Hey Baby! Are you married? I like your looks! Hey White! I love you! Marry me! Whiteman! I want to be your second wife! You are beautiful! Take me to your country!
If asked what country that might be, guesses will follow, usually starting with Sweden... People also don’t seem to understand, or believe, that the US government doesn’t just hand out entry visas to traveling Americans to distribute to random strangers.
These and other such phrases are the greetings one may be met with on any given day while shopping for tomatoes, or a broom, or hunting down lightbulbs. A favorite exchange was when Kiyomi replied, “No, you don’t,” to a profession of love from a random okada (motorcycle taxi driver), and without missing a beat the guy next to him called out, “I love your money!” They don’t understand, or don’t believe, that Peace Corps Volunteers don’t make a lot.
So what to do about such harassment, you may wonder. Well, the answer is, wear something weird. You may think we stand out enough being white and American, but oh, no, my friend, the answer is to look stranger still. We are indebted to Buff and Vibram Five-Fingers. The Buffs, first of all, help enormously with the air pollution during dry season. Secondly, importantly, though, with face half-covered and strange toe-shoes, suddenly we look a lot less marriageable. Cameroonians tend to look at shoes as a sign of status – if you’re wearing flipflops, you’re probably not anything too special, and dress shoes indicate you’ve probably got money, and being white while wearing anything makes you fair game. But wearing toe-shoes… what kind of strange person covers their face and wears such strange shoes, and what does it mean? Is this someone worth paying respect to or not? Some people just laugh. Some stare in wonderment. Others are brave enough to ask, “Are those your feet?”
In any event, no one professes love, or asks for marriage, or to be brought to our country. Instead of the above, we hear, “Hey, madam – my brother – I love your shoes!”
Mutually pleasant cross-cultural exchange accomplished.
If asked what country that might be, guesses will follow, usually starting with Sweden... People also don’t seem to understand, or believe, that the US government doesn’t just hand out entry visas to traveling Americans to distribute to random strangers.
These and other such phrases are the greetings one may be met with on any given day while shopping for tomatoes, or a broom, or hunting down lightbulbs. A favorite exchange was when Kiyomi replied, “No, you don’t,” to a profession of love from a random okada (motorcycle taxi driver), and without missing a beat the guy next to him called out, “I love your money!” They don’t understand, or don’t believe, that Peace Corps Volunteers don’t make a lot.
So what to do about such harassment, you may wonder. Well, the answer is, wear something weird. You may think we stand out enough being white and American, but oh, no, my friend, the answer is to look stranger still. We are indebted to Buff and Vibram Five-Fingers. The Buffs, first of all, help enormously with the air pollution during dry season. Secondly, importantly, though, with face half-covered and strange toe-shoes, suddenly we look a lot less marriageable. Cameroonians tend to look at shoes as a sign of status – if you’re wearing flipflops, you’re probably not anything too special, and dress shoes indicate you’ve probably got money, and being white while wearing anything makes you fair game. But wearing toe-shoes… what kind of strange person covers their face and wears such strange shoes, and what does it mean? Is this someone worth paying respect to or not? Some people just laugh. Some stare in wonderment. Others are brave enough to ask, “Are those your feet?”
In any event, no one professes love, or asks for marriage, or to be brought to our country. Instead of the above, we hear, “Hey, madam – my brother – I love your shoes!”
Mutually pleasant cross-cultural exchange accomplished.
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteNice! One of my "fondest" exchanges in Jamaica was "Hey baby I like your race!" I also got "I want my baby to have your nose" ha
ReplyDelete