I know being blonde and over 5'6" in South America can cause quite a stir, people automatically think you're looking for some Latin love. Men, women and children stare at you like you're an alien. Strangers approach you with their camera phones and without any hesitation or permission take a picture of your face. "Rubia" "Que Heromosa!" "hermoso cuerpo" and "Rica" are some of the first spanish words/phrases I learned because they were being constantly whispered or shout from rooftops and moving cars, also the sound of a dramatic kiss smack will forever haunt me.
All this was very hard to handle the first couple of months. I was shocked, apparently Kansas breeds the most gentlemen-like men or almost every woman in Kansas has blonde hair and blue eyes so I am boring to them and they never hollered at me, but this was intense. The most intense interaction came one Saturday afternoon at the corner grocery store.
I walked in wearing a t-shirt and jeans and right away the security guard at the front door exclaimed "BEAUTY!" (in English) I smiled nervously and walked quickly past him. Trying not to make eye contact with everyone who turned around to see the "beauty" I darted down the aisles grabbing random supplies and headed straight for the wine rack. As I am loading my cart up with wine I catch a figure in the corner of my eye, standing staring, I blink and the figure comes closer..and closer until it's standing right behind me.
"Hello beautiful German, I speak English"
I turn around to see the old man(being mistaken for a German girl happens quite often).
"Hello" I say and walk to the check out line.
He stands next to me in silence for a few moments, then starts asking me questions about Germany, I am a little caught off guard, I couldn't even think of a city I could say I was from so I said "actually I am from the United States"
He goes on to tell me how he has never seen such a beautiful woman, I politely say "Thank you" through gridded teeth. I am desperately looking around the store to see if there is someone who can help, or maybe I could catch some homeless man stealing some beer and point the guard in that direction..not today. Luckily after a few moments of awkward doting he is summoned to the cash register.
Behind me are two men probably no more than 20 yrs old with 45 bags of rice. One boy starts speaking to me in Spanish, I just stare at him, then he repeats in English "Can I practice English with you" "Of course!" I say a little too excited because this will prevent the old man from coming up to me again. We spoke for 15 minutes, a very sweet curious kid, he asked me all about my time in Chile we laughed about the Chilenismos I knew (when people ask me "how is your Spanish" I always say "not very good, but I love Chilenismos!" then I go on and tell them all the phrases I know and it ALWAYS results in laughter and appreciation and they no longer care that I can't handle a full conversation in Spanish). As I am getting ready to pay, this kid leans in and says "you have really cute eyes, I have never seen green eyes before" I blush and turn to the cashier to pay and all the sudden the old man is at my side, 4 inches from my face, he lowers his voice and says "I would kill for you!" I stare at him not quite sure if I heard that correctly, "what?", he answers loudly "I WOULD KILL FOR YOU!"..."ok, thank you" and I take off, practically sprinting out of the store.
I have been back to the store with equally as creepy interactions with this man. He once followed me around for a whole minute singing to my back as I ignored him and as the rest of the staff openly laughed at the situation. He has asked me if he could walk me home to make sure other men won't talk to me and he simply ignores me when I point to my wedding ring and say "yo tengo un esposo!" Andrew really needs to start doing the shopping around here.
No comments:
Post a Comment