Life’s Like a Tapestry
A few weeks ago I realized that our lives make up a tapestry. I had known about that ever since I read Edith Schaeffer’s book, back in 2001, so really it was just another instance where I came face to face with the reality of a globalized world. I also saw how much of an impact moving has made in my life; not only in the people I know, but also in my understanding of how to be friends with someone I’ve never met.
First, some back-story. When I was around 4-5 years old I lived in New Mexico and was best friends with a girl called Karen Ann. My dad worked with her dad, Kris, and my mom prayed with her mom, Paula, every week. Then we moved. Then they moved. Karen Ann’s dad changed jobs. We moved a few more times. We visited them occasionally whenever we were in Austin. Then my dad went to the Czech Republic. Next thing we knew, we lived in the Czech Republic, worked with a different church and developed close friendships with them. After that, my parents formed teams to go help that church at English camps every summer. One year Kris and Paula went with my mom. Eventually they became missionaries and moved to Slovakia. A few years later I moved to Bristol as a student.
Ok, that’s the back-story. After I got to Bristol, the Lundgaards told my parents that they knew some young women who were working in Bristol. So my parents got my information, sent it on to the Lundgaards, who sent it to Jana and Miša (the “š” sounds like “sh”). We finally got to meet, after trying for several weeks to match up our very different timetables, and it was so nice to meet them as friends, rather than meeting strangers!
There’s something about having mutual friends that breaks down some barriers. Knowing that we all shared the same faith, I knew a bit about their culture from living in the CZ, they knew my culture from living in the US, and knowing that we have a mutual friend gave us all the comfort zone we needed, both for them to invite me to their flat for breakfast and for me to go to their house for breakfast! It was wonderful to relax in a well-kept flat with friends who spoke English like Americans but still used Slovak in their nicknames for each other. I wish I had introduced myself as Eliška, so we could all be happy and casual together. I never realized how formal it is to be called Elisabeth when my friends are calling each other Janka and Miška. Crazy multilingualism. . .
We did have a very TCK moment, where we talked about some of our difficulties with speaking English in the UK. They started with British English, but living in the US produced the use of words like “math” and “pants” rather than maths and trousers. (Ok, I have to be very nerdy and point out that writers use italics to show that a word is from another language. Sorry for the interruption, we now return you to your regular program.) We both shared stories about using the American word and getting funny looks or teasing. I have it easy, since I started with one and have only switched to a second version. Jana and Misha got teased by the Americans for the formal “trousers” and after training themselves to say “pants” they moved to the UK and get teased for calling their trousers men’s underwear. What a confusing language!
I love the italics for the “foreign language” words! I’m Australian, but I lived in the US for two years of high school, and for most of my 7 years in China I’ve had a lot of American friends. Actually, my social circle now is probably 90% American. My vocabulary and accent has shifted considerably, to the point that sometimes I’m not entirely sure which word is the “right” one – I know one is the Australian word and one is the American word but stuffed if I know which word goes with which country….