I bought a mirror today. Quite exciting. Now I can see just how much weight I've gained. It's really aweful. And I can see my whole face when I'm putting on makeup, as opposed to just 2 inches at a time in my pocket mirror. I often don't know what I look like until I get to work, and at that, I often still only know a portion of my face or hair at a given time. The best place to check what you look like?? On the train. Most of the trains that I take have mirrors right by every door. How considerate for all us vain little train riders.
On my way home from buying the mirror, I had a rather comical interaction with an 8 year old. Okay, so I giggled the whole way to the corner. I was walking my bike (with the large stand up mirror lashed to it) down the sidewalk. These two boys were talking and walking towards me. They looked up when they were still like 12 feet from me and the one boy actually looked at me and gasped! And then just stared with this dumbfounded look on his face. I was trying so hard to keep a straight face as I passed them and as soon as I passed I could hear their excited chatter as they turned to watch me go. I couldn't help but giggle out loud (once out of ear shot) to myself all the way to the end of the block. This does happen. More often than I would expect. I'm still surprised at people's reactions at seeing a foreigner and I find it incredible that people have been able to live for years (often into their teenage years or into their twenties) without ever having seen a real foreigner close up, let alone talk to one.
