Me Looking at You Looking at Me

Now that I've finally gotten used to getting stared at all the time, I've started to have fun with it. Many Chinese will wait until you pass them on the street to look back and stare. I've caught on to this, so I started looking back to see if they are looking back at me. About 70% of the time, they will be looking back and they immediately divert their attention when they see me looking back. It's actually a really fun game to play. Otherwise, I just stare back at people who stare at me when we are walking and they are sitting down or standing somewhere and eventually they get embarassed and look somewhere else.

One time I noticed this woman on a bus staring at me as the bus was driving by. So I stared back at her, made a funny face, and put my finger right up my nose. Surprisingly, her expression did change one bit.

My friend Sable has a harder time than all of us because she is African American. It almost seems that most Chinese people have never seen an African American before in real life so they stare at her more than anyone else. The other day, we were sitting waiting for a bus, and this older gentleman wouldn't stop staring up and down at Sable. Then I stared at the guy until he looked away (I'm a total badass, I know). Then Sable said, "When that guy was staring me up and down, I know he was just thinking, 'What the fuck?'" That made me laugh.

My favorite time is when I was walking down the street at night and there was these two drunk Chinese men sitting on the curb. As we kept walking we got about half a block away from the two men and I heard one of them yell:

"HELLOOOOOOOO!!! WELCOME TO CHINAAAAAAAA!!!"

Unfortunately, I can't replicate the audio with the accent and everything, but I don't think I've laughed that hard since I've been in China.

Also, we all get a lot of Chinese who either want to take a picture with us, or will secretly take a picture of us while we are not looking. We're kind of like celebrities but I'm going to try and not let it go to my head, haha. The other day, a photojournalist wanted to take pictures of a couple of the girls from Drake, Megan and Sara, and so they posed for him right outside of this mall. Pretty hilarious stuff.

I was just sitting eating my lunch the other day and I saw this couple just one table away taking a picture of me on their cell phone...so I of course, just stared back until they got uncomfortable.