Being an Alien/Foreigner

It is tough being a foreigner sometimes. Despite the desire to assimilate into the culture of the country we are in, because of the fact that we look different from the local people, we are still considered as foreigners and we have to battle with the stigma that comes with it sometimes- no matter how long we've been here.

I've been here for almost four weeks now and I still get 'hello-welcome to Cairo!' when I walk on the streets. My housemate who's been here for 8 years tell me she still gets such greetings-much to her amusement and exasperation. Sometimes, worse names are being called at her on the streets because of her 'foreign-ness' and the negative associations that come with it(foreign women are considered to have loose morals because of the negative impression they have through American movies). For now, because of my being to unable to understand Arabic bad words(and I pray that I don't anytime soon), I'm blissfully ignorant if such words are thrown at me.

It can be also hard for a Chinese because there are women from China going around with their backpacks and selling things to ppl in their apartments(which is strictly a big NO culturally here)- especially when it belongs to a single guy. So it is not surprising when rumours go around that Chinese women have loose morals and are selling themselves. :p As much as I love the practicalities of using a backpack, I find that I have to forgo that here as much as I can.

Another slightly exasperating fact is that they are not able to distinguish between Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc... I'm frequently asked if I am Japanese. Imagine the confusion when I tell them I'm a Malaysian - a Malaysian Chinese... Hehehehe..

At the end of the day, I agree with one of my friends here- as much as we love the country and the people here and as much as we want and try so hard to be a part of this place - we have to learn to accept that we are still foreigners. We will always look and think differently. One interesting thing about this is that you get a greater understanding of 'being in this world and yet of not this world'.