immigrating, overcoming, regretting, missing, weeding

i enjoyed the first part of this book.  i really like reading stories in the form of letters, phone calls; there's something about it, almost like you're reading something you aren't supposed to - like eavesdropping. anyways, just a brief comment of style there.

more importantly, reading the first chapter made me think of my nana.  i am not an immigrant, but like most in our class, some member of my family immigrated to canada (i am a third generation canadian with lots of european family that we are still in contact with) due to one reason or another.  recently, my mum and step-dad returned from europe where my mum got to meet our dutch family for the first time.  when my nana came to canada after WWII, she left everything.  like estela, she left out of necessity; however, unlike estela, my nana had no one who wanted her to return.  leaving her home was very difficult and when she arrived in canada she started to forget all things dutch.

i am lucky that i have not been forced from my home to another country where no one understands my language, my customs, or my needs.  i have been lucky enough to travel and to live in australia, but these were all by choice and temporary.  my nana has repeatedly refused to return to holland, despite my mothers many offers; she claims that she can no longer read/write/speak dutch (her first language), and she claims no desire to return.  the anxiety that estela feels makes me doubt my nana's claims more and more.  estela feels the pull back to her santiago; yet at the same time, she has established roots in vancouver (probably under the belief that because of the blacklist, she would not be able to).  

we have talked a lot about roots in a country and uprooting from a country; can we grow roots in more than one kind of soil equally? or will one end up being a weed that we cannot get rid of?