The shape of my face

On one of my recent outings I was talking with a woman, a native czech. There were many people around from all over the world, various ethnicities and various appearances. We were speaking so she was familiar with my accent and through our conversation it was confirmed that I was American.

And yet...

At one point she said that I wasn't a "one of them" American - and I wasn't sure what she meant. I'm sure you're equally confused too... So I asked...

She said I wasn't a European American, and I said, but I am... and she insisted I had either some Latin blood or was of South American decent... and my immediate response was no, no I don't, and to ask her why.

It's the shape of my face and my coloring... (For those of you who haven't met me I'm caucasian with brown hair and green eyes - and while I'm not as pale as my sister I don't come close to having even brown-ish skin either... maybe I'll post a pic of myself someday, but not today.) I started to laugh and was on the verge of protesting when I realized, yes, I do have some Latin blood as well as some South American ancestry. (To make it a little funnier for me, at the moment I was surrounded by men from Brazil and Columbia - true South Americans...)

And it got me thinking... there are definitely ethnic appearances here - something that isn't as apparent back at home. There is a definite Slavic look, a more Germanic look, and a few others I can't quite label - some men have a certain ethnic appearance but the language barrier prevents me from identifying it - olive skin, medium stature, square shoulders, tight black curly hair... help me if you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway - I've never thought of myself in the terms in which this girl described me. I've never thought I had any sort of ethnicity about me. I tend to think of ethnic appearance being only the obvious ones - to be simplistic, black, white, asian, hispanic... and most of the people I know are such mutts that very few retain a truly visual ethnic identity. I never, ever would place myself in that slot. What do you think?