The Most Confusing Question to Ask An Expat

"Where are you from?"“France!” My four year old pipes up, pronouncing the country’s name as only a French person does.My husband and I exchange a quick smirk as we sit with our legs dangling in the hotel's pool. She was right. She is from France and so is her sister; that’s their ‘home’.“We’re from Canada.” My husband says, nodding in my direction and offering the statement as an explanation as to why our daughter flips seamlessly between French and English like a translator for the U.N.And just to keep things interesting, I add, “But we live in Indonesia.”Our new poolside friend was not expecting such a complex answer to his simple question, and his eyebrows were now raised as high as they would go.“Well.” Was all he could manage in response, and we shared a little laugh at all of our expenses.Answering the 'where are you from' question is not an easy task for us. My husband and I will always consider Canada home; it’s where we grew up. But anyone who has kids knows how much life changes once you go from a couple, to a family. Our entire family life(4 years) up until a few months ago took place in France. Our children consider France home because they've only visited Canada on vacation. They were born in France, they speak French at home with my husband(who is French Canadian), and our oldest started school there. These kids ate camembert before they had teeth. Even here in Indonesia, at a French International School, our kids are surrounded by French teachers and playmates, so not much has changed for them.We knew before we moved from France that Indonesia would be a quick stop for us. The ‘home’ aspect most likely won’t stick here because aside from the much shorter stay, no one in our family was born here, and besides a few words, we don’t speak the language. Yet, it is home for now so we do our best to make it feel that way.Where will our next ‘home’ be? We’re not sure yet. But in the expat community people understand that ‘where are you from’ can be difficult to answer. Sometimes when you arrive at your new 'home' people ask, ‘where are you coming from’ instead. As in, where did you last live?Our plan is to not bounce around forever. At some point we want to give the kids some roots so they have an easier answer to that question. But for now they’re still small and all I know is that where ever we end up next, our answer isn’t getting any easier.We’re from Canada, the girls are from France, we’re coming from Indonesia, and now we live in _(insert country here)____.If nothing else, the kids will have remarkable geography skills by the time this adventure is done. Are you an expat? Canadian Expat Mom is publishing the upcoming anthology, Once Upon An Expat. You've got a couple more weeks to submit your story. Make it happy, sad, funny or inspirational...just not boring!Find out more information about the call for submissions here.Happy writing!