How International Is Your Family?

[ilikeitlikethat]

What country are you in/from?
Where do you have family?


I'm from London, in London.. ('The old country').

My mother's cousin I've met is Australian, she calls my Nan 'Aunt'.. I've met her daughter who's the same generation as me but as old as my niece (Born in America), she has a baby brother in Australia I've yet to meet and her mother my mother's cousin has a sister who was born in London but moved to Australia when she was 1 and her mother, my grandmother's sister and their mother, my great great grandmother who used to send me over things for my birthday when I was a child.. All moved to Australia.
They all went, and my Grandmother and mother 'then a child' stayed in London.
All but my great great grandmother are on Facebook.
They went to Queensland; to Caloundra, Queensland (An hour out of Brisbane) up north in the semi tropics... My mother's cousin who I've met was born in Australia, in New South Wales in Sydney, later she moved to Melbourne, in Victoria and had a family with a man who's family lives in Tasmania and raised him there.

My own brother 9 years my senior; same parents/same house/same family; my family... Moved to Delaware working in Pennsylvania then to Pennsylvania to be closer to work and now he's an American with a family of his own (I've not met my niece and nephew yet).. I went to their wedding in Pennsylvania with our brother 2 years my senior when I was 17 and stayed with the Bride and Groom anyway) was followed by my own sister 10 years my senior; same parents/same house/same family; my family... Moved to Pennsylvania then to New Jersey closer to her husband's family and she works of course and is now an American with an American family in New Jersey who I have met.
My brother and sister were born in London too.
My sister-in-law was born and raised in Pennsylvania (Abington) and my brother-in-law was born in Massachusetts (Cape Cod), raised in Florida (near Jacksonville) and moved to New Jersey (Tom's River) in high school.

My grandmothers cousin is also from London...
I've met her, she's great, they're all great, my family's cool, I'm blessed that way... She's now in Ireland and has a big family of her own.
She had a family in Oxford in England, then moved to Wales and then moved to Ireland (Republic of Ireland)..
I've met one of her daughters who wound up in Wales; Working for the Uni in Aberystwyth living close by.
They also live all over the world, but I've only met her, her mother (my grandmothers cousin), and her Father who my grandmother's cousin married; an Irishman she met in London.
My grandmother's cousin and her husband lived in Africa for a while doing charity work with The Red Cross.
My first memory of meeting her was when she just came back and looked Indian... She had brown/olive skin and long dark black hair and an orange dress and was tall (taller than me anyway).
Gosh I was young.

I'm living with this Grandmother, just me and my Nan in this house her father left her in London.
He was born in London, he was my Grandmother's mother's brother who adopted her from my great grandmother and raised her as his own so my grandmother had 4 parents but was raised by 2, she was adopted by family so her father was really her uncle; This man, was born in London, emigrated to Canada when he was 14.
He came back with the Canadians in WWI. Met his wife in London, and came back and adopted my Nan from his sister who later moved to Australia; He never lost his Canadian accent according to my grandmother who talks about him.

What about you?

 

[SwimmerGal97]

My Mums family come from Scotland and Cumbria, my Dads have been in Lancashire for as far back as we can go in records and we live in Manchester. All from the north of England and Southern Scottish (Ayrshire) at the furthest away...quite possibly the least exotic family ever, I think I'm more British than the Queen!!

 

[ceecee]

My paternal grandparents were born in Canada and their parents (both sets) were from Scotland.
My maternal grandparents were born in the US. Great grandparents were Turkish (grandmother) and Irish (grandfather).

Currently my extended family includes Thai, Mexican, Finnish, Pakistani and Argentinian. Holidays/get together are fucking delicious.

 

[cosmic royal]

My father has ancestors from Austria and Germany, while my mother's side is 100% Filipino. All of her family members still live there.

Nothing too crazy, but the food is yummy.

 

[OrangeAppled]

My paternal grandparents are from Germany. There are a few German foods we eat from them (specifically Bavarian). My mom learned to cook it from her mother-in-law and continued to make a few things even after my parents divorced.

My maternal grandparents are Spanish-American with a few lines extending back to colonial New Spain in present day New Mexico. We eat New Mexico style food (NOT the same as Mexican) which combined Spanish and Indigenous cooking and evolved into its own thing. They also were handed down Spanish foods from more recent ancestors from Spain. I have Italian and Sardinian ancestors too and some of that was passed down.

However, my maternal grandparents were ultimately American and my grandma made all this mid century American housewife food - meatloaf and tuna casserole and whatnot. Oh and my maternal great-grandfather was a chef classically trained in French cuisine, and he left a cookbook to my mom, which is awesome. He even did radio cooking shows in Spanish in Latin America. So we have his favorite recipes and techniques too.

On top of it, my stepdad is a Pacific Islander and also spent some of his childhood in Japan and Korea as a military brat, and he has a great affinity for various Asian foods, so that gets worked in... We just made a butter mochi cake the other day - yum!

And since as started learning Hindi and Urdu, I have many Indian and Pakistani friends who have taught me how to cook their food.

So yeah, we are pretty international.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Mom's fam is from from Texas, going back longer than we can trace.

Dad's side has been where we've been since before the civil war.

They came from England.

 

[Hiraeth]

I'm American, born and raised in California. I haven't lived anywhere outside of California except for when I once studied abroad in France for a summer.

My father is of Lebanese ancestry and grew up in a small mountainous village in Lebanon. When he was 17, he came to America in the 1970s through student visa amidst a terrible civil war in his country. A few years later he became an American citizen after being granted political asylum. Ever since then he's been living in California, except for a few years in the late 1980s where he worked and lived in Liberia. My mother is mostly Nicaraguan American and was raised in both California and Nicaragua. She's been living in California since she was 17 like my father, but also lived in New York City for a few years in the 1980s. Both of my parents are still together living in Cali.

My paternal grandparents were born and raised in the same village in Lebanon. My grandfather for a time during WWII (yes, he's that old) worked for the English military in England and then came back to Lebanon and married my grandmother. He lived in Lebanon for the rest of his life until he died during the war in the late 1970s. My grandmother and aunts/uncle went to live partially in Liberia and America after my grandfather and his son (my uncle) died. My grandmother and aunts currently live in Lebanon and many of my cousins live there as well.

My maternal grandparents are basically of Nicaraguan descent. However, my great grandfather or my great great grandfather (not entirely sure) from my grandfather's side was German from Germany and immigrated to Nicaragua in the early 20th century. My grandparents were both born and raised in Nicaragua. They eventually went back to Latin America in the late 1960s with their children, living a brief time in El Salvador and then in Nicaragua. My grandmother, uncles, aunt, and cousins all currently live in California, except for one uncle residing in Miami.

I also have extended family who either have lived in or are currently living in other countries such as Canada, the Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay.

One funny thing I can say is that me and my sister are the only half-breeds from my father's family. Everyone is pure Lebanese from my immediate side of the family (in a further distance I do have a few second cousins who are part Malagasy though), while everyone from my mother's immediate side married and had children with someone from a different ethnic background. My maternal cousins all range from being either of half Spanish, Mexican, Russian Jewish, or some other mixed European background.

My sister is also currently in a serious relationship with someone who is half black/Mexican. I guess we are all indeed one mixed bunch.

 

[geedoenfj]

I'm Middle Eastern, and live in the Middle East (That's international enough lol)..

My mother have German and English cousins since 1960s, whom my mother's family has no mean of connection with due to a certain circumstance, I have a cousin who lives in England and non of the family met him since 1980s..

I also have cousins who live in Belgium, Austria, USA, Malysia, I have aunts who lived in Japan, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina in addition to other countries in the region..

 

[RedAmazoneFriendZone]

On my father side : my grandmother was italian, my grandfather is french.

My mother had a russian grandfather and a polish grandmother who gave birth to her mum who was herself born in poland. She married a man from Belgium (my other grandfather).

I am going out with a scotish man myself but I want to kid. I had been attracted by the UK since my 17/18's.

 

[GloriaInExcelsisDeo]

I was born and raised in Sweden, and I am still living here. My mother, father and their respective parents were all born and raised in the Swedish part of Finland, although my parents now live in Sweden. My known and recorded forefathers are thought to have all been ethnic Swedes and as such they would've had their roots in Ostrobothnia, Sweden, which now belongs to Finland. I am not international at all. I am just an Ostrobothnian Swede.

 

[Population: 1]

Quintessential American mutt of English, Irish, Welch, Scottish, German, Portuguese, and French Canadian descent. Yeah my clan got biz A. My great grandmother on my fathers side was straight off the boat from Ireland. Another relative was on the Mayflower with those dour puritans. I'm also related to General Robert E. Lee.

 

[Novella]

Awesome thread. My family is internationally bland in comparison. Dutch parents. Raised in Australia. First cousin on mother's side married a Dutchman with Indonesian roots and they did have a child. Second cousins on father's side born and raised in Boston, USA. I am married to an English man but we don't, nor are we likely to have children. Sister partnered with a Chilean but they too, don't plan on having kids.

 

[Lucy_Ricardo]

My family has been in America since the 1910s. My mother's side of the family is English and Scottish. My father's side of the family is Lebanese and French. Definitely better food on my dad's side of the fam.

 

[ceecee]

My family has been in America since the 1910s. My mother's side of the family is English and Scottish. My father's side of the family is Lebanese and French. Definitely better food on my dad's side of the fam.

As much as I love classic French cuisine....I have to agree with you on Lebanese food, it's my favorite. I'm not Lebanese but my neighbors were when I was growing up and they happily taught me to cook it. Even my bland food loving Finnish in-laws came around.