Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hallo sweetie!

The electronics / digital mega-heaven at Yong-san Station will blow you away. It's like a jungle. The vendors are like lions watching potentional prey (customers) walk past their counter. The first time I went there back in '07, my friend Dimitri warned me: "Don't make eye-contact with anyone" ...else they'll surely lure you in and charm you into buying their product.

I don't really like going to Yong-san. I get too confused. Sony. Samsung. LG. Canon. Nikon. Panasonic. Most of my electronic shopping is done on the 'net or via my personal buyers. Yeah - 'cause I'm just fly like that! Frankly speaking - I don't have the patience for shopping. I have to know exactly what I need. Get in. Buy the thing. Get out.

But I'm losing track, so back to the story.

Yong-san area has a lot of foreigners so it's pretty common seeing a mixture of people when you're out and about. For me, however - this is sometimes a slight culture shock 'coz I usually hang out in my area where there are hardly any foreigners, and nearly all my friends here are Korean.

So on Sunday, I was at Yong-san with Kim. I'd just finished talking to someone, and noticed two Indian men hovering at the counter near me. Literally hovering, but looking over at us. As I turned to walk away, they approached me.

"Hallo Sweetie", the one said in a thick accent.

Don't get me wrong. I ain't a hater. And yea, they're my 'brothers' from the 'motherland' and all that. But...

I literally stopped walking and looked at him. "Ya talking to me?...Sweetie?"

"Yaaa"
"Oookaaay - Hello!" And I moved along quickly hoping Kim got the hint and would keep up with my step.

"I'm just saying Hallo, sweetie"
Ok.

These 2 guys continued following me.

"Verr are you frrom?" (Where are you from?)
"I'm from London"
"London, UK?"
"Yes... ok, bye!"

As I got onto the escalater, these dudes were still following us...and not even being subtle about it. I just flashed them my beeeg eyes, and they disappeared afterwards!

This isn't the first time.

There are a fair amount of desi's (Indian people) here in Korea, but I almost never see Indian women.

I've been whistled at before and men yelling "Hey baby!" That's when my friend Dimitri stepped in and became my (pretend) boyfriend when we went out.

I'm probably sounding like a bitch, and I promise I have no problem meeting new people... but why do Indian men here insist on whistling at me, or calling me "baby" / "sweetie"?!

Okay. Maybe I can still even make peace with being called that. But why they feel the need to first helicopter around me and approach me so creepily is really beyond me.

2 comments:

Nat said...

I get called 'baby' and 'sweet baby girl' from the workers at the building site, I HATE it so much.

Sheetal said...

I dare you to whistle back & wink @ them ;)