Una cuestión de especies / A matter of species

**For an English version of this post please scroll down**
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. E S P A Ñ O L .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Es mediados de abril y estoy sentada en nuestro patio trasero disfrutando del suave brillo del sol en mi cara. No te EN-CAN-TA cuando brilla el sol? Debo reconocer que el clima nunca había sido un 'tema de conversación' antes de que me mudara a Holanda: en Argentina el sol simplemente BRILLA, no es necesario que seas especialmente afortunado para verlo. Aquí, los holandeses se sienten bendecidos cuando para de llover.

Hoy tengo ganas de escribir porque mi corazón está lleno de alegría! Tuve un fin de semana espectacular con un grupo de otras 67 mujeres argentinas viviendo en el exterior (igual que yo!).
Hace un año me uní a un grupo Facebook, pero no podía haber imaginado que sus miembros iban a causar una impresión tan profunda en mí como lo han hecho el pasado fin de semana durante el 3er Summit MAEs en Amsterdam (MAE = Mamás Argentinas En…el mundo!).

Todo comenzó 3 años atrás cuando una mamá argentina creó un grupo Facebook para unir a mamás argentinas viviendo en el exterior, como una plataforma para compartir ideas, sentimientos, recetas y… bueno… básicamente compartir cualquier cosa que se te ocurra.

Como podrás imaginar, en un grupo de más de 1000 miembros (mujeres) hay muchas cosas en común y también muchas diferencias.
- En COMÚN: Todas nacimos en Argentina. DIFERENTE: Argentina es un país muy grande y nacimos en diferentes provincias.
- En COMÚN: Nuestra lengua materna es el castellano. DIFERENTE: como venimos de distintas provincias, tenemos acentos y/o usamos palabras graciosas propias o peculiares.
- En COMÚN: Somos todas madres. DIFERENTE: nuestros hijos no tienen la misma edad. Algunos son recién nacidos, muy chiquitos o ni siquiera han nacido. Otros hijos están entrados en sus veintes o treintas y comparten con sus mamás otro tipo de experiencias (como ir a una clase de spinning, LOL).

Pero TODAS nosotras hacemos lo mejor que podemos día tras día para:
1) mantener nuestras añoranzas bajo control, disfrutando de lo que la vida nos puso en el camino en los países donde ahora vivimos, pero extrañando siembre “algo” (o mucho) de Argentina.
2) Preservar el lenguaje y tradiciones que nuestros padres nos enseñaron y tratar de transmitirlo a nuestros niños (con los recursos que aquí tenemos o los que podemos inventar).
3) “Encajar” en la sociedad en la que ahora vivimos, a pesar de barreras idiomáticas y diferencias culturales.

Pero cómo podemos ser tan diferentes y tan parecidas al mismo tiempo?
“Misma cultura” debe ser la respuesta, ya que este fin de semana me encontré hablando con otras 67 mujeres como si las conociera por años. Bailamos y cantamos y nos reímos hasta descostillarnos. Tomamos “mate” y caminamos del brazo como las chicas argentinas de nivel secundario caminan cuando lo hacen juntas.
Este Summit fue más que un simple “juntarnos”. Fue un viaje en el tiempo a mis “años mozos”, al tiempo en que yo no era mamá todavía, el tiempo en que yo sólo era una chica que quería divertirse. Y eso hicimos. NOS DIVERTIMOS.

Es casi el 5to aniversario de mi mudanza a los Países Bajos, y creo que estoy en el camino correcto ahora. Soy lo suficientemente afortunada como para tener el amor de mi vida a mi lado. Y tengo la suerte de haber encontrado todas estas mujeres alrededor del mundo que me recuerdan que no soy “extraña” o “diferente” (como a veces me siento aquí).
Es sólo pertenezco a otra “especie”.... yo soy -de pies a cabeza- 100% argentina.

Es la bandera de la patria mía...

Mi brazo izquierdo con los colores de mi patria

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*. E N G L I S H .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

It’s mid-April and I am sitting on our backyard terrace enjoying the mild sunshine on my face. Don’t you just L-O-V-E it when the sun shines? I must admit that the weather had never been a ‘topic’ before I moved to Holland: in Argentina the sun simply SHINES, you don’t need to be extra-lucky to see that. Here, Dutch people feel truly blessed when it stops raining.

I fell like writing today because my heart is full of joy! I had a wonderful weekend with a group of other 67 argentine women living abroad (just like me!).
One year ago I joined a Facebook group but I could not have imagined that its members would make such a deep impression on me as they made last weekend in the 3rd MAEs Summit in Amsterdam (MAE = Mamás Argentinas En…el mundo!).

It all started 3 years ago when an argentine mom created a Facebook group to join argentine moms living abroad, as a platform to share ideas, feelings, recipes and… well…basically to share everything you can think of.

As you can imagine, in a group of more than 1000 members (women) there are things in common and also many differences.
- In COMMON: We were all born in Argentina. DIFFERENT: Argentina is a big land and we were born in different provinces.
- In COMMON: Spanish is the mother tongue for all of us. DIFFERENT: as we come from different provinces we have accents and/or we use own/peculiar funny words.
- in COMMON: We are all mothers. DIFFERENT: our children are not the same age. Some of them are new born, really young or not even born yet. Other children are deep in their 20’s or 30’s and share other kind of experiences with their moms (like a spinning class, LOL).
- In COMMON: All of us live abroad (thus, not in Argentina), more than 1000 argentine moms getting together in one single point on Facebook. DIFFERENT: we are spread all around the world.

But ALL of us do our best day-after-day to:
1) Keep our homesickness under control, enjoying what life put in our way in the countries where we live now, but missing always “something” (or a lot) from Argentina.
2) Preserve the language and traditions our parents taught us and try to pass them through to our children (with the resources we have here or we can make up).
3) To “fit” in the society where we live now, despite language barriers and cultural differences.

But how can we be so different and so alike at the same time? “Same culture” must be the answer, since this weekend I found myself talking to other 67 women as I would know them already for ages. We danced and we sang and we laughed till it hurt. We drank “mate” and walk through Amsterdam arm-in-arm, like argentine high school girls do when they walk together.
This Summit was more than a simple 'get-together'. It was a time-trip to my youth, to the time when I was not a mom yet, to the time when I was just a girl who just wanted to have fun. And that is what we had. FUN.

It’s almost the 5th anniversary of my move to The Netherlands, and I believe I am on the right path now. I am lucky enough to have the love of my life by my side. I am blessed to have found all these women around the world that remind me that I am not “strange” or “different (like I sometimes fell here).
It's just that I am from a different species... I am -from top-to-toe- 100% argentine.

Noah and Fedde becoming argentine per option

Fedde drinks mate with me since he was 3 months old

No recipe

It's been more than one year ago since I wrote my last post. I am really tempted to continue writing only in Spanish (as it's much easier for me), but that would be difficult for all English speaking readers. Hence, here I am again, trying to organize my Spanish thoughts in a not-so-spectacular English. :)

It's already January 2014. This coming May it will be 4 years that I am leaving in The Netherlands. Certainly I did not have a 'recipe' to do the move from my home land to Holland, nor manual or instruction book to indicate the steps I would need take along the way and how I would feel. These have been 4 busy years...

During my first year in Holland, everyone here asked me if I liked it to be here and if I would miss my family and friends. Nobody asks that question anymore now.  Probably it's not so important anymore whether or not I like to live in Holland (by the way, I do).  But how about the 'missing' part? Let me tell you something: I do miss everyone, and not a little bit, a LOT !
It's awkward, because it's a feeling that I can compare with the lost of my dad. When I lost my dad the pain was great, but with time it slowly became a silent companion I was always aware of.  It's the same now: I miss my family and friends a lot, but I -sort of- got used to the feeling, and I look forward (with a positive attitude) to our next trip to Buenos Aires or to a trip that someone from Argentina will do to come this way.

So how do you settle down in a new life (because it's not just a country) without a 'recipe'?
The first things I did when I arrived in Holland was to get the 'basics' to get back my independence: learn the Dutch language, get my Dutch drivers license, find a job, practical stuff. I even went to the supermarket with a notebook and a pen and spent 3 hours studying all the products available in a Dutch supermarket, trying to find back the ingredients I was used to find in Argentina.
In no-time I was reconnected to my professional environment but I gave me no space/room to adapt to my new reality in a new country.
Everything was fine, but after a while I started to feel the lack of a social network here, someone to share a coffee with, someone that would share a bit of my past with me.
Sometimes I ask myself: I am the only one that is different here?  I know that there are lots of expats in The Netherlands, but somehow I have the impression that for them it's easier than for me to adapt to a new culture and language.

During the 2nd year, I got pregnant with Noah (our eldest son). From the moment we heard we were expecting, I started preparing myself to give birth in a different country. Since it was my first pregnancy, I had no clue (even not in Spanish) what to expect, so I read dozens of magazines and books (in Dutch) to learn the vocabulary that would be used during my regular check-ups.  It was tough at the beginning: I could not understand a word of what was explained to me during the first echo.

Since Noah is born (Feb 2012) it looks like the time really flies, and I realize now that almost 4 years have passed by. Fantastic things have happened to me (and to my husband) and we did it all with 'no recipe' at all.

I am blessed; I am REALLY blessed.
My husband loves me (and I am crazy about him too) and we have now 2 adorable boys, Noah and Fedde (born in Dec 2013). Both boys are healthy and sweet and sometimes I cannot believe they are ours, so beautiful they are.
My family and friends in Argentina are the best and they are always there for me, even when an ocean put some obstacles in our way to stay close.

 

 

And now that I have become a mother, a entire new world of challenges begin for me, it's again the 'unknown' waiting around the corner, cooking with no recipe, travelling with no map....
But that is life, and that is exactly what makes life wonderful, the unexpected, the surprise, the unknown, the magic. And I am lucky enough to walk that path hand-in-hand with the love of my life and our dear sons. No recipe is needed, let us go and improvise!

Yes, I do

Almost no time to write these last 9 months, but these dasy are too important and I really need to "dump" some feelings into words: everything together is too overwhelming.

We are flying to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning...
... for the first time in Noah's life. He is now 9 months old.  Everyone is waiting to hug him :)
... to marry the love of my life -and Noah's dad- Onno, who teaches me every day a new meaning for the word "love".
... our honeymoon will be in my beloved Argentina, where my heart will live forever, no matter how far my body decides to go.

I cannot be more greatful to God.  I cannot be happier than I am now.

..  Only -perhaps- if my dad could be by my side... maybe....  But I know that God needed him by HIS side.  I am happy dad, happier than I have ever been, I hope you can see me wherever you are.