The thing is, I get it very little over here. If anything, I got flirted with a lot more in Austria than in America, really and flirting isn't something that bugs me. It's the part where I'm treated like I'm just not even a person -- flirting is friendly, flattering and kind of an ego boost, and I have yet to deal with serious full-on skin-crawling which is what I get in Sri Lanka. Though it could also just be the fact that in Sri Lanka, I get that kind of reaction from all guys at once so it's really overwhelming and scary.

I know that realistically, there isn't anything that I can do about it, except try to change the culture or leave it. I hate the way my father just dismissed my very real sense of not being safe, but I was also pleasantly surprised that my mother agreed with me and was willing to speak out against my father. She normally'll do anything to avoid confrontation.

I grew up thinking that America was the coolest country in the world. I hate wondering when it got to the point that I can't say I'm American without adding the qualifer that I was raised in Europe and have a Sri Lankan passport as well.