swings and stares

yesterday morning i babysat my 2.5 yr old teammate, olivia (beautiful blonde hair and blue eyed little one) and decided to take her out to play since it wasn't raining for once!

it was my first time taking her out, just me and olivia. if you don't know how much attention foreigners get in china it's like seeing someone that is blue (they would stick out in america, no?) and you would probably stare (or at least want to haha) and maybe ask questions if you were brave enough... not that being blue is bad but it's just different and surprising. just like an "obvious" foreigner in china (i'm not obvious, they just think i'm chinese. haha) now just imagine the attention intensifying 11 times more for a foreign baby or child. it's crazy.

as we walked to a local exercise equipment/park area every chinese person that saw her would ask "ta duo da le?" (how old is she??) they just HAD to know. :) and usually the 2nd question they would ask is "ta shi ni de?" (is she yours??) hahahaha... umm... "NO." i would reply. i think it's pretty hilarious that they think she would be mine... blonde hair, blue eyes.. my chinese daughter?!? then later they would ask what is her nationality and a few times i joked with the people saying "chinese" and they would be gullible and say "noooooo!!??" with a very surprised face.. hehehe

anyways we ended up playing on the swings for about an hour and thankfully when she's on the swing she's in her own little world and people can't touch her because she's constantly moving... but she did get a LOT of stares and questions. bless her heart. i can't imagine what it's like to be her, you can't go anywhere and just be a normal child... no stares, no questions, no comments. life of a foreign child is hard and yesterday i got a taste of what it's like. thankfully, he can use the attention that foreign children get as a way to hopefully draw attention to HIM... the maker of all colors of skin, even blue. :)

taste like... toothpaste.

the other night i was feeling a bit generous and decided to share my two beloved American snacks with a few students to give them a "cultural" experience. almost all of them were eager to try and taste something new, something "strange", something VERY unfamiliar. haha so i gave them a thin mint and a cheez-it. :)




after they took their first bite and looking at their priceless facial expressions i asked them what they thought about it. for the thin mints they said... "it taste like... i have every morning (with the motion of brushing their teeth)..." "toothpaste?" i said "yes! toothpaste!" another said it taste "cool" haha mint flavored stuff is not very common in china at all.. probably their first time eating such a flavor. :) the cheez-it's however were not so popular with their taste buds.. wayyyy too foreign of a flavor. one student said "the flavor is very different at the end than the beginning... i don't like it." haha i told them i'm proud of them for trying something very different... it's like when i try new food in china- you don't know if you like it until you try it! ;)