Sunday - Made a little girl cry
Monday - Had an old lady run away thinking that I was following her
Tuesday - Typical day
Wednesday - Military Camp viewing and Visit to 爸爸 and 妈妈's college!
Thursday - Volleyball with Chinese student, almost followed home by a stranger
Friday - Chinese Horror Movie
Saturday - Hospital Visit
Overall, a pretty eventful week XD
Sunday - I went to have dumplings for lunch at the local mall with my host mom! How fun! This will be the second time visiting the mall. Everything is going well until my host mom and I find a table. I felt these little eyes staring at me for a whole minute. I could see this little kid pause out of peripheral vision. So, a minute has passed by . . . and it's been made apparent that this kid wasn't going to look away anytime soon. So, I looked towards the little girl. She was around 5-8 years old. So, like I have done will all children I've met on this program, I gave a big smile and waved! Usually, children would respond with giggles, smiles, and send a wave my way as well. This child was different. The second I made eye contact with her, she started bawling her eyes out. She didn't only communicate her distress through tears, but by screaming her lungs out as well. At that moment, I was more startled that her. My host mom exchanges glances and this sorta mutual "oh, okay. Wow." sort of look.
Her grandfather, on the other hand, found the situation to be hilarious. When he couldn't get her to relax, they left the restaurant. This whole interaction lasted for about 2 minutes. Did I forget to mention that the restaurant was bustling and packed full of customers?
However, I didn't feel like I was supposed to feel bad for being myself, so I didn't. I wasn't gonna change my friendly atmosphere because one girl cried. As she gets older, she'll gain more exposure to seeing the faces of strangers 😂😂
It is definitely an experience that will be hard to forget. 😅😂
Monday - After hanging at the mall with my fellow NSLI-Y participants, I decided to head back to the school to get my phone. After getting off the bus stop, I was at a crosswalk with about 20+ motor bikes/scooters by me and another 20 people waiting to cross the road. People started turning around to take a look when they heard whispers of an foreigner on the sidewalk. "Look quick! An African!"
So after crossing the road, and I was walking fast since I was ready to get home, I notice a thin old lady running out from behind me. She started running in front of me and every three steps she took she'd look over her shoulder at me, holding her purse close to her body. Elderly people in China are fit, by the way! I pass through Hongmei Park every school day and there are always at least 30+ elders early in the morning and late afternoon exercising. So this lady was jogging for a long time. The lady was one the same route that I needed to go to school. She wasn't fast so the amount of time she was running away from me was extra long. Finally, after two blocks, I reached the school and haven't seen a thin old lady running away from me since.
It's still hard to understand what she thought I, heavy book bag on slouched shoulders, exhausted expression on face, fat pink bow in hair, would possibly come all the way to China (from wherever she thought I was from) to do in broad daylight with the street packed with vehicles and ten or more people on the same path with us. But not everything is meant to be understood. Besides, I don't know anything about her history, what she is going through, has gone through, or has never experienced in the past to make her feel unsafe on the streets. It makes me wonder, if she really believed that she was in danger, why didn't she say something to any of the strangers she passed. Is it a personal decision or cultural thing? That was something that I was worried about.
Saturday - Ate some mooncake. I'm not sure what it had in there but it had me running to the hospital. I need to be more careful with what I eat. However, I am surprised with how cheap the hospital visit was. It was only $20 for my treatment! I really appreciate how affordable the price was!
Wow, that's crazy with the child crying! A woman in Chisinau thought I was from Africa, too. I also had a German-speaking woman think I was Turkish. The misunderstanding was furthered by the fact that the Russian word for "I" and the German word for "yes" are the same, so to her it sounded like I was saying: "Yes, I'm Turkish!"
ReplyDeleteWow, that's funny! XD So did she think that you were a German and Russian speaking student from Turkey? XD
DeleteSo far, here in China, locals don't usually ask me "Which country do you come from?" Usually it's either foreigner or African.
If there's genuine interest I would take the time to explain that I am not of African nationality (but of Afro-Caribbean descent, if they really wanted to get into it :P) however usually it's just an off comment referring to me but not directed at me. But when you are walking through a park with nearly a hundred people to get to and back from school everyday, you tend to get used to some things XD
But I find it particularly interesting that you had such a cool miscommunication experience XD