Transferred from my old blog: Mistaken identity

February 2004

Rhonda has been a good friend of mine since I moved into SJC, 6 months ago. One day in the summer Rhonda, Bryan, Erwin and myself had been playing croquet in the courtyard, and afterwards I was approached by Daniel, who told me that until he had seen Rhonda and myself playing croquet, he had thought we were the same person! This took me by surprise. But when I told Rhonda about it, she said she had also had several comments from people who thought we looked very similar. This sort of thing has been going on for a while.
Today I was on my way to the kitchen to heat up my lunch, when somebody, lets just call her "T", came out of her room, and looked like she had something really important to tell me, but she hesitated. She kind of screwed up her eyes a bit, and then finally said "Oh, it doesn't matter. I thought you were Rhonda". I should have laughed, but this cold and sore throat I have at the moment has dampened my sense of humour a little. I told T that she wasn't the only person who thinks Rhonda and I look alike. Then she said "But you must be related in some way, aren't you?". Wow. I told T that we weren't related. And then she said "But you both have accents, and you look very similar." Rhonda will love that comment. She is all Canadian, and speaks much like any Canadian I've ever heard. I understand that my accent can be hard to pin down, its half and half Australian and English, but I don't think there's much Canadian in it.

Its funny though, because Rhonda looks more like she should be my sister, than my own sister does, and apparently I look more like Rhonda than her sister does.

The St. John's College online magazine came out this week. Its basically a forum for residents to write short stories, poetry, or columns about SJC life. Rhonda and I submitted an article about the common misconception among SJC residents that we look SO similar that we simply have to be sisters, or cousins, or something.

You can read our article here:
http://www.stjohns.ubc.ca/@sjc/html/rhonda_sarah.htm

Or check out the whole magazine here:
http://www.stjohns.ubc.ca/@sjc


June 15, 2004

Apparently I look like Rhonda, and I have a very similar name to Sara Koopman - both fellow residents at SJC. So now I am experiencing identity confusion on a daily basis, AND I AM SO OVER IT !!!

*Ahem*

Its not like I haven't tried to let people know before - Rhonda and I even wrote a magazine article a few months back to offer some easy ways to tell us apart. But still people think I am Rhonda, and Rhonda is me. Or that Rhonda and I are twins or at least sisters. And if they figured out that I am not Rhonda they think I am Sara Koopman. I'm not offended to be confused with either of these fine women, but its been going on for so long now, I just want people to know that I am me, Sarah Kidd.

So I'm going to report every incident here from now on, and I will name names of the people who can't figure out who the hell I am. I don't suppose it will have any effect at all, but its a good way of tracking the confusion.


June 15, 2004

Last week, when I was trying to organise a Dining Society meeting (I am currently the president), Juan-Gabriel wrote to me objecting to the time I had scheduled for the meeting, saying that I was due to play softball for the SJC team at that time. I do not play softball, but Rhonda does.

A couple of days ago, Amber was asking me about an email that she was convinced I had sent to her. Then it dawned on her that Sara Koopman had sent the email, and I am Sarah Kidd.

Tonight at dinner, the kitchen staff tried to give me Rhonda's vegetarian meal.


July 4, 2004

Today, as I walked out of my door I ran into Rhonda who was just going outside to meet up with her parents. She said to me " Here's the real test Sarah, lets see if my parents can tell us apart". Well as it happens I was going in the opposite direction and I didn't get to meet Rhonda's parents. But I am in no doubt they they wouldn't have mistaken me for their daughter.

Seconds after I said goodbye to Rhonda I ran into a man in the college, who's name I haven't picked up yet (there's a lot of people coming and going here, I can't be expected to know everyone instantly). Apparently he knew *me* though, because he greeted me with "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhonda", as if we were old friends. I half-smiled and kept on walking.


I was walking back from the hairdresser today, sporting some lovely copper red streaks and I ran into Helen and friends. Helen said to me "Sarah, how are you?". I was happy she got my name right, because she has previously called me Rhonda.
Then we got to talking about my new hair colour and she commented on how much darker it looks now with the red (??), because before I got it coloured my hair had been more of a light brown.
I thought was very strange for her to say that, because I've always had very dark brown hair. And then I realised that Rhonda's hair is quite a bit lighter in colour than mine.

So my question is this: If Rhonda and I have such different hair colour, why are we being confused?