Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Gold Toothed Leer

Bektour was a little late meeting me on Sunday, as the snow had rather slowed down transport city-wide. I waited out on the sidewalk before deciding that it was cold and since he knew where I lived, I might as well wait inside. However, before common sense led me to that stellar decision, I had a rather interesting experience. When I emerged onto the snow-covered sidewalk, I saw a middle-aged man who appeared to be waiting either for a bus or for someone. Now lest anyone suggest otherwise, I did not so much as make eye contact with this fellow, and I most certainly didn’t smile at him. In fact, I’d taken very little notice of him until he began crossing the street, headed directly for me. At first I thought that he was simply crossing the street, but no. He grew nearer and nearer, and I steadfastly gazed down the street, as if scanning the bus numbers. Finally, there was no avoiding the man; he was totally up in my personal space. I bit back a rather rude чего? (kind of like rudely saying what the?) and instead gave him a look which I hoped conveyed that thought without me having to open my mouth and possibly expose that I was not a native of Bishkek. Instead of taking the hint and walking away (alas, they never do), he comically imitated my expression, leaned in and leered at me, showing a full set of gold teeth, and covering me with the stale stench of beer. I simply stared back. He then asked me where I was going. I told him firmly and in as best an angry devushka voice as I could muster, Я жду друга. (Now first off, I can’t for the life of me remember if one says жду друга or жду другу, but I suspect that’s somewhat beside the point.) See друг (droog) means a male friend; however, it can also be used to mean boyfriend. I hoped very much that my manner and tone of voice would convey to this man that I was indeed awaiting my boyfriend; he wouldn’t need to know any different. Luckily for me, he took it to mean just that, and with a shrug he stumbled off down the street. Shortly thereafter I decided to wait indoors. Seriously, I’m like catnip for crazy old dudes.

3 comments:

Diana said...

You really are catnip for crazy old dudes... Well played, Jane. Well played.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure it's жду друга, since ждy just takes accusative and друг's animate.

Regardless, I too am a magnet for the creepy old guys. During one of our first few days in Vladimir, we were waiting outside Kinomax on Ploshad Pobedi. A stumbling, quite disheveled older guy comes up to us, Joanna pulls the 'I don't speak any Russian!' trick, and I make the mistake of saying something in Russian. He decides to focus on me, calls me 'самая beautiful' (bilingual, it seems), and then gives us a couple beers before pottering off.

-Amanda

annie said...

w. shedd - there's nothing wrong with commenting on my blog! it's the drunk/high/naked/flirting/not-going-away that usually leads one to be classified as a creepy old dude.

Amanda - I seem to recall Joanna telling me about that!