(no subject)
I hate it when white people think assume all Asians are the same. I mean, you can pretty much tell when a person of Chinese ancestry is from the mainland, Taiwan, or overseas even before they open their mouth. And especially after hearing them say something.
So this morning, at breakfast (buffet-ish) a Caucasian woman came up to me and asked in a really slow, condescending drawl, "Do...you...know...what...this...is?" making eye contact, grinning and nodding like she thought I was retarded or something. I answered her in perfectly unaccented English. "No, I don't know what that is."
"Oh...Your...English...is...very...good," she replied, flashing me a kindergarten teacher's smile. "Where...did...you...learn?"
My (really supercool REAL) eyebrows shot up. "In America...where I was born..."
"Oh..." Her eyes kind of widen, and she nods exaggeratedly as she beats a hasty retreat toward the toast.
Geez-us! I look really really really obviously out of place in China wearing my T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and Cal hat. I'm about four inches taller than the average Chinese girls, twice as wide as most guys here (seriously! the boys here are anorexically skinny) with bigger you-know-whats than anyone else around... I look *really* American. Not to mention I probably speak better English that she does...GRRR. But I guess it asked I couldn't tell you what nationality most Caucasians are... I don't know the physical distinction between a Russian and a Frenchman are either...
So this morning, at breakfast (buffet-ish) a Caucasian woman came up to me and asked in a really slow, condescending drawl, "Do...you...know...what...this...is?" making eye contact, grinning and nodding like she thought I was retarded or something. I answered her in perfectly unaccented English. "No, I don't know what that is."
"Oh...Your...English...is...very...good," she replied, flashing me a kindergarten teacher's smile. "Where...did...you...learn?"
My (really supercool REAL) eyebrows shot up. "In America...where I was born..."
"Oh..." Her eyes kind of widen, and she nods exaggeratedly as she beats a hasty retreat toward the toast.
Geez-us! I look really really really obviously out of place in China wearing my T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and Cal hat. I'm about four inches taller than the average Chinese girls, twice as wide as most guys here (seriously! the boys here are anorexically skinny) with bigger you-know-whats than anyone else around... I look *really* American. Not to mention I probably speak better English that she does...GRRR. But I guess it asked I couldn't tell you what nationality most Caucasians are... I don't know the physical distinction between a Russian and a Frenchman are either...