There are so many good things about living abroad - especially living in Burma if you ask me. But there are some downsides to it and the worst of it, is being far away from family and friends back home, especially if something bad happens. We experienced the worst case scenario recently when my father-in-law passed away, while we just got back to Burma.

So we flew again to the Netherlands, in time for the funeral, but still feeling terrible about being on the other side of the planet when it happened. Fortunately my work allowed me to stay away for 2,5 weeks, so we had some time to share the loss with the family.

At the same time, we’re not living that far away from a big part of my wife’s deceased father: he was born in the Dutch Indies, 85 years ago and spend his entire youth there, until the Dutch colony became the independent Republic Indonesia. Being born out of a mixed marriage himself, he was forced to choose between two nations. He picked the tiny cold low land, he had never been.

The tall dark skinned man from Java arrived in the Netherlands by boat and met a beautiful blond girl, he married. On paper both Dutch, in culture totally different. They embraced both and ate every night potatoes and rice. My wife only realized how Indonesian her youth actually had been, until she traveled around Java, recognizing so many ‘typical’ things from home, like the practical jokes, polite manners and importance of food.

Since a couple of days we’re back in Burma again. It isn’t Indonesia of course, but there are many cultural South East Asian similarities. Maybe that is also why she feels so at home here; we live in the Asian culture she knows so well from her dad.

We’ve decided the end of our ‘tropical adventure‘ is near though. We have been living and traveling abroad for 2,5 years now and that has been amazing, but we have most family, friends and a house in Holland. So only six more ‘Burma Impressions‘ to go..for now.