Last week I was listening to an episode of one of my favorite radio shows - "This American Life" It was an episode about foreigners in China. several of the Americans who now live in China spoke about how being a European in Beijing no longer draws the attention that it used to.
Weeeeellllllll, that may be true for single, white people, but when you travel through Beijing with a group of 21 young people from Africa, Bangladesh and the Caribbean, you not only draw attention you draw crowds. Everywhere we went people stopped, stared, and many wanted to take pictures with our students. This gave me the courage to start asking the people who wanted to take pictures with our students for permission to take their picture.
What I learned was it pays to take the chance to ask to take photos of people. I also found that in Beijing, almost everyone was really open to having their picture taken. In NYC, where people are much more reserved I have found that having a business car for my blog has helped get people to allow me take their photo.
Either way I have found that taken people's photos adds a lot to the feeling of a place.
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