To my nieces and news back in Canada, I am their German aunt. Even my dear friend, Ann, who I went to high school with, once introduced me as her "German friend" when we bumped into her neighbour. In some weird way, this almost makes sense... this is where I have lived my whole adult life.
My family, friends, and colleagues in Germany always staple on the prefix "Canadian" when explaining who I am, as in my "Canadian friend" or my "Canadian colleague". When I call them out on this, they respond defensively. "I don't mean anything by this. It's just who you are. It's sort of a badge of merit." They try to coax me into thinking it is something positive.
I persist. "Can't I just be your friend? Or just your colleague? Don't you see it might be irritating, wrong, not nice to have to carry this label?" For f*cks sake, I have been living in Germany for 40 years now!
(This post is part of my "Growing Up & Growing Old" project.)
No comments:
Post a Comment