March 3, 2010
Every day when I walk home, I receive constant attention. The young, the old, the male, the female, the store keeper, the street vendor, the house wife, the husband, the family, the school kids, the bus driver, the taxis driver, the police….everyone simply stare at me. I usually just ignore their intensive look, but sometimes, when I had a bad mood, their stares really drove me crazy.
Today, I am tired and do not want to encounter another similar situation. I decide to take a long walk along the Caspian Sea shore to avoid the crowd in town, but when I cross the highway, a car slows down, approaches me and stops next to me. The driver rolls down the window and begin speaking to me. “Leehow, kwooleung” It takes me a few seconds to finally understand what he just said. He said “How are you, young lady” in Chinese. I really do not know whether I should laugh or cry.
I realize that most of the stares came out of curiosity. Except in Baku, nearly all the cities, towns and villages do not receive many foreigners. Therefore, when they spot a foreigner on the street, they just look. Little kids usually look at me with a shy smile. School children greet me with a “hello” in English and if I talk back to them in English, they will follow me all the way home. House wives usually gaze me with coldness, elder men and women by and large approach me with the most respectful manner. They look at me but look away immediately when I look back, some educated ones would nod and say “salam”. It is the male who is between 15-25 gives me the most grief.
More often than not, when they spotted me from a distance, their eyes began to follow me. After I passed them, they turned around and continued to look, and then they started talking about me, some making fun of me, some even following me. A few times, I stared back and called them names, (like jerk, pig etc) which made them laugh even more. One time, three young men approached me on a narrow street. They did not step aside to let me pass. One of them purposely hit me with his shoulder. Luckily, an elder man saw what happen and he gave those young men a dirty look.
I hated those boys. I think I am entitled to use the word “hate”. At least it makes me feel good to say that…. I HATE THEM!
3 comments:
You have the saddest Peace Corps blog I have ever read. Not to take away from your problems, but your compliants are also kind of funny. I am sorry you are having difficulity with your service. I hope things take a big turn for the better soon!
Steve,
Thanks for the comments, I am still very proud to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I am not sad here overall. Just keep reading my blog
I think your blog is honest. I appreciate that fact that you're candid and real. You;ve been several places in your life and the adjustment is hard in comparison. Sometimes I worry about the same thing-seeing as though I've seen and experienced better. Nothing wrong with simple standards like respect! Be encouraged!
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