I was intrigued with Santi's status on facebook, it says: Santi still feeling hysterical with the 'barbie girl' stamp :D.
The term came from after chatting with moms at her kids' school.
And of course I was curious and want to know what is "barbie girl" stamp, so here is the definition:
Wives who follow husbands moving around the globe have the tendency to live like happy go lucky girls forever. In a sense that those wives never really touch the reality of the local culture, hardly ever need the urgency to earn money. When...ever they start doing something, it's time to pack and usually it shatters their focus, which, most of the time changes their initial goals when arriving at the next destination.
Still, most of them are well educated and used to have their own careers (before the so called 'love' struck and blinded their clear minds). They usually have lots of energy and feel restless. Thus some of them love to do charity work, go back to school (again and again), and try to seriously do their hobbies (like uhm an attempt to become really good on photography or a writer LOL). Unfortunately, another task to pack and move will again distract and divert their goal. Each time the family move, they become the anchors (comforting the kids, turning an empty space into a new home, learning the day to day survival). By the time everything is settled, they again start to think about what they want to do and the cycle explained above repeats.
The 'barbie girl' stamps is of course a simplification of their struggle of supporting their husbands' careers. The bright side that is :D.
They've been trying hard to create an illusion of being intellectually useful and bam bam suddenly the truth appears.
Does it sound familiar to you?
It does familiar to me because I like it or not I think I fell on that category :), and I'm creating an illusion of being intellectually useful by doing volunteer work one day a week at the state library and yes of course by activating this blog again. As you can see that this blog has been very active since I moved to Pohnpei.
This blog is my media to feel good about myself, this blog is one of the tools to connect me with the world and put my self out there, this blog is accomodating my daily mumbles, my two cents, well at least my two cents that worth to read by the world and I feel like I have something useful to say :).
So, do you consider yourself as a "barbie girl"?
Saturday, October 30, 2010
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8 comments:
Funny, all this time I thought the meaning of "Barbie girl" was simply high-maintenance/prissy girls who like to fuss over make up and designer handbags!
Thanks for clearing that up. Nevertheless, whether or not you feel like a Barbie Girl, it's up to you to decide, not others.
You define yourself, not other people, right? :)
Hahahaha I'm worst than Therry, just thought that Barbie girl just means those flimsy toys! Hah!
In China, they called the expats wives as "Bungalow Bunny" even worst name to my taste.
I love what Therry says too! You are your own unique, talented, smart, witty young woman. Don't let that "Barbie Girl" label define you. :D
@ They: It's true I define myself but got to think of it this term is kinda suit me because it's not easy to move around and I'm struggle adjusting in new place but in other hand I also need to feel good about myself and each person has different idea of what they are doing to pursue that.
@ Maureen: They tend to look at expat wives in a negative way, hence they don't know that it's not an easy job.
Ecky, welcome to the expat life, and who cares what people said. You are what you are. You need to do something to express yourself regardless it's as simple as gardening... or partying, and no body understand what is the life of an expat untill you experience it....
Ecky, welcome to the expat live, and who cares about what they think on expat wifes. You are what you are, and no body understand what you are going thru until they experienced it.
Really, eventhough you have blog, facebook, twitter etc., as your medium to share your activities, your experience etc, but underneath them they won't understand and they don't want to know...
oh my...
A life of a "barbie girl" simply doesn't sound easy to me... even though I'm not married myself...
It's the path of life, of marriage one has choose, and her effort to make it work. In my say, she cannot afford to not act happy-go-lucky, because changes and adaptation to the changes do need heaps of physical and mental effort. Being committed to someone, but chose to be apart in the purpose to actualize herself sounds a bit selfish :)
@ NSuwarno: I think the not working part is kindar hard for me, because by working you have your identity. I feel like I'm strugle to keep my identity hence the blog and other things to keep me sane :)
@ Dian: It isn't easy at all, it's really hard to adapt and settle down in the new place but we'll get there eventually, and I don't think it's selfish at all because we choose our love and if the condition permits we would like to do something that really useful like working or else. Thanks for dropping by :)
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