Getting Gawked

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In Chengdu people are pretty polite about checking out the foreigners. I can occasionally (okay more than occasionally) hear the term "white foreigner" thrown around (one of the first Mandarin words I learned). However, when we decided to venture further from Chengdu the looks got less and less subtle. Normally people just stare. Perhaps point a little bit. But in this small town people followed us. When I walked out onto the street- people literally stopped and beckoned for their friends to look at this tall foreigner. We heard the word for "tall" so many times today I would be rich if I got a penny for each time. Child reactions were most epic. They would yell out "Tall!!" to their parents who would also be standing out in the street. It was quite the experience- I can't say particularly liked it.



Also, a man randomly came up to me and told me that my nose was huge (which is apparently a great complement in China- this is So the place for me.) He told me that my long&wide nose meant that I would be rich and successful...

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