interesting encounter

In the process of getting some of my classes figured out, I had to sit and wait to talk to my advisor for over 2 hours.  Naturally, I brought my book that I'm currently reading (which someone took bits and pieces of my life and put it in a book I swear - "The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond.  Read it.  I promise you'll bust up laughing on every page.).  The lobby I was waiting in was full of other deaf students waiting to talk to their advisors, as well.

  I was minding my own business, reading my book, and not that I could understand everything that people were saying, but I was trying not to eavesdrop with my eyes, as I still am trying to figure out if that's culturally acceptable or not.  A boy sat down and that caught my eye.  After a while, he motioned to me.  I looked up and he asked, "You hearing?"  

Wait, what? No way.  

There's not a lot of hearing people on campus, so the fact that he singled me out is crazy.       I said, "Yes. How did you know?"  He just said, "I can tell."  

Again, what?  

I wasn't doing anything except reading!  I had to know how he knew I was hearing, so I insisted, "How could you tell?"  Apparently, reading in public, and not socializing, is a hearing person trademark.  Turns out he grew up in a hearing family and was accustomed to the hearing people habits.  

It's really comforting to know that when I think I'm starting to fit in, or at least look like I'm starting to fit in, I actually have 'I'M A HEARING GIRL' written all over me.  

It surely explains why a lot of the deaf students on campus stare at me.