smittenbyu
in
expats
looking local being foreign...
I remember in my younger days, when I was living in Rome, a few of my classmates (American, British, Italian-American, Indian, etc.) would go and hang out at the Spanish Steps. We would help out tourists with directions. Some reason we always felt like being helpful, doing good! Not that we never caused trouble! ;) But it's amazing the look of a lost tourist struggling through a book of common Italian words, and finally running into someone who speaks English. They have the look as if we were God-sent. A temporary relief that they can just speak English. & seeing that smile was nice. We were such wonderful kids (we were 13-14 year olds at the time!)! Not sure what happened as we grew up! ;)
In the past few months when I first moved here (Malaysia) from Hawai'i (USA), I found myself smiling at every foreign face - or at least anyone who didn't speak in a Malay-english or chinese-english or tamil-english accent! I feel relieved in their company. It's the first time in my globe trotting life, where I look like the local people. Finally found acceptance (from first impressions). Locals here don't stare (apart from the childish boys who ogle at any woman walking by!), they treat me like a local. Yet I find like this has been the oddest experience. I have become so accustomed to being treated different, to stand out in a room, to be stopped and asked questions of my origins. Now, I find myself feeling insignificant in an ocean of people who look like me. It's just strange. I am now ok with it, so my turning of my head and smiling at a foreign visitor has reduced!
I didn't realise till I moved here and interact with people, how westernised I am, and I relate more to the Western lifestyle than the East. And that surprises even the people I interact with. They expect an Asian attitude but they get something else.
Before the silly questions like, 'did you live in a hut? have a pet snake, go to school on an elephant? why you speak such great english?' etc. came first. Now acceptance comes first, and when they hear me talk or react to something differently, the silly questions follow. Here it's more like, 'oh you are Indian, why don't you speak Tamil?', 'oh but you are Hindu so why don't you celebrate Thaipusam?' (Many Indian Malaysians have origins from Sri Lanka & Tamil Nadu, so their assumption is all Indians are like Tamil people!)
In India, the people will ask my mom and dad if I speak Hindi or other languages. Why I don't wear a sari? Or they will dive into questions to quelch their curiosity about places I have lived in like, How did I live with a volcano errupting (when I was living in Hawaii), etc.
Over the decades, I have come to just laugh if off. Sometimes, it leaves me tired and makes me wonder if such questions will ever end?! Am I the only one? Or do you have stories?
In the past few months when I first moved here (Malaysia) from Hawai'i (USA), I found myself smiling at every foreign face - or at least anyone who didn't speak in a Malay-english or chinese-english or tamil-english accent! I feel relieved in their company. It's the first time in my globe trotting life, where I look like the local people. Finally found acceptance (from first impressions). Locals here don't stare (apart from the childish boys who ogle at any woman walking by!), they treat me like a local. Yet I find like this has been the oddest experience. I have become so accustomed to being treated different, to stand out in a room, to be stopped and asked questions of my origins. Now, I find myself feeling insignificant in an ocean of people who look like me. It's just strange. I am now ok with it, so my turning of my head and smiling at a foreign visitor has reduced!
I didn't realise till I moved here and interact with people, how westernised I am, and I relate more to the Western lifestyle than the East. And that surprises even the people I interact with. They expect an Asian attitude but they get something else.
Before the silly questions like, 'did you live in a hut? have a pet snake, go to school on an elephant? why you speak such great english?' etc. came first. Now acceptance comes first, and when they hear me talk or react to something differently, the silly questions follow. Here it's more like, 'oh you are Indian, why don't you speak Tamil?', 'oh but you are Hindu so why don't you celebrate Thaipusam?' (Many Indian Malaysians have origins from Sri Lanka & Tamil Nadu, so their assumption is all Indians are like Tamil people!)
In India, the people will ask my mom and dad if I speak Hindi or other languages. Why I don't wear a sari? Or they will dive into questions to quelch their curiosity about places I have lived in like, How did I live with a volcano errupting (when I was living in Hawaii), etc.
Over the decades, I have come to just laugh if off. Sometimes, it leaves me tired and makes me wonder if such questions will ever end?! Am I the only one? Or do you have stories?