Saturday, October 08, 2005

More fun at work today:

It was our Harvest Festival, so our local vendors came in a big tent outside and gave away free local things; I spent my whole lunch break out there, met a lot of folks who worked with me, and scored free pie, bread, cheese, chocolate, milk, etc. etc. The beer-mustard was great, and I was really cheerful going back into work for a change. Good stuff, that.

Also, in the continuing "you're from where?" saga one of my early-morning customers paused in the middle of our banter and hesitantly asked...do...do you have some sort of accent? Apparently I look and sound like a foreigner yet again. Her hesitant guess was "German," which I don't quite get. My co-workers chimed in with "maybe English, 'cause he looks like a Beatle" (yes, I need to get my hair cut, am working on that) but, joking aside, it was puzzlingly comical, as usual.

So far, that's Lithuanian, Ukrainian, German, Russian, English (to Americans), and Czech. (to some Slovaks to whom I was, admittedly, speaking Czech) Clearly my appearance is somewhat unusual, assumedly mainly as a result of the height issue. I do look very Slavic, and my tone and cadence may be odd...but it's still bizarre to me that I flag so many people as vaguely foreign. Mainly that guy in Providence who was convinced I was English, or putting on a really good English accent for show.

*shrugs* And now, the weekend.

5 comments:

Andrew said...

Heh. Margaret Mead's diaries.

Oh, and this doesn't even include being able to walk around Istanbul and not be accosted (including a lengthy walk through the main bazaar) while my brother and his girlfriend got hassled constantly during their visit some time later.

So I can pass for something not immediately recognizable as a tourist in Turkey as well, as least in the city.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I thought you were Canadian or something funny like that.

- Jesse

Andrew said...

Seriously? This rings a bell, but I can't tell if you're being facetious or not when not in person

notroberttowne said...

I just assumed your name was spencer. The ethnicity never threw me.

And I have the same thing going, but only on a national level. Way down here in dixie, everyone guesses I'm from somewhere quite distant, but still within the bounds of the states. Most recently, Alaska... wtf, mate?

Anonymous said...

I just thought you were twice the size of me.

I suppose I should see it as a compliment - fluency wise - to be assumed American.