I thought I knew what it was to be black in American until I met a reindeer herder in a more remote part of Mongolia. A grandmother there was so fascinated by the three members of the group with dark skin that she pulled us out from the rest of the group and gestured to take a picture.

I could tell the rest of the group felt extremely awkward. Race and culture is a very touchy subject in the U.S. and the conversation about how we continue living with those differences continues. But I realized this wasn’t the U.S. and the attention strangers were paying to my race was about something else.

Taking a step back, I was able to put things into context. For all I knew, I may have been the only black woman in Mongolia at the time. I thought about what my best friend told me to remember before I left home: “Ignorance does not mean harm.” It was not the fault of the young girl in the market that she had never seen anyone that looked like me and wanted to touch my hair. This didn’t make the old woman a bad person because she wanted to take a photo of black people. In her long life, she had never seen anyone who looked like me. It was an exposure that she did not understand because she had never seen it.

As one of three black students on the trip, my biggest challenge was navigating the reaction of people native Mongolians to my race.

Mongolia is a landlocked country between Russia and China and has one of the smallest population densities in the world. The capital Ulaanbaatar is the only major city and the overall population is very homogeneous.

It was my third day in an environment that was still completely foreign to me. We were shopping at the well-known Black Market, a huge flea market in the middle of Ulaanbaatar where you could buy anything from traditional Mongolian deels, a tunic-like garment, to sunglasses and food. It is also a hotspot for pickpockets. That is why I was nervous when I felt something tickle the back of my head. However, as I turned around, I saw a young girl holding onto the bottom of my braid. She wore glasses and a light pink dress. Her family stood behind her, watching for my reaction. I felt shocked and confused, uncomfortable suddenly being the center of attention. In that moment, there was nothing I could do but smile awkwardly. When I look back, I think that even without a language barrier between us, I would have still reacted the same way.

These experiences gave me another purpose in Mongolia. As the only black person the Mongolians who I encountered may ever meet, it was up to me to teach them about my culture. It also broadened my perspective on race outside of the American context, which is all I had ever known up to that point.

Being in Mongolia forced me to learn about cultural appreciation, respecting differences and educating others. I went from feeling singled-out to seeing an opportunity to engage with the Mongolian people in a different, unexpected and important way.

Jadeen Samuels is a senior high school student in New York.