The city I currently live in has population of 16 thousand, Asian population 0.8%. I’m probably the second Asian person she has ever seen in town so I sarcastically think: Why, because all Asians look alike? But I answered her politely. No, I didn’t grow up here; I grew up in NJ and half of my childhood was actually not even in this country.
“But you really look familiar,” she insisted. I just shrugged. I can be a bit touchy when someone tells me I look like so-and-so because I’ve been told I look like certain persons when the only similarity we share are black hair and almond shaped eyes. On the celebrity spectrum I’ve been told I look like Soon-Yi (ummm…no) and Gong-Li (if only). On a flip side, I’ve also been approached by complete strangers telling me I look like their family members.
The first time this happened, I was in Citibank in Manhattan, trying to open a checking account. The banker, a nice-looking Hispanic guy, looked up at me and said: “You look just like my sister.” Huh? I was not sure how I could look like his Hispanic sister and wanted to point that obvious fact to him. But this guy clearly knows his sister better than most people, so who was I to refute this.
I was in Picadilly Cafeteria in South Carolina the second time it happened. The waiter, who looked vaguely Native American also claimed that I look like his sister. I did my usual shrug and nervous laugh and was about to leave when an elder waitress came up to me, put her arm around me, and proclaimed: “You look just like my daughter.”
I was about to turn around and run out of that loony bin when the same waiter came over and explained that the woman is his mother. Turns out they are from Alaska, and the gal in their lives was still back there there with her husband. They both swore up and down that I was the spitting image of this gal.
I guess I just have a familiar face.
