Are You Sure You're American?

Walking around town, the question I get most often is "where are you from?" Many of the westerners here are either French or American. But people rarely guess that I am American. In fact, they usually guess everything but American. From students, taxi drivers and in the marketplace I have had guesses of French, British, Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Swiss, Swedish, German, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian, Caribbean (haha!), and Arab. Maybe it's the way I dress or the fact that I speak French, but most people just don't believe I'm American. One girl insisted I must be Arab, if even just a little, half-Arab perhaps. An old woman at the market looked me up and down, made her guesses and then refused to believe me when I finally told her I was from the US. "No, no! Not American! Not possible!" I tried to argue that "I was born in the US and my parents are both American, so I'm pretty sure that makes me American too." But this old woman wouldn't have it. "Not American--Somali!" I also get this a lot. Particularly when I have my head covered and am wearing a long skirt, people on the street will smile and call out to me, "Hey Somali!" or they will say "Salaam Alaikum" (a traditional Muslim greeting). It makes me feel good that people see me as someone who fits in here, but Somalis' lack of ability in determining where us white folks are from is hilarious at times. Kristie (who has light blond hair) once had a girl ask her if she was Chinese. When Rachel (whose hair is only a couple shades darker than Kristie's) wears Pakistani clothes to weddings, people ask if she is Algerian or North African. Once a man in the market argued with her that she must be a Somali because there is no other way a white woman could speak Somali so well. Although Rachel is very obviously not Somali, he insisted that at least her father must be Somali. Perhaps he was one of those rare albino Somalis!

One thing most of the locals all seem to agree on here: the Americans are much nicer than the French. I have asked many different people who they think is nicer and the Americans have it! Perhaps it's because we don't have a colonial history with the Djiboutians, make an effort to fit in, and don't generally walk around in tank tops and miniskirts.