Foreigners (外国人)

I saw foreigners yesterday. The exchange was very funny because it shows just how much I've adjusted to this new country. I've become Chinese in my reactions.

My co-workers and I went down the street to get lunch. It is important that I go with them for many reasons:

1. I don't know yet how to determine what to buy that won't make me sick; and
   
2. If you are a foreigner your price for EVERYTHING starts at about 3 times the going rate so if I want to buy anything for the real price and not the foreigner price then I need to have a Chinese person go with me. (For example: on the way back from the bus station I tried to take a taxi home. The initial quoted price was 31 Yuan. That was a little expensive considering the ride from my home to the bus station only cost me 13 Yuan two days earlier. The driver wouldn't even budge on the price until I got one of my co-workers on the phone to talk to them and she managed to bring it down to 20 Yuan.)

My Chinese co-workers help keep my stomach and my wallet happy.

Back to the story: I was with my co-workers waiting on the street vendor who was preparing our pancake lunches when I looked up and I noticed that there was something here not like the others. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were two foreigners walking casually down the street in my direction. It's not as if I haven't seen foreigners before in the city -my English manager is Irish and I met that South African girl the first night here but these were different foreigners and I didn't expect to see them. Not here. Not now. I looked, no check that, I ogled them much the same way I suppose the entire city of Linyi ogles me and then I opened my mouth and screamed "HELLO!" Then I chuckled to myself.

Why did I laugh? You see every single time I walk down the street someone yells "Hello!" and if I stop and ask them "Do you speak English?" their reply is often "No, I only know how to say 'Hello'". Yelling "Hello" is just the standard greeting for foreigners. Whether or not the foreigner speaks English is a trivial matter. So for me to yell "Hello" was a bit... hmmm what word can I use for that? ironic, maybe? Yes, me yelling "Hello" was a bit ironic.

I know now to never complain about the reaction I get from Chinese who are unaccustomed to seeing a foreigner walking down their street. It's just natural. After all, I did it.