Where Do You Come From?

[Bananatree]

I've been wondering where everyone comes from, not just the country, but possible ethnic background and regional location. Not that it really matters, it is just interesting.

I'm from Canada, and I live in Southern Alberta. This is known by many as "The Bible Belt" of Alberta, and to even more as "The West". Canada is so big that the West and the East aren't getting along so well politically, and there are rumours of a seperatist party.

There isn't much to do here, since I live in a City that is mainly populated due to industry and the local University. Oil and Farming (mostly Beef) are the #1 exports from around these parts, and I've been told there is more oil here (Alberta) then in the entire middle east, it is just really, really hard to get at since it is saturated in sand. [wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands ]

Anyways, that's where I live, and if you like consumer electronics, don't move to Canada.

[bobt]

Hi There,

Born and raised in your area (Edmonton) moved to the Cayman Islands in 1994, consider myself to be a citizen of the world. Try buying electronics down here if you think up there is bad.

Where in Alberta are you??

Bob

[KJ_Palmer]

I'm a bit of a mixed bag - anglo-burmese (Burmese/Myanmarese on my mum's side), living in London, with British Citizenship. But I was actually born in the USA - in Duarte, California... Phew, no wonder I get confused...

[MZ-NH1]

Born and lived in Sydney, Australia all my life

[atrain]

from melbourne, australia. mostly german with some english thrown in although the most recent arrival is at least 5 generations back. my father was a prinicpal, mother a teacher. grew up in a very eductaoinal evironment. melbourne is very cosmapolitan, anglo-saxon with a huge italian/greek & vietnamese twist. makes for great cuisine.

[doclloyd]

Born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois USA (and still living here.) I am half-Chinese, half-Czechoslovakian. Best nickname to date: Chinese "Czecher". Yea, painful pun, but it's funny.

[Syrius]

Born and raised in Mexico, with several bloodlines mixed in. (We have traced mexican native, german, spaniard, south-american native and even hungarian in my family), but I consider myself simply hispanic.

Living in Arizona since 1996 returning to Mexico a few months here and there. Not moving unless I can find another place where DST doesn't go into effect.

[The Low Volta]

Born and raised in Dutch speaking Hasselt, the province capital (that means that there are over 10k pple living in my town ) of Limburg (Belgium)

Belgium is globally mostly known for its chocolat, beer (Duvel= the best), rain and dullness... and well, they're right

my family partly comes from the Netherlands and France (mother's side) and French speaking Belgium (father's side)

I left my parent's home @ 17 to study and live in Ghent (opposite side of Belgium so about 100km away ) and after six years over there moved to Brussels (the only "city" in Belgium...) where I have now lived for three years and I love it... nice and cosmopolitan and actually the powercentre of Europe (which means that real estate is much overpriced as all thos Euro-bureaucrats come over here with their big wallets )

in the next year I'll be moving in with my girlfriend in Antwerp, which isn't as "big" as Brussels, but as a harbour city with lots of history and a tradition of creativity it still is nice and multicultural

[Bananatree]

Born and raised in Mexico, with several bloodlines mixed in. (We have traced mexican native, german, spaniard, south-american native and even hungarian in my family), but I consider myself simply hispanic.

Living in Arizona since 1996 returning to Mexico a few months here and there. Not moving unless I can find another place where DST doesn't go into effect.

←

DST?

I'm from Lethbridge AB if you're wondering and for everyone who put in their ethnic background, I'd have to say I'm pretty darn Canadian as I will soon lose my heritage

My father is 1/4th Native Cree and 3/4ths Scottish and English. My Mother is 1/2 Ukranian and 1/2 scottish, SO I am pretty confused (math wise) where I come from However the native in me, plus the rumour that my first english relative were stow-aways on John Cabot's ship makes me pretty darn close to being more Canadian (blood wise) then anyone else I know.

[D-EJ915]

Haha, I can concur on how rainy/foggy Belgium is...it's downright treacherous in the winter.

Anyway, I was born in Virginia and have lived here my whole life...I'm going to college in Charlotte NC though

My dad's got an " O' " but he says his family's from England. My mom's side is from...Ukraine, now-Slovakia, and Austria...I think that's all of it, lol! I guess you could call all of it "old austria" or whatever...haha, whenever my great uncle would talk about austria he mean the empire.

[Syrius]

@BananaTree: DST= Daylight Savings Time.

[Bananatree]

Not a fan of Daylight Savings Time?

[Gonzaloif]

Well, i´ll have to stand alone for south america. I´m from Chile, borned in the north and right know living in the south.

Grandparents from Spain and the others chilean.

I don´t writte too much because i have nothing to say... but i do have lots of questions! just read a whole bunch of the posts so i could get some of the audio tech knowledge

[Leon]

It's been in my "from" thing for a while, but allow me...

I'm Taiwanese. I say that for geographical distinction, not political. I was born here in Taipei, up north. I'm ethincially Chinese; 3 of my grandparents came from different parts of China. This is quite typical if you know Chinese history circa 1949, I'll just skip that. The remaining one arrived earlier, and lived through the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

When I was 9 we moved to Bangkok, Thailand, and I pretty much stayed there until I went off to college in the US. I never learned Thai but Bangkok is great. don't let the supposed prostitution situation preempt/prevent your appreciation of the country.

My first US stop was Los Angeles: I was an unhappy Trojan for two years, then I burned out and took a year off. Then I moved East to Buffalo, NY, which must've been a good move cause I started getting a lot of good words

A year ago I finished college and came back to Taipei because, well, 4 years is enough for me to appreciate the US

[Bananatree]

I never learned Thai but Bangkok is great. don't let the supposed prostitution situation preempt/prevent your appreciation of the country

←

Darn, you've ruined my entire upcoming trip to Bangkok

Just kidding, that is really gross, and I am going to Thailand for the nature, elephant rides, and fresh fruit.

[Christopher]

My Father was born in Ireland, raised there and spent a lucrative time in the IRA before immigrating to the USA; he then joined the Army and was a Ranger amongst other things. He moved on to some government work that I can't really talk about, with some cop work in Florida/Georgia during the 60's/70's on the side. My Mother, born in Iwaki, Japan also immigrated with her family many moons ago to Florida.

During the 60's my Mother and Father met as my Mum was doing dispatch work for the local police department. "At first sight" as they put it.

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1984. Lived there for only a year or two before living in Skerries, Ireland for more than half a decade. Nasty divorce ensued and my Mother took me back to Florida and then eventually to a fast-growing southern belle town named Roswell, Georgia. Lived there for about a decade and after graduating high school, I moved out on my own to Maryland.

Nice thread, by the by.

[Mr_Bass_Man]

Well I am English, white and from pretty well Anglo-Saxon stock, though I do have a strong blood-line to the Celts (Welsh and Scots), so you might say I'm a "mongrel" and I would regard that as a compliment!

I work in the broadcasting industry, but at the "rough" end - RF, kilowatts, kilovolts, etc but I have also worked in and around studios.

I am am a part-time musician, and have been for over 30 years since in my early teens.

I've worked overseas (Middle East and southern Africa) and like an earlier poster, consider myself to be a citizen of the world.

We are all different, and it is great that we are!

Whilst in Africa, my great friend and neighbour was a Dutch missionary - he taught me a good line of "Belgian jokes"! Pity I have forgotten them ...

I lurk in this forum most days, and must say how much I enjoy the "company".

I really should seek help about my predeliction for collecting MD hardware!!

[doclloyd]

My Father was born in Ireland, raised there and spent a lucrative time in the IRA before immigrating to the USA; he then joined the Army and was a Ranger amongst other things. He moved on to some government work that I can't really talk about, with some cop work in Florida/Georgia during the 60's/70's on the side. My Mother, born in Iwaki, Japan also immigrated with her family many moons ago to Florida.

During the 60's my Mother and Father met as my Mum was doing dispatch work for the local police department. "At first sight" as they put it.

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1984. Lived there for only a year or two before living in Skerries, Ireland for more than half a decade. Nasty divorce ensued and my Mother took me back to Florida and then eventually to a fast-growing southern belle town named Roswell, Georgia. Lived there for about a decade and after graduating high school, I moved out on my own to Maryland.

Nice thread, by the by.

←

@Kurisu: nice to know there's another "halfie" on the board! Japanese/Irish is not a common mix to find. Then again, neither is Chinese and Czech.

[Leon]

Darn, you've ruined my entire upcoming trip to Bangkok

←

LOL.

I said that because a lot of Chinese people - whether from China, HK or Taiwan - tend to assume some kind of cultural superiority, and look down on these South East Asian countries. Then if I tell anyone in the general Occidental direction about Thailand, all they can think of is also the prostitution. All right, so it might've been so bad it inspired "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" (or maybe I got my reference wrong), but whatever!

[dvallere]

Plain vanilla 5th-gen Murkin here...born near Philly, transplanted to Seattle after 40 years.

[Alexx]

I am from Edinburgh, the Capital of Scotland

For anyone who is american: Scotland is part of the UK but it is NOT to be confused with England which is much larger and has more snobs!

Just kiddin

[greenmachine]

You can enter your location into your personal profile. It will be displayed in all your posts somewhere below your username.

[The Low Volta]

in short... from Belgium ... for more info see this older "where are you from"-thread or the great but unfortunately quite silent "google earth"-thread

[garyc]

I'm 100% Irish - Dad's from Tipperary, Mum's from Dublin

I was born & raised in Sutton, Dublin, living in Lusk, just down the road from Skerries

Edited December 5, 2005 by garyc

[Ishiyoshi]

topic merged with existing "Where Do You Come From?" thread

[mercury_in_flames]

am south african greek. My mom is south african and my dad is greek. I was born in cape town, south africa.

[drikme]

Hi people,nice to see this topic,i was always wondering where all this people in this nice community are comming from.

I was born in Hamburg Germany but grew up all my life in Athens Greece,living the last year in Bristol U.K.

[mercury_in_flames]

Hi people,nice to see this topic,i was always wondering where all this people in this nice community are comming from.

I was born in Hamburg Germany but grew up all my life in Athens Greece,living the last year in Bristol U.K.

ipotheto pos milas ellenika tote

Edited December 2, 2005 by GregTheRotter

[MDX-400]

I was born in London, England; moved to Toronto, Canada when I was about 2yrs old and lived here ever since (though I've lived in different areas of Ontario for a few years at a time, while I was going to school)...

My background is West Indian though, both my parents were born in Guyana.

Edited December 2, 2005 by MDX-400

[ingoo]

Interesting, a lot of people here seem to have various backgrounds, I would´ve expectet more people with a single-ethnical background.

About me, my mother is from Manitoba Canada and came to Germany to study when she was young. There she met my father who is German. I was born and grew up in Germany. I came to Japan to live here over a year ago, but I am going back to Germany in one month! I´ll miss the opportunities to shop MD equipment when I go back!

[mgdimo]

Italian, Irish and German. Born, raised, and still live in lower Westchester County, NY, about 20 miles north of NYC. I figured we had an international crowd here but sheesh, this is cool.

[KrazyIvan]

My parents immigrated from Mexico to the US in 1971. I was born in California in 1972. I grew up in San Jose, CA until my parent decided to move to El Paso, Texas. Lived there for a year then moved to a small town in Texas very close to the New Mexico border and just northwest of El Paso. We finally ended up in Las Cruces, NM in 1989. Lived there until 2001. Moved back to that small town just outside of El Paso due to work related reasons. It is a small town of about 2300 people. I hate big city living so prefer this. I work in El Paso but live only 15 minutes drive in the outskirts.

[akijikan]

I live in Chattanooga, TN (USA) (about 2 and half hours north of Atlanta, GA). I was born in Knoxville, TN before moving to Victoria, TX when I was 1. It was screw up because my dad took a jo b with DuPont and they told him they needed him in Victoria for 2 years and then they would move him to their Chattanooga plant so he could be close to home. Right. After 11 years my dad finally said they had to move him, or he would quit. Apparently he was valuable enough to them that they did so and I've been here in Chattanooga ever since.

My background is interesting. On my dad's mom's side, my seven-greats grandfather was Issac Thomas who fought beside John Sevier (first governor of Tennessee) in the Revolutionary War and was paid for his service with a land grant. He named that land grand after his friend John Sevier and donated to start Sevierville in Sevier County. In addtion to Sevierville, Sevier County also countains Pigeon Forge and the popular Somkey Mountain resort town Gatlinburg. The last of the land belonged to my great-grandmother as a farm on which my dad spent a lot of time growing up. She left it to my grandmother and her two brothers. A resort development group wanted to buy the land as it was almost directly on the main strip of Pigeon Forge. One of the brothers sold the land while my Grandmother and her other brother lease. Needless to say the one who sold the land was ripped off. It was really Commercial dream property! You can stay on my great-grandmother's farm if you rent a cabin at the New Echota resort site.

I only know a little about my dad's dad. He came from detroit and is half-italian. My dad remembers him saying that he didn't want to get into the family business. Yes, organized crime! That's about all I know though.

On my mom's side all I know is that her great-grandmother is full Cherokee Indian.

Hope that's enough info for you.

[Bananatree]

Good to see a rehash of this thread!

Keep them coming!

[smkranz]

Both parents are German, emigrated to the US shortly after WWII. Dad was in the Wehrmacht briefly (at age 17 or 18). At war's end, his unit was ordered to surrender to the Russians (in Italy, I think). Thinking (rightfully) that was a bad option, he and a buddy slipped away and made their way back home, where they surrendered to the Americans. Got married, and a coupla years later, they emigrated to the States.

I was born/raised in Philly. Went to New Orleans to go to law school, married, lived there for 10 years, had kids there, before moving to Maryland 15 years ago. I've regretted leaving New Orleans on and off over the years (like the song lyrics, "do you know what it means to miss New Orleans"), until recently (here comes the rant...)

What's going on there now breaks my heart . Some of our friends are still in a bad way, but thankfully they are all accounted for. The only silver lining is that all of New Orleans' criminals are now gone, evacuated to other parts...Houston comes to mind, bless their hearts...and likely never to return. Both Louisiana Governor Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Nagin are inept "tools". The most annoying thing to me, living here in Maryland, is that they share a common trait with Baltimore's Mayor Martin O'Malley: blame the Republican...any Republican.

Rant over (with apologies). Cool thread.

[Richard]

Well, I'm a British ex-pat - father is Welsh, mother is English. Having lived in Spain for a year in 97-98 went back to UK and after graduating from university, I moved to Italy for around 6 months, then went back to London in 2000. I joined the company I currently work for in 2001 - based in London initially - then moved to the Dutch office in April 2002. Been here since. Married my Italian wife earlier this year.

Edited December 7, 2005 by richyhu