I have found that when a restaurant offers free masks on your way out, it’s next to impossible not to say no, and to not take a few. Why they had an assortment of plastic masks, I’m still not quite sure, but it’s China, and as I’ve been reminded numerous times, it’s unpredictable, and oftentimes, hilarious.

After our dinner out on the town, four of us started heading to the subway to head home. Looking to create our own entertainment, two of us decided to wear our masks to walk down the street.  I peaked through the tiny eye holes at those who passed and I was pretty shocked to see that no one even so much as paid me a second glance. Oh well, I thought, and I took it off.

It wasn’t until the door to our subway car opened and I joined about 6 uniformed Chinese security guards, that I had a brilliant idea for a fun activity. I asked my friend if she would take a picture if I got one of the security guards to wear a mask with me, and after a few seconds (not really sure what reaction I’d get), I finally got up the courage to ask the unsuspecting man in uniform if he would humor me. He accepted without even a second’s hesitation. To top it off, another friend of his lent me his hat, and the look was completed.

The group of guards got off at the next stop, but with how fun the first attempt was, I decided to take it a step further. One of my friends bet I couldn’t get 5 people to do it. Game on. I love a good challenge, and despite my assumption that the average Chinese person would rather pretend I don’t exist than actually put on a silly mask and take a picture with me, I had to make it happen.

With the courage of my first acceptance, I found another group of guys willing to take a picture with me and converted a few of them into my scouting team to help me find more interested people. It became a subway car-wide event, with most people who weren’t sleeping getting a good laugh. Once I reached my goal of 5 (it was almost two easy), we decided to up the challenge, she thought I couldn’t get 12 people. How could I resist?

Once I had exhausted the resources of my scouting team, I was on my own again, sporting my biggest smile, two masks and my most pleasant Chinese tone. I began scouring the train for interested parties. I was pretty successful, but we had to switch trains, and I only had two stops to go and I still needed 3 people. On the next platform, another girl took a photo with me, 9 down, two to go. I then asked a man who was watching us, and he agreed, but the train was arriving and we had to take it on board. We got on the train, but like most trains at most hours of the day, there was not much room. Shoulder to shoulder with other passengers and pinned pretty well to the door, I had to work with what I had. We were able to take the picture, but I still needed one more. What about the unsuspecting older Chinese man in glasses behind me? He didn’t look like an obvious candidate (so much so that I almost didn’t ask him), but he didn’t bat an eye, put on the bunny mask, and posed next to me. I proudly informed him that he was the o-so-special 12th person, marking my victory, and overall satisfaction with the success of my impromptu entertainment.

With excited waves and big smiles, the four of us exited the train, filled with the pleasant, unexpected interactions with our Chinese co-passengers. For all the times I’ve ridden public transportation, in China or the US, one thing that never sits quite right with me is the way people seem to go out of their way to avoid human interaction. I am just as guilty as anyone else, but there are times I really appreciate a valuable interaction with a stranger, even if it’s nothing more than a smile. Sometimes I follow the tides and just blend into the crowd, but there are also times that I make an effort to acknowledge the people around me. I’ve got some wonderful people close to me who are champions at this (you know who you are), always seeming to know how to make people smile and never quite caving to the isolationist tendencies of our culture. It’s the times that I follow their example that I feel the happiest. Last night, all it took were a few pieces of colorful plastic, and we created a spontaneous and fun cultural interaction that left everyone involved with a smile. And to top it all, we’ve got these great masks that I’m sure will make some reappearances in the next few weeks.