It’s raining men . . .

I need to take some serious stock and a long, detailed look at whether or not I am living in the right country for me at this time.  I have never had so much male attention in my life!  It came from men between the tender ages of eight all the way through about sixty and it was non-stop.  I couldn’t turn around without another comment or someone stopping me to talk.  Call it what you want, but I called it flattering and quite hilarious. 

Like I stated it started with the man sitting next to me on the plane ride over and it never did stop. 

**By the way this is not in anyway to brag because I am still beside myself in shock and disbelief that it happened.  I really have never received so much attention in my life.  Honestly when it comes right down to it I really believe that it had nothing to do with anything except that I have blue eyes and they don’t see them that often in their country.  The other things that I attribute it to are the facts that I am an American and I was one of three under the age of sixty without a husband at my side.  Really I am not under any false disillusionment and know that once men get to know me they run fast and far . . . it wouldn’t take them long to figure that out . . . no matter which country I lived in.

There were so many daily incidents that I am just going to highlight a few of them.  This is all just as a record for me because it was an odd turn of events and no matter how I look at it . . . it was a part of the trip that just shouldn’t be forgotten.  I wasn’t really positive where else to document it.

First my favorite

It happened on the streets in Bethlehem.  We had just been to visit the Church of the Nativity and were walking down the streets back to the buses.  The cutest little boy, who couldn’t have been any older than about eight stepped in front of me, looked me straight in the eyes and said in broken English, “Hello, I love you!”  It melted my heart.  I was shocked that he wasn’t selling anything and just continued on his way down the street. 

In America we don’t learn how to barter.  Almost all other countries barter and I will admit that I am TERRIBLE at it.  I don’t know how to do it and it makes me uncomfortable because just tell me what the price is and then I will decide whether or not I want it.  I would rather not buy anything than have to barter.  Well I guess that when you have a captive audience that can’t take their eyes off you, you don’t have to barter because they just want to give you things.

We stopped to shop for a while and there were two guys behind the counter that were in their early 20s.  I was looking at some olive wood carvings and they were talking to me about where I was from and what it is like here.  There were a few others from the bus standing around that were bartering with them on the same items that I was looking at while we were talking, so I was aware of what they were offering others.  When I finally choose a couple of pieces that I wanted they looked at each other and had a short discussion in their language and then wrote a price on the paper that was less then what they had given anyone else.  I paid them and went back and sat on the bus.  A few minutes later one of the ladies from the yellow bus stuck her head in and said, “Um those guys are frantic because they don’t get your address and phone number and they want it.”

I got held up at every security check not because they were concerned about me being a trouble maker but because they wanted to look at me for a few extra minutes.  I even made a few of the security people blush just by smiling at them.  The best time was as I was going to board a plane in Cairo.  There were three men all about my age sitting behind the monitor watching the x-ray machine to make sure there was nothing in our bags that shouldn’t be carried onto a plane.  I had set my bags down and walked through the metal detector when they stopped me and waved me over.

Very seriously they were pointing at things in a bag that they said I was very bad for having and trying to get on the plane.  Honestly I couldn’t even tell from the monitor what they were showing me.  After a couple of minutes, Annette, who was waiting to go through finally called out to me and said holding my bag up, “Brenda, your bag isn’t even in the machine yet.”  At that the three men burst out laughing.  They were totally just giving me a hard time.  I joked with them for a minute about tough security and then one of them looked and me and said, “You’re just so beautiful we had to stop you.”  I thanked them for the entertainment and finally was able to get through security. 

I had men giggling like little girls all over three countries and I have been kissed in the most random locations by perfect strangers.  Yes, I can even say that I have been kissed in the great pyramids.  It definitely kept a smile on my face.

The last stand out incident actually lasted the entire week we were in Israel.  One of our bus drivers took a liking to me.  He would find me and give me a hug every morning and at the end of every night as they dropped us off . . . even if I wasn’t on his bus that day.  He got concerned as the week was wrapping up and told me that he needed a woman like me.  I laughed and jokingly said that it was a really long distance between Utah and Israel.  He jokingly then told me that if I wouldn’t move there, he would move here because I would be worth it.  I had to smile.  He made my week.

As we were exiting the bus at the boarder for the last time he found me in the midst of collecting my bags.  He gave me a long hug, a kiss on the check and then pressed a slip of paper in my hand.  I opened it and he said, “That is my address and phone number, please you have to write me.”  Then he threw me back into a hug and said good bye.  It was so cute.  It’s not often that I have someone care that much whether or not they ever hear from me again.  It made me feel good.

Well those were some of the highlights of my couple of weeks of being desired.  No worries, I am aware that this is one of those once in a lifetime happenings and I won't let it go to my head.