So, my parents are in Beijing for the weekend. They go to the hotel to check in, and at the desk, the clerk takes one long hard look at them and says, “So…you’ll be needing two rooms, right?”
And my dad says, “We’re married.”
And the clerk says, “Right.”
::head smack::
This happens more often than you might think. It is really annoying. But the misunderstanding (what I call, ignorance) occurs, I suppose, because it is still relatively rare in all of Asia to see an Asian man with a Caucasian woman, in any capacity beyond driver or friend. It just doesn’t fit the paradigm. Now, an Asian girl and a Caucasian man? That’s totally expected. Of course, the connotations are a tad more derogatory, as well.
Folks just can’t catch a break.