a foreigner in every land

"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