Shucks - I thought reason they were staring at me cause I'm so damn good-lookin'
Shucks - I thought reason they were staring at me cause I'm so damn good-lookin'
Gotta share this true story... My husband is American born Chinese and I'm Caucasian, from Texas. We've lived in Hong Kong 15 years and now Kunming 11 yrs.. Our 2 kids are grown now, trilingual. One married an overseas Chinese, another a Caucasion! One time, not too many years ago, I was riding on a bus and noticed my 16 yr old son walking down the side walk. He was oblivious to the gaggle of teen Chinese girls in a trance over him. As they passed by him, they turned around to stare. One girl walked into a poll and another collided with a bicyclist. My son never saw anything. Great memory for me! I still get stares, and still not completely used to it. When I go back to Texas I enjoy blending in, but hey, My husband and I play the game to our advantages. I show my face when it is to our advantage, while he hides. He shows his face when it is to our advantage, while I hide. We've learned to not be" in a wad" about it. BTW, we get stares in the U.S. because he's shorter than I am, and usually it's the white guys with the Asian wife, not the opposite like we are. : )
I'm back and forth to Kunming a lot, and stay for months or up to a year. I've never really noticed anyone bothering to stare at me in this city. I'm caucasian with dark hair and blue eyes, so I must stand out. Am I missing something?
Year before last I was on a bus when I was cornered by two young middle schoolers who wanted to practice their English. I had nothing else to do, so I indulged them. When my stop came, the boy took off his red Young Pioneer neck scarf and handed to me. The girl dug into her bag and gave me a lolly pop.
the stares don't bother me anymore. immature idiots (usually groups of males) who call me 'laowai' or shout 'hellooo' in a stupid voice and then giggle like schoolgirls piss me off! i usually just ignore them but sometimes i feel justified in responding with a 'Nihaooo' in an equally strange accent or by referring to them as 'laozhong' (some really don't like that). i know it's childish but it gets me through the BCD's.
There are times when I hear that "hellooo" that I want to respond with a cheerful "bonjour" or "ola".
by the way, how about your Chinese friends? how do they think of the stares?
I used to get stared at a lot when I was living in Nanjing, here in Kunming it is much, much less.
I must say I'm a bit of a Viking here, 6'4, blonde, blue eyes and sort of athletic, I always felt the stares were "natural" or out of curiosity and admiration and the chinese always look very happy when they stare at me, like with a spark on their eyes, I often like to imagine what they are commenting when they are with friends.
Doesn't bother me the least. The helloooooooooooos are truly strange though, I have to admit.