The Honorary Ethiopian

Had one of the best Ethiopian moments earlier today in the little ladies' room at work.  

New lady at work (who is obvi and beautifully Ethiopian) found herself in the bathroom as I was drying off my hands and fixin' to leave.  She had remembered me from her second interview when I happened to be covering the front desk when she came in. 

*SN* I'm actually pretty sure I posted a status about our interaction...something about how she was speaking Amharic to the other Ethiopian lady and I wished I could get in on the joy. 

Anywhos, we talked about how I had also remembered her yesterday when she was introduced at the staff meeting.  But all this small talk was a cover up for her real real for talking to me...

She quickly wrapped up the convo about the staff meeting and proceeded to ask me one of my favorite questions:   

Where are you from?  

The real question she wanted to ask was, Are you Ethiopian?, but of course that would be too formal.  I told her I was from "here", with a big ole' grin on my face for I knew what would follow that statement: 

Oh, I thought you were Ethiopian.  

Unlike the other lady who asked me that before, she didn't look like I had just April Fooled her whole life.  I said, Yeah, I get that a lot.  The other Ethiopian people here thought I was Ethiopian, too.  But unfortunately I'm not.  I could actually feel myself growing increasingly disappointed as the words came out...that is, until she responded with a big ole' grin,

That's OK, you can be an Honorary Ethiopian.  

I laughed slightly to keep from physically jumping with joy.  I said OK!, we said our good byes and I left.

Mind you, all of this was taking place while she was standing at the door of the stall.  This is the second time my Secret Ethiopian-ness has prevented someone from peeing.  These poor people...I should probably work on that.

Are You Ethiopian?

I went to lunch last week with some colleagues, neither of whom knew I wasn't Ethiopian (I thought it was obvi).  As the conversation progressed the topic of familial background came up.  I knew they were both African, based on their facial features and names; I later discovered one of Kenyan and the other was Nigerian.  Eventually it was my turn to annie up the info.  I swear they must have asked like 5 questions all hinting around finding out if I was Ethiopian.  Apparently both of them thought I was. The only thing that gave me away was my name. 

My poor American name.  Gives me away every time. 

But I was LOLing inside the entire time because I was being intentionally vague with my answers, hoping they would just come out and ask the main question at some point.  Needless to say, they didn't.

 Here's a list of common questions I get from people about my apparent confusing heritage:

• Is your family from here?
• Does your sister live around here?
• Where is your family from?
• Do your parents live around here?
• So you've never been out of the U.S.?
• (Insert Amharic statements/questions here)
• Do you speak Amharic?
• How long have you been in this area?
• Where did you live before you moved to MD?