Interview with Steve Robinson
Steve, a national of The USA, Texas, precisely, has lived in Belgium for eight and half years and is married to a Belgian national, Jessy, who he met in Belgium in the1900s while residing here for about three years. In the later part of 1998, he moved with his wife to San Fransisco and later on moved to Houston Texas where they had five (5) children before moving back to Belgium in January 2011. I got acquainted with Steve and had this interview with him at my church in Antwerp city.
Steve's job as a Supply Chain Architect for an International logistics company called "Civil Logistics" where he has a global role was one of the first things that fascinated me about steve. I wanted to know more the moment he said that. Architecture, is what Steve studied in college, but by choice and chance he's in the logistics sector now. He however sees himself applying some of the principles of architecture to his current work as he designs the movement of goods and services throughout the world. He believes that he is best at solving supply chain problems for large companies and has carried out major projects for multinational companies like General Motors and Amazon.
Although he lives in Belgium, he doesn't have much to do with Belgium when it comes to work, certainly doesn't identify with Belgium as a place where he's a local and doesn't think that that will ever be the case as he is corely a local of Texas because that's where most of his foundational life experiences and lessons were shaped. He is of the opinion that one of the strongest influences on a person is where a person is schooled or receives his/her education because a lot of social skills and important interactions are made during the process of formal education. And for him, this was obviously Texas.
Steve said he has been accepted by the local community in Belgium and doesn't have intentions of moving back to Texas, he sees himself as a man of Texan origin and still upholds Texan traditions with his family in Belgium. This must be adding up to his children's multi-localization as Texas born Americans/Belgians who are presently living and growing up in Belgium, I thought.
I found it interesting that Steve strongly affirmed that his many travels has made him more generic as the people he has met do not immediately recognize that he is Texan either by his accent or otherwise.
Eager to find out more about Steve, his travel experiences and how these might have affected his global mind, I asked him specific questions in relation to that. I found out that for the 38 years of his career, Steve has never worked domestically in The United States where he is from although he has lived for years in The United States at different intervals. He has worked with a lot of foreign people who are nationals of various countries and have loads of fun experiences while doing that. His job has afforded him the opportunity of traveling to about 1500 cities in 47 different countries. He therefore doesn't see himself as having a "US-ian" view of life because his experiences have helped him develop a global focus on people.
As a result of his many travels, Steve has learned the positivity and beauty of the different cultures as well as the differences in peoples of different background and civilizations. He doesn't interact with people based on their nationality, skin colour or other cultural differences but rather believes that every human is part of the same large community and are locals of specific places that have over the years molded their rituals, relationships and restrictions. This insinuation from Steve got me thinking about the TED talk by Selasi Taiye that I had watched prior to this interview. Selasi cearly she spotlights this same truth and gives her audience a task about it. In the interlude section below are my results from the assignment on Selasi's TED talk.
In Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria originates most of the rituals I practice today because that's where I have spent most of the years of my life. Most of the life experiences that have shaped who I am today happened in this city. Every morning, my parents would wake everyone up for morning devotion where we would sing and pray and dance, give thanks to God for the gift of a new day and learn of His word before going about other activities of the day. Curfew was at 18:00 for me and 21:00 for my older siblings, and you dare not miss it! We had this ritual of having birthday dinners for every member of the family's birthday with a native dish called "ugba" and some other meals, including soda and malt. My dad would always forget his own birthdays though... hahaha! And this always led to him always being so surprised when he comes home from work to meet his own birthday dinner. Sundays were for church services, Mondays were for organizational meetings at church, Saturdays were for choir practice, and every single day of the week's night was a "musical concert" at home because all of us were blessed with such beautiful vocal voices. We inherited them from both of our parents.
The primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions I attended (where I had the most of friends), the church I used to attend, the fellowship I attended (where most of my strong relationships now were built), travelling per time from Owerri to my village, Imerienwe, during Christmas holidays and returning back to Owerri afterwards and lots of other foundational experiences I had all happened while I was still living with my parents in the busy city of Owerri. During my secondary school education, I attended a boarding school where I garnered so much, fun, fulfilling, tragic, sad, extraordinary, rare and historic experiences ad lessons I would never forget in life. I built a few lifetime relationships here.
I remember going to school (primary school) one day with complete body parts and coming home with a broken knee and how my mother used a local herb, "olugbo" to treat the injury when she saw it. I remember being scolded for being the 2nd in position in my primary 4 class because, according to my parents, the student who was first in class at the end of the term has the same count of heads, 1, on his body just like I do. As typical Igbo (my tribe) Nigerian parents that my parents were, it was an error to not come first in class, so my portions of meals were reduced as a consequence until I came home at the end of the next term with a first position result. Not to say that I totally agree with my parent's methods (or most African parents methods in general), but growing up in that kind of environment did teach me a whole lot. It taught me never to give up in life and it shaped my mentality as regards hard work which pays off so very much.
And most essentially, in as much as I have integrated into the Belgian way of life to some extent, living here hasn't neither affected my rituals that much, nor has it affected the lessons of hard work and lots more learnt in Nigeria. It has also not mered the relationships I've built over the years in Nigeria and can definitely not be able to make me lose the foundational life experiences I had there. I still eat my native dishes, I still communicate with my close friends, I still put on my native attires sometimes, I still address my older sister (whom I live with here in Belgium) with a title "sista" in front of her name because it's a show of respect to never call your elders just by their names alone. I had grown up calling her name with the title before it and just didn't lose it because I came to Belgium. No matter how long I reside in Belgium, I would always be a local of Owerri.
On the other hand, my restrictions are here in Belgium. I needed a visa before I could come to Belgium and the process of officially changing my status to that of a student took so several months to get done because of the many restrictions I had as a foreigner. If I ever got back to my country and want to come back to Belgium, I would still need another visa if the current one is expired. All simply because am not a Belgian by nationality. Sometimes, I get the racial discrimination from people here too; whereas in my country, none of these restrictions would exist for me.
I could go on and on about my rituals, relationships and restrictions, but I'll stop here.
Returning to my interview with steve, I also found out that throughout Steve's travels he has observed that Americans are different from other nationals even though they think and see other nationals as being different. He says that he sees more similarities between other people of different countries that he doesn't see in Americans.
"The culture of every country is driven by its history". For example, at a visit to China, one would notice very easily that China is a communist country whose government controls everything because people work and interact with lesser individualistic freedom and more structure as compared to its western counterparts.
Steven enjoys living in Belgium because according to him, it reminds him of Texas about 50-60 years ago. This he buttresses by saying that Belgium is agriculturally focused and has towns and villages where people are familiar with each other. His home here is a farm on the outskirts of Antwerp and he lives there because it shares a lot of similarities with his Texan home. As an extroverted person, he finds ways to connect with the Belgian locals and has discovered over time that food is always a common ground to connect with Belgians and "people" in general. In his words, "Food is the best way to understand a person's culture". He therefore during his business trips has trusted locals of different cities to order their favorite meals in his behalf and by so doing wins their hearts and trust. Two of the meals Steve revealed to me that he would never try in his life again are "Stinky Tofu" (Taiwan) and Nigerian "fish head soup". Judging by the name "Stinky Tofu", I also wouldn't eat that! Hahaha!
When I asked Steve what advice he would give to the modern generation, he assertively said it would be that they put their phones down and interact with people on a more real-time basis. "Social media is not a substitute for knowing people and building relationships because relationships are what really matter in life", he says.
The video of my interview with Steve is right below, just in case you want to see it it!
My First Two Tours of Ghent
I toured the city of Ghent for the first time on my third day at Artevelde during a mentorship project that the school organized. We visited a lot of places and I got to know about these places I had never known before.
The second time was when and and my team did the tour on an Intercultural Communication Skills project with a Russian student from Brussels. It was actually my first time meeting and getting to interact with a Russian. I got to know about Russia's strong religious cultures and some of their norms and values. The Belgians in my team took us to visit lots of touristic places like the Graffitistraat, Saint Bavo's chapel, etc. in Ghent and we shared a lot about our various cultures with each other; we also engaged in some team building activities. One of the things I got to know about Spain, where one of us was from was that Spanish people are very indulgent when it comes to family but not that much when it has to do with people outside that category.
Below is a picture slideshow of both tours, team building activities around Ghent and one of the ICS TANDEM project final deliverables.
Christmas Party at Brugge
Last Christmas, I was at a Christmas party with my sister and her family at my sister's friends residence city - Brugge. This my sister's friend is Cameroonian, is married to a Belgian and has a lot of relationships with Nigerians (e.g. my sister who is her friend). I invited my coursemate, Samantha, and her family to come join me in exploring the Cameroonian and Nigerian cuisines that were available there. It was my first time tasting typical Cameroonian meals. Exploring their cuisine brought back a taste of "home" to me, Owerri, where I am a local. Their meals are quite similar to ours, but some are absolutely different and unlikeable to most Nigerians as well.
There were lots of drinks there, music as well. People danced to Nigerian and Cameroonian songs and most attendees were locals of cities in these two countries and their Belgian and Dutch friends.
Santa was of course at this party, with lots of gifts for the kids. I also acted an instant melodrama with the host's daughter and sang some Christmas carols with my sister, her Cameroonian friend and a Belgian lady. As you might already be guessing, I took numerous photos and videos with Samantha at the party. Some of them are what's displayed here.
Brugge is one of those beautiful cities of Belgium that attracts tourists from so many different place, and having been in Belgium for over two years now, I sadly haven't really exhaustibly toured it's many wondrous sites. It's sure in my bucket list though; soonest, I shall!
Weekend at a former Artevelde Student's House
For about a week within last month, I was at an ex-student of Artevelde's house at Lokeren where I spent some time with her as I attended classes from there. In the weekend, she taught me how to prepare Belgium fries from the scratch and I taught her how to prepare a typical Nigerian food, "Nigerian Fried Rice", in her case, "Nigerian Vegetarian Fried Rice". We had lots of fun and she also shared some typical Belgium cultures with me, one of which was kids putting a carrot and a list of items in their shoe at night around Christmas period with hopes that "The Saint" would exchange it for treasures for them when they wake up.
Watch a fast video of the food making processes below!
African Hair Braiding Tutorial
Some weeks ago, I taught some friends of mine how to braid Nigerian hair, using my hair. A descriptive video of the process is attached below. I wanted to satisfy my friends' curiosity on how we Africans style our hair and while we do it in the first place. I also wanted to share something uniquely of my culture with them. So while teaching them how to braid the hair, I taught them a lot of other things about the maintenance of African hair.
I told them about the extensions we use to braid our hair. I had brought two different colours along. I told them that the major reasons why African women braid and style their hair is for protection against breakage, for growth and also for beautification. I also taught them some of the maintenance processing like regular moisturizing of the hair to avoid breakage, perming the hair (by choice) to soften and straighten it thereby allowing oil and hair products to travel quickly through, braiding the hair, fixing weavons, wearing wigs, etc. That curly/kinky African hair like mine is more difficult to maintain than permed hair is also one of the important highlights I made to them.
After the learning session, my friends were capable of doing the braids without any help, you can see this in the video below. I was very happy that I could teach them that and all the other maintenance processes I described to them. Meanwhile, we had so much fun as well while doing it.
Interview with a Congolese student, Gloria, born and brought up in Belgium
I and Samantha Upreti interviewed Gloria, a 19 years old BEM student of our school, a few weeks ago. Gloria was born in Brussels to a Congolese family. She moved to Flanders at the age of 9 to learn Dutch.
She struggles to identify as Congolese and feels her nativity is that of her birth country. She's only visited Congo once which she found interesting. Seeing her root and where her mother grew up was the highlight of her visit.
They are still very much in touch with customs, traditions and rituals of Congo as a Congolese household in Belgium. She and her family love to wear African prints, lots of colour and head scarfs. They also love native Congolese food such as fufu, plantain, fish and spicy is always on the menu. She seems to prefer Belgian food to that of Congo in some cases though.
This interview with Gloria reminded me of one of the friends Selasi Taiye spoke of in her TED talk. Olu who is German has a father who hails from Nigeria. He, Olu, practices some of the rituals of Nigeria but has restrictions there, so he identify as a local there because that is where his relationships are mostly centered and not because of his restrictions. Gloria here has an almost same relationship with the case of Olu; although she views Belgium as her home, she feels like an outsider sometimes therein because of people's attitude (discrimination and racism). However, she thinks of herself as both a local of Belgium and Congo.
Growing up in Belgium, she enjoyed engaging in some typical holiday practices such as "Sinterklaas". She also celebrates Easter as a Christian. She is very proud of their traditional Congolese wedding ceremonies and plans to follow that and pass it on to her children in the future. She sings at a church and is a member of a choir that performs at various events. This last trait is one of the similarities I gladly share with Gloria.
In addition, I, Samantha and Gloria agreed to meet up some other time to chat and have some fun time outside of the school premises too. Sounds and smells like a new friendship about to be birthed and I absolutely love it!
Watch our interview with Gloria below
Interview with a Moroccan student, Sara, born in Morocco, lived in Spain and now lives in Belgium
Sara is an international student aged 23, she was born in Morocco but moved to Spain with her parents at the age of four. Her family relocated to Belgium from Spain when she was 20 years old.
Having lived in countryside Morocco only in her baby and toddler years, her memory of life over there is vague. She does remember living on the mountains and enjoying nature with her mum and grand-mother and they had no electricity and very little technology.
Her early memories of 16 years in Spain were all about going to school and speaking her native tongue (Berber) to the children in her class. However, she was able to learn Catalan and Spanish very quickly along the way. She found herself having to switch between two different cultures which was a bit challenging but she was lucky to have friends who understood her peculiar situation and loved her regardless.
She completed her studies up to secondary school education in Spain. She proceeded to taking a two year administration and finances course after the family learnt that they would be relocating to Belgium due to the 2008 recession in Spain which resulted to her father losing his job in 2010. It was easy to relocate to Belgium because they had extended family living here but the transition was much harder than the Morocco - Spain move.
The biggest struggle for Sara so far in Belgium has been the language which has resulted to not really having any long term friends. But, she does enjoy getting together and spending time with her extended family.
Moving through different countries over the years has caused her to lose a little bit of her national identity. It's become hard to identify with or claim citizenship of any of the three countries she's lived in. She feels a bit like a world citizen though she's had to rediscover herself here in Belgium in terms of learning more about her Moroccan roots and her islamic religion, something she wasn't able to do in Spain. Right now Morocco is where she can comfortably say she's a local, because all the rituals and relationships that are important to her have much to do with Morocco.
After her IBM studies, she'd like to develop her Dutch skills and experience working in Belgium. She also hopes to return to her comfort zone in Spain someday and she certainly is keen on exploring other countries as well.
In 10 years time, she hopes to secure a stable job or own a company, possibly start a family, have economic stability (independence), and travel the world for both business and pleasure.
My Visit to Zealand
In September, 2018, a friend of mine's dad took I and her to Zealand to explore the wonders of God's creation there. During the journey there, he entertained us with lots of stories about the history of The Netherlands. This was my very first time in that part of The Netherlands.
While we were in Zealand, I got to know from Victor (Mendel's dad)'s stories that a huge part of the seas in Zealand were once villages that got swallowed up by the seas. He told us of how people used to save money in the ground and how much must've been lost in the seas without recovery.
I and Mendel collected shells that were constantly being vomited by the sea as souvenirs. I was sure to fill up my collection bag. Her dad on the other hand went ahead to take really nice photos of us and some animals around too.
We stopped for lunch and dinner on the way to and fro Zealand and I enjoyed some typical Dutch meals in the restaurants we went to; one of the meals was a special kind of round pasta I do not recall its name but so loved.
This trip was absolutely worthwhile, and I would actually love to go back there this summer to admire its beauty some more. I couldn't possibly get enough of it.
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