After years and years of frustration and failure, I have finally found a solution to one of my biggest problems with the initial conversation you have when meeting new people, and the solution to my problem is actually inspired by Facebooks relationship status. Here we go: There is a question in this world that I really hate. I hate being asked it and I hate having to reply… Because how? How do you explain! Where do you start? How do you make people understand… …That you might have a French passport but that you dont speak the language so well and that your only experience of the culture is visiting your grandmother in Paris every once in a while since you were a kid? …That you also have a Danish passport, speak the language with a slight accent and called Denmark home for 12 years, but that you never fell in love with the culture? …That you were born and raised in Greece, speak the language and lived there for 17 years, but that you always were considered a Xenos, a foreigner, because there isnt any Greek blood running in your veins? …That your roots are Hungarian and that your family goes way back into Hungarian aristocracy, but that you never had any big connection to the country and culture? …That you actually dont have that at home feeling with a specific city in a specific country, but that home for you is where youre sleeping tonight? How do you explain all of that? How do you make people understand, that you are not joking at all, when you reply I dont know after being asked where are you from?? Or that it isnt a political statement when you reply Im European? How! Yup, the question I hate the most in this world is the Where are you from question. I hate it because its inconcrete, people mean different things with it; Where do you live?, Where were you born?, What is your nationality?. I hate it because the question itself is basically an attempt to put me in a box. Or at least thats how it feels for me, the person asking is actually genuinely interested and trying to make conversation …and to understand me better by putting me in a box. Well… I think I finally found a way and as I mentioned its inspired by Facebooks relationship status option. From now on, whenever someone asks me where Im from, I will take a deep breath. I will emit a long sigh. I will look the person in the eye and I will smile and say: Its complicated. #RiversTreasureHunt day 16
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 07:17:07 +0000
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