.
. .
. . . b a h a s a . . w h a t ? . . .
My hope is that our daughter will grow up being able to appreciate the rich culture of her Indonesian blood, while still recognizing her American half. I think the best way for her to reach out to relatives on all sides will be to learn to speak fluently in both tongues – Bahasa Indonesia as well as English. From what I’ve read, this is best accomplished by having each parent speak in their native tongue. Since Novita speaks Bahasa Indonesia, English, as well as some Mandarin Chinese and French, I am wondering if exposure to the other languages would be beneficial or just mix her all up! Anyone have any ideas or experience with this?
We primarily speak English at home – or as some of you have seen – we tend to mix English with Bahasa Indonesia to form our own jibberish that is basically incomprehensible, so I think we should begin from an early age to change our ways.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Kiana is officially two weeks old as of this morning! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed – I assume this will be the trend till she’s grown. This is why I really want to keep track of her life from the beginning, because it’s dramatic how rapidly she is changing already. From what were squinty half open glances, come these deep brown eyes sheltered by long eyelashes that weren’t visible even last week. Her jaundice seems to have cleared up (it was minor to begin with), and overall she’s doing fine! It’s big poppa that’s battling a cold this weekend. It’s funny, but in these tropical islands, I rarely get sick – and my timing couldn’t have been worse! Oh well, so far I’ve kept it to myself.
My next obstacles will be dealing with Kiana’s checkups, her immunizations, and getting American citizenship for her. I can see why so many expats who are having a baby do so in Singapore or their native country – Indonesia can be a real pain in that regard. See – from what I’ve heard, America technically recognizes dual citizenship – meaning I could get Kiana both an Indonesian and American passport – however, Indonesia only recognizes one. We are choosing American over Indonesian, but I’m hoping this won’t cause problems down the line.
Corruption is absolutely rampant here, with people paying off everyone. If I was in the mood to do so, I could easily pay off a police officer for drunk driving (not that I ever do), an accident, or other illegal activity. I’ve been in the Jakarta airport arriving from Cape Town, and been pulled into the immigration offices on their hope that I’d pay them off to avoid hassles. These are other stories for another time – but you see my point – things could get a bit tricky on both sides of the Pacific.
I remain confident that somehow, these things have a way of working themselves out. Now about Novita’s citizenship . . .
. .
. . . b a h a s a . . w h a t ? . . .
My hope is that our daughter will grow up being able to appreciate the rich culture of her Indonesian blood, while still recognizing her American half. I think the best way for her to reach out to relatives on all sides will be to learn to speak fluently in both tongues – Bahasa Indonesia as well as English. From what I’ve read, this is best accomplished by having each parent speak in their native tongue. Since Novita speaks Bahasa Indonesia, English, as well as some Mandarin Chinese and French, I am wondering if exposure to the other languages would be beneficial or just mix her all up! Anyone have any ideas or experience with this?
We primarily speak English at home – or as some of you have seen – we tend to mix English with Bahasa Indonesia to form our own jibberish that is basically incomprehensible, so I think we should begin from an early age to change our ways.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Kiana is officially two weeks old as of this morning! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed – I assume this will be the trend till she’s grown. This is why I really want to keep track of her life from the beginning, because it’s dramatic how rapidly she is changing already. From what were squinty half open glances, come these deep brown eyes sheltered by long eyelashes that weren’t visible even last week. Her jaundice seems to have cleared up (it was minor to begin with), and overall she’s doing fine! It’s big poppa that’s battling a cold this weekend. It’s funny, but in these tropical islands, I rarely get sick – and my timing couldn’t have been worse! Oh well, so far I’ve kept it to myself.
My next obstacles will be dealing with Kiana’s checkups, her immunizations, and getting American citizenship for her. I can see why so many expats who are having a baby do so in Singapore or their native country – Indonesia can be a real pain in that regard. See – from what I’ve heard, America technically recognizes dual citizenship – meaning I could get Kiana both an Indonesian and American passport – however, Indonesia only recognizes one. We are choosing American over Indonesian, but I’m hoping this won’t cause problems down the line.
Corruption is absolutely rampant here, with people paying off everyone. If I was in the mood to do so, I could easily pay off a police officer for drunk driving (not that I ever do), an accident, or other illegal activity. I’ve been in the Jakarta airport arriving from Cape Town, and been pulled into the immigration offices on their hope that I’d pay them off to avoid hassles. These are other stories for another time – but you see my point – things could get a bit tricky on both sides of the Pacific.
I remain confident that somehow, these things have a way of working themselves out. Now about Novita’s citizenship . . .
posted by Brandon at
4:41 PM
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