Some thoughts about different cultures

My partner of 15 years, Anne Claire, is Dutch and I’m American. She has a great house in the central part of the Netherlands and I have a comfortable motor home, named Matilda, that is currently parked in the back yard of a friend In Portland Oregon. When we are in the Netherlands we naturally stay in Anne Claire’s home. When we are in the U.S. we naturally stay and travel in Matilda. This naturally creates what may seem like an unnatural dichotomy in life styles.

Nothing could be further from the natural truth.

When our partnership was young, the excitement of our different cultures kept things really moving. I was teaching classes in the U.S. and England and Anne Claire was teaching in the Netherlands. Both of us wanted to expand our reach into the others part of the world. Those early years were spent in constant travel in our respective areas. Matilda made at least 30 trips across the U.S. and, because of the size of the Netherlands, I discovered many introspective aspects about the Dutch culture.

As time grew on it seemed as if I was becoming more Dutch and Anne Claire was becoming more American. We found that we were adopting that part of the others culture that we admired. In short, when we were in the U.S. we did things that we enjoyed about the American culture and when we were in the Netherlands we did enjoyable things we liked about the Netherlands.

We found that our lives were doubly blessed due to the doubling of our cultural experience. We were having double the fun without doubling (splitting) our personalities.

The key, from my point of view, lies in the acceptance of what culturally works for us as individuals, independently of the resident country. By merging what we deemed best of the two cultures we created, within ourselves, a richer cultural experience. It had nothing to do with competition, politics or economic differences. It has everything to do with enriching our lives and expanding our perspectives.

By the way, as long as you are wondering, I’m writing this blog entry sitting comfortably in Anne Claire’s living room in the Netherlands. Also, and by the way, she has a great blog called “Thinking out loud” at http://anneclaires.blogspot.com/

So, Is there anything holding you back from a multi-cultural experience?

What do you think?

Sam