Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The detached foreigner

First, a few good things about being a foreigner.

You are not expected to know the ins and outs of life in your current country of residence. You get to look at many things and behaviors with a smile. You do not need to have an opinion about politics. If you happen to be from the 'right' country, you will get more sex than you possibly imagined back home. You can outright laugh at whatever immigration policy your current location may have because most of it does not make much sense anyway, even if they are trying very hard.
You will learn new things, new customs simply because you are physically present.

Then there are drawbacks.

If you happen to live in a country where "no taxation without representation" is still part of the public discourse, you may find being unable to vote or becoming deportable for any offense beyond a parking ticket a little, say, taxing at tax return filing time.

You may find that your detachment breaks down every now and then. That is completely normal and a good sign, because unbroken detachment almost certainly makes you eligible for some mental disorder label.
You will find that some people reject you because of your origin, but you should never forget that this can happen to you back home, too. The main difference between rejection in your new country and back home is that rejection as an immigrant is usually less fine grained.  You can be rejected, for example, because you are from Lebanon, whereas in Lebanon, you'd be rejected for being from a certain small village on a specific mountain road.

You will have to figure out if you want to go native or not, if you have that choice.

And you may eventually go through the stages of grief twice. Once because you have lost your home, once because your new home is not what you expected it to be.

Your sense of humor or the simple progression of age can help overcome these drawbacks.



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