The day after the US presidential election I was walking down the street with a friend – African American male who has been living in Taiwan for over 20 years and is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese. We were in Tien-Mou, a neighborhood that is known to be the home for many expatriates in the good old days.
We just had a nice Italian dinner and decided to stroll along the sidewalk for some fresh air. Walking toward us a young Chinese mother was hand-in-hand with her son who looked no more than 5 years of age.
My friend is over six feet tall and dressed in black suit. Just when I was about to smile at the little kid when we’re passing each other he suddenly shouted out with excitements, “Mommy Mommy!” Then he pointed at my friend and said, “Obama!”
My friend looked at the kid and replied, “Wa Mu Xi Obama!” ﹙Wa Mu Xi means I am not in Taiwanese﹚
The kid seemed lost for a second when he heard my friend speaking Taiwanese. I can just imagine what is going through his little head at the moment, “Wow, Obama speaks Taiwanese uh?”
I laughed so hard that everyone within the one mile radius probably heard me. I turned to the kid and said, “He is not Obama. Mr. Obama is much better looking than this guy!”
The mother was awfully embarrassed and kept apologizing to us. And the kid had no idea what he did that was so wrong that his mother had to make apology for. To him my friend is probably the closest person to Obama he will ever meet in this lifetime!
