Random Thought: 19

Why hello there,

So, after a few more days in Croatia (yes, I am in Croatia again…for the third time since my arrival in Europe). I have some udpates. First of all, I would like to talk about my ethnicity. For quite some time, I’ve known that I have a very ambiguous phenotype, ethnically speaking. I am half Hispanic (equally of colonial Spanish and Native Mexican descent), and half Caucasian (composed of German, Pennsylvania Dutch, Swedish and one of the UK countries). There are also traces of Native American heritage here and there, and there has always been talk within my (dad’s) family of being decendents of Sitting Bull.

Whatever.

My name’s Josh Anderson though, so most people just assume I’m fully Caucasian with a good tan, I believe. Whenever I tell people I’m Hispanic, I usually get responses such as ‘Really??’ or ‘I figured you were something.’ My boyfriend told me that when he first met me, he would often see Asian men on the street from afar and wonder if it was me. Earlier this year, I volunteered with a special needs high school student through the Best Buddies program, and he asked if I was Egyptian. My friend Danielle who pretty much lives in Greece told me that when I went there, people would assume I was Greek. My friend CX, who is Malaysian, informed me that when I finally get there, I could probably pass for some kind of Southeast Asian. To sum it up, I’m all over the place.

Last night, the Danes and I shared a room with a Spanish fellow, named Alberto. He was from Barcelona, or Sevila, I can’t remember. My Danish friend Emilie actually majored in Spanish. So, they were chatting away, even though she couldn’t remember how to say ‘down the hall’, and I was like, well I speak some Spanish, so I might as well try some out. The exchange went as follows:

J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….hmm?
J: Eres de Espana?
A: ….um…Ethpana?

Apparently, I’m so bad at Spanish now that he had literally no idea what I was saying. So I gave up on being culturally sensitive and just assumed he spoke English and said ‘Are you from Spain?’ and he was like ‘Yeth, Barthelona (or Thevilla)!’ So anyway then he told us that he couldn’t believe Emilie wasn’t from Spain, because she totally looked Spanish, Northern Spanish, to be exact. I always jump at the opportunity to do this, so I went ‘Do I look Spanish?’ Then he looked at me with the blankest look he could possibly muster, then kind of laughed, because he assumed I was obviously joking.

After Emilie and I laughed about this for like 5 minutes (and he got way confused), we told him it was funny because I actually am Spanish. He was so taken aback, and apparently it’s because of my eyes. I figured he meant the color of my eyes, because my eyes are this weird, like, auburn color that’s kind of brown but also kind of yellow and people have commented on them before. But apparently, it’s the shape of my eyes. So I’m like ‘Do you mean I have Asian eyes?’ He kind of got embarrassed, like saying Asian eyes is insensitive, and it probably is, but whatever, they’re my eyes. I’m proud of my Asian eyes! Jennie Jones had Cat Eyes and she embraced it.

Anyway, I apparently do, in fact have Asian eyes. And according to Jason, I have Asian hair too. So, I have a Swedish name but am mostly of Hispanic descent, yet I look Asian. I’m totally ok with that. I’ve always wanted to go to Asia anyway. Should I go in about a week? I dunno, we’ll see, but I hope that someday I actually can go on a kind of heritage tour. Like, I need to go Mexico, definitely. I know that. Eventually, I need to go to Mexico. And Spain. My mother’s mother’s maiden name is Cardenas, and one time I looked it up, and apparently all people with the name Cardenas are descendants of some royal family in the city of Cardenas, Spain, that settled there because of persecution. So I HAVE to go to that town. But I also really want to go to Sweden. Even though I’ve never really identified with any part of my Swedish heritage, my name is freaking Anderson. I need to get there someday.

I guess the only areas I’ve ever been to that kind of count would be the Netherlands. For 8 hours.

On a completely different note, my European trip is about 70% finished, and it’s so strange that it’s almost over! I have spent nearly 2 weeks with these great girls and time has just flown by. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be on my own again for the last 8 days and 7 nights of my European adventure. At least at the beginning of it. By this time next week, I’ll have two more countries to add to my map, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and I’m really excited!

However, I’d like to point out that I think I’ve FINALLY learned my lesson. It’s really not about seeing as much as possible. It’s about seeing something different at all…and still being able to wake up in the morning to make sure you take advantage of the time you have. And pretty soon, I’m gonna get really, really different, and I can’t wait!

- Josh A