I am actually surprised how after twenty years of China being opened to foreigners the presence of a non-Chinese can draw such attention. It is not uncommon for people to stare, wave, or give you a "hello". Standing on the street it's interesting to see people pass by and some times do a double take. I like to pretend they're saying, "Was that Tom Cruise?". Other times, people come up and just want a picture with you. Gabriel gets this and sometimes its from young girls. The first time it happened he just looked at me in astonishment with a "What do I do?" look. (I've included some pictures from these encounters)
Some of the more adventureous want to engage in conversation. We will be relaxing on the beach when someone will drop down next to us with a big grin and a "Where do you come from?" I think its funny because the question that always comes up is, "How long will you be in Qingdao?" When I answer, "I live in Qingdao" there is often a look of astonishment as if to say, "Impossible, no white man has EVER lived in Qingdao". Which is unusual as these days it is quite common to see foreigners out an about, especially in the major cities.
In most cases we welcome the intrusion. It gives us a chance to interact with local people and perhaps practice our Chinese. The people are usually very gracious and often just curious about foreigners.
Another interesting aspect to living in China is the reaction you get from other foreigners. Some see you and give you a small nod. Some come up, introduce themselves, and start talking just to have a conversation in non-broken English. The funniest are the foreigners who have "gone native". They prefer to ignore you because your presense reminds them that they are not, in fact, Chinese...and that makes them sad.
For us, we're trying to learn Chinese. Then maybe we can move up to the celebrity "B" list.
1 comment:
Hi, Tom Cruise
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