From here

"What?! You live abroad?"

I get that reaction a lot. If I don't say anything, nobody knows. And I never say it, unless people ask. And in many ways, I don't like being asked. Worst is when I'm being introduced by my relatives to strangers, because they like to add "...oh, and he lives abroad." As if I'm a trophy to be shown off, as if I add to the impression of being superior and more well off.

If unsaid, nobody can ever tell from the way I speak, the way I dress, and the way I behave, that I've lived most of my life outside of Taiwan.

 I seem to be no different than the rest. Some may even say I'm more Taiwanese than most people, because I seem to know so much about local customs and traditions. Some probably think I'm a country-boy from the deep south, from farm country or from so remote mountain village, because of the way I speak. And in a way I am proud of that. So many years, the vast majority of my life, spent outside the country of my birth, and yet my cultural roots and identification with this little island are still so strong, and I hope will never be severed.

It's not that I dress or talk just to fit in. I just am the way I am, and I see no reason to change that when I'm in a different country (of course, social ettiquettes and how people interact with one another changes across borders, and I do adapt myself to those subtle differences.

But I've seen enough Taiwanese kids my age who (have) live(d) abroad, and who come here and simply stand out just by the way they are. And people who have lived abroad or who study abroad are treated differently, are often perceived as 'superior' beings somehow. They are looked at with envy, and are supposed to have it so much better than everyone else who has not studied or lived abroad. And I don't like that.

Perhaps it comes down to the mentally that the "grass is greener on the other side", and I live on the other side. But honestly, how different am I really from anyone else here, except that I live elsewhere?