Ni Hao, Cultural Dissonance!

"Obroni" is the term for white person, but it is not exclusive to caucasian people since it is used widely for all foreigners. I have a stranger experience as an easily recognizable ethnic group, Chinese. There is a level of ignorance I am experiencing that is not surprising but still shocking when I hear it. Men are yelling "NI HAO." across the streets to get my attention, people call me "Chinese" in the traditional languages before addressing me as another person, and most shocking of all children say, "ching chong ching chong". I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me. However, I have quickly learned to just ignore it and "do me".

There is an interesting dichotomy with my cultural identity. As as Chinese-American I am not a stereotypical Chinese person but I am not a stereotypical American person. So Ghanaians are often confused when I correct them and say I'm from the United States, not China. I hope interacting with me helps them to widen their perspective of both Chinese and American people, even a little bit.