Excuse me...Are you American?
p/s: I'm having an identity crisis 5 days before I leave the countryoops! My contact person in India mentioned something that made me a little worried.
"We are excited to have you here because you are our first CEEDer from the US"....
....I am starting to wonder if this means he thinks I am American?.... *nervous laugh*
Maybe I am blowing this out of proportion but I almost feel that i must be able to represent the US in some way despite my nationality. (Which is Singaporean if you don't know by now). Even though they all know I am Asian, from Singapore but they would hope I can share a slice of my experience from the states and tell them more about the States.
Is this how our SNs (students who go abroad) from here feel when they are about to embark on their traineeship abroad? Do they have these questions swimming in their head about what to say if someone asks them a question about the US? We always did those sessions where we put our SNs on the hot spot by bombarding them with questions about what people overseas would ask an American in order to prepare them. I was always on the side of the table that would fire questions at them.
1. Why Bush?
2. Why does the US fight the Iraq war?
3. Are American people fat?
The list goes on.... these are the questions people ask in ignorance no matter their motivation behind the questions.
Strangely, I never thought this day would come when i would feel this nervousness about how to talk about America. I am afraid I will say something that is not representative of an American will really say. How can I help the people in India understand this country when I know so little about it?!
I am not sure what my identity will be in India....because I don't even think I know what my Singapore side is anymore. People tell me I speak with an American accent now...especially my sisters... and the funny thing is that I can only revert to my Singaporean accent when I am with fellow Singaporeans. So strangers who don't know my background will think I am from the US, or China if I am lucky. Don't get me wrong, I am not annoyed that they think I am from China (it's a great country by the way and I like the association!) But where's the Singapore slang gone too?
Guess I'll only know when I get to India who i am.....
!
4 Comments:
u're a world trotter, that's what - gone is the day where everyone is exclusively from 1 country! being from sg we're especially made up of all sorts cultures. so yah, gets confusing that u're coming thru an american program but u're from sg, but hey, makes u relate to the indians a lil more since u can bridge both asia and america - go for it!!! takes any 'ugly american' stigma away right, be positive!!
get all your shots pls, don't catch anything.
ps. count down date is may 5th to LA
oh btw it's cindy from sg....
You never told me you were going to India! I'm so happy for you, you'll have a great time! Keep in touch and let me know how it goes!
yar where's your Singaporean accent man? :)
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