Wander Words

Before I came to China, my only experience with foreigner was the opening seconds of an old song and my boyfriend shouting “The pride of Rochester, New York!”

In Yantai, though, it may as well be my name. When I walk through town, I am constantly greeted with “Hello! Hello! Lao wei!” I’ve been told many times that it’s not rude, but I can’t imagine the equivilent “NI HAO! HEY CHINA MAN!” going over too well.

Yesterday, as I was walking to school, a young man shouted “Hello!”. I waited for him to add “Lao wei!” so that I could give my customary response, which is saying in slow and painstaking Mandarin “Hello, I am an American teacher.” But instead, he said, in slow and painstaking English:

“Welcome to China!”
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Meg wrote this on March 29th, 2006 and filed it under Travel |