camaleón

i never really realized until today that this year has been a fun secret game of "what nationality do i look like to you?"

little by little i've gotten to talk with my neighbors and my favorite guesses from them include the following:

1) 92 year old grandpa from floor 5: alicantina. the man was convinced i had told him i was from alicante, his homeland. he was so proud... i didn't have the heart to reveal my true origins to him. plus i really enjoyed having a new pretend place of birth.

2) random boy from floor 3: spanish. "ufff it's hot," he says as he enters the elevator. "yeah, it's awful, but i have to enjoy it because i'm going home in 8 days to the cold," i admit as he exits the elevator (the trip from floors 1 to 3 is suprisingly short you know). "you're not from here??" he follows up with a "jodin!"

3) grandpa from floor 3: swedish. his wife, him & i took a stroll to the trash recepticles this evening to get rid of some unwanted bags of treasures when he admitted... he thought i was swedish.

4) grandpa's wife from floor 3: american. "where are you from?" she asks me. "near chicago," i tell her. "yeah, you can tell."

to everyone else... the safe guess is british.
"you just don't have the american vibe," says kevin.

i guess i like being a western-european chameleon... :)