"There are no foreign lands. It is
the traveler only who is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson
The more time I spend in Spain, the more I notice that I don't fit in. I may have known Spanish before coming here, but I was not well-versed in Castilian (the Spanish of Spain) vocabulary, much less the local Andalusian Spanish. I don't look anything like the "typical" Spaniard. I'm still adjusting to the late-night lifestyle and fully embracing siestas. This slow-paced lifestyle is not how I am used to living... The list goes on - there are countless ways in which I am different from the people, culture, etc. here.
And it's those very differences
that, in an odd way, make me
feel so at home. While I don't exactly blend in here, there were many times
I felt equally as foreign in the United States, where I grew up.
Maybe "belonging" somewhere is just something that takes
time. Or maybe there won't be any one country in which I don't feel
foreign. I feel that the more cultures I experience - not just visit, but try
to understand through long-term stays and investing in the people - the more
foreign I become to any one country. I am becoming a mix of so many different
cultures with each new city and country to which I move.
I am a foreigner in every
land.
It's a beautiful thing, really. But it also fills my
life with the tension of wanting to belong and yet not wanting to be tied to
one country or culture.
Despite - or maybe because of -
all of this, I am becoming increasingly aware of how unimportant it is that I
fit in or not. As I meet and am in conversation with more people
here, it's so evident that we are all fundamentally the same. We are all
on a journey, all seeking one
thing in life: love. I can try and
separate myself from a person (or people group) because we don't speak the same
language, have the same cultural practices, value the same things.
But I would never be able to
succeed.
There is something so deeply
rooted in human nature that bonds us, whether we recognize it or not. Together we are on this journey through
life. In spite of not culturally fitting in here in Málaga, I know
that I do fit in with the people of my neighborhood, this city, this country
because we all share this need for love in our lives. So I am living more
intentionally every single day, letting my life be full of love by seeking out
the need and actually doing something about it. Because, by
loving others, I become more full of love. It is an incredible, more
purposeful, difficult and super-rewarding way of life.
I hope that I am forever a
foreigner on this planet, always searching for ways to love and serve my
neighbors, whoever they might be, and wherever life takes me.
♥ mk
