International Celebrity

It is not an uncommon thing for businesses here to want foreigners to advertise for them--to give them a sort of "international vibe," I suppose. As you ascend the escalator to the local grocery store, on either side are blown up pictures of foreigners jubilantly shopping for produce. The foreigners in town and I joke that "ALL the foreigners shop at this grocery store!" But the truth is there are only a handful of foreigners in the whole town.

Thus I wasn't too surprised when I got a call from the Dean asking my neighbor (another foreigner) and I to join him at a restaurant to help them advertise. I immediately asked, "Is this for a commercial?!" He assured me it wasn't, it was simply a new restaurant in town that wanted foreigners to eat at their establishment to give them the "international vibe." This also wasn't unheard of, so I complied.

When we arrived to this mysterious restaurant, it had turned out that wasn't a new restaurant at all. It was nearly 10 years old. As we walked inside I was surprised to find it was quite a fancy establishment. Relieved that it wasn't some publicity stunt, we walked upstairs to the table prepared for us. As I led the way around the corner I found an entire camera crew capturing our every move. One of the cameramen got a great close-up of my face as I had to shuffle past him to get to my seat.

As we sat around the table, they taped us chatting and ordering. Before the food had arrived, my neighbor, who has eaten at this place before, was asked to do an interview. "That stinks for him," I chuckled, thankful that I had never been here before. But as soon as he finished, they called me over for my interview. I laughed at them and exclaimed, "How can I talk about the food here if I've never actually eaten it?" But the director prompted me to make up stuff about the delicious food, the ambiance, and their wonderful customer service.

So there was at a dimly lit private table, laughing from the sheer awkwardness into the mic they clipped on me. I made up extravagant compliments about the restaurant and they made up extravagant compliments about what at beautiful American girl I was and how gracefully I laughed. (If you have ever heard me laugh, you know that I am NOT a graceful laugher). They set before me an array of dishes and I remarked "I must look very hungry to you." (I'm crossing my fingers that that will not be aired.) One by one they prompted me to take a drink of this and take a bite of that. I picked up my chopsticks and casually (as casual as you can be with a camera in your face) took a bite from the rice dish. Suddenly, my interviewer and the camera crew gasped. "We have never seen a foreigner use chopsticks so gracefully!" they exclaimed. They then proceeded to take close-up shots of me handling food with chopsticks.

I was thankful when the interview concluded. I returned to our table and continued to be videotaped as we ate and chat. We met the owner and talked about the restaurant. By the end of the night we had had a great meal and the food was completely free, which in my opinion made the whole thing worth it. I have no idea when the commercial will air locally, but I am thankful that I don't have cable.