It's gotten to where I need to reach out to people who know somewhat what I'm saying when I say that I can't fit into my "native" country. I lived abroad for my whole childhood attending American overseas schools for the American children of servicemen in the armed forces, and I've been living in America for over three years attending college. Over the course of three years, it's been easy enough to "fit in", but it's never really come to where I feel like this is my home, or that I'd even be comfortable living in this country for a very long time. I dunno, any expats here have similar stories? Grievances? Love-hate relationships with their "passport country" and the people within? I suppose it'd just be cool if we all just let out and vented issues in all their fury, lol. Later!
well yeah I feel the same, I am from Rus. Fed. and it never did become a home for me...it was always war for survival. I was never being understood, constantly laughed at, constantly being denied of treated the same way as other spanish speaking kids in my community...its hell basically...but I had nowhere else to go to
It's kinda reverse, I feel uncomfortable in Bangladesh, but comfortable in Australia. My passport country is fine, but my "native" country still has a long way to go.
I'm in the states from 18 years in the Caribbean, and I will never prefer a society that consumes like nuts while another consumes only nuts, stupid way to put it, but get my point?
The origins of my family goes back to Uzbekistan, but I was born in Afghanistan because my grandparents had to flee their motherland due to the Russian (Soviet) oppression (we call the Soviets = the Russians), we then had to flee Afghansitan with my family when my father came under persecution for working against the Soviet invasion. Pakistan,Iran and Turkey were our next destinations. I even lived in Dubai for around 2 years. Though my parents seem to had adopted Afghanistan as a homeland for its simple life and cordial people, nowhere I have felt more at home than in Turkey. It's people are quite friendly, hospitable and cultured without the classical (partial) xenophobia you notice in Iran or some Arabic countries. I still do not feel belonging to the land though. I supppose it will take generations to get to call a land your real home and until then you'll never find real peace of mind. One thing I know, I will never forgive the Russians for making me refugee and homeless. I do not think any refugee at all will ever be able to convince himself or herself to forgive those who cause him/her the peace of his/her whole life.
If you are blonde, you should have said you are Swedish, although your accent might betray you. I would say that makes a lot of difference... Try it next time when you meet a new person...
I am proud of my country, I dont want to be identified as a Swede. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thank you.
lucky you, I was dragged from my country to a country I hate Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Then suffer. :shrug: It is like Americans going to Europe for vacation. The smarter ones say they are Canadians...
You're a better person than I for enduring that much. Do you still regard Uzbekistan as home? Alot of people I know in my post-military-brat situation have the issue that we can't really identify any one place as "home", it's tough but it's a two-way street, the road's wide open from here, ya know? hahaha, and I thought this was a little known trick Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That's a difficult question. I suppose I see myself most a Turkish than an Uzbek, especially considering that the Uzbekistan government doesn't give us the entry visa so easily.
That is old news. Not very practical either, because it can be traced. Now a suitcase dirty bomb, that is something else... By the way, how can you design good missiles if you spend all of your time online and specially here? Shouldn't you be in a physics class or something?
What difference does it make ? It's not as though they'll ever use any of the things even if he manages to actually get there and design anything.
I'm a USAmerican who grew up in the Mideast and Africa. From an early age, it was apparent to me that my experiences had changed me, especially in comparison with USAmericans who have not had opportunities for their own horizons to be similarly broadened. Even today among many of my associates, my background is avoided in discussion, because it seems to be considered alien and difficult to approach by some. Conversely, it has required some challenging personal adjustment for me to adapt to not being a foreigner- which in more welcoming cultures than what we enjoy in the USA does confer a certain notoriety and latitude that life in one's own native land does not so readily entail. I still enjoy any chance to be a foreigner again, because it still feels very natural to me. I'm not sure if I've ever "Gone Native" as some fellow USAmericans have opined about me, but being a long-term expat has certainly changed my world-view, to the extent that if I am long isolated from the wider world and from fellow travelers, I have an acute, out-of-place sense that something important is missing in my life. My expat upbringing made me love coming home to the USA, but it also has made it impossible to tarry too long, without making plans for revisiting life over the hills and far away.
