June 17, 2006
Where are you from
In May I had to fly over to Seattle for a conference. I met people from 46 countries and decided not to explain anything.
"Where are you from?"
"Austria." [actually from Germany, but living in Vienna and representing Austria, yes, couple of years now, nice place, really beautiful, great friends, don't wanna go back, family and friends all over places ...]
It's not that I dislike Austria, but saying "I am from Austria" was a pretty strange feeling. Almost like betraying my origin.
But I now know what it must be like to be Australian, erm, Austrian.
At least ten times it went like this:
"Where are you from?"
"Austria."
"Oh, that's nice - Australia!"
And on my Australian colleague's badge it said: "Beth - Austria".
Did you know that they sell T-shirts in Austria saying "No kangaroos in Austria"?
Still better than being German and being confronted with question like "Have you ever met Hitler?"