Since coming home to the U.S. two years ago, I’ve been diligent to not stick out like I’m Fresh Off the Boat (FOB). Call it a matter of pride since I did spend the first eleven years of my life in America. Since coming back, the U.S. has of course grown in leaps and bounds in immigrants, many of which naturally carry their cultural habits with them, and as a result, are sometimes ridiculed or reviled for let’s say things like driving, and not picking up after themselves when eating at a fast food place. And because I have brown skin, it’s easy to automatically assume that I’m a “porainer”.

Is there anything wrong with being FOB? No. Is there anything wrong with my pride in possibly being identified as FOB? Yes.

Truth be told, I’ve had to jump quite a few cultural hurdles. It’s not easy returning to a place you knew as a child only to find it different from how you remember it. There weren’t as many cereal flavors in 1980! Nor were there row upon row of Coca-Cola variations! And bank cards? Whoah. I hardly ever carry cash.

Either these things were around and I just didn’t know about them because I was eleven and lived in Portland—very not cosmopolitan compared to let’s say, New York— or they really weren’t. Continue reading →