cultural integration

18 December 2008c

Frustrating day in the “cultural integration” sector.
This afternoon while I was doing yoga, a man stopped by. He was so self-assured and confident that I at first assumed we knew each other already and I simply didn’t recognize him. He walked into my house – odd behavior here for a man to enter the house of a single woman – gave me his phone number and then told me he’d come by and visit again. He offered to bring me a little generator so that I could have lights and watch television and have a fan. He really caught me off balance. I think I’d gotten into that meditative yogarrific state so I wasn’t prepared to face up against a charming man who seemed so confident he was hard to question. He even successfully got my phone number and I’m generally so careful about giving it out. When he left, he said that next time he came, he’d sleep at my house. At this point all the little suspicions that had started niggling finally broke through the yogarrific daze and I said strongly,
“No. You will not sleep here. I’m married and faithful to my husband.”

Of course, instead of backing off, he asked where my husband was and how many children I have. I told him we don’t have children yet and my husband is currently in Scotland. His reply? ...
“Well, then. We can give it a try.”
“What did you say?”
“We can give it a try then.”
I said, “No, I’m not interested and I’m NOT looking for a lover.”

Then I went inside and raged a bit. It feels like everyone here who approaches me pretending to offer friendship actually just wants money, a visa to America, or to sleep with me (if not all three at the same time). I hate it. Isn’t there any normal friendship out there that I can find? Is my skin color and my American citizenship such a huge obstacle that people only see me as some kind of specialty vending machine, not a person?

Current reading: The Pelican Brief by John Grisham