1-800-foreigner

I keep forgetting to take the “I’m a foreigner – please come bug me for English lessons” sign off my back. I must say, I have never before had so many guys beg me for my phone number. I’m used to people being curious, but some are a bit more forceful than others.

This weekend when I was biking through town, a middle aged man on a motorbike followed me through town. “Where are you from? What are you doing here?” I talked to him for a minute or two and then biked on. He stayed right beside me. “My daughter is in university. I want her to improve her English. What does she have to do to study in America?” How would I know? At the next intersection, he cornered me again. “How can I get in touch with you? Let me give you my phone number. Can I have your information?” Funny, but I can never remember my phone number in these kind of situations…

Yesterday at RT Mart, in the milk and yogurt aisle, I saw two young guys coming toward me with the “swoop down on the foreigner” glow in their eyes. I was too tired to make a quick get away. “Hello. Where are you from? You have beautiful eyes. What are you doing here? You teach at Yangzhou? We are students there!” They were actually okay though. Friendly, but not aggressive.

I have a hard time with the aggressive types. Like the guy who cornered me when I was coming home and begged me for a good five or ten minutes to teach him better English. Chinese culture is traditionally indirect, so technically all the “well, I’m pretty busy…I’ve got about 200 students of my own…I’d have to see…” should have clued him in. But he was insistent. “You only have 5 classes? So you have lots of free time! What do you do? Shop? Party? You could teach me English.” Okay, you caught me. Basically all I do is party. I finally got his e-mail address and told him I would e-mail him if I had free time. If I get tired of the partying.