Introducing Aliza

摘要

This past July I went on holiday to my home country, South Africa. There, I was shocked to discover that I could not exchange foreign currency because I could not prove my residency - anywhere! Rarely have I felt so itinerant. For my career as researcher I have traveled and displaced myself so many times that nobody is able to identify my accent these days. Although this has its perks (I have a sexy/weird/ foreign accent even in South Africa), being a constant outsider has its down side. In my journey I have faced serious issues (how to get an American visa in Addis Ababa, while residing in Ethiopia, as a South African woman with a nearly expired passport), and many, smaller hitches ("Is that a tall, grande, or ultra-mega-sized coffee, ma'am?").