More and More Famous Everyday

I bought the shirt in this picture in NYC this past May and I wore it for my birthday dinner last month (yes, along with my celebrity sunglasses that my girls in Switzerland know I love so much.) This picture is also appropriate because Rachel, the amazingly cool chick next to me is a mini celebrity herself with cool make-up and and even cooler jewelry. People here are extremely nice, and we have definitely become local celebrities without even trying. I think they don`t know what to make of me half the time. I feel like this is what some people think: “Who is that? She`s got dark skin like me, but she`s obvoiusly not Indian. She has funny hair…and wow, she is crazy tall! And why does she carry that enormous backback? That can`t be good for her! Well, I`m just going to stare.” And stare they do. Often, I get stared at HARD, and surprisingly, it comes a lot from teenagers. I thought it would be mostly from old people. Ah, but they mean well. Once I was at the store and I heard a woman kept yelling “Jambo.” Of course, I paid no attention to her because I thought she was speaking Hindi to someone else..and besides, people are constantly yelling at each other. Eventually this incredibly tiny woman of about age 50 tapped my elbow and waved. With a smile, she said “Jambo! Jambo! You Ethiopian!” I had to laugh. Well, my celebrity is to be expected, I suppose. After all, my name does mean star!