Where are you coming from?

I always feel a bit uneasy when some one asked me "Where are you coming from?". For obviously reason, if they think I am local, they won't have to ask this kind of question.

After many years wondering outside my home country, I have learnt to decode the really meaning behind this harmless looking question.

Sometimes, it could be just curious, for you are standing out from a crowd, "I wonder who are you and you are different from all of us..?" sometimes, it could be suspicious, "Why do you come here." Sometimes, it could be hostile "I don't really like you to be here." sometimes, not so often thought, it could be sincere concern and care "You look so lonely, are you all right?"

I have experienced all of them. Time has taught me to not to take seriously to those with unkind intends, but treasure those with kind hearts.

Once, I was in Amsterdam, I was taking tram back to my hotel in the evening. I told the bus driver the hotel name where I was staying. He signaled me and let me down. Little did I know that in fact there are two hotels have the same name, and I was in the wrong one.

It was quite dark, I was anxious to find my way back. Asking a few people for direction, I waited at a tram station for another tram back. There was an old woman standing nearby, she was observing me for a while, then, she approached me and asked me "Where are you come from?" I can still felt the kindness and care in her tone, at that moment, I almost burst into tears. After hearing my story, she told me with sincere concern that it was not safe for a young girl to travel at night and she offered me to accompany me back to my hotel.

Oh, that was 15 years ago. I don't know her name, but I can still remember her voice and caring tone when she asked me "where are you coming from?'

Other similar questions would be "Are you Japanese? Korean? Or HKnese?"
Or even "Are you from Taiwan?" I had never felt more patriotic that those moments. Raising my back, I asked them straight to their face," No, I come from China, PRC."

The only place where I had not even once been asked this question was in the United Stated. In fact, people are so used to foreigners they don't bother to ask you "Where are you coming from?" After all, almost everybody there was coming from somewhere else. The openness and readily acceptance really makes the United Stated attractive for many immigrants. However, to make a home is more complex than to handle a question like this.

Finally I came to Singapore. I thought I should be quite at home. 72% Singaporeans are Chinese. But my non-Singalish English often betrays me. Even if I speak Chinese, the locals have different tone and dialects from standard Mandarin. I finally married a Singaporean and took up the citizenship. That doesn't stop me being asked "Where are you coming from?" Quite annoying sometimes, I feel that I may be never at "home" after all.