Posts Tagged ‘acculturation’

Precious Silence on a Busy Street

April 14th, 2011 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Life Abroad, The Netherlands
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No hustle today

No bustle below

No kids screaming

Nor parents

Silence eases down my street

Neat, discreet

She wiggles under my windowsill

And creeps across my face

Leaving traces of a smile

While I languidly lay

Upon the couch and enjoy this gift

This quiet Sunday

~ July 12, 1998 ~

Written at Noon on a cold, wet Sunday while living on one of the busiest streets in the town centre of IJsselstein, the Netherlands.  I loved sitting on the couch looking out the window overlooking the main street below.  I’d only been living in the country for about 4 months.  Oh the joys of a new culture and adventure and love!

Julia Ann Ferguson

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An American Foreigner trapped in a Windmill

March 23rd, 2011 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Life Abroad, The Netherlands
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An American Foreigner trapped in a Windmill

Who is this woman?

Unrecognizable, boring, quiet

Foreign tongues engage in lively gibberish

Yet she is the foreigner here

In her distant home

She feels homeless isolation

Animated conversation bounces around her brain

And is lost to translation

Who she is, is hidden behind her silent expressions

Her inner truths imprisoned unto her singular vocabulary

Her intelligence minimized down to small

Childish phrases and words

Limited to a language spoken by a culture that dominates the world

Who is this woman?

Uninteresting, calm, solemn

The word weaver, the verb dancer

Silenced by unknown words

 

May 15th, 1998

Written to express my frustration on knowing very little Dutch after living in the Netherlands as a Love Immigrant© for about 3 weeks and feeling like my very essence was vanishing.

Julia Ann Ferguson

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