So I have become much more comfortable with the Old City. I can navigate the area ok and I can usually gather my bearings. I know how to duck and dodge the mobs of people coming down the narrow streets going the other way. I feel like I am in a compressed hall way, my days at Penn High School seem to have trained me well for this place. There is just one hiccup in what would be as close to a perfect experience. I am human and so is everyone else in this city.
What I am saying is I feel rude here sometimes and I don't like it. Today in the Old City a shopkeeper came out and was quite inviting but my group was ahead of me and wasn't stopping there so I attempted to make the conversation pleasantly short. Maybe I would have been better off acting deaf but I couldn't help it we already started speaking before I got a chance to process what was happening. Eventually I did one of those awkward talk walk away things while trying to be polite (this never really works for anyone). The crazy thing is there are so many different shopkeepers, some are quite until you get into their shop, my personal favorite, some try to get you to stop on the street by lying to you (their favorite line is "Mr. you dropped something" I only checked once and learned my lesson then). Others will ask you where you are from (one today wasn't so nice he asked "What F_______ country are you A_______ [you can fill in the blanks as you see fit] from yeah that makes me want to stop and give you business.....O man this going to interesting). I just wanted some postcards honestly and get some going rates on potential gifts. I think I have found some places that aren't so hard to be polite to and I am glad for it but I just can't get over having to keep my head down when I walk down the street with a shopkeeper harassing me or the group I am in. There is a different type of life in this city and I am comfortable but not clicking with it all the time. same goes for anywhere you live though and I hope you can say the same for where you are at. Admit it home is great but there are some things about it you'd rather live without. Just be happy you don't have awkward shopkeepers vying for your business as soon as you walk down the road. More to come!
Gotta love the English words that people seem to pick up so well. Among the swear words, 'sexy' and 'baby' are words that EVERYBODY seems to know. It is tricky business, trying to be polite but still not getting their hopes up. I've been advised that it's best to just totally ignore shop-keepers because even acting interested and then not buying is considered rude. But acting like you can't hear them always feels rude to me.
ReplyDeleteThe other part that's annoying about bossy shop-keepers is that they remind you that no matter how at home you feel in another country and no matter how much you feel like you're really LIVING there, you still LOOK like a tourist, and there's not a whole lot you can do about that. It just reminds me of the Barnabas party where we dressed like clueless tourists :)
ps I like your blog! Thanks for writing :)