Expat 2.0 - Identity crisis or invaluable chance?

With the European Soccer Championship going on, one inevitable question you are asked as an immigrant's child, which I refer to as Expat 2.0, is: Which team are you cheering for?

This is actually a really good question, to which you will get all different kinds of answers.

In my case the situation is as follows: I was born to a spanish father and spanish mother in Germany and grew up and spent all my life so far in Germany. As opposed to the popular belief I am legally spanish but could easily get a german passport if I wished to do so. In fact my oldest brother is now legally german but still he roots for Spain.

So the more important question, finding out who we are, is: How do I feel? Do I feel german or spanish? And the answer to that question is easy for me: I am spanish but I am extremely grateful to have had the chance to grow up in Germany. I also know enough people, whose parents are also from Spain, that will answer that they are german, which is fine.

So if I am spanish, why am I grateful that I got to grow up in Germany? I grew up bilingual and consider german and spanish both my mother tounges. This has made it easy for me to learn other languages, as I was already used to think in different language. In fact my english would be much worse, hadn't I grown up in Germany.

Since both cultures are very different I learnt early to tolerate and appreciate differences, this led to me being an open personality. I always was different, so how I could I not like "different"? Actually I developed an extreme curiosity for other cultures and constantly find myself asking people tons of questions about their home countries.

But growing up abroad was not always easy and full of options, there was also a downside to it.

In school my parents weren't able to help with German homework, because although they speak German and manage all their daily tasks in German their language skills are not flawless. This gave my brothers and myself a significant disadvantage at school. Being the youngest I was again lucky as my brothers supported me.

In Germany I was always "the spanish girl" and in Spain I was always "the german girl". When you are a child this can be hard, as you wonder: Do I have two home countries or none? It is sort of conflicting because although people don't say it to hurt you or with a negative attitude you feel as if nobody wants to "claim" you as part of their people. I am sure that for people having grown up in their homecountry this may sound awkward but it is difficult to explain.

Still I wouldn't have want to miss this way of growing up for the world! I am spanish, but growing in Germany has enriched my life tremendously and helped me become the person I am today.

If you have the chance to offer your children this opportunity grab it, especially when it comes to the language.