Journal entry from 8-1-05
I came home sobbing after being propositioned (again again again) at a restaurant at 11:00 (bar time.) My mom did what she could in her position of power. She called around and yelled at whoever she could. She said to me, "Don't cry. Don't cry because of what people say to you--you can go home in a year. Cry for my children, who have to live here their entire lives. Cry for the people who grow up here and don't know the difference."
The short story goes, a drunk man yelled something at me and we told him to stop bothering us. Eventually we had to call over the manager, who all but threw US out, saying he can't do anything if we're already 'talking' to him. He told us "this isn't Europe or America. Things are different here." The man came over during the argument and grabbed my arm. Well, the next day I was councilled by Peace Corps to go write a statement at the police station. I went, wrote my statement with Jura, my lawyer (haha). We broght it to the head of his department who said, "Oh, you speak English! Why don't you say 'Jura, I love you' in English." I told him we'd just met, how could I love him? He said "Well then how about 'Jura you are a very attractive man." I asked him to pick a different sentence. We then moved on to the topic of 'if I asked you to go out tonight what would you say.' I made some type of incredulous face and the question was rephrased to 'you know, what do you do in your free time, do you want to get something to drink?' I told him I mostly sit at home. Is that irony? Sexual harrassment from your sexual harrassment case lawyer?! Or perhaps just normal, like people here tell me. Why are you so upset? that's normal. Everyone does that.
Then I get back to Jura's office and he orders up some coffee, tells me I'm a very pleasant girl and that any time I want I can come up to his office to see him. I said "well there's a guy in the office down there asking you what your official business is, so I probably won't be coming in for fun." He told me that the guy in the office was a friend. "Just tell him you're coming to see me. He'll know."
I guess on the bright side, my Russian seems to be good enough to get subtelties and nuances!
