Here’s some more thoughts on culture and fitting in that I came upon in the blog Step In written by Aileen, a colleague working in web design in Asia. I was fascinated by her thoughts on identity being an Asian who had grown up in the USA. In her blog Where are you from? she explores aspects of belonging to a culture and the struggles of knowing whether or not one belongs.
Living in the U.S. I would regularly be asked the questions… “What are you?” “Where are you from?”… the questioner obviously trying to find out my ethnic heritage. Usually I’d make it difficult for them and answer the question with, “I’m a student.” or “I was born in Connecticut.”
I grew up with getting those questions constantly. I got used to and came to expect to be asked the question shortly after meeting people. Usually when I was young, people would tell me with insistence, “Oh, you’re Chinese.” When I’d correct them, they’d still insist because I think during those days, that was all that people were familiar with. OR, they’d give me one of my favorite responses… “Oh, well… you all look alike.” (Which… in all fairness, with the diversity of people throughout Asia, it is hard to know where people are from!)
I thought that when I moved to the Asia area, that I’d stop getting asked that question. I’m finding however… I still get asked that question. 🙂
Read on to find out how a taxi trip helped the search for identity…
Ah, but today!!! Being told that I have the nose of a Filipino — there was a sense of pride in my heart when that driver told me that. There was a feeling of belonging. There was a feeling that YES! something to identify me with my heritage!
And as I said in Cultures: how do I fit in? No.1, if you are reading this anywhere in N. Ireland you might want to check out this one day event World on Our Doorstep organised by Mission Agencies Partnership MAP. If you want to relate to other cultures in your locality, then this would be worth putting in the diary.
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