Thursday, April 26, 2012

Travelogue: Australia – “Where Are You From?”

Let’s face it – I have traveled so extensively over the past twenty-some years that my accent has become hopelessly muddled. Not that it was ever all that distinct to start with. With parents from the Midwest, an upbringing in Southern Florida, and friends from all over the world, it is not as if I was going to speak with any single distinct accent.

So, when I get asked, these days where I am from, the answer is usually involved, complex, and generally speaking uninformative. When I was traveling all the time at my last company, I had a game that I would play – defining the list of places I had “lived” by any place I had been long enough to get mail and to pay the same bill at least twice. By that standard, I could claim that I had “lived” in most of the US States, many of the Canadian Provinces, and the UK.

By the more stringent standard of anyplace I had lived long enough to be required to pay taxes, and be able to apply for a driver’s license the count falls to four states and the UK. But if you include only the places I have appeared on the census, well! There are only two countries that I can include.

Australia is now one of the places I can count as having “Lived.” Not only have I been here two months, and had mail forwarded to me – so it fits my first description; I was here this past winter when they did the census enumeration and, as they include visitors on the census, it also fits my last description.

No watch out, the next time you ask me “where are you from?” I might include Australia in my answer! Even though, I am headed home to Colorado, Australia is one of the places I have lived!

Wherever you are this morning I hope that you are home, or at least headed there!

Don Bergquist – April 26 2012 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA

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