Stahlke Adoption

More on Shoes

Jonathan smiles every time someone tells me, "You look just like my ___ [insert name of relative, friend, or acquaintance]." I must have an "every-woman" face, because this scenario happens to me at least twice a year. With my strong ethnic heritage as a Swedish-American, you'd think I wouldn't look so universal. But I've been mistaken for other Americans, Germans, Ukrainians, and Poles. I was not immune even in the Far East, where someone in Hong Kong thought I looked like a friend from England.

My face allows me to blend in, but my shoes sometimes do not. In Europe, one walks and walks and walks. When we lived in Germany, Jonathan and I each wore out a new pair of shoes completely in only seven months. On our 2008 visit to Ukraine, my right foot was very sore, and I limped along in the only shoes that were not painful--white tennis shoes. Now that's a sure-fire way to look utterly American! And I did see lots of people staring at my feet, which were not stylish in stiletto heels. But at least I was able to walk around, and I'm sure I was much more comfortable than many of the other women there.

posted by Stahlkes @ 1:09 PM