7They Don't Make Shoes for Sasquatch: On Not Fitting In... Literally

All the hiking I’ve been doing has taken a toll on my running sneakers, so I decided to buy a pair of hiking boots. I went to a mall and found a store that carried Columbia brand boots. I asked for womens size 9 (and by "asked" I mean I pointed to the tag and held up nine fingers). When I took them out of the box and put them next to my own shoes, they were a good half-inch shorter. I asked for a 10, but it turns out they don’t carry womens size 10 in China. So the salesgirl brought out mens size 7, which were too small, as were the men’s size 8. It was at this point that the salesgirl started to giggle uncontrollably.

Nothing in China is made to fit Western-sized people. The desks at Tsinghua are so low that none of the Western students in my class can fit our thighs under them. We all sit perched on the edge of our chairs. The seats on the bus to the Great Wall were so tiny that we took turns standing in the aisle during the three-hour bus ride.

Our good-natured hosts seem to get a kick out of our size. Proof positive: A friend and fellow student who is a particularly big, blonde guy was recently informed that his Chinese name, given to him by his host student, means “Great White Gorilla.” He loves it.