One of the problems I've had has been explaning to people I that I'm from America. Consistently, I get asked about where I'm from, to which I reply, New York. And most people then ask where my family is from. And I'll say, New Jersey. They'll reply "Oh, you look _______ (fill in the blank, Chinese, Korean, Thai, etc.)"

And people have asked me, why don't I identify myself as Chinese. For most of the world, people identify themselves by their blood ancestry. I spent 2 evenings explaining this concept to a German girl, who just didn't believe me that when people are born and grow up in America, whether they're from Haiti or Mongolia, will generally identify themselves as American, and both will be correct. Both people will bring different things to the quilt that is American society and culture and change it, because American culture and society is always evolving.

For Germany, and many other countries, I know it's different. There are like, 3rd and 4th generation ethnic Russians in Germany, whom Germany refuses to grant citizenship. Meanwhile, for you Americans with German blood, you could probably get a German passport with less hassle than it takes for you to get an American one.

When I was in Cambodia, I was talking to the owner of my guesthouse, a Khmer (Khmer are what the Cambodian people call themselves), and telling him about my friend in high school, who is Cambodian-American and doesn't speak Khmer. And he replied, "Oh she is half-Khmer." But I explained to him that both her parents are full-blooded Khmer, and I could visibly see that he had a tough time understanding why I called her Cambodian-American.

In fact, during a stop on a long 16-17 hour bus ride from Pnomh Penh to Bangkok, I randomly met a member of the Cambodian Parliament. He gave us his business card which said that he was a member of the human rights committee in Parliament. During his conversation with one of the people I was traveling with, he said he was working on getting rid of of the 2-3 million illegal Vietnamese aliens out of Cambodia. Sounds something like America right? Well, the problem is (and he didn't tell us this, I know this because I've been doing research) that alot of those Vietnamese people are like 4th or 5th generation Vietnamese. Others came to Cambodia when they were babies, fleeing American soldiers in Vietnam, and grew up speaking Khmer, not knowing any Vietnamese. Culturally they pretty much are Khmer, which is why Vietnam doesn't want them. But Cambodia doesn't want them because they are ethnically Vietnamese.

(That was one thing I still don't understand. The Vietnamese are the main reason why the Khmer Rouge are not still in power. They came in in the mid-70s and overthrew the Khmer Rouge because the KR attacked the southern provinces of Vietnam. But Cambodians seem to have more hatred for the Vietnamese than the Khmer Rouge.)

This is why I feel lucky to be an American. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my Chinese ancestry too. But as for my ideals and values, they were totally shaped by living in America. Thank god I didn't grow up thinking Mao to be the father of my country.