Who's that white boy?

Oman, unlike many other countries I have lived (primarily in the Middle East), is perhaps the best country at playing “Name the country of origin of that white boy.” I of course know from first hand as I am “that white Boy.”

The odd thing is that in Oman there are far fewer white people than say the UAE or Bahrain, and in most areas I frequent in Oman (when compared with the touristic areas in Tunisia), they have more white people than Tunis. So why do they come up to me when wearing 100% European and Middle Eastern clothes and doing very Arab things and say, “Ameriki?”

I am used to be called French or British or even Syrian, Persian or Bosnian (Thanks to the beard of course and my limited knowledge of Arabic), but never since being in Europe have so many people gotten me pegged correctly on their first try.

I know this seems mundane, but I base a lot of how I fit in on the fact that people cannot accurately place me ☺. So now for my take on it…

Since they don’t interact with very many white people on a daily basis, and the ones they do aren’t 90% from any one country, they probably have no idea what to assume at first glance. They are then going on what they know best, and that is the US from media, music, and movies.

So, khalas, it isn’t me, its them ☺.