Now that's a good question.

Here's one that I don't get asked very often...

This past Saturday I went to teach at the language school where I have been working for the past month or so. It was mid-afternoon when class ended and I walked across the street to the bus stop. Since the temperature has been up around 130 degrees recently, I found the only shade around. It was just a small tree and there was already an older man standing in it, but you know what, it's hot dang it. So I jumped in there with him. For reasons I'd rather not explain, I was softly singing a song by The Police to myself. The old man turned and gave me a head nod to say hello. He looked at me for a second longer and asked, in Turkish, "Are you an Arab?"

Now granted, all he knew was that I was singing a song in a foreign language and that around here, Arabic is a lot more common than English. However, he did know one other thing. He could plainly see that I am 6'3", pale as a ghost, and that I have a red beard. Any one of those three would be enough to make you question my Arabness. But there was something, and God only knows what, that made this guy wonder.