Children.
The more your children internalise the values of your host culture and the more you realise that they will be quite different from you, the more stress you may feel.
Ronald L. Koteskey
There is so much truth in this statement! Our family life is a little like Irish Stew; there are a lot of different elements that make us the Hitchmans. Everyone brings a different flavour to the pot but together we are great!
Irish Stew.
Our son had the honour of being called an ‘Igazi Magyar’ … a true Hungarian by his class. Beth, our daughter, still has a bit of an American accent from our time spent in the U.S. To add to the confusion she now throws in Hungarian words when she is speaking English. Our youngest daughter speaks English using Hungarian grammar.
They still have cravings for food from the UK and the U.S., but when we are away from Hungary, they have cravings for Hungarian food.
I remember one evening when Beth was working on her English homework, she started explaining the homework in Hungarian because she was too tired to think in English! We, however, don’t think we will ever reach the stage when we are too tired to think in English.
Integration.
We have been accused by our children of not providing them with names that appear on the Hungarian Name Day Calendar. The absence of their names on the calendar means our kids miss out on an additional day to celebrate. They have considered adopting a Hungarian name. If you have any suggestions, please let us know! http://www.filolog.com/crosscultureHolidays_namedays.html
To be honest, we have learned to rejoice in the differences rather than stress over them. The more the children integrate with the culture, the happier they seem to be. It is a good feeling to fit in, and we love our international family! Our larger concern is making sure that we train our children not in the ways of our culture but in the ways of God.
Genesis 18:19
Yes, I’ve settled on him as the one to train his children and future family to observe God’s way of life, live kindly and generously and so that God can complete in Abraham what he promised him.”
