Localized

If Singaporeans mistaking me to be PRC Chinese had been a gross mistake, I am now pretty convinced that I really look like a local. Bleah.

If you recall that entry talking about how people always ask me for directions, it's not everything. More:

1) I've been stopped several times by the guards at Shaoyuan (the foreign student dorm) asking where I am going. I had to show them my room key to prove that I live here.

2) The other day I was in a shop looking at clothes. The shop lady started telling me about how trendy that piece of clothing I am looking at is. I didn't catch what she said so I put on the "huh?" face. Then she slowed down and repeated what she said, and I replied her something. She exclaimed, "哦！我以为你不是中国人！"(Oh! I thought you weren't PRC Chinese!) Mentally I was, "Yah, 我真的不是中国人", but knowing how Chinese business people exploit foreigners, I wisely kept my thoughts to myself and smiled serenely at her "mistake". I got a very good price for that shirt, by the way. =)

3) Most Chinese students I introduced myself to are astonished that I'm a foreigner.

4) I was at Prof Tang's place yesterday, and the grad student staying with him said that I don't look foreign at all.

And blah blah blah goes on~

Just now I was stopped again by the door guard. So I had to conclude that I really look local. Bleah.