Foreigner

I have always been gaijin, even in high school. My classmates, I could never call them friends, never understood me, never understood what I said. Even now, I still feel like a stranger among my friends but at least I am sure they are my friends and they accept me as one.

Often, I feel this alien-ness most whenever I crack a joke and it goes over everyone in the circle. Or even when my friends ask me why I speak in English most of the time.

Just the same, it's fine with me. They don't ask me to become like them and I'm mature enough to not try to become like them.

I am glad to be accepted as one of their friends and in effect, no longer gaijin.