A bus ride to NY

I was getting on a Greyhound bus to travel from Philly to NY when I had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to another Asian girl. It's not that I don't like sitting next to Asians. It's just that, in a non-Asian setting, sitting next to an Asian will have everyone thinking that the Asian you're sitting next to is your relative, long-lost twin, or, if he's male, your boyfriend. These people then utter very profound observations like "Oh you two make a fine couple" or "Is that your mom?"

So I was sitting next to the Asian girl when she started chatting up with the woman next to her. I could feel it coming on when I heard the woman say "So where are you two from?" The Asian girl responded with respect to herself and ignored the "you two" part. Then the woman asked, "So what are you two going to do when you get to the city?" The Asian girl kind of glanced at me, and then said, "Well I'm going to Chinatown, I don't know what she's doing." The woman looked at her, then looked at me, and said, "Wait, you two didn't come together?" We both looked at her. "No," we said. "Well you guys look exactly alike!" We then had that (ironically) identical mixed expression of being both embarrassed and insulted. I was a little more offended because the girl was not that attractive. "No, we're not related," the girl said.

I think the woman sensed our reactions. "Oh okay. Well you look exactly alike," she repeated and added eagerly, "I like Chinese people. I am friends with a Chinese woman."

I think it's funny that certain people think that because they "know" someone of a certain demographic, they are suddenly entitled to make dumbass statements regarding that demographic. Like somehow, her ignorant statement is redeemed by the fact that she was friends with a Chinese woman. And I couldn't help but wonder if the "Chinese woman" was in fact Chinese, or if like many other Americans, she was using "Chinese" to denote "Asian" the way some people use "Coke" to mean "soda." Oh, and I'm not Chinese. Still, I like getting compliments on behalf of the Chinese.

At any rate, the girl replied, "Oh, that's nice." She put on her head phones to end the conversation, and regrettably, I too had headphones. What a sight - a pair of Asian twin sisters with headphones on a bus to NY.