Making Friends in Tianjin

I  stick out a little here in Tianjin… not too many westerners here.

Everyday people come up to me on the street, quite often it is children practicing their English wanting to say hello.  The shy ones are pushed forward by their parents who are proud they are learning English in school.   A group of college students converged on me last week asking me to sign their banner and started to sing “Born in the USA” and gave me a balloon.   Today in very broken English a cab driver asked where I was from.  I responded “America” , but he wrinkled his brow in confusion, I tried “USA”, and still no luck.   I then said “Obama” and he nodded and said “ooh yes—America!”

Today as I was on my way to the Dublin Irish Pub (yes Irish Pub here in Tianjin) for lunch and last minute Christmas shopping the electric “rickshaw” driver kept stopping at the wrong location.   I repeatedly showed  him the address for the restaurant written in Chinese and he would ask directions from a local and then motor on.   The third time we stopped I knew we were close so I got out and decided to walk the rest of the way.   I walked in what I thought was the general direction and at the corner saw a local getting ready to take off on their scooter and showed them the address hoping they would point the way for me.  Nope- instead they gestured for me to hop on their scooter and they would take me the rest of the way.   Just a few minutes later I was dropped off at the entrance and he refused to take any money for taking me to my lunch spot, but with gestures he agreed to come in and allow me to buy him a beer.  Neither of us spoke the others language but we enjoyed a cold beverage and a game of fooz ball before he went on his way.

This is the way it is throughout the city, people welcome you at every corner.   The food vendors make conversation with me in Chinese and I respond back in English -  most of the time we muddle our way through what is needed .  They are always very honest and lunch from vendors that I assume would cost 20 rmb ($3.20) they would shake their head and give me back 14 rmb in change.     The vendors who try and communicate with me I become loyal to and go back again and again.

The only time we wanted to avoid being pegged as an American was when we were at the Forbidden City in Beijing and we had a multitude of English speaking guides approaching us for “very special tour”.    In trying to shake the guides off we decided to pretend we were from another country and I started shaking my head at English and trying to look exotic started saying “ Parlez- vous Francais?” and Greg went with “Spechen sie deutsch? ”   It worked perfectly and we were left alone!  

I walk the city and people turn their head in surprise to see a Westerner but I always try and catch their eye and nod, then we both smile.  A smile means the same thing in every language.   

Cheers and Good Travel !