Alien

alien

• adjective 1 belonging to a foreign country. 2 unfamiliar and distasteful. 3 (of a plant or animal species) introduced from another country and later naturalized. 4 relating to beings from other worlds.

• noun 1 a foreigner. 2 an alien plant or animal species. 3 a being from another world.
— DERIVATIVES alienness noun.
— ORIGIN Latin alienus, from alius ‘other’.

-ASKOXFORD.COM

I am an Alien. The other day I had to explain to this guy on the phone that no I am not an US citizen. He seemed to have problems grasping this fact. I am an alien. Different and unfamiliar. Sometimes this fact is very clear. They make a reference to a show they all saw when they were kids, and when I don't get it, don't laugh or joke, or make a completely different connection, they look at me funny until someone says "Oh, yeah, that is right, you're not from here." I am different than them, and sometimes it hurt. When I make a joke that offends, not because I mean to but because that simply isn't offensive, or use the wrong words. Like Mulatto or Negro, I know these terms are bad over here, taboo, but where I am from it was quite resent that they became socially incorrect. I had textbooks in school that used Neger (Norwegian for Negro) in them. It is one of those little things that I have to constantly think about. I must not use the wrong word, because it will offend them. Another is the metric versus US systems, people look at me funny when I give lengths in metric, and when I can instantly answer in class when a teacher gives us lengths in metric. It's the look of 'what the fuck are you talking about' and then they replace it with one that is equally bad, 'Oh, yeah, you're different'.

Different seems to be the theme of my life. I feel like an alien back home too. After living without TV for two years and not being there and getting caught up on gossip, I simply don't get all their references. Also, neighter of my parents are from where we live, and in fact my grandmother was Danish. In a small community that means that the family will be aliens for generations. I often get the same looks back home.\

It seems horrible to say this, but sometimes I wish I was like them, or that I hadn't left home at all. Gone to Evje Vidregaaende (Evje High School) and gone to NTNU. I don't feel like answering "Where are you from?" every single time I meet someone. I don't want to explain all the wrong connections I make, all the stupid things I say. I want to get the references they talk about. I want to be able to nod and smile when they talk about something and not fake it every time. When people point out my accent I want to scream and throw ice-cubes at them. And the thing I want to scream?

"I never asked to be bloody different, god damn it!"