--- In [email protected], Duveyoung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I did a lot of traveling on the Pacific Rim, and I spent months on > various business missions where I'd return to my hotel room and just > be stunned that I hadn't seen one person that day who didn't have > black hair or was as tall as me or who didn't like cold fish hunks on > rice with a watery gruel for breakfast. Talk about anomie! > > I'd be walking down the street in a big city and the sidewalks would > be four, five, ten people shoulder to shoulder deep. I'd scan ahead > of me, and there'd be this sea of bobbing black haired heads, and > every now and then, HEY, there'd be a western head bobbing above the > rest of them -- seemingly to be bouncing on the "surface of heads." > > And I would just be so happy to know the sound of one head floating! > > Almost like love at first sight. > > And, once, I met this person who I barely knew back in the States, and > I didn't much care for him, but he spoke English and knew what "Snap > into a Slim Jim" meant, and that a dog can be a friend not, you know, > cuisine. Oh, the sanctuary of our sharing a Coke and Burger. Someone > stop me -- this is sounding so racist!
I lived and taught in Asia for over a year. And "lost" western identity in a way. I would come home at night and when brushing my teeth see face the mirror, it would sometimes make me jump in shock -- fair complexion, blondsish hair, green eyes -- who was this odd looking person? And upon seeing westerners, sometimes I would be shocked at the "missing" inherent, sweetness, kindness and grace often so common in the interactions of my acquanintances of locals.
