Yep, it's that easy to pick me out in the crowd here. Kunming's foreigner community (the word expat is not really used here) is anywhere from tiny to huge, depending on whom you ask. I see other foreigners every day, but it's not uncommon for me to be the only one at a restaurant, on the bus, or at the grocery store. And I'm not exactly someone you'd mistake from behind for a Chinese.
I've gotten used to stares and comments. People will say "laowai" or "waiguoren" when I pass; mostly, I think they assume I don't know what they're saying. Schoolboys and grown men (never women) will test out their "Hello," on me. I like to answer in kind, but use American slang, something like: "What up, little homey." Sometimes I hardly notice; sometimes I am amused; sometimes I'm annoyed. It can be a good opportunity to study people. Normally, I'd feel awkward looking directly at a stranger on the street for more than two seconds. But with them all up in my grill, I feel free to stare back and get a good look at their face. Sometimes I respond a little aggressively; a woman or man looks me up and down, and I lock eyes with them, with an almost expressionless look that says, "I see you looking at me." (My tendency to do this seems to double when I'm on my way home from a workout. Somewhere in there is a study on testosterone and aggression waiting to never be conducted).
On the bus one recent morning, I was the entertainment for a little girl who was riding with her father. He smiled at me and said "Hello" in English. Then he tapped her shoulder and said, "Kan (look)," gesturing back toward me. She turned around to stare at me. "Ni hao," I said. When I failed to do anything interesting, beyond being laowai, they moved to a more entertaining seat at the front of the double-decker bus. The next thing that Dad pointed out to her was a giant papier mache elephant erected on the sidewalk in honor of the Chinese special olympics.
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