If someone were to ask me where I was from, I would say, “Arkansas.”
I lived in Arkansas from 5th grade through college graduation.
I haven’t lived there since.
Recently, I realized that I’ve lived in China for 12 years.
That’s the same amount of time I lived in Arkansas, but I don’t consider China my home. Sure, the food is great. The people are nice.
But it takes .2 seconds for me to walk out my door to have locals pointing and proclaiming, “Foreigner!”
No matter how long I’ve lived here, there’s always someone in the market or on the street corner who needs to verbally confirm that I am, indeed, foreign.
Tonight, as I ran around the track a Chinese boy, probably age 8, decided to run beside me and yell, “Hello Foreigner! Hello Foreigner!”
The welcome never stops.
the welcome never stops.
I love this! hahaha
Loved visiting your home in Arkansas–a fun memory!
You know, it’s strange to me, but even though we are only 20 min from the AR border, I still feel like I’m walking around holding a sign that says “foreigner”. I told Lane that I feel like people know we are not “from here”. (Maybe it’s the Razorbacks t-shirt that Lane insists on wearing?) 🙂 Anyway, this feeling has surprised me…I feel out of place…in a way.
12 years – congratulations!
…& yep…
😉