Nyet Kulturne
I very often get mistaken for a Russian. It happened every now and then in England, but when I was in Israel it was constant. There's thousands of Russian immigrants there, and whenever I went out the first language people would address me in would usually be Russian.

This wouldn't have been so bad if the Russians hadn't done so as well! I soon learnt how to say 'I don't speak Russian' in Russian, but to be honest, sometimes I didn't help myself much. I went to the market once to buy ingredients for soup. It was high summer, so I was wearing a red headscarf to protect me from the sun. In my rucksack I had potatoes and carrots, and sticking up out of it above my shoulders were several leeks, plus I was wearing a long skirt. A couple of older Russian ladies who obviously spoke not a word of Hebrew saw me. Headscarf, long skirt, carrying vegetables - they started chattering away to me and asking directions. They became very confused when I said I didn't speak Russian.

"But...you have a red headscarf on! And you're carrying leeks sticking out of your bag! Even though it's the middle of the city, you MUST be a Russian peasant girl.

*sigh*

Oh well, people in the UK just assume I'm muslim...(and possibly Russian as well)
( Hampster Squared has stuff at www.tilla.co.uk, Thu 31 May 2007, 17:29, Reply)