So says a guy I met at a friend’s leaving party last Friday night (or was it morning? To be honest, the hours just kind of blended together…). The conversation was something like this:
[Joke in French which I didn't get, because of some cultural reference I don't understand (and still don't d'ailleurs, even after an explanation)].
Guy: “Alors tu viens d’où? (So where do you come from)” (because he realised that I didn’t get the joke because I’m not French)
Me: “Ehm, d’un peu partout. (Uh, from everywhere really)”
Guy: “Mais tu dois venir de quelque pars… tout le monde a des racines. (But you have to be from somewhere… Everyone has roots somewhere.)”
Me: “Bah, moi j’en ai pas.”
Guy: “Mais c’est quoi ta nationalité? (But what nationality do you have?)”
Me: “J’en ai trois. (I have three.)”
Guy: “Alors t’es nés ou? Et tu as passé combien de temps là-bas? (Then where were you born? And how long did you spend there?)
Me: “Les Etats-Unis. J’ai passé 8 ans là-bas. Et puis 3 ans en Chine, puis 3 ans en Inde, 1.5 ans en Egypte, et maintenant du temps en France, la Suisse, l’Angleterre et la Belgiaue. (The US. I spent 8 years there. Then 3 years in China. Then 3 years in India. Then 1.5 years in Egypt. Then some time in France, Switzerland, England and Belgium.)”
Guy: “Mais il faut que tu choisisse une! Tu sens que tu appartient le plus a quel pays? (Well you must choose one of them! Which one do you feel like you come from the most?)”
Me: “Pourquoi doit-je choisir un seul? Donnes moi une bonne raison. (Why do I have to choose one? Give me one good reason.)”
Guy: “Parce-que tout le monde vient de quelque pars! On te force à choisir une! (Because everyone comes from somewhere! We’re forcing you to choose one!)”
This went on a little longer, until finally I managed to get him to say that I was a “citizen of the world” ( at which point he shook my hand (I’m still not sure why exactly…)), because he couldn’t find a good answer to my question ‘WHY do I have to choose one?’
I’m a little sick of having conversations like this (although this one was a little more forceful than usual – he really wanted me to choose one). Sure, I’m ’special’ (at least to them (or just different)), but the novelty wears off eventually.
Wow, that’s a really bad one. Those people are never any fun, but this one’s exceptionally annoying! I’m still not quite sure why it’s so important to be from only one place, especially when one has moved as much as you have. Logic should tell people you’re not from one place quite simply.
[...] wtck also recently posted a conversation with someone who insisted that they pick a country. [...]
He eventually gave up at least and then was willing enough to learn some new English words – it’s not that he’s necessarily any more annoying than the next person, he just insisted more than most on the monocultural ‘you have to come from somewhere’ idea.