I became a citizen of the United States more than nine years ago, but in my heart I remain an immigrant. What I mean by this is something quite simple. I’m constantly aware of the gulf between my experiences as an immigrant and those of the native-born citizens around me.

Some of these differences are trivial, everyday matters, such as the fact that I am still far more fluent in celsius than in fahrenheit (and, honestly, how can the weather possibly reach 100 degrees?). Others reflect differences in upbringing. I can’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance from memory, for example. But the biggest difference is more profound. Unlike most of the native-born, to be an immigrant in this country is to keep one eye always trained