Which Card to Play.

The thing about being a bicultural expat whose identity 'shares' in part with the target culture is that you can have some liberty as to which card that you'll play at certain times.  (Other times you have no choice at all).  

I haven't quite created a rule of thumb as to when I'll pull the American card or the Ch. one.  It's often unpredictable, and also varies with my mood.  I feel that there are particular 'injustices' in having a Ch. face here since the American card isn't always acceptable to the locals.  Still, when given a choice, I'll play either card for all its worth.

Take for example my trip to Green Island.  I was getting frustrated trying to confirm our hotel reservation when I used my Ch.  Long story that I won't go into.  But then I used my English on the next phone call and all was magically better.  "Yes Ms. Lee, no problem Ms. Lee."  When we finally arrived at the hotel the man at the concierge looked up my name and said in Ch. "Oh, it was you I talked to the other day...why did you use English?  You were scaring me."  I laughed it off.

On the flip side, those who have toured this great land also know that there are separate prices quoted for either local or foreign tourists.  Guess which card I'll play for that one. 

Today one of the office workers at my school approached me for help with English.  He had two paragraphs for me to review.  I asked him why he was writing these and he said he was writing them for a friend whose son is in middle school.  "So you're writing it for him?" I asked.  "That's just wrong...[If back home, I would have added the dude for emphasis]...I'm not going to look at it."  I had just finished a conversation with another person about how furious I was over a student I had in the States who plagiarized.  I continued to lecture, "In the States, that's like a serious crime."  I got the other teachers in the room to agree with me.  The office worker then said, "But it's different here."  And the way he looked at me he seemed to imply that I, of all people, should know.  Later on he remarked, "So thank you for being so righteous."  He said it in English (his second language), and though he probably meant it as a positive, when someone calls you righteous, it just isn't necessarily a compliment.  

What card did I play there?  Well, easily my American sense of right and wrong.

There's another card yet to be played.  It's the one from the other citizenship that I have.  That card is a bit trickier to play here, yet all the same, needs to be played.