"Are your eyes real?"

Laraine sent me what I thought were the greatest set of questions of all due to their uniqueness. She has been abroad twice, first to Sweden while she was in high school, and then to Senegal last year. Here are the questions she sent me:

• Are your eyes real? (Senegal only - This is my favorite.)
• Where are you from?
• How long have you been here?
• How do you like [Sweden/Senegal]?
• What are you doing here?
• Is your family here?
• How long have you been studying [Swedish/French/Wolof] ?
• Are you going home for Christmas? (Sweden only - they found it hard to believe that I wasn't)
• Do you have a husband? (Senegal only)
• Is he here/Senegalese? (In response to my affirmation that I did, indeed have a husband)

It's worth noting here that while Laraine does have very neat eyes, she's not actually married. So why did she respond that she was? It may have been a case like Gina's (see Allison's post, "Another Thought") where by responding in the affirmative it would stop people from inquiring further. But like with Cate (in my post, "'Cigar? You Want?'"), they just asked if her significant other was there and implying that the union wasn't all that important anyway.

It is also interesting to note that Laraine was asked about her family, and if they were there with her. No one else seems to have been asked that, and I myself don't recall having anyone ask about my family either. This question could have been the result of the way people had perceived Laraine or the way the particular culture values the family; I think the latter is particularly true of Sweden because, as she notes, they were surprised Laraine was not going to be returning home to her family for the Christmas holiday.