Every country has its word to denote someone who isn’t from that country or region. In Japan, the the word is gaijin and here in Thailand farang. The tone with which the word is said varies per country. Sometimes it is used to simply designate someone is new, and other times it’s said in an almost racist way. Normally however it is used to state the obvious: the person is a foreigner.

After having meditated on how I feel about being called a farang all day every day, I decided it really didn’t bother me. Without any exaggeration, I am always a foreigner. It goes along with being a global citizen, when one cannot completely identify with one nationality because of travel, accent, or other personal reasons. I have never identified with being American, but French because of the time I spent in Antibes. I do consider myself a Brit, since my passport is British, but my accent ( in English) is American and thus most Brits consider me a bit of an outcast. My mates in Antibes consider me to be French ( or at least from Antibes) but that ends as soon as I encounter a Parisian. Then I am yet again a foreigner or ‘expat’.

My 3.5 year old was born in Los Angeles to myself and my Canadian American husband. Kaya has lived in South Korea, Italy, Thailand, and LA. Where the heck is she from? Do I just choose a country and say ‘…OK she is British’. For right now, I just tell her she is from Phuket, where we live. But kids here do not treat her as being Thai: she is a farang to them and they are shy around her. Only older children and expat kids want to interact with her, for reasons I don’t fully understand. My husband was born in St Louis and grew up in Michigan. He considers himself from LA. LAians get it, but if you ask his family they say he is from Michigan. They now live in Alabama.

I realize if we live in a country where we are a minority we will be called a foreigner. Even if one grows up in say Korea, speaks fluent Korean but yet is white/black, they will be treated like a foreigner (although with a lot or respect and admiration). I watched a video on how Koreans view foreigners who learn hangul. The couple in the video mentioned a friend of theirs who is fluent in the language and a restaurant critic. When she gives a restaurant a review, the owners are so speechless that she speaks fluent Korean they ignore the review and criticism, and compliment her linguistic ability. To her it is irritating, as her message gets lost amidst the praise.

My husband and I expect to live in Japan and raise our family there. I keep getting warned about the difficulty we will have in making friends, but I assure friends that we have been there. We know about being a minority, and about Japan’s culture. We’ve hosted and taught about 5 Japanese students, honeymooned in Nagasaki and have a large number of Japanese friends. We know that until we grasp the language well, we will struggle. But to be honest, I look forward to the challenge. And I know that we will not be ever looked at as Japanese, and that too is fine with me! I have dealt with this foreigner/gaijin label my whole life, and it is a part of who I am. It gives me the ability to be in a place and learn from it and yet retain a unique viewpoint. I am not the gaijin who goes to McDonald’s. I am the one going to eat where the locals go, and learning the native language. I don’t do it to get brownie points but because that is how I roll. I may have been born in the US but I was a foreigner there as well, and any trip I take back there reminds me of it, firmly.

Being a minority here in Thailand makes me even more sympathetic towards minorities in other countries and how they must struggle with fitting in. I get charged a lot more than Thais, for whatever I buy. I also sometimes get served last, even though I ordered first. I have seen many farang who make me look bad, by insulting customer service staff or a waitress, or by yes, dating very young Thai girls. I understand why I get treated differently. I don’t agree with it, but I certainly understand where it originates from.

But with this travel oriented world, things are changing. The struggles faced 50 years ago are evolving into triumphs, for some. Now that thousands of English teachers are coming to Asia to teach, they will be faced with these issues. Economic circumstances in the West are making the East a tempting option for many.  Some of these new teachers have never left their home country.

We will all one day be global citizens, in the world but not of it.

Elizabeth Kelsey is the Family Travel in Asia and Europe Editor for Wandering Educators. You can read more of her work at http://www.sattvicfamily.net/

Feature photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons:
flickr.com/photos/pacificit/3436314609/

Under the red lantern. Akasaka, Tokyo Japan

"Too many gaijin here!" I hear several times. I chuckle.