Monday, September 22, 2008

Mohamed from Jordan

Waiting for the train with Tony, I have to take him for walks about the waiting area because the little guy can't sit still and if you leave him among the seats he will find a way to bump his head against them.

Taking Tony near the piano that can be found in the soft seat waiting area of the Nanjing train station, I saw a man, foreign looking, approach me. He asked about Tony wanting to know or rather wanting to confirm that Tony's mother was Chinese. He asked for the confirmation because he too was married to a Chinese woman and they had a son.

Mohamed, was a dentist and doctor from Jordan, doing business in China. I felt embarrassed to say I was an English teacher. Anyway, he told me that his son was on both Jordanian and Chinese passports. I was surprised at this because I thought the Chinese did not allow dual citizenship, but he assured me that because his son was born in China he could do this.

I will have to investigate.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

'I felt embarrassed to say I was an English teacher.'

Andis, I'm surprised to read this comment, why did you feel embarrassed? I'd like you to write a short piece, if you have time, explaining this.

A regular visitor to your blog.

wuxi andis said...

Good question.

Something about the situation just made me feel that way. Strangers walking up to me puts me off guard and I never feel like I adequetely thanked the person for introducing himself to me.

And it was such an overwhelming feeling of embarassment that I felt I had to mention it in this blog. Maybe, I shouldn't have but I did.

But it will require, as you say, another piece to explain how and why I was feeling so. Suffice to say, I was embarassed for a whole lot of reasons. But these reasons reflect all on me.

It will be a tricky piece to write.