The bule. The foreigner. The Měiguó rén. That is who I am.
I may try to fit in to the Indonesian culture. But I will forever be six feet tall. I will forever have a long pointy nose. I will forever be white. I will forever speak English.
And this means that I will forever, be subject to photos.
As shown by my experience today. With reports coming up and piles of papers to mark accumulating, I knew I needed a day to work and a cup of coffee to get me through. So after church ended, a couple girls and I made our way down to Starbucks. As I ordered my drink today, the barista knew my name... since I've been in there about every other day the last two weeks. (It's because my Starbucks card gets me a free drink... so I've gotta make use of the great deal! Don't judge.)
It's so fun to have my routines set up, to have places that I can feel comfortable in. And having the baristas that know me is one of those homey features.
After about four hours of sitting there this afternoon, they offered us free coffee samples. How sweet! we thought as we sipped on the French pressed coffee. And then the truth came out...
Photo with you?
So they came out from behind the counter and smiled with us. Even in our home... the Starbucks just downstairs from our apartment, where we bules sit every day marking... even there we cannot escape the fact that we will forever be novelties while living in Asia.
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