Chapter 1
Hong Kong
Birth to age 8
The city of my birth. I am a Hong Kong born, Chinese-German, British-American. We lived in Hong Kong for eight years before we moved to Beirut, Lebanon.
My sister and I went to the German Swiss International School on the Hong Kong side. Some of my fondest memories are swimming and playing with friends at LRC and HKCC, going boating with our dad while he went scuba diving, visiting Grandpa's house in Shek O, and seeing the retired race horses at the jockey club in Sha Tin.
Our German mom worked for Jebsen Group and modeled under the name Marion Kwan. It took my sister and me a while to start speaking as babies, but when we finally did, it was in German, English and Cantonese. Jebsen is one of the largest Porsche dealers in the world, with dealerships in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Languages at home German, English, Cantonese
Next stop: Beirut
Chapter 2
Beirut
Ages 8 to 10
We moved to Beirut from Hong Kong when I was eight. Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East, with beach resorts on the Mediterranean and ski resorts an hour inland. Two years later the city was war-torn, with bombed-out buildings, and we had to leave abruptly for my mom's hometown of Hamburg.
We lived on Bliss Street in Ras Beirut and went to the Deutsche Schule Beirut, where the bus driver would stop for Manoushi bread on the way to school. Once the civil war closed our school, we picked up homework from the German Embassy. My sister and I became pretty good roller skaters, jumping stairs on the way, and we would climb the cypress trees at AUB. Our Lebanese grandma Teta lived down the street and made the best Kibbeh.
When the war intensified, the rockets and bombs would start at night. I would crawl into my sister's bed and we would wait for the sirens. If they went off, everyone filed into the long ground-floor corridor and sat huddled against the walls until it stopped. Eventually it got so bad that we had to leave, never to go back.
What it left I still do not love the sound of fireworks. But the experience gave me a fearlessness I have to this day.
Next stop: Hamburg
Chapter 3
Hamburg
Ages 10 to 13, and 15 to 17
We flew out of Beirut through war zones and gun checkpoints when I was ten. In my young mind we would move back as soon as the war ended. It lasted so many years that I have never been back.
Hamburg is one of my favorite cities in the world: Germany's second largest, a major port on the Elbe connected to the North Sea, known as the green city for its parks. I lived there twice, first at Heinrich Hertz Schule in Winterhude, then again at the International School of Hamburg in Othmarschen, where I graduated with the IB Diploma before starting college in Switzerland.
Germany is where I first started to ride. I loved horses so much that I would walk, take two trains, a bus and walk again to reach the Kupfertenne stable in Poppenbüttel two hours later. What riding taught me applies to life: when you fall off, you get back on immediately. Never give up. Adapting to German schools after missing so much during the war was hard, and as Eurasian sisters we did not fit 100% in either Hong Kong or Germany. I did not realize being different was actually kind of cool until we moved to Bahrain.
Favorite activity Driving on the no-speed-limit Autobahn
Next stop: Bahrain
Chapter 4
Bahrain
Ages 13 to 14
Bahrain is a small 295-square-mile island country in the Arabian Gulf. When we stepped off the plane, 102 degrees of heat and humidity hit us, along with the blazing sun. Another first was hearing the call to prayer five times a day from the mosques. It is something you miss when you leave the island, at least for me.
My sister and I attended Bahrain School, and I loved it: tennis team, swim team, track and field. I skipped eighth grade and went straight to ninth. It was the first time I lived in the desert, and the desert has been my favorite landscape ever since. The riding arena here was sand, and the majestic Arabian horse became one of my favorite breeds. Riding an Arabian in the Arabian desert became a symbol of who I am.
The desert racetracks in California, and Willow Springs most of all, give me the same contentment and serenity I have always felt in the Middle East. There are many stereotypes about the region I wish to dispel. I believe it is a wonderful place.
Bucket-list racetrack Bahrain International Circuit
Next stop: Amsterdam
Chapter 5
Amsterdam
Age 14
We moved to Amsterdam when I was fourteen. My older sister Veronika and I cried most of the flight from Bahrain because we loved it so much. Bahrain School was the first truly international school we attended, with people from all over the world, and the first time that we, as multicultural Eurasians, did not feel different.
We lived in the suburb of Amstelveen, attended the International School of Amsterdam, and both played varsity volleyball and basketball. On varsity trips to Belgium and Germany we ran into people we already knew from Hamburg.
Amsterdam felt strange after being chaperoned and driven everywhere in Bahrain; here we took the bus. The capital of the Netherlands is an incredible city of canals, gabled houses, bicycles and some of the world's best museums. I lived there about eight months in tenth grade before we moved back to Hamburg, where I finished high school.
Next stop: Switzerland
Chapter 6
Switzerland
Ages 17 to 19
After graduating in Germany, I took the train to Switzerland to study at the American College of Switzerland in the French part of the Swiss Alps. I consider Switzerland one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The air is the crispest I have ever breathed, and our dorms were ski-in, ski-out. I became a fair-weather skier: with season passes, an inkling of cloud in the morning meant we slept in.
School in Switzerland meant fondue and raclette, the best Swiss chocolate, chocolate croissants from the village, and one of the most tight-knit groups of international kids from all over the world, many of whom I still stay in touch with. Weekends were Milan, Geneva, Gstaad, Montreux, Verbier, Zermatt, Crans-Montana and Portes du Soleil, where you ski the Swiss side and have lunch in France. Prom was in Monte Carlo. Those first two years of independence created some of the greatest memories of my life.
I went back recently for a reunion with my old classmates, sharing it with my mom and my two daughters. I would have preferred a Porsche 911, but the luggage would not fit, so I settled for a Panamera Gran Turismo with 462 horsepower.
Next stop Miami, Florida. First time in the United States of America.
Why it matters
A girl who never fit in anywhere learned to belong everywhere.
Every city taught Martina something she now teaches women: get back on the horse, respect the culture you are in, and treat being different as your greatest advantage.
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