Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Anti-Privacy Warning

CDs and such come with anti-piracy warnings; Africa should come with an Anti-Privacy Warning.

Ok, it's starting to get to me.  A little sooner than I expected.  The constant questions that to me, as an American, feel invasive and far too personal.

"How was your night?"  "What have you been eating?"  "Why won't you marry an African?"

And there's others.  Questions about my political views, who I'm going to vote for, my religion... "When did you come to know Jesus?" is not something a casual friend would randomly ask you during lunch back home. 

The asking about my night, I'm trying to get used to that one.  It's not really a question; it's like our "What's up?"  You don't expect an answer; it's just a greeting.  But it sounds funny to me, and I don't like the idea of taxi drivers and other random strangers asking me about how I slept.

And the food, I try to just grin and bear it.  Answering politely, explaining that being a vegetarian does not mean I "only eat donuts" or "only eat bread".  (Really people? donuts?!)  Besides, sometimes they come up with suggestions for new local foods I haven't tried yet.

But, if one more person starts badgering me - and I do mean badgering because they won't relent unless they have some full complete detailed story - about my not marrying an African, I think I'm going to scream!  "It's none of your vampiring business!"

So I try to change the subject or tell them I'm not going to talk about it.  But they won't stop until one of us gets where we're going and the other one leaves.  GRRRRRR

1 comment:

Unknown said...

No double grrr? If it makes you feel any better, the "coming to Jesus" and "why aren't you married" questions are actually rather common here in the States as well - in the small towns. (Or, maybe just in the small town I was in for a few years...) Doesn't make it any less annoying though. =)