Becoming a Tourist Attraction

Last night, I took a train from Hangzhou to Nanjing. For those of you who may need a brush up on your Asian history, Nanjing is a former capital of China, and was the site of a major massacre committed by the Japanese during World War II. You might be familiar with the term "the rape of Nanking/Nanjing", which is a reference to the WWII event. Anyhow, I haven't actually visited any of the massacre memorial sites yet, but I image that I will be thoroughly blue afterwards. I've had the opportunity to talk to some Chinese people about their thoughts on the whole Sino-Japanese relationship, and it's sort of astonishing to hear how much genuine loathing exists, especially in younger people. I wonder how much of it is a product of the Chinese education system.Anyhow, back to my train story. I was sitting quietly on the train, minding my own business, when I noticed that the two girls sitting next to me were whispering and stealing glances in my direction; after a few minutes of consultation, one of them asked me where I was from. I guess that's all it took to break the ice, because within seconds, I was surrounded by six Chinese people, all asking me questions, wanting to know where I was from, what I was doing in China, if I had eaten dinner yet, how old I am, if I am in school, if I want to take a look at pictures of their families, etc, etc, etc... I was a total tourist attraction, it was nuts! These people knew more about American films and television that I do! They asked me if I watch "Lost" or "Prison Break", and seemed incredibly disappointed when I told them I don't. I should pick up some bootleg dvds of the shows, just to be better prepared for the next time... Within an hour or so, I had used up all of my Mandarin, so conversation kind of stalled at that point, but luckily the jovial fellow sitting across the way from me insisted that he show me how to play video games on his cellular phone, which was....okay. I'm a little rusty on playing video games; the last time I seriously played video games, "Street Fighter" was all the rage. It actually made me a little nostalgic for my youth, and makes me want to go home and find a console!