Changing faster than Change

Let me introduce myself first, my name is Riad and I consider myself part of the third culture kid. How about we start with a little brief about my background?

So, I was born in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1991 yet lived for eight and a half years in Santa Marta. After that, my parents got divorced and until they solved their issues I moved to San Andres for three months to live with my aunt.

I then moved to Lebanon where I met my whole family from my mom’s side and they all come from different countries so we never actually spoke just one language at grandma’s.

I lived in Lebanon for fourteen years until I graduated and moved back to Colombia then back to Lebanon then Colombia again, then Miami, then back to Colombia. Afterwards I moved back to Lebanon until I moved here to London.

What a journey right?

Yet, living in different countries is not why I believe I am part of this community, the real reason I do is because until today I do not know what my real hometown is, better yet I do not have a home Language.

You see where I come from either Colombia or Lebanon, several languages are spoken at the same time. For example, in Lebanon we have this famous saying “Hi Kifak Cava?” which means hi how are you, good? In the three main languages spoken.

People speak several languages at the same time and in Colombia Spanglish is very much used as well. Nevertheless, when it comes to me, I try to think what is the language that I identify myself with and to be honest I have no clue.

At some points I consider myself that English is my basic language but according to my friends I tend to think out loud in Spanish while I would be thinking in English and the same thing happens in Arabic and vice versa.

To conclude, I believe many people have the same struggle as I do and that is what makes us different not weird. The world is evolving and so are we as human beings.

By Riad

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