The two Chinese women on my team were sitting to my left at lunch, looking at me and giggling. I looked over, since it seemed they wanted to say something--this took a while to work itself out, since on the whole women raised in Asia are not quite as direct (some might say "brash") as those who grew up in the US--but after a couple of tries it turned out they were noticing that my eyes are blue-green (there's lots of green today) and in Chinese culture, demons have the green eyes.

(The four Chinese women in the office, who all have jobs that don't involve them working together at all, apparently have a great deal in common, since one or another of them are often standing outside another's cube as they go casually back and forth in Mandarin. It's a joy to speak one's native tongue, of course; maybe it's just that.)