Meeting Latin Americans

I love meeting Latin American people because whenever I do the following dialogue ensues (translation is mine):

Latin American person: So where are you from?

Me: Ukraine.

Latin American person: Uruguay, you mean?

Me: No, Ukraine.

Latin American person (looking perplexed): Then you probably lived in Latin America for a long time.

Me: No, unfortunately I never got the opportunity to live in any Spanish-speaking country.

Latin American person (looking extremely perplexed): But how is this possible?

I especially love it when such conversations take place with my students standing around us and making little “wow!” sounds in the background. I can practically feel myself grow 10 inches when that happens.

Learning Spanish as fast and as well as I did is an example of human will and perseverance triumphing over an inhospitable reality, adversity, and hardship. Yes, such situations also make me very pompous. I’ll try to get over it by tomorrow but I’m not promising anything.