so where are you from?

Many East Asians have trouble pinpointing exactly where I am from.  Whether I'm in a cab or buying fruit in a market, during most interactions with them, they notice I look different and often ask..."Where are you from?"  And when I say "America!"  They generally reply with... "No! You're not American!"   Or if I'm with friends, one person will say "We're American." Then the person will usually look at me and say "All of you?"

I think they often they make a mistake and think that American=white person.  But my skin color is not white and they often don't know what to make of that.  (If you're wondering at this point... I am, in fact, bi-racial.  My dad is African-American and my mom is Caucasian) 

So the other day, four of us were in a cab together.  The driver said with much authority... (pointing to me) "So she's Cuban but the rest of you are English, right?"  We laughed a lot at that, because not only am I not from Cuba the rest of my friends aren't from the UK... we are all Americans.  But in that interaction, I realized, I've never been called Cuban before and I thought I need to add that to the list.  And that is how this blogpost came about.  This is what I call: The list of places people think I am from!

Here we go:
India (for sure the most common)
Cuba
Puerto Rico
Russia
Tibet
Egypt
Spain
Portugal 
Mexico
England
New Guinea
Ukraine
Iran
Australia
Israel
Philippines
Africa (no specific country...just Africa!)

And once a cab driver didn't ask where I was from but asked me "So you speak Arabic, right?"  Definitely an assumption!

So it's kind of become a joke to me and other American friends that I hang out with here.  I like that I keep the East Asians on their toes.  I'm helping them see America really is a melting pot and that we don't all look alike.  And I'm having fun with it too. :)