First comes a look of dread. Can the foreigner read the menu? Does the foreigner have the ability to scan a WeChat or Alipay code or produce their own barcode? Does the foreigner understand that these are not boring boiled eggs but delicious tea eggs? Can the foreigner actually eat spicy noodles, or is it best to go easy on chili oil?
The situation could get potentially tricky, so the first greeting—”Hello!” sounds hesitant.
Like, it’s more “Hello… please keep on walking, not too fast though because I’d like to stare at you” than “Hello!” with an exclamation mark.
“你好！麻烦你给我两个鸡蛋。”
“Ah! You speak Chinese!”
The sentence above and those below are obviously in Mandarin, but I’ll save you the copy/paste job in Google Translate.
“Most definitely.”
At this stage, people usually smile and start chatting. May as well. They’re curious, and so am I.
It’s not as if people in Beijing have never seen foreigners before.
And it’s not like I’ve never seen Chinese people—hello, I live with one of them.
But we still find each other fascinating because we live in two different worlds.
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