1 in a series of a major vent to be covered over the following weeks...
People point, nudge and stare. "Is her hair real?" "Where is she from?" The brave ones draw nearer for a closer look. I have been spit at, sniffed at, prodded, pulled at, glared, wowed at and even on rare moments applauded at all because I am a foreigner. My special treatment overflows from my classrooms to the streets, markets, restaurants, parks and anywhere else my presence might be felt. I am a foreigner in a foreign country. A country still juvenile to the exposure of the world outside its borders.
While I am used to this kind of treatment since I have been here for a couple of years, it is a bit of a turn off for the majority of foreigners that visit China. Granted the old proverb "When in Rome" still applies in present society. It should not however be taken too far. Ever since China adapted the "open" policy it also inherited the unwritten but quintessential "international laws of conduct" if you prefer. These laws encompass a variety of situations where people from different backgrounds and nations intergrate, the most common one being the right to a certain amount of privacy. Take situation # 1:
I went into a popular fast food place the other day because I was hungry and in need of a quick fix. However, to my inconvinience,due to the fact that it was peak dinner hour there was nowhere left for me to sit by the time I had recieved my order. So I resigned myself to getting my food "to go" hoping I might eat it in a taxi or perhaps on the steps of the restaurant. Unfortunately, it was kids' day and some activities where being held right on the very steps I had planned to have my meal. Not quite sure what to do next I decided to walk to the nearest "taxi stop." My luck turned pleasantly when I spotted a public bench with only one woman sitting on it. I politely asked her to excuse me and sat beside her. Not wanting to get into conversation with her, I buried myself in my food bags and slightly had my back partly turned away from her since she was involved in an obviously intimate conversation on her cell phone. This arrangement worked quite well until a woman, whom I assumed to be a girlfriend of the said woman sidled up to us from pretty much nowhere and inquired something from my bench mate in the Wenzhou dialect of which I am not familiar. In that instant my benchmate rudely nudged me from the side, slightly bruising my ribcage and causing a slight choking hazard since I had just sloshed a large sized bite of sandwich into my mouth. I looked at her quizically and she urgently pointed at the "girlfriend" who was standing before us grinning like a first grade ballerina. I shrugged my shoulders and continued with my sandwich cursing the fact that I had fallen victim to a case of mistaken identity. Incidentally what are the odds of this happening in a city of more than 7 million plus 1 black foreigner? The "girlfriend" took this as an invitation to engage me in conversationand it went a little something like this:
GF:Where you from?
ME: chomp chomp nod.
GF: WHAT Country??
ME: Zimbabwe...Zim-
GF: hah??
ME: Zim-ba-bwe Wo shi "Jin ba bu wei" ren
GF: zhe shi shenme? What's that?
ME: That's my country!!!
GF: Well, I don't know it (in Chinese)
ME: Deep yoga breath, swallow my last bite, calmly reply...Ok
GF: I first time sir-tardy Eangolish!!!
ME:chomp chomp whatever
The unbelieveable drama continued as more people passed by starring and making audible and not so polite comments, except I wasn't even in the picture, the 2 girls engaged themselves in a loud conversation discussing my language abilities, my hair and so on while all the time I had to sit between them and try to eat my french fries which by now where tasting like red clay mixed with river mud. Occasionally they'd fire back at me with whatever language they chose.
GF1: your Chinese!!! you speak little Chinese?
GF2: ni lai jinian (how long have you been here?)
GF1:......indecipherable Wenshou dialect
GF2: smiles. points at me.......indecipherable Wenzhou dialect
ME: Indecipherable inner anxiety induced scream....weak smile
ME: Last resort...I am sorry, excuse me, I am trying to eat dinner.
GF1:yes very good!
ME: dui bu qi, xian zai wo che wo de che fan, you know (point to my mouth and obvious food) che fan....
GF1: Oh OK! abrubtly walks off.
Trying to forget the whole incident and tasting my first milk tart in months, I kept being interrupted by my once sanely non communicative benchmate who had suddenly received a revelation that I was to be talked to since I spoke Chinese. Then the icing on the cake arrived. An old stooped smelly beggar wandered by and proceeded to coax some money out of my bench mate who waved him off and he slowly turns to me, opens his mouth and then freezes ...bug eyed, mouth open, begging plate slightly withdrawn. How can I not have inferiority issues after that??
back tomorrow with International law of conduct # 2.