I bought my egg sausage sandwich, hash-brown patty and coffee, and sat down. There I was minding my own business when these two Chinese kids sat right beside me and basically poked their faces into mine. One of them asked "shi Waiguoren?" ( "是 外国人?" "Are you a foreigner?"). Thinking "WTF?", I responded "bu shi Waiguoren!" ("不是 外国人!" "I am not a foreigner!") It took a few seconds for it to register into their little brains that I was joking. They then just continued to stare at me and I became very annoyed. I would have loved to have grabbed their heads and banged them together. As it was, I ate quickly and left in a huff.
You have to learn to expect to be stared at if you are going to spend more than a fortnight in China, but what those children was beyond the pale. I would even say that their attitude to me was racist. But they are children and they just don't know any better.
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