A girl from nowhere

Thoughts about how you don't feel like explaining every Tom, Dick and Harry you happened to meet in the corner store how you ended up spending your gap year in Australia after first studying and working in South Korea, Poland and Ireland. Yeah, sometimes it's better to say nothing at all as your accent is bound to reveal that you aren't local. Yeah, you don't necessarily want everyone to know it.

I tried to buy stamps in a stationery and the lady there told me straight away, sorry we don't sell international stamps, you'll have to go to the post office. This being just one example of how annoying it can be to have an accent. And there are more examples, of course. Every time I have a conversation with someone, sooner or later I'll have to summarize my immigration history. Asking this classic question is an easy way to start a conversation, I get that much, and some people are probably genuinely interested where the heck did this person wander here from, but imagine repeating the same thing time after time. Like a broken record. Boring.

Sun is about to set

And it's not like the entire city of X (insert current location) is entitled to my story. The cashier at Woolworths doesn't really need the info but I can't help it. They'll notice I'm a foreigner when I open my mouth. Silence is golden they say. I don't want to keep repeating where I'm from, I want to tell the world where I'm going to.

Then you'll meet people who feel embarrassed by their own curiosity and they'll hastily at "I mean, originally". It is relatively easy to change our home country and sometimes it's possible to change your nationality. I could be  brand new Australian, American or Englishwoman,  but everyone will hear I used to be something/someone else. Getting the accent right is the most difficult aspect of language learning. I can only imagine how fed up expats/immigrants are after 10+ years of hearing "where are you from" from every second person they meet. For how long you can be a foreigner in your new home?

Always remember that a rolling stone gathers no moss

It's easier to be a foreigner in a country where you look different, so people will know you are most likely a foreigner. I never needed to explain that I'm a foreigner when I was living in South Korea. My face is also acted as a warning sign for those who didn't have the ability communicate in foreign languages. On the other hand, looking different probably means experiencing more racism. It's nice to blend in after all.

Every time my accent start to get on my nerves I'll remember this funny story. My Grandfather visited the dentist in Finland to get a filling done. After the treatment the dentist asked my Grandfather where he's originally from as it was clear for the dentist that he isn't local. Grandfather was a bit confused by the statement as he is a Finn and speaks Finnish but he's originally WWII refugee from Karelia (nowadays a part of Russia), so he asked how the dentist figured out he was born in different part of the country. The answer: his teeth are different. I assume that's because he didn't drink the same water or eat the same food as people did in our area. So EVERYTHING in us tells a story about our origin, better to accept it with good grace.

I wonder where did he come from. Nowadays he's in a museum in Brisbane.