Guess my Nationality
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2007
1
25
72
Trip End
Jul 03, 2007
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The American University in Dubai is in keeping with these demographics (although the school is representative of the planet's posh elite; while the city is representative of both the extremely wealthy looking for a vacation spot, and extremely poor trying to eke out a better existence--but I almost said too much!). Students from all over the globe are enrolled here: Iran has a fairly large representation, as do Gulf Arabs. There is a sizeable Nigerian contingent, and a number of Americans, although not as many as you would suspect in an American school. And, of course, hundreds of others.
Now, I'm someone who can pass for virtually anything--when I go to Greece, people mistake me for a local. I've been told I look Romanian, or Egyptian. My opinion editor once asked me if my family was from France, because "you look really French". I don't know if I could pass for African, or East Asian; however, so far during my journey, I have, as usual, been mistaken for a number of nationalities and ethnic groups.
I have been taken for Uzbeg; Australian(?); Arab, by another Arab; and my cab driver in Yemen took me for German. There's a funny story behind this: I told him I was American, but he apparently also mistook me for a Muslim, because he asked, "Isn't America jahiliya/ignorant?"
Hmm, well, in many cases, yes. Ha! But seriously. Yes.
Iranian women are considered to be very beautiful, so it's a compliment if you are mistaken for Iranian--which I was, but only by two of my Nigerian dorm-mates as we were cooking food in the kitchen.
If it's a compliment to be taken for Iranian, it's an insult to be taken for Russian in Dubai, and one with an ulterior motive. You see, many Russian women here work as ladies of ill-repute. So you can hopefully understand why I was mortally offended when an Iranian man sitting nearby in Baskin Robbins asked me if I was Russian. At first, I wasn't really sure what to say without using profanity, so I just gave him the old Rasputin gaze. Finally, I just coldly said, No. I'm American.
And I'm glad to be an American! America, my home--where nobody asks your ethnicity because nobody has one anymore!
