Spring Break
Common ground found
on unfamiliar soil
Dina Baslan
Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: Opinion
I danced with the troupe until the day I left Jordan to attend college in California.
Being a part of that community allowed me to meet more Circassian friends, meet Circassians from the Caucasus who either trained us, or play the Circassian music for us or just visited.
At 16, I joined a group of young Circassian girls and boys on a trip to the Caucasus for three weeks. It was a boot camp, and after the three weeks had passed, we felt we weren't ready to go back to Amman.
"I do miss my mom terribly," I thought. "But perhaps she could come and visit me here?"
Later I moved here to San Jose and started looking for Circassians living in the area.
I met a Jordanian-Circassian guy living in Monterey whom a friend of mine referred me to.
I was there almost every weekend, and California did not seem too bad after all.
After I felt more comfortable with the "Circassian world" I had created around myself, I started mingling with students of different ethnicities on campus only to realize there were many people going through the same experience I've gone through. I felt, now, I could find a common ground between myself and others. I could learn about other communities who have gone through the same history my people went through.
In the past month, I have met five Circassian guys. One came from Rihannia, an Israeli village with an estimated population of 3,000 Circassians, and the other four came straight from Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria Republic.
The six of us asked each other curiously what our life experiences were like, and we searched for those commonalities between us. For every one of my new Circassian friends, it felt like I have known them my whole life.
They are teaching me more of the Circassian language, but now I am only a little step ahead of counting. Now, I can put a couple of sentences together.
Being a part of that community allowed me to meet more Circassian friends, meet Circassians from the Caucasus who either trained us, or play the Circassian music for us or just visited.
At 16, I joined a group of young Circassian girls and boys on a trip to the Caucasus for three weeks. It was a boot camp, and after the three weeks had passed, we felt we weren't ready to go back to Amman.
"I do miss my mom terribly," I thought. "But perhaps she could come and visit me here?"
Later I moved here to San Jose and started looking for Circassians living in the area.
I met a Jordanian-Circassian guy living in Monterey whom a friend of mine referred me to.
I was there almost every weekend, and California did not seem too bad after all.
After I felt more comfortable with the "Circassian world" I had created around myself, I started mingling with students of different ethnicities on campus only to realize there were many people going through the same experience I've gone through. I felt, now, I could find a common ground between myself and others. I could learn about other communities who have gone through the same history my people went through.
In the past month, I have met five Circassian guys. One came from Rihannia, an Israeli village with an estimated population of 3,000 Circassians, and the other four came straight from Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria Republic.
The six of us asked each other curiously what our life experiences were like, and we searched for those commonalities between us. For every one of my new Circassian friends, it felt like I have known them my whole life.
They are teaching me more of the Circassian language, but now I am only a little step ahead of counting. Now, I can put a couple of sentences together.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
D.
posted 5/05/08 @ 9:46 AM PST
I was doing a random search when I came across this article. Just wanted to say it was well written. I am a Circassian as well and I can say that a lot of these emotions you write about are things I came across myself throughout my life. (Continued…)
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