Newbies carry a backpack.
Old timers carry Hello Kitty bags.
Or maybe the newbies should just get over it and realize that most of the longtermers aren’t “arrogant assholes” - they just don’t give a shit about you (and why should they?), aren’t out looking for new friends (again, why should they?), or, at worst, just don’t want to deal with the constant banality of the same 20 questions with newbies.
'I’ve been here for a long time therefore will give you a dirty look in street ’
Makes sense :loco: - Back to my original post: Get over yourself. 
. Not everyone who smiles at you wants to be your best buddie and ask you ‘20 questions’ Jesus Christ lol.
[quote=“Jaffa cake”]'I’ve been here for a long time therefore will give you a dirty look in street ’
Makes sense :loco: - Back to my original post: Get over yourself. . Not everyone who smiles at you wants to be your best buddie and ask you ‘20 questions’ Jesus Christ lol.[/quote]
Who said anything about a dirty look? It has nothing to do with US getting over ourselves - isn’t it obvious that YOU are the one who can’t get over yourself in the sense that you think others are obligated to acknowledge you? People like myself just don’t care that much about you, just like we wouldn’t care about any other random person in a big city back home.
[quote=“Jaffa cake”]
Like I said I don’t expect a nod and a smile, nor do I personally care if people don’t acknowledge me. It’s when someone purposefully makes an effort to glare or be stuck up wankers.[/quote]
Also, did you not smile at someone who smiled at you back home?.. do you just hate people wherever you are?.. That sounded rude but it’s a genuine question.
Personally, I don’t glare at or hate strangers (without obvious reasons, of course). I think newbies often simply misinterpret apathy for hostility though.
I can imagine that happening. I thought your other post before was responding to mine, sorry about that. 
I have a whole shtick for this now. I don’t want to be a dick and just walk by. When approaching the fellow foreigner I do a quick, furtive glance to see what THEY’RE doing. If they’re not looking at me great I can do the local “stare at the foreigner” thing until we pass each other. If they are looking at me, I assess their look and decide whether to smile and nod, maybe even say “hi”, look away, or continue staring unsmilingly–this last one seems to be what other foreigners are doing most times. The only catch is if my furtive glance meets their furtive glance. That’s pretty awkward.
Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.
What looks determine a smile or not out of you Tempo :P? I’m tempted to develop a ‘Smile or not’ website, foreigners upload their photos and users click ‘smile’ or ‘ignore’ and you get a rating. Like that awful ‘Hot or Not’ website from 2003 or whatever it was - Just for fun of course.
[quote=“tommy525”]Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.[/quote]
White girls either do the typical avoidance maneuver or the stuck-up grimace you’d expect from males, or they give me the “you sure are a sight for sore eyes, boy am I happy to see you” type look. It’s kind of a pathetic longing. I take it as a compliment 
Cool ! Being asian iv never had that problem. I am invisible to white male or females.
Cept this one boy (barely 20) at a pub seeing me read the China Post come over and say 'Oh you read english".
I really didn’t know what to say to him.
(now if it was a young LADY…)
The other person has to look like they WANT to smile at least. I’ll take the lead, but it’s no fun smiling by yourself like a jackass either.
[quote=“tommy525”]Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.[/quote]
Dunno other ladies, but I am mostly invisible to other foreigners. 
meiguanxi, gives me plenty of room to stare at my leisure. :lick: 
[quote=“tommy525”]Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.[/quote]
White guys can be pretty hostile to ‘white ladies’, so I just tune them out unless they are British (so I can suss them out easily) or overtly friendly.
Honestly, and this is a fairly jaded view, I’ve been in Asia, apart from my current hiatus since I left college. I’m about as interested in getting to know them as they are in getting to know a 40 year old Brit woman.
It might have something to do with this:
I’m a white woman, and if I make eye contact with another foreigner (of whatever race), I generally smile and might say a quick hello if they smile back. And people generally respond in kind, though I’ve run across a few people who go out of their way to avert their eyes and walk away, which I’ve always found a bit silly. Where I’m from (small-ish town in the southwest of the US), people do generally say hello to people they pass on the street/at the store/etc. (even when driving, they even generally raise a finger–no, not THAT finger–in greeting to passing drivers), so it’s just part of my DNA. I don’t expect others to reciprocate, but it’s nice when they do. (And just for the record, I smile at non-foreigners who make eye contact as well.)
When I lived in China, foreigners would often run over and greet each other and introduce themselves when they crossed paths, but there were very few of us where I lived, and I suppose people were looking for an opportunity to commiserate with someone who might be having a shared experience.
[quote=“Ermintrude”][quote=“tommy525”]Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.[/quote]
White guys can be pretty hostile to ‘white ladies’, so I just tune them out unless they are British (so I can suss them out easily) or overtly friendly.
Honestly, and this is a fairly jaded view, I’ve been in Asia, apart from my current hiatus since I left college. I’m about as interested in getting to know them as they are in getting to know a 40 year old Brit woman.[/quote]
What about half-breeds?
Or those with sharp tongue, who might also have skald’s reward?
Personally, I wager on the getting to know a 40 year old Brit who actually has the brass to posit that Python does not contribute to the human essence.
That Brand chap, I still don’t get it.
But what do I know?
I prefer Lowry, Blair, and Hobbes.
[quote=“Icon”]
Oh, I get that a lot. “You cannot be central American. Central American people’s skin is dark!” And though it is summer, Icon is stuill snowy white… literally… not Caucasian, but as in some sunshine would do me good.
Luv seeing the pink foreigners in the MRT. You know, the guys that show up on Monday after biking/hiking/going out on the weekend. 
I knwo how TexMex feels about names and people knowing way too much about you. It is a no-no. But here it is different. Yet, it still gives me a stomachace, knee jerk reaction.
For people here, we all are MeiGuo Ren. Just as for people back home anyone remotely Asian is Chinese. Meipanfa.[/quote]
Hahaha their reaction is awesome and I get it a lot, one even put his arm next to mine to compare colors.
Not getting sunshine in TW? you’re doing something wrong.
Ugh… tell me about it, I was one of those pink/red shrimps after one long ass scooter trip to the mountain, won’t do it again…
Yeah so true, they are all “chinos” even if they are from JP or some other place haha.
I am guilty of the “friend or foe” stance, but mainly because I am pretty distrustful in others…
[quote=“TheGingerMan”][quote=“Ermintrude”][quote=“tommy525”]Do ladies have this problem or is it just white guys?
Somehow white guys pick up other white guys on the radar and have this “friend or foe” stance that is somehow important?
Asian guys passing each other in a white country wouldn’t have any such compulsion.[/quote]
White guys can be pretty hostile to ‘white ladies’, so I just tune them out unless they are British (so I can suss them out easily) or overtly friendly.
Honestly, and this is a fairly jaded view, I’ve been in Asia, apart from my current hiatus since I left college. I’m about as interested in getting to know them as they are in getting to know a 40 year old Brit woman.[/quote]
What about half-breeds?
Or those with sharp tongue, who might also have skald’s reward?
Personally, I wager on the getting to know a 40 year old Brit who actually has the brass to posit that Python does not contribute to the human essence.
That Brand chap, I still don’t get it.
But what do I know?
I prefer Lowry, Blair, and Hobbes.[/quote]
You’d have to have a hell of a one-liner. Or beer.
But seriously. You discount your own self too much. I’m old. I’ve read it. I’ve seen it. I’ve been there too. Do n’t make me talk about Lowry or the sagas. The last fun conversation I had was about whether we could let the bees out near the neighbour’s rabbits, not about a book I read 20 years ago.
And that’s why expat boys are fking boring.