I get this question a lot, usually after someone has spoken to me in Arabic and seen the puzzled look on my face as I try to make out what they said.
"Where you from?" is the natural question. "America," is my answer. They blink, after which they either ask me again or say "Really?" Sometimes they'll even ask if I was born there.
Once I convince them that I really am an American, born and bred in the USA, they smile and tell me that I look Egyptian. (Here I am with a native Egyptian. What do you think?)
I was sharing some pix of my family with our Egyptian neighbor, which she enjoyed, and once she saw my father she exclaimed, "He looks Egyptian!" and "He looks like an Arab!" and "If I met him on the street I would speak Arabic to him!" Then I showed some pix of my husband's family, and our neighbor pointed to our niece and happily said, "That's an American!"
Most of the time, I see reactions like these as an opportunity to educate others on the diversity of my country's citizens. :-) Americans come in every color. I mean, really, we just elected a black president! :-))) But when our neighbor said that about our niece, it does remind me that there is a reason we, American people of color, are a minority. And that is that most Americans are white and most American tourists are white.
So I can't really blame people for double-checking where I come from. Especially since I'll continue to be mistaken for a local for the next couple of months!
5 comments:
I think you look like an American - but then again, I am an American and am used to everybody looking like Americans :-D ! I find it very odd to go places and have people ID folks based on looks - and they do so accurately. I can't. They can pull off "He looks Thai" or "She looks Lebanese" or whatever. I will be lucky if I properly differentiate major racial types.
I had to work with the UK military once when I was in the Army, the SGM I was working with joked about having to do roll call. In the UK he said, it was easy... in the US, he suggested that it had to be a real workout. He was right!
I've been mistaken as "local" virtually everywhere on the planet. My colouring is such that unless we're in Sweden i am always spoken to in the local language.
When we were in France they knew from my french accent i was canadian but this group of bocci ball playes were trying to guess the heritage of my friends and I. I was one of the only ones who spoke enough french to converse with him and explained that most of the girls were Italian. "Yes, i see that. You look italian." I was the only one who wasn't. LOL
it is kind of neat to be mistaken for a local--until i open my mouth. ;-)
friends suggested i pretend to be a tour guide for my hubby in india so that the touts will leave us alone.
Hey did you two climb the minaret at Bab Zuweila and see the message i wrote you ant Tim?
uuuhhhhhhmmmm....nope, we only climbed the minaret of ibn tulun and the madrassa. :-( i thought you climbed ibn tulun and even looked for your message.
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