People in Finland have also adopted me because of my dad, and that's great, but it's the one language I can't speak.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My mother birthed three children and she adopted myself and another African-American son. My adoptive parents were Finnish. I grew up in a white picket neighborhood.
My father is Swedish and my mother is French.
I speak Swedish mainly with my kids' friends.
I speak English with my dad and Swedish with my mom; it's quite schizophrenic.
I came into this environment where there was so much love, so much positive energy. I never heard my parents say, 'We have adopted kids.' The minute my sister Linda and I landed in Sweden, we were their kids.
My dad is Greek and my mum Jamaican. My grandparents brought me up for most of my childhood, but I saw my mum and dad all the time.
My parents are both Belgian-born, and so am I, actually. I'm bilingual, so I had experience with French.
With my mother, I moved from one household to another before settling in the eastern part of Finland, in the city of Kuopio.
I still speak Czech with my parents because I was born there.
My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household.