Are you an English teacher? ..... Part two

I wouldn't normally recount a conversation as the one that follows, but in light of yesterday's post about teaching, I thought it appropriate. But first, a little background information. When I arrived in Wuxi more than a year ago, foreigners were hard to find. When you saw a foreign face on the street, you stopped and had a chat, often exchanging numbers. At the gym, it seemed like I was the only foreign person who worked out there. Now, there are lots of foreign faces and most nights there are at least 2 or three foreign faces in the gym. On the whole, people are friendly and I have met some really interesting people by chatting at the gym.

Interesting conversations at the gym

Last night, I chatted to an older foreign man and was left feeling a little perplexed by the strange and somewhat aggressive conversation. The guy approached me as I finished my warm up and was stretching, about to jump on the treadmill for a run. This is how the conversation went:

Him - Do you work for a company here or are you self employed?

Me - I work at EtonHouse International School.

Him - So you are an English teacher?

Me - No, I am an international teacher, I teach primary school children.

Him - So you are an English teacher?

Me - No, I teach everything.

Him - But in English?

Me - Yes, so I suppose I am an English teacher. But, I also teach Maths, Science, History etc.

Him - So you are an English teacher. (said somewhat proudly, as if he had caught me out on something).

Me - shrugs.

(The conversation continued a little bit about other things)

Me - So, where are you from?

Him - Iran originally but I've lived in Canada for a long time.

Me - Oh! I'm moving to Canada soon. I can't wait.

Him - Canada is so quiet, it's for old people. (said with a 'poor you' tone)

Me - Oh, okay.

(We then went on to talk about living in China)

Him - So, you live here with your family?

Me - No, just by myself.

Him - Oh, that must be very difficult? (again, said in a very 'poor you' tone)

Me - Well, actually it's not, I enjoy living here, I talk to my family a lot and it was my choice to come here.

The conversation continued for a little bit, mainly about him and his life, before I excused myself to begin running.

Is it just me, or is that an odd conversation? The whole tone of the conversation was really strange, like he felt sorry for me that I was a poor English teacher living in China on my own. It was a very unusual conversation.