Alien

I'm not a huge fan of "fitting in". I don't mind being different and doing things a bit out of the box. I am certain that God did that intentionally since it certainly played into my desire to move to a developing southeast Asian country. One way that that trait made itself evident here was shortly after we moved here.
Everyone here (not literally everyone; I always tell my kids to never use absolutes but you know what I mean) told us that everyone (see above parenthetical statement) who moves here goes to Sihanoukville for their first excursion out of the Phnom Penh. Sihanoukville is the most popular beach town in Cambodia. 90% of tourists who say they went to the beach in Cambodia mean they went to Sihanoukville. Although I didn't articulate it right then and there, when I heard that, something inside of me cringed. "I don't want to do what everyone does". So Carolyn and I decided to appease my petty desire to not want to fit in and we went to Thailand instead. A bit further of a drive but well worth it for many reasons.
This desire of mine has also helped out a lot since, as you can imagine,  I don't really fit in with the locals here. I am not sure if it is my height or my accent when I speak. It could also be the clothes I wear or the fact that I ride a loud dirt bike. Or...maybe its because I'm white. Haven't quite figured it out yet. Anyways, I can never blend in. Ever. Even if I wanted to. This point is made more evident since Cambodians enjoy staring at foreigners. I have learned that they aren't being rude. It is just culturally acceptable here. This is how it played out for me one day: I took my dirt bike to a local "car wash" to have it washed. Since the workers there are thorough but not fast, I brought a book to read while waiting. I sat at small table (maybe 3' by 4') and drank some water while I read. Not long after, a Khmer man came and sat across from me. Although I did not look up, I could tell that he was staring at me. I could have reached out and touched him he was so close. To try and discourage this behavior, I thought I would look up at him and make eye contact. Certainly that would make him look away. Well, he just smiled, undeterred, as our gazes locked for 6-8 seconds. Then I smiled back and continued reading. Fun times.

Me driving kids to school on "crazy hair day".

All of us in the fam get stared at because we stick out. I have had several conversations with my kids about this. They will say something like "I don't want to do that. People will stare at me". I always (again, see parenthetical statement above) reply with "They will stare at you anyways. Why not give them a reason?" That is met with the typical teenage rolling of the eyes, even from the ones that aren't teenagers yet. Regardless, it is something we are all getting used to, whether we want to or not.
As we anticipate our time in America this summer, I think I will subconsciously breathe a sigh of relief. For the first time in 2 1/2 years I can walk around and feel like I fit in, even if I don't.  Then, like God usually does, he caused me to think deeper. As a Christian, should I ever fit in down here? I was not made for this world. I am just passing through. This isn't my homeland...just like Cambodia isn't my homeland. And just like it is glaringly obvious that I don't naturally belong in Cambodia, maybe it should be just as obvious that I don't fit here on Earth. 1 Peter 2:11 speaks directly to this: "Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul."  Maybe not fitting in was what we were all meant to do.