Red hair and freckles

While standing a long time in the cashier line at Carrefour (a large chain of supermarkets in Europe), a young woman kept looking at me and finally began to speak to me in French. She said something rapidly which I did not catch so I said, "pardon" pronounced "pahrdoh". British English flowed from her at that point and she said, "where are you from". "I knew you weren't from here because of your red hair and freckles. My mom who is Scotch, Irish and Welsh has your coloring and freckles like many people of this descent. This young lady was a brunette, no freckles. She later added, "of course I got my dad's coloring."

I've come to find out that one can have a long conversation in the cashier line at most supermarchés. (When you see the accent mark over the é going to the right you pronounce it like a long a.)

We exchanged our names and what we were doing in this interesting country. She has worked here 4 years in the steel and glass industry and is fluent in French. I shared about my journey. She was fascinated. I sensed in her a frustration though in making French friends and suggested we meet for coffee sometime. I gave her my email and said she promised me that she would contact me. We've heard those words before but she did contact me and last Saturday we had lunch together near our office. She doesn't live far from there. She's even interested in visiting our church.

Who would think that red hair and freckles would bring such attention?