Foreigners, but Not So Foreign

I (Ben) was used to being stared at while on my mission in Russia—a redhead with a face full of freckles stands out in a sea of Slavic complexions—but it didn’t irk me as much then as it does now. People will simply stare at you…and stare at you…and stare at you. I’ll sometimes get bold and stare right back at them, but they don’t budge—they win every time. I’m not sure whether they’re just so tired (half the people on the buses and trains are struggling to stay awake) that it seems like they’re staring while they begin to fall asleep with their eyes and mouths wide open, but you think they’d snap out of it when their subject begins to return the stare. If I think I get it bad, Samara could complain far more than me. She is a celebrity. People have actually stopped us (several times!) and asked to take a picture of her. This has happened on the bus, the train, in the park, in the store, the beach—everywhere. Samara is a happy subject though. She will say “cheese” for them (far more readily than for us) and bid them a cute farewell (“see ya!”) when they leave. I have the anti-bacterial wipes ready for her cheeks and hands the moment they leave.

I feel like we’re in a distinctly foreign country. Almost everyone speaks with a thick accent, products are different, Chinese writing is everywhere, etc. However, Cheryl doesn’t agree—she thinks this place is rather pedestrian mainly because most people speak some English and you can find a lot of American products & stores. We’ll let you be the judge when you come visit.

(Addendum)
I (Cheryl) realized yesterday why people stare at us so much on public transportation. Yesterday, while Samara and I were on the metro, the announcement came over the speaker, “No eating or drinking on the train” just as Samara was taking an enormous swig of water from her sippy cup. Samara, being a clever and observant girl, loudly slopped the sippy cup from her mouth right after this and said, “Mommy, baby’s drinking sippy watty!” She said this several times until I acknowledged that she was indeed drinking on the train.
More on this, Samara’s still refers to herself as baby. Today for the first time, when asked what her name was she said ‘Samara’ instead of ‘baby.’ We wondered for a while if we’d have to change her birth certificate. Baby’s not such a bad name and after all everyone knows that “no one puts baby in a corner.”

(Addendum Two)
Ben has had a huge success. No, the triumphant event was not at work, but on the bus last week on the way to church. There was a little Muslim family sitting across from us and one of the little girls (around 10 or 11) was staring openly at Ben. Ben refused to give up. He stared right back. She was a tough little opponent, but she looked away first. Success!