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Waiguoren in Xiamen Waiguoren in Xiamen On my first visit to Xiamen 4 years ago, the sea-view while walking along Huan Dao Lu was for me... love at first sight. My new Xiamen friend Coral walked with me many times along this long wooden boardwalk that twists and climbs for kilometers next to beach on the South China Sea. I will never forget the time we just happened to meet a large group of school also enjoying an early afternoon walk along Huan Dao Lu. These cute Chinese girls and boys seemed so surprised and curious about suddenly seeing a waiguoren on Huan Dao Lu. They quickly surrounded us and several less shy students greeted me in well-practiced basic English expressions such as "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" "Do you like Xiamen?" I tried speaking some simple Mandarin which made the laugh and very excited. They began to speak Mandarin much too fast, so my friend Coral joined in the question-answer game as our translator. Coral looked so surprised about the reaction of these young Chinese school . She told me that Xiamen school are usually too shy to speak to a foreigner. She said they rarely get a chance to see a foreigner in Xiamen. When the 's teacher called for them to leave, all the pulled out their writing exercise notebooks and asked me to sign my name in each one. I think I signed my name more than 15 times. I felt just like a movie star. I made a promise to myself that day to return to Xiamen again many times and to learn to speak and read Chinese. I have kept this promise, visiting Xiamen 5 times in 4 years and studying Chinese for more than 3 years. |
