Both Eyes Fixed

Ok, I thought I was getting used to being an obvious foreigner in a generally homogeneous country. I thought that I had already become accustomed to random "hello"s from people who are so far past me that they should be saying "good-bye". I was pretty sure that I'd had my fair share of high school kids yelling "nice to meet you!" from across the street where they are too far away to know if I even speak English, let alone go through a formal introduction. It's commonplace for me to see many wide-eyed little kids run toward their parents when they see me so they can point back at me and tell their parents "kan nei ge wai guo ren" (look at that foreigner).

Today was different somehow. Maybe it's because I've lost weight and was wearing nice clothes. As I walked out of the import food market, an 8 yr old looked up at me and just fell over backward. As I was walking down the street, about 6 or 7 girls who looked to be about university age came rushing up to me giggling and asked for my autograph. Do I look like somebody else? What's going on here?

In other news, I've turned comments on for my blog so my faithful readers can bug me to be a faithful blogger. Thanks Jason.