You Look Like Someone I Know

Somewhere I've been keeping track of all the people I see here that look like people I know/have known in the US. It still amazes me that this country is as much of a melting pot as the US, though the melting part doesn't quite happen in the same way here. Nothing exhibits this more than when I see someone here that looks like someone I know in the US...which I'll get to in a little bit after I tell you about the funniest thing that happened to me today.

I had gone on a walk to, first, ask at the belastingdenist, tax office set up till tomorrow near us if what Arjan got back included our medical costs, 200 just for my glasses, only to be told yes, meaning Arjan would have received a whooping 2 Euros back if it wasn't for our medical costs, which are not returnable as of next year; second, pick up the free papers; and, third, go to the other German store Aldi to get the 2.39 California wine Arjan likes. A couple checked out before me and were packing their things into their bakfiets, a bicycle with a box on wheels in front of it for carrying children or goods, when I popped into the store next door to look at a sale but the two lines in the store were way too long, they were having a buy 2, get 1 free sale and they are a discount/cheap store where you can find things you can't anywhere else--Wibra, think they have a German background as well.

So I just walked out of that store, it was much too hot in there anyways, and as I was walking the man with his bakfiets was going past, stopped, turned and said, "Komt u uit Amerika?" That's, "Do you come from America?" I was shocked...how could he know that, I sure didn't know him or his vrouw and I sure wasn't wearing or doing anything that would indicate I'm American. I asked how he knew that and he said because I look like someone he knows. He then asked me if I was the vrouw van Jim. I told him, "Nee, ik ben de vrouw van Arjan." Then he asked me if my name was Ann. How funny further as I told him what my name is. Then I asked him if I looked like her and he said yes. The entire time his vrouw was on her bike just smiling...which I imagine she does quite often because he told me he always has things happen like this where he sees someone who looks just like someone else he knows. I told him how that happens here for me.

The only person that I know of that I see here that is actually a 2nd generation 100% American Netherlander is Tom DeVries. He goes to Levend Woord church where I attended. Everyone else I see is not Dutch...there are three people I see quite often.

Thelma Layog, my former office manager at Subase Child Development Center. Someday I'm afraid I'm going to see her on the street and say, "Hi Thelma."

The one I see almost daily because she lives in the next block is Carol Maloney. Oh, Arjan loves Carol and he thinks this women looks like her as well...glasses, long blond hair in a ponytail that appears to be of the same texture and such, about the same size, the same age, and even the same walk. Now, of course, we don't know this women's name, though Zwemveld is the last name on their door. This woman is the perfect Nederlander not looking at you when you pass her by. I'm still trying to get a good pic of her, without her knowing, but it hasn't worked yet.

Then there's Carol's oldest son Jerry...a young Jerry is a Rotterdam police officer who used to walk in our neighborhood. One day I had a nice chat with him and his colleague, especially when they found out I was from the US, they wanted to know how I considered the safety here and what some differences were. (Unlike the Netherlanders that live here...including Arjan...who think it is unsafe but can't really pinpoint why--just because from other cultures live around them, I think it's very safe here.) The police get moved around so they experience the different neighborhoods in Rotterdam, which doesn't always make sense to me but it's their way of doing things, so I haven't seen him in a while.

Yep, I never know who I'm going to run into here that will trigger the memory of someone but this is only the second time in my life when someone has thought I looked like someone they know.