Head & shoulders above

Never in my 27 years have I ever knowingly been described as ‘average’.  Particularly when referring to my height.  At 5’10” I stand out a little wherever I am in the world, but I find here in China I stand out considerably less so than I did in Vietnam.  Chinese people on the whole are taller than their southern neighbours and I have seen a surprising number of Chinese men and women who are taller than my good self.  As such, finding clothes that fit here is not a problem.  Larger shoe sizes and longer length trousers can all be found in high street stores, which is probably another reason I prefer it here to ‘Nam: you’ve got to love a spot of retail therapy on occasions!

I had to laugh when the first question a student asked me a few weeks ago was “Amy, how tall are you and how much do you weigh, because I think you’re very slim for a western person?!”  Spot on kid, how right you are!  So there you have it, Asia’s perception of the west, summed up by one twelve year old intermediate level Trailblazer.  Tall, slim people appear to be a novelty anywhere these days though, thanks to the McDonalds generation.

Being different here can have its advantages.  Every weekend we start work around 9:00am, however, the mall in which our school is situated only opens at 10:00am.  This means we can only gain entry via the security exits that open from 8:30am onwards.  Each is manned by two security guards who usually interrogate the local people wishing to enter.  I, however, have never heard a peep from them, why, because I’m a laowai (foreigner) – my face is my identity!  My Chinese colleagues do get slightly disgruntled by having to sign in and prove the purpose of their visit…

Being a laowai, even here in cosmopolitan Shanghai, leads to you receiving a vast amount of stares.  It’s nothing new; I had it all last year as well.  Most of the time I just ignore it and carry on regardless, sometimes I smile at them, sometimes they even smile back!  If I were an Asian person I’d stare at me, taller, slimmer and paler than the ‘average’ western person – I must be quite an assault on the eyes!

C’est la vie, I’d rather be this way than an Average Joe.

A xx