Celebrity Status

What do all of these men have in common?

Well, there's two things they have in common.  The first being that none of them look anything like me.  And the second commonality is that a healthy portion of the Chinese population is convinced that I look like a grotesque hybrid of these three gentleman.

At one point I was even explaining to a group of Chinese people of how hilarious I think being compared to Brad Pitt and Chris Jericho is...and one cuts me off to say that I actually look more like David Beckham.

Do I find it flattering?  I think initially yes, but then the true absurdity of the situation turned my feeling of flattery...into one of  amusement.  And the types of attention certainly very in China, generally depending upon the age and gender of the person staring at you while you walk down the street.

It doesn't make me angry.  How could it?  I know that I stand out.  But, I think it bothers a lot of foreigners (particularly Americans) because we can't imagine staring at a foreigner in the same fashion back in the states.  But if you really think about it, we have absolutely no frame of reference considering our incredible amount of racial diversity.  Even the areas in the states many would consider to be virtually homogeneous are practically grand melting pots compared to any city in China.

Adorable kid that walked into the hair salon while Sarah was getting her hair did.

As for the stares...well...after dealing with it for a while I've noticed a pattern.  Everyone stares.  But those ages 10-60 will avert their eyes when you look back. Anyone younger or older just keeps that eye contact with a "what the fuck are you gonna do about it" look on their face.  Okay, well maybe just a look of innocent confusion.  It depends on what kind of mood I'm in at the time.

Perhaps my favorite moment of picture taking / staring occurred when I was working out in the gym with my Rwandan friend Felicien.  He's spotting me on the bench press when I finish and glance to my left.  Outside are probably 12 security guards (for the complex that we live near) just standing and watching.  A few of them have cameras out, but the rest just stand slack-jawed.  To them, it was like watching aliens from two different worlds helping each other in the equally foreign enterprise of picking heavy objects off of racks...just to put the back again.

But I digress.  In America...I'm not Brad Pitt.  I'm not even the homeliest of the Backstreet Boys.  So I have no qualms about soaking up the attention, because this is the closest I'll ever have to paparazzi.

Not staged...I just told them if they were going to take pictures of me...I could take one of them.