Hey, you!
Yesterday, as Yau Neih and I were walking back from the Wall Market (no relation to a certain American organization--that's just what Thad calls it), a woman started yelling at us. Since she wasn't yelling in English, we had no clue what she was going on about. Maybe she was scolding me for not posting yesterday.Seriously, it was kind of weird. Like I said, we were walking back from the store. We passed a street vendor selling apples and a few other fruits and Yau Neih remembered that she had forgotten to pick up some. So we bought some from the vendor--our first street vendor purchase ever. We walked on for about a half block when I became aware of some woman yelling. I glanced back and didn't really see who she was yelling at. A few paces on, since the hollering continued, I looked back again. This time I noticed that she was walking in the same direction as us. I guess we must have slowed or paused, because she did the same and directed some of her verbiage and gestures in our direction. It was a bit odd, since she did not gaze at us directly, but would make brief eye contact and then look off again--facing us, but not staring us down. I tried to recall if direct eye contact was one of those Chinese taboos or if I was getting confused with some other culture. We really couldn't pick up any gist of what she was saying. At one point she gestured back the way we came, at another time she gestured toward her mouth and stomach. I checked all my pockets and bags wondering if we had dropped something, then I wondered if maybe she was looking for a handout. (Of course, she was pretty well dressed for a panhandler.) Then I wondered if she was just bawling us out for being fat Americans. God only knows. In the end we had to mumble "Wa boo ming bai" (I don't understand) and walk on. Another guy was walking along the sidewalk as well and he seemed to indicate that she was a bit crazy. (Of course, for all I know, she was yelling about him and was trying to tell us his multitude of sins against her.)
It was a tad frustrating. Whatever her mental state, the woman was obviously distressed. I wish I could have done something for her, even if it was only to understand what she was blamming about.
posted by John @ 2:06 AM
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