Mr. Sanchez

Mr. Andres Sanchez is a teacher at Khartoum American School. He was born in Colombia 32 years ago. Interestingly, he wasn’t the only one born that day; he has a twin brother- Juan Sanchez. In 1978, when Mr. Sanchez's mom was expecting only to get one baby, the doctor went to tell Mr. Sanchez’s father that he got a boy. 5 minutes later, his father called his mother again to tell her the good news, the doctor went out to tell the father that he got another boy! Usually having a twin brother is wonderful thing to have. However, for Andres and Juan it was different.

What were some interesting things about being a twin?

“From birth until probably the age of 11, we looked so much alike that even our mom used to be confused.” Says Mr. Sanchez. “Sometimes she would feed one of us twice, especially in the morning rush, or giving one of us allowance money twice.”

Did your girlfriends have problems telling you apart?

“Yes, one time we decided to joke around and switch girlfriends”

What exactly happened with that?

“So one day, my brother and I decided switch girlfriends just for a day. “We were only 12 or 13 so it was a very innocent thing, nothing bad happened,.. I remember I went out for ice cream and took a walk with his girlfriend”

Christmas is a very important thing in Colombia. That's the day when each kid gets his or her present and sweets. Was that ever a problem having a twin?

“This one day we both wanted to get boxing gloves. So our dad decided that he would only pay get one pair. I took the right hand glove and my brother took the left hand glove. We looked very silly trying to fight each other with one glove only.”

Usually twins are expected to be able to do the same things. Did you parents of friends compare you a lot?

“Yes it was very common for our parents to compare how well one of us did in school, or how much more organized was the other, it wasn’t easy because it creates unnecessary tensions between us.”

Are you close with your brother today?

“Very much, even though we live very far away from each other, we still talk regularly and are very good friends.”