I'm settling in to my role as the town “slightly mentally infirm but nevertheless exhilarating and hilarious” foreigner quite nicely. Our campus is a little ways outside of downtown Hangzhou, so the locals here see very, very few foreigners. Our foreign teacher’s liaison, Victor, commented that I might be the first one ever to have spent a significant amount of time in this part of town. So, needless to say, I’m a source of entertainment for the people here: a little bit of a freak show and a little bit of a stand-up comedian.
I’m embracing it. I even sang along to my Ipod this morning on the walk home from grabbing breakfast. There’s nothing like watching the Chinese eye you curiously as you bemusedly belt out “Defying Gravity” while dodging rickshaws and chickens. Maybe I’m going slightly insane already? Hopefully not—the Chinese aren’t fond of feeble mindedness.
In other news, I have made a new friend. She is the worker stationed in the hair care department at the supermarket across the street from our campus.
Now, I realize that living in China is an opportunity for me to shed my materialism and embrace a simpler existence. I’m all for that. I am not, however, all for unleashing the bushy, beasty ‘fro that grows on my head (those of you who know me well know that this is not an option). Hence my dire need for a hairdryer and straightener. So, for the past few days, I’ve been trekking to and from that hair care department on the 3rd floor of the supermarket in search of all my hair care necessities. And the same woman is always there to help me find exactly what my hair needs to be “soft, straight, and beautiful.” Yesterday, she broke out some hard-core Chinese on me. I had no idea what she was saying. No clue. My Chinese vocabulary of renting an apartment, ordering food, and politely declining dinner date invitations got me nowhere here.
So, of course, I enlist Wendy’s assistance, who helpfully tells me that the woman is critiquing my skin. Fannntastic. I know I haven’t been exfoliating lately, but c’mon, cut me some slack here, I just moved from the other side of the world. Anyway, long story short, the woman wants to be friends with the funny looking, nasty skinned, bushy haired foreigner. In Facebook terms, she added me as a friend, and I accepted the request.
you have fb access now? WHAaaaat?!
ReplyDelete"Unleash the bushy, beasty 'fro," I say. But only because I have the same Holbrook Mane. I spent years flattening my "BBF" with hairdryers, curling irons, etc, but one summer quarter at Auburn University changed that forever. I learned to embrace the BBF finally, and never looked back. C'mon, you can do it! Join me!
ReplyDelete-Aunt Susan