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Maths - Not My Favourite Subjectby Clare O'Reilly
Have you ever been in one of those "difficult" spots, when you don't quite belong in any place? When you are too red to be brown and not as strong as superman? It's been happening to me since the day I was born. My name is Clare and I was born in Athens, Greece. My mother is partly Greek, partly of Irish descent, and my father was born in Romania from the children of Greek immigrants. I guess this makes me a Greek with a little Irish in me but you have no idea how wrong you are just by thinking that. You know what the bad part of being multicultural is? People never see behind of what they see on you. You are "theirs" until they find out that little something that would imply there's some kind of other influence in you; and then you're not theirs anymore. But if we were 100% of something then there would be no room left for being anything else! And here the equation begins. If you really want to know who I am then all you have to do is observe. I speak seven languages and each one of them represents a culture and customs to which I 'm firmly connected. Each one is a small piece of me. I feel much more at home in Ireland than when I'm in Greece, but having to live here made me tough and taught me how not to let my guard down. Both Greeks and Irish consider me a foreigner, even people I know since I was a baby. To them I'm not Greek or Irish, or Romanian for the matter, I'm "something else", something very "out of here". The Greeks and the Hispanic look at my appearance and hear me talk to my children in English, some assume I'm American due to my strong "r", some think I'm English or Scottish and they all end up with their chins on the floor when I open my mouth and speak their language "like a native". And when I speak Spanish or Greek, the Irish assume I'm from Latin America and the story simply repeats itself in a never-ending loop. What is the matter with being all of that? Why do I have to be one thing at a time, why can't I be 10 things simultaneously? I am Greek, I am Irish, I am Venezuelan, I am Argentinean, I am Romanian and to some extent I am French too. This is how I was raised, this is my beautiful mixed culture; I fully intend to pass every single bit of it to my children and I am very proud of having it. Being proud of our culture(s) is a very important thing. If we don't support our backgrounds what makes you think our children will? Every time someone mistakes them for something else, they will just lower their heads and leave in embarrassment. A culture that comes from a country with a less stable economical or political environment isn't less than a culture compared to any other in the world. We are the people; we define our ethnicity, not the other way around. 'Ethnicity' comes from the Greek word "ethnos" which means "nation"; that is WE. It's a very good thing being universal, and if our children can have it then it's not fair depriving them of this gift. It's been 2 weeks I've been trying to put this article together. It's been 4 people that have stared at me in the street since last Tuesday and 3 who have asked where I'm from since Friday. I have two children and one of them speaks 2 languages but understands 3. I've been on a diet for 4 months now and haven't lost a pound. You add it up and you just might find out who I am.
© Clare O'Reilly
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