I love this post!

I was an immigrant or expat or migrant once. From the USA to Australia. I probably felt more like an immigrant since I was there married to my Australian husband and living my life surrounded by Australian people. Expat to me always seems more temporary. Like all the Aussies or South Africans working on short term Visas in Europe. They come for a few years. Make a lot of money doing casual work. Travel a lot. Spend their time with people from their home countries and then wander home in three or four years.

Now I am back in the US and my Australian husband is the immigrant. Even as a tall, blue eyed, Australian white guy being a green card holding immigrant is a stressful in trump land.

Tons of people with zero clue about immigration, the process, the rules, the emotion that accompanies living so far from home... all suddenly have very strong, uneducated and vocal opinions on the whole process. Then they look even dumber when they say.... oh but we don’t feel this way about Australians or your husband...

Why? Cause you only feel that way about the brown immigrants?

Your story about your friendship circles in Cambodia reminds me of stories I have heard about cruise ships. I have several friends who have worked on cruises and I was in a different branch of tourism for several years. Cruise ship staff are generally from all over the world. But the above deck crew are usually from more affluent countries, while the galley staff, maids and crew with less guest interaction are from less affluent counties. Seems totally sketchy.

Anyway, your post perfectly captures the nuances of living abroad.