1.Is there a particular sound, smell, taste or visual experience that gives you a strong sense of 'home'?
When I was studying in England the accent (particularly the Northern accent) brought me back home. To be honest though, and perhaps because the distance is relatively small, I wasn't consciously home sick or in need of anything to anchor myself back in Ireland. Perhaps in a similar way to the migrant experience, I was cocooned from the wider society by the common experiences of your fellow students and therefore that yearning to go home wasn't relevant. I had chosen top study at that university, it wasn't going to be forever and I could return whenever I wanted so what was I missing out on. In addition, being Irish in England is not that dissimilar to being Irish at home. We speak the same language, watch the same TV, read the same newspapers and socialise in the same ways. Whilst those in the Irish diaspora based in England will argue, quite justifiably, that they are an ethnic minority I didn't feel that I was in such an alien environment as to need to locate a sense of 'home'. But then, I wasn't staying and those that had spent 5, 10, 15 years or more needed that attachment with their 'home' to underpin their identity and protect it from further dilution.
2. Have you ever had an experience where somebody completely misunderstood what you were saying?
Even in Dublin they sometimes fail to understand what I am saying and I don't think I have a particularly Northern accent any more. My students get particularly lost if I use northern expressions ( 'yes' as a greeting or 'aye' instead of yes) which is remarkable when the border is only a few miles up the road and hardly the other side of the world. Living in Dublin I am possibly more conscious of the Scottish influence in the northern accent and the absence of expressions that I thought were universal but now turn out to be regional. That regionality is important and I think we forget it sometimes when we talk about national boundaries that nations are made up of regions that have their own identity...as a migrant coming to a country I think when you have just convinced yourself that you are beginning to understand the local culture you realise that 20 miles down the road they do things ever so slightly differently.
6 comments:
Is there a particular sound, smell, taste or visual experience that gives you a strong sense of ‘home’?
I often think that ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ = this expression means that you want what you don’t have. When I’m living in Asia to be honest, there isn’t that much that I miss, except when an Irish person is in town, then I find their accent very funny – because it sounds like they are imitating me, but I do enjoy their sense of humour!!
Although, when I got back to Ireland in September (2007), one of the first things I really longed for in terms of filling the senses was… the smell of the Atlantic ocean on the west coast of Ireland, yes it makes me smile, the saltwater & seaweed, the sound of radio na gaeltachta (RNG) in the background and the stonewalls that border the harsh landscape of the west of Ireland. Taste wise… a good pint of guinness!
Living on the Thai – Burma border I miss seeing people wear thanaka on their faces (white paste made from tree bark mixed with water), I miss the markets which are always vibrant, loud, with multiple languages being spoken, haggling prices, colours, fresh veg & fruit and meat so fresh its still alive, motorbikes everywhere weaving between people, smells of food being cooked on the street, eating delicious, spicy food. I’m missing my home there these days and by that I think I’m mostly missing the life that I learnt to live, the routine I had took a long time to figure out and then it was natural. I miss seeing fruit growing everywhere, my banana trees, coconut trees, mangoes, papayas, chickens running around under the house, little piglets, dogs, goats…. Very lively!
Have you ever had an experience where somebody completely misunderstood what you were saying?
Too many
1.Is there a particular sound, smell, taste or visual experience that gives you a strong sense of 'home'?
Yes, there is a few things which give me this sense. Well, i was in Monday in the forest , just beside Carrickfergus (the place where I live now) - and the smell of misty forest, wild mushrooms, and deep green colour of the grass took my thoughts to my home in Poland. My parents live very close to the national park,, so today I could feel almost like in home.
Smell of air just before storm is also giving a sense of home, it remains me hot summers, and playing in my garden as a kid.
2. Have you ever had an experience where somebody completely misunderstood what you were saying?
Yes many times. but usually i was trying to say it in other words, and was no problem at all. I always have this problem in the buses and cabs, drivers never know where i want to go (in fact sometimes i don't know either) - sometimes i have really big problems with the names of the cities. In my old job in the factory i had really tuft experiences with some irish women. I knew exactly they did understand my crap English, but they said they didn't.
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