a real foreigner

Friday, I ate breakfast at McDonalds.  I actually took my Bible and my Living Beyond Yourself study with me.  I went to the second floor (yes, McDonald's here are multi-story complexes). 

The A/C and lights were off.  But that was ok--it was nice and quiet and there was plenty of light streaming in from the windows.  I had the whole second floor to myself.

About 15-20 minutes of enjoying the aloneness and quiet.  The manager came in and turned on the lights and A/C.  She also asked me to move to the side of the restaurant because  . . . a preschool was coming for a field trip.

So, within 5 minutes my quiet second floor was filled with the laughing, squeals, and high pitched chatter of four and five year olds.  Mixed in to this was the continual repeating of the word "wei gou ren"  (which means "foreigner" or literally "a person from an outside country").

I just choose to ignore them--cute as they were.

After McDonald's, I went to a bookstore to get a few items.  And guess what!!  The same preschool kids were all piling out of their school's vans at the same time right there at the bookstore!

They kept repeating "wei gou ren," so I smiled and even gave them a little wave. 

A small group of the brave ones approached me. 

"Hey, did we just see you at McDonalds?"

"Yes."

"Why are you here now?"

"I am going to buy some stuff."

"Oh. Are you a real foreigner?"

"Yes, I am a real foreigner."

"Really?  You are really a real foreigner?"

"That's right.  I am really am a real foreigner."

"If you really are a real foreigner, could you say something to us in English?"

I said something simple in English, and then told them to go stay with their teacher. 

As I walked into the bookstore, I couldn't stop smiling for a full five minutes.  They were just so cute!

Comments

[joyce]

i really like your sharing of tidbits of life in Taiwan. although i'm Chinese-American, i look obviously non-Taiwanese and the first time i was there, people would constantly ask where i'm from. I think it's wonderful you speak Chinese so well that you can communicate with those children. Were they surprised to hear you speak Mandarin?

[amanda p. wu]

Actually . . .no. There was no surprise at all.

Many kids don't realize I shouldn't or that I will have problems understanding them or in my own pronouncation. At least this is true down here in the south where many have never had a foreign teacher--so have no expectation that I shouldn't be able to understand them.

This can be a blessing and a curse. A blessing because they don't slow down and speak normal stuff to me. A blessing because they use simple Chinese anyway.

A curse because they don't know why I don't get what they are trying to tell me. A curse because they don't know why they can't understand me.

[Hannah Im]

I can so identify! The Korean word for foreigner is "wei gook in." I hear it a lot too! Kids are especially funny, aren't they? They are always shouting "Helloooo" to me.

[Dabbling Mum]

So Cute! I just love the innocence of children. Their curiosity is nothing more than pure wonder and it's so sweet!