Being White (preliminary musings)

A short visit only to the city is no way to get a full taste of the country.  I know in more rural areas it'll be even more different to be white.  But here's what has happened so far.

You step out onto the street and the first, third, fifteenth and last thing you hear is beep-beep!  Taxis see a white person and toot to let you know they're here, just in case you should need a taxi.  Even when they've seen two taxis before them honk and be ignored.  Annoying when I want to walk, but helpful when I really do want a taxi.  Just hard to know when the honking behind you is a taxi, and when it's someone using the horn for one of its other myriad uses.  Let me list them:

1a. Move, pedestrian!

1b. Move, car!

1c. Move, chickens/goats!

1d. Move, cyclist!

2. Hey, friend!  How are you?

3. Thanks for letting me into traffic in front of you.

4. This is a close squeeze!

5. I'm about to turn.

6. This is unfair.

7. I am part of a funeral procession.

8. I'm driving very quickly and don't want to slow down.  I advise that you move.

9. My brakes have failed.  MOVE NOW.

And then you have more of your standard uses.

You also may hear a couple of kids yelling out "Obroni!  Obroni!" (this means "white! white!") or "Hello, how ahh you?"  Their faces crack into big smiles if you smile back or wave.  I'm still baffled why they get so happy when a white person simply acknowledges them.

Today when I came back to B's house with our laundry from the cleaners, the guards and I had a chat.  (The main function of guards here is to open the big gates in front of the driveways, and to always have a presence on the property.)  One of them said he loved my bag (Jens's backpacker bag).  They were impressed that it allowed you to carry such heavy loads.  And then the really cheery smiley one started looking at my freckles.  His companion said, "Yes, those are normal on white skin!"  From freckles, he saw one of my mosquito bites (only 8 so far, I must be doing pretty well with the bug spray), and the friend said also that this redness is normal for whites.  I showed him a very angry bite on my arm that means "My body really hates mosquitoes."  Then he saw a vein in my elbow!  It looked green!  OMG!  A third time, the second guard said "Yes, look - you can see my veins in my arm standing up too, just not the color.  This is how white skin looks."  Then they asked, "Are you a ness?"  I didn't understand.  "Ness, ness!"  Then they asked something that sounded like "Are you medican" so I said, "Yes, I'm American."

"By profession, you are medican?"

"Ohhh, medical, no!  I'm not medical.  I am a teacher.  Not a nurse."

"A teacher by profession!"  Their faces erupted in glee.  "So you can teach us!"

I really like these guards with their happy smiles and exuberance.  They ask how long I'll be gone and always say "Have a nice time" when I go, and "Welcome" when I come back.  I went to visit the new apartment today (and SIGNED THE LEASE, hallelujah!) and the guard there was all business in a spiffy uniform.  I'd rather have smilers who put me in a happy mood than grimacers who take their job too seriously.  I'll take pictures of them before we move out of here.