You Chinese?

My first conversation with a Chinese person was with a 74-year-old lady on my plane from LA to Taipei. It went a little something like this:

Chinese Lady: You Chinese, you American?

Me: I'm American, with actually no Asian background at all.

Chinese Lady: Whaaaa? I say, I say. Se Chinese? Se American? Me no no! Me no no!

So the first Chinese person I met thought I could be Chinese! I felt pretty legit. She started asking me about my family so I told her about them and pulled out a picture I had of them in my wallet.

Chinese Lady: Oooo. So Butiful. Hahahahahaha!

Me: Um, what's so funny?

Chinese Lady: You no lookie like dem.

Me: Yep. I get that a lot.