racism as i experienced it today

These 2 pictures are taken with my phone of the 'Face of the Old Man'
mountain in a town called Chimoio, where I visited after xmas. The
first one is at the bottom and the second is of the view after we'd
hiked up his nose.

Anyway, topic of conversation today is racism. As I walked around town
today, to the parts where I've never been, along with the usual
staring by everyone I pass, I got called several things that reminded
me of an experience I had in Namaacha that I forgot to write about.
When I say stare, I really mean stare. Everyone I walk pass would dog
me out, and they don't even care if I stare back. And it's not a
smiling stare either. It's straight up mean mugging. It's very weird.
Well, besides that today, there was also a lot of name calling. Like
they'd call me chinesa, chinese, japonesa, japanese, or korean. I
think I must be the first Vietnamese person here cause nobody knows
where it is. On top of that, the damn little kids went up to me and
was like 'ching chang chong chang chong' in a mocking voice to me. Oh
I was so pissed. are you freaking kidding me!? I have not been made
fun of like that since Elementary school, and to be mocked by
children! Well, i guess i shouldn't have been so mad but it was just
so shocking to be made fun of. Most of the time ppl don't even believe
i'm american. You know how when ppl in the states would ask what are
you, i would always respond with vietnamese. Well here, i have to
respond with i'm american, which i totally forgot about the first few
weeks, and ppl here would be like, no really what are you. It's so
hard to fathom that i'm american and i would have to speak english to
prove myself. Well, that's my identity crisis of the day. Just wanted
you to be aware that stereotyping exists here too. There's no escaping
it.