sentences like "silane-modified polymers" and "put screw 1 into hole 2" - not as exciting as it sounds I can assure you...)
I am currently living in Germany by choice, since I don't come from the land of security, order and cleanliness (quite the contrary actually). I have suffered numerous cultural shocks during my stay abroad and still continue to discover new things as far as my perception of the world is concerned. Mostly the fact that everything you think you knew about it is gone out the window the minute you leave your comfort zone and decide to get to know different cultures.
I started this blog because I want to write a novel. Always have.
I discovered pieces of a torn notebook sometime ago, in a shoebox underneath my bed, that were bound together by a piece of white string, and the title "The xxx Family Mysteries" written with blue marker on the first page!
So, this is my attempt at making this childhood dream come true.
Have fun reading about it and let me know what you think!
Until then,
happy writing!
Eliza
my opinion is that you learn more about yourself when you live abroad rather than about other people..
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% right about that. I only became who I am today after I left home and came to a country completely alone.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on (finally) doing this! It's good practice and a way to get it all out there and see what other people think! I remember the first time when I heard the term "blog"... It was during my first stay in Germany and during a linguistics seminar. I categorized it at that point as boing, because, come on! Who reads extra stuff about lingustics?? My opinion on this has changed a lot since then - that was seven years ago!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I loved your introduction and the subject you broached in there. I must also agree with george.papadakis: you do end up learning more about yourself but you also change so much!
A typical and fun exercise in german schools while doing some intercultural workshops was for childern to sketch themselves and add in colour as they go the national flag that represents their identity. The outcome was amazing: turkish hearts and armenian heads and german feet and italian lips...
What I am trying to say - and it's taking me too damn long to say it - is that once you set foot on another country, you somehow become a part of it and are no longer just greek, but also german (because deep down you like the fact that they seperate their garbage, even if they are somehow paranoid about it) and brazilian (because those Caipis gave you such a hangover but they tasted soooo good) and italian (because that home-made pesto was incredible and you just loooove the sound of the language) and french (because you had the most romantic day of your life in Paris) and cuban (because they know how to shake their ass and watch their step and you are a salsa wannabe) and it goes on and on...
So, yeah, you are right, I should just start a blog of my own, because this comment is taking up so much space but you still love me and are happy to see this here, and I am happy that you actually did this and congratulations and out!
why don't we get to see photos of cute puppies? Are you against puppies? why? why don't you like them? eh? eh?
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