Chalk it up to one of the most bizarre questions I've been asked, and shockingly I have heard it often, though not lately....
Some Africans moved in below me a few weeks ago. When I say the word "some" I mean to say, I'm not sure how many actually live there. They are perfectly quiet and cordial but so many come in and out of the door, I'm not sure who lives there, and they are quite sporadic in being there at all.
There is a wide variety of ages, dress and what I assume to be "social status." Again, there is not a whole lot of time for me to ascertain the situation as my only glimpse of them is when I walk to and from my door.
What has been unsettling the past few weeks, is without fail, when I leave my apartment, if any of them are outside, they immediately stop what they're doing and STARE. I politely say hello and smile, and as soon as I'm in my car they resume talking or tinkering with the 92 teal Honda Prelude they have been befuddledly working on. I do not mean to imply I have felt threatened or intimated by this, as this is not the case. When I say they have been polite, I'm serious. If the men are sitting or squatting, they stand up bow, nod, or place their hands together and wish me good day... It appears to be sincere, gracious and spoken softly with averted eyes
Today it was raining outside. There is a little covering over the entrances of the apartment and I am on the second floor. Some men were outside their door smoking a pipe and cigar and quietly speaking. Again, I was served up the salutation and stare. As I walked up the steps I heard whispering and then a sigh, and then a "WOULD YOU JUST GO ASK HER!!?!"
The conversation went like this:
"Excuse me, miss?"
"Yes? Are you talking to me?" I said. ( I couldn't tell!!!)
"Hi, uh yes, my parents are staying here while their house is being built, and these are my brothers.. " (names were provided but I can't remember.)
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Erin."
"Erin- Nice to meet you. Listen, can I ask you a question? I don't mean to be rude, but we've been seeing you around for awhile and well, we just want to know... are you a white girl?"
(I'm German/Irish which is as white as they come)
I look at my skin, laugh, and say, "Why yes, I suppose I am."
Then came the shout from one of the brothers.... "I KNEW IT!!! PAY UP!!!"
The man I was talking to apologized and said there was a bet amongst the family members. It appears 1/2 the house thought I was bi-racial and the other 1/2 was convinced I was white. He went on to say his mom thought I had the most beautiful curly hair.
I explained this wasn't the first time I'd heard this question, and there was no need to apologize. I did have the courage to ask, "So is this why you would stare at me whenever I came outside?" He sheepishly said yes.
I entered my apartment and smiled. This is what happens when curly hair meets summer humidity, gotta love it.
The New PostSecret Book
10 years ago
5 comments:
Sounds like they were digging the white-girl 'fro, Erin :)
Type Writer
p.s. I love that you dig Queen. Maybe you can impress your South African neighbours by knowing that their song "I Want It All" was heard sung at various anti-apartheid rallies in Soweto during the '80s
Oh. No. Way.
That's amazing. I'm ... wow.
My hair knows the pain of humidity, though. Especially with this summer in the city nonsense. It's why I had to cut every bit of it off.
(And even though it was in another post, I'm still laughing at "my cat has an STD.)
Yeah, Just ask Ang... This happened many times in college... I think it was b/c I was really tan in the summers and was told I had, and I quote, "a ghetto booty..." For a Miami girl. that's somethin...
(That's Miami of Ohio.)
TW- any music you recommend I should discover. I see you're quite the guru.
I wonder if GoW would agree with that "guru" designation, given that I misidentified the artist for the Revenge of the Nerds song :)
My musical tastes are all over the road, and I'm not one to be too insistent on other people adopting them, but I guess I can make a few suggestions:
- What Coldpay do you have so far? I got their last album X&Y and liked it a lot; I haven't got their new album yet, but I like the new song, which I believe is called "When I Ruled The World". Previous hits include "Clocks", which you've probably heard, and "Yellow"
- We have an up-and-coming pop star from Boca Raton of all places: her name is Hillary McRae and she's on the Starbucks label, Hear Music. Her style is a cross between r&b and jazz, but it's very upbeat and fun. I'll be covering her more on my blog and webpage
- If you like Tori Amos and Coldplay, you should check out Kate Bush if you haven't already done so. Kate is an English songwriter-keyboardist that was discovered in the late '70s by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Her early work was piano-based, but she got heavily into synths in the mid-'80s. Her most recent album, "Aerial", came out in 2006, but I would start out with some of the earlier albums like "Never For Ever", her debut, and "Hounds Of Love", her synthesizer masterpiece
So those are my random recommendations. Hey, you asked :)
TW
Oops, I just realized that I meant to say that Kate Bush's debut album was "The Kick Inside"; "Never For Ever" was a couple albums later. "Kick" is probably the best one for you to start off with, because it's the most like Tori's work in general and Coldplay's last album...
TW
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