Well, I got a taste of my own "medicine" last week. Since my school is located out in what the Shanghai call the "countryside", but really more like an industrial zone, "laowai", or white skinned foreigners are few and far between. Last week, during lunch, I decided to wander around the neighborhood near my school in search of a good restaurant. I found a small restaurant tucked away between two larger entities, and I made my way in. It was clear from the stares I received as I walked in that this was not a place that was used to having foreigners. As I sat down and ordered my fried rice I saw what everyone in the restaurant had their attention focused on - the Houston Rockets, and Chinese hero, Yao Ming, were taking on the Huren (or Lakers) in an NBA game. The game was live in China, at 11 am, because of the 12 hour time difference, and was clearly a very big deal. The Chinese are very proud of Yao - and almost everyone I ask lists the Houston Rockets as their favorite NBA team. Anyways - the fried rice was excellent, and I left and finished my day. At 5 pm, after finishing basketball practice, I decided to head back to the restaurant for dinner. The only difference was this time I was wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt, not the dress shirt and pants I had on before. As I entered the restaurant I saw some of the same faces as before, this was a family run operation and it was clear the husband and wife were in charge. After sitting down, the husband approached me and took my order. It was at this time that I asked him if I was the first "laowai" to ever come to his restaurant. He smiled and shook his head no. He told me that I was the second laowai to eat at his restaurant. When was the first one, I asked. He looked at me and said that earlier today, around lunch, they had their first laowai. He then asked me whether the person at lunch was a friend of mine. I am sure the look on my face was priceless - I responded to the man by telling him that it was me that ate at his restaurant earlier today. He slowly shook his head in disagreement. "No, it wasn't you, it was someone else." he replied. Now I was completely confused. Did another teacher from my school wander over to the restaurant earlier today? I asked the man to describe the person who came into his restaurant today, thinking if it was one of my friends I would recognize the description. He said he had a white dress shirt and black pants. It was the exact same outfit that I had worn earlier in the day! I told the man that I had been wearing that earlier in the day. He leaned in close and took a good look at my face and then exhaled a burst of laughter. "Ah - yes. It was you!" He told me that the fact that I had different clothes on made it hard for him to remember me. He profusely apologized - and ironically asked me to invite my friends next time I came. I couldn't help but smile as I thought to myself, "Would he be able to tell who I was if I brought my friends with me?"
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Some first impression...
Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese....even after spending the past 9 months in Asia, I struggle to pick out any distinguishing physical features that separate the Asian population. They really all look similar to me. While this is a known phenomenon in America, including one of my top 5 "Office" episodes when Michael "marks" his Asian date so he can tell which one she is, I thought after spending 9 months in China my ability to discern individual identities would have improved, but....no.
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