Well, obviously I have lived in another country, Brazil, a country which I'm proud to be asociated with. I truly love Brazil and the Brazilian people.
However, I have lived most of my life in the United States and I also truly love American and American people. Because I was born in Brazil to an American mother, I (and 3 of my siblings) were automatically eligible for dual citizenship. So, when I travel, I travel with American and Brazilian passports. And, that is the way that I feel--that I am dually Brazilian and American (although my father was Chilean, so I guess I am more Chilean/American by blood).
However, if I were to choose another place to live, I think it would be Italy or France. I don't know for sure, I've never been to Europe and that is a huge goal for me. I really want to take a year (or more) sabbatical, if possible, and travel the world, hopefully with my kids who also have a desire and curiosity to visit other nations and learn about the culture, etc. . . One of my daughters is a "foodie" and loves to cook, as do I, so one big reason we want to visit other countries is to experience and taste all the wonderful, different foods. And that is certainly a big reason for wanting to go to Italy and France. But Spain also ranks pretty high on my list, and I also would like to visit Portugal because of the Portuguese influence in Brazil. Australia, England, Canada and South Africa are other countries I would like to visit as well as Ireland and Scotland. Oh, yeah, definitely Greece and Israel too! And, although my dad is from Chile and I have relatives there, I have never been there, so that is definitely on my list as well as Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark. So, shall I just name all the countries?
But, to actually live, I'm not really sure. I think we have it pretty good here in America, maybe more than we realize sometimes.
The neighborhood in which we reside, I suppose would be classified as pretty middle-class, but I know that in comparison to some countries it would be viewed as more upscale.
Haha! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. It cracked me up when you were listing all the countries you would like to visit and then would think of something else which would bring on another list of countries! haha! Sounds like you should print off a list of all the countries in the world and mark off ones you have been too or would rather not see and then just when the opportunity arises you can start at the top of the list and mark them off as you visit them. Oh and I would love to join you and your kids on this journey! :) I have never wanted to actually live in another country but I have wanted to visit as many as possible. I even at one point thought about how fun a summer internship would be in another country, but given my paraplegic responsibilities I'm not sure that would be the best thing for me to do. I know that the U.S. lacks in accessibility but I would think that other countries that are not as developed as we are would be even worse. It would still be something to look into though. I wish I had a paper I wrote back in high school about Chile. I can't even recall why I chose the country Chile, but I know I found a whole lot of neat facts that unfortunately I don't remember other than its geographical location on the map. ha! All I can remember is I enjoyed learning about Chile and I received an A on the paper. :) Well I really hope that you and your kids, one day, get the chance to explore the world. I think hands on personal experience is way more impressionable than reading about it in a book. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting! Not many people know much about Chile, or don't even remember it exists. I think when those miners were stuck in that mine several yrs ago-remember that?-was the most Chile was in the news. The food is very different than what one would expect, more of Spanish and European influences. My dad would get so upset when he would visit people here in the U.S. and they would take him to eat Mexican food because they assumed that that's what he was accustomed to. Nothing could have been further from the truth--he didn't even like Mexican food! One interesting fact about that is that they eat their meals at leisure and in several courses. My dad had brought his parent to live in Brazil, so I did live near and with my Chilean grandparents for a while. Anyway, my grandmother made a couple different soups every day because they start every meal (except for breakfast) with soup as a starter course.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to accessibility, I realize that's something we common folk don't think much about. It would be interesting to do a study and find what countries are good or bad in that regard.