So is blinking morse code?

I love reading people's eyes. No one is ever 100% sure what the other person is thinking or saying, but something about the mystery of that intrigues me, especially here in Macau. When people see me or hear me speak, they are more likely to form an opinion: white. American?...opinionated, conceded, etc. Perhaps this is a thought process that follows. The wonderful media and somewhat limited interaction that people here may have with Americans causes people to jump to conclusions about me or any American abroad.
I was thinking about this today as I was helping Cora with language exchange. A 20-something year old guy entered the bookstore cafe. He looked something between middle eastern and Portuguese. I have no idea where he was from, and it doesn't necessarily matter. He seemed to be picking up on our conversation. Because it was in English? Because he found us/ our conversation intriguing?  Who knows. These are the stories I love to try to figure out. 'Sir, are you staring at me because I'm attractive, because I'm one of the first white people you've ever seen, or because I have chocolate smeared on my forehead?' haha. Call me Sherlock, and save me, Watson.

I was helping Cora with idioms today. She is such an enjoyably curious student. I read a piece from one of her classes to her because she wants to learn intonation and emphasis. It was by Langston Hughes, who I shared was an author I read in high school. I got a little inner chuckle when I saw she was reading him here. "It's a small world after all," seems more and more true every day. "Early Autumn" was Hughes' piece about a couple that fell in love; girl breaks boy's heart; they meet later in life and are both married; he's still bitter; she realized she loved him and wanted to be in the past again; they part ways never to see each other again. I laughed and told her I felt like the girl in the story too many times--more about the breaking guys' hearts and them walking away bitter toward women than about the me coming back and realizing I loved one. ....yet. Calm down, family, I'm sure there are little tikes for you to spoil at some point in your future.

Tonight, one of our students offered to treat us to Thai dinner because she won a scholarship from debate, which we help in. The dinner ended up being pretty pricey/fancy, and we of course weren't going to burden her with the bill...hopefully she didn't take it offensively. We had papaya salad, fried fish in mango sauce (that had cuttlefish in the sauce!), pineapple fried rice, pad thai (YUM!), honey grilled pork, beef of some sort, a spicy soup involving large shrimp, garlic bread, and salty fish. It was quite the feast. Since the student didn't buy us dinner, we allowed her the honor of buying us dessert at the Shanghai restaurant we so love. We had what are called mochi (or at least that's how it sounds). They are these little balls of compacted sweet rice served in a sweet sauce. One set had peanut inside, the other had black sesame, and one was fermented rice something. Two of the dishes had this sweet sauce with little baby flowers in it--orasthmus, maybe? They were refreshing.

Now it's time for bed. I have an early (and short!!) day tomorrow teaching 2nd year nursing students Listening and Grammar. Yeehaw!