Kissing and Strawberries

Today I had an interesting experience....

After a morning of teaching I was running some errands in the neighborhood. I walked past students with mp3 earbuds in their ears, girls in baggy jeans with side ponytails, street vendors hoping just a few more people were hungry... I am always struck by the narrow alleys, the workers in blue uniforms, the old man, the child, even advertisements written on concrete walls... China seems new still, it seems fresh, and that is because it is always changing. Despite my months here, I am still such a stranger. The typical response to foreigners is always friendly, always curious. People often say "hello" or stare and tap their friends to take a look at the "lawai". Granted, I do the same thing if I see any foreigners here. The other day I saw a woman at Wal-mart who was clearly not Chinese. ... and Alli tapped me and we got excited and wondered who she was. So, today as I was buying fruit, I was not surprised when a high school aged girl started to talk to me. I wanted strawberries and she told me the Chinese word for strawberry and in English asked me if I was a teacher. I answered yes, then asked her if she was a student at my university. She shook her head no, and then kept staring at me. I told her this was my first time to China and apologized for my poor Chinese. She then stepped closer to me, and very deliberately kissed me on the cheek. This is not at all a Chinese thing to do. People do not traditionally touch when greeting each other at all, let alone a stranger. I was very surprised and confused, so I just said "thank you" and smiled and said goodbye. I asked a good Chinese friend about it, and she laughed and thought it was pretty strange, and suggested that the girl was just excited to see a foreigner. Needless to say, I felt welcomed.