Terhific Ideas Goes Global

Sharing the good, internationally

 

I had a really good day yesterday! I gave myself an early Christmas present by registering for some classes in a local university. These little international Christmas trees greeted me at the admissions office and I felt like I had just arrived to a place where I needed to be. It has been a while since I've done something just for me. As a mom, it is so easy to put other people's needs first. But now I am determined to steal some time for studying. Nothing beats renewal and continuous learning!

 

Being around the university campus and seeing young students reminded me of my early experiences here in the States. When I first came here to study, I remember walking into the international student orientation and noticing that my peers were mostly Japanese and Chinese. I had already spent a year in England and experienced being a foreigner. Nevertheless, it took me by a surprise, as I had expected to see more Europeans in the group. Little did I know then that my first experiences in California would involve cooking Japanese food with my Japanese friends and learning the basics of Turkish language with the help of my Turkish roommate. And little did I know then that it was only the beginning of my international journey.

Nowadays I think that exposure to diverse groups of people, cultures, customs and languages during the formative years of young adulthood really shaped me as a human being. It is really eye opening to experience being the different one in a group and even more powerful is meeting wonderful people with varied backgrounds. Acceptance and appreciation towards diversity comes from exposure. In actual fact, I think that the best part of the United States is the fact that it is such a big melting pot of people from all over the world!

In the recent years my world has shrunk. Before the children were born, I had visions of taking the kids to many foreign lands. But the reality is quite different from those visions. There are many reasons for it. First of all, the kids do not particularly like to spend time in air planes and traveling with them can be stressful. Secondly, United States is quite far from many other places and tickets to other lands cost a hefty sum. Thirdly, companies in the States do not give long vacations to their employees every summer like they do in Europe. Pairing those things with high cost of living in California has pretty much made sure that my family is stuck here for the moment. 

My experience is shared by many families here in the States, and everywhere else as well.. I often hear desperation in the voice of my friends when they grieve for the lost opportunity to travel and to expose their children to different cultures. I have become pretty creative in my ways to try and make sure that my kids grow into open minded global citizens. Once year 2015 rolls in, I will start sharing my ideas about raising globally aware children. You can look forward to learning more about Australia and China in January and February. How does that sound like to you?

Today, I ran into an acquaintance from Mexico. In the end of our brief conversation I asked her whether she celebrated Christmas because I wanted to wish her Merry Christmas if it was appropriate. She replied that she is a Mexican and that Mexicans celebrate everything!  Now that answer is perfect. Even though I am a Finn and I celebrate Christmas, I can also appreciate and join in on the fun of all international celebrations. Cheers to my global community! And cheers to my readers who now access my blog from the United States, Finland, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Egypt, Norway, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, France and Canada!

Sending much love to everyone!