{"id":431,"date":"2006-08-17T11:58:42","date_gmt":"2006-08-17T09:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/archives\/431"},"modified":"2010-05-31T23:26:25","modified_gmt":"2010-05-31T21:26:25","slug":"walk-stalked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/431","title":{"rendered":"Walk Stalked!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was walking the dog this morning a man rode up to me on his bike and commented on what a cute dog I have.<\/p>\n

Duh… anyone with eyes can see that.<\/p>\n

He continued chatting with me… I got the usual… where are you from, how long have you lived here, yada yada. He was from some place I’ve never heard of in West Africa, he was black, riding a nice looking bike and moderately attractive. Probably somewhere around 30 years old…<\/p>\n

He followed me the whole time I was walking and I noticed a face that just looked friendly two minutes ago was suddenly perving me up and down. This is when it got uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

He asked where I lived and I said “Over there” while waving my arm in a way that could have been pointing to any apartment building behind me. There was no way I was going to tell this guy where I lived.<\/p>\n

He then started talking about how he could see me again and trying to figure it out. Earlier in our conversation, when he asked if I had family in Holland, I told him my husband is Dutch… so he was fully aware that I am married. He didn’t seem to care though and continued to have a one sided conversation about how we could meet again. I just kept walking and didn’t really say anything. I knew I should have said something like:<\/p>\n

It’s not going to happen, get lost!
\nMy husband carries a gun!
\nI have herpes!
\nWant to come in and compare penises?
\nGo away, this dog is trained to attack!<\/em><\/p>\n

… or something equally unappealing, but instead I just walked. Cut me some slack here, it’s not like I deal with this shit every day!<\/p>\n

He asked for my phone number, I told him I had no phone… that I just use my husband’s mobile. He asked if I’d call him and we could meet in the park and talk ‘or something’. He then went on with comments like:<\/p>\n

I saw you from way up the street.
\nYou are so beautiful!
\nI really really like you!
\nYou are so pretty!
\nIf not for your husband we could be together!
\nI really like you so much.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s when I told him it wasn’t going to happen and I had to go.<\/p>\n

I continued to walk the dog around the neighbourhood until I was sure he was gone and then I scurried into the house and locked the doors.<\/p>\n

I’ve been hit on before but this was really creepy.<\/p>\n

Since living in the Netherlands I have been consistantly<\/a> hit on by African men. I know it’s because they like women who have some err.. cushin’ for the pushin’ but I’ve never really known why.<\/p>\n

So I decided to look it up!<\/p>\n

I found this<\/a> article which was unrelated but I noticed some comments from people that explained the African man’s obsession with large women.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Kwa-Zulu Natal, which is predominantly populated by the Zulu people, I believe that it is indeed a sign of wealth. This is a very male orientated idea as the more “fuller” your wife and children appear, the wealthier the man of the house will appear to others. I think that obesity is the least of the problems in Africa when you take into account the continuing spread of Aids, the poverty and the lack of education for children.
\nNatasha Samuel, United Kingdom (Originally South Africa)<\/p>\n

Being fat in Africa is a sign of health and wealth. Our mothers-in-law demand to see daughters-in-law who make the earth tremble when they walk (umfazi ohamba kunyakazele umhlaba). This is the sign of a true African woman. In a country like Zimbabwe where an estimated 1.4 people are suspected to be living with HIV\/Aids, you just cannot contemplate loosing weight without fearing that your neighbours will start whispering that you have Aids. Man and women alike feel comfortable dating a fat\/big person because they are considered “clean”. Hence the colloquial name for AIDS in west Africa is “slim”
\nThoko Elphick-Pooley, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So that explains it, I guess. It would seem that while these men are living in a totally different culture and society, their own culture still runs deep. When they see my chubby little behind swaying it’s way down the sidewalk they think “Now there’s one well-fed, wealthy, aids-free lady free for the takin’<\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was walking the dog this morning a man rode up to me on his bike and commented on what a cute dog I have. Duh… anyone with eyes can see that. He continued chatting with me… I got the usual… where are you from, how long have you lived here, yada yada. He …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[334],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-life-in-nl","tag-stalking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5112,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/5112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}