what a long strange day its been

sometimes i am stubborn. okay, a lot of times. lets take today for instance. most people try to avoid being outside between the hours of 12 pm and 5 pm because it is just too hot. not this girl. when she decides she wants to go to the coffee shop, she goes. 120 degree heat won't stop her. at approximately 12:20 pm i leave my apartment in search of a coffee shop. my walk should take about 15 minutes door to door. at about minute 11 of my walk i cut through this parking lot of a car dealership (the same one i cut through every day on the way to school). i see a man pull up in a car. i think  to myself, oh gosh, i am not dealing with this. i keep walking. he's shouting out the window, "ma'am, ma'am." i finally turn to acknowledge him and he responds, "ma'am it is too hot to be walking. may i give you a ride somewhere?"  i politely decline and tell him i was just headed to the university less than a block away (not exactly true but it seemed like a good response on the spot). my mom taught me not to take candy from strangers so i thought i probably shouldn't take rides from them either. 120 degrees or not. 

but the highlight of the day was yet to come. this evening i hung out with my favorite family in kuwait. it's my friend adnan's family and they have taken exceptional care of me ever since i arrived. we spent the evening at the scientific center. while mona (adnan's mother) and i were walking through the aquarium an indian woman approached me and asked if i would take a picture. i said yes assuming she wanted me to take a picture of her family. wrong. she wanted to take a picture with me. then her mother joined in for another picture and before i knew it we were taking a family photo and there was my face amongst a sea of unknown. 

i was confused. what just happened? why me? did she want a picture with an american? someone who was white? i don't know. as uncomfortable as i felt i stood there for three photos posing as if i were reunited with old friends. i wonder, if in some very miniscule way, this is how other people feel. you know, the ones we sometimes like to take pictures of because we think they look "exotic" or "different." they pose politely because they don't know what else to do and then walk away wondering what makes you think they're so different in the first place.