On foreign accents

Friday evening, my best friend and me are having dinner at a Denny's in Kingman, AZ.  As we get up to leave, the American couple sitting in the booth behind us, ask me: "Buenos Aires?" I answered: "No", then pointing to my friend, add: "But she is."  Then, they ask: "Where are you from?" I said: "Honduras".  To which they finish with: "How do you have that South American accent?"

Last Saturday, another friend went with me to a Festival on campus. As we were enjoying an Austrian lunch, a senior couple sits at the other end of the large table to have their own meal.  In the midst of my mixed (Spanish-English) conversation with my friend, I decided to be friendly, and asked the couple what they were eating.  After a while, we know that he is a Vietnam war veteran, and that they enjoy and know a lot about Turkish food.  He then says: "I heard you both speaking Spanish. Where are you from? (Then looking directly at me) Argentina?"  I laughed hard and corrected him, because he is like the 100th person this year to think I have an Argentinian accent.

What can I say? Accents really stick to me, which I guess is good, when trying to learn and speak new languages.  Maybe I should add Argentinian Castilian to my list.