Multiple Nationality Disorder

I'm everything but a patriot. I do love my country, but that's especially because I love its food. Oh yes, and its beautiful cities, Bruges in particular. I couldn't live without the fries - the creamy mayonnaise included - and the chocolates. I could do without the beer, however, as I don't drink alcohol, but I can imagine people who couldn't, like my dad. But about there, it ends for me. I still go to Belgium every once in a while because my family lives there. However, my heart isn't buried there. 

Where could it be buried then? In the Netherlands maybe? Because that's where I've been living for the past 10 years, which is about a third of my life. And it have been 10 special years, that's the least I can say. What's more, I think I could stay here for the rest of my life. I like Holland, Leiden in particular. I've found some special people here, some of which have contributed a lot to my life - I owe them so much. The Dutch people aren't perfect, and I really detest some of their typical characteristics, but on the whole, I don't mind living amongst them. Maybe I'm even more Dutch than Belgian, I'm still in doubt as to become Dutch or not to become Dutch, and my family in Belgium call me "Hollander" (Dutchie) whenever they talk to me on the phone or in real life. I have to admit that I only know the first and last two lines of the Belgian national anthem, whereas I know the Wilhelmus by heart. Should I feel ashamed now? Anyway, one could possibly think that my heart is buried here. However, much as I enjoy the Dutch football team - in spite of their elimination in Euro 2012 - I don't think that's the case...

Let's look a little further. Yesterday was the big final of Euro 2012. As a football fanatic, I had been longing for that game for weeks, and I was so glad to see that my all-time favourite, Spain, was actually in his third final in a row. Can you imagine my joy when they scored the first goal? And what about the second, third and fourth? I felt so proud, and I almost kissed my Spanish shirt. It was an awesome game, I haven't had such a good time in months. I've only been in Spain in two occasions, the last time being exactly a year ago, when I was in Barcelona for 6 days together with a housemate. I adore the language, the food, the people, the city, and of course, Barça and its players. I can honestly say I'm addicted to FC Barcelona. To be there in the stadium was a real honour for me. 

I want to go back, not only to Barcelona, but also to other cities and regions in Spain: Madrid, Sevilla, Granada... you name it. Unfortunately, I'm short of time and money, so it won't happen very soon. Still, I promise to go back as soon as I can.

Spain is not our final destination, however. Let's still look a little further... to end up in Latin America. Oh, how I love that continent... 

Especially when they show the World Cup football on TV, my support goes towards Latin America: Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay,... It sometimes feels as though I'm a traitor towards my home country, but luckily for me, it's been a while since Belgium participated in such a competition ;) My Dutch friends then tell me to support the Dutch team, which I do, but when they have to play against a Latin American team, I can only feel sorry for the Dutch national team, because then my heart beats for the Latin American team...

It's high time that I acknowledged that I must be suffering from a new illness, called Multiple Nationality Disorder. I just can't make up my mind to which country I want to belong, so I just choose them all: Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru,... without even mentioning them all. I'm lucky to have quite a lot of Facebook and Skype friends in Latin America, and they make my hunger to visit their country even bigger. I can honestly say that I love them all, and I also love their countries. I hope to visit them real soon, so that we can meet in real life. Till then, I'll just have to keep on taking my multi-coloured M&M-meds to stay out of too much trouble. Or that's what I keep telling myself when I have to find a valid reason to consume M&Ms on a worrying almost daily basis...^-^