The Adventures of Tai'an

You realize that you will always be a foreigner but you can become a local. It dawned on me one morning as I was walking to the gym that I was now someone you didn't stare at but someone whom you spoke with.

When I first arrived here everyone would just stare. After they passed you if you were lucky they would have the courage to say 'hello'. I started to stop and talk with these people. This was always difficult because hello was the extent of their vocabulary and 'nihao' is the extent of my vocab.

Anyway I would stop and teach them 'Good Morning. How are you?' Having done all of this practice with the locals I found myself walking to the gym and stopping for 'Good Morning, How are you?' I then had to go on to teach them more conversational vocab. I guess this is when I was accepted as a local.

During this same week I went to the Ramada for a western fix and was on my way to the buffet when I heard my name being called. I stopped and said Hi to Kelly - a Chinese Teacher. On my way back I heard my name called, this time it was a Chinese woman who I had met at the gym. I never imagined that I would go anywhere in China and have my name called.