What's your nice name pretty lady?

Yes, that is an actual pick-up line here. Others include "Hey boss lady!" "Hey pretty lady, do you need husband?" "Hi, hello, how are you? Hello? Hi!" and various forms of kissing noises, hissing, lip smacking, etc. Really, its not so different from walking in Wheaton, MD where I am from.

At home, my main source of street harassment is Latin construction workers in their 1994 Toyota Celicas who like to curb crawl you as they slowly undress you with their eyes. I have always hated it and took it very personally when that would happen. My siblings were a bit unsympathetic and told me to buck up cuz it wasn't going to end anytime soon. Very true, but it still bothered me greatly.

Here, I don't feel bothered by it for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why but I brush it off and don't take it personally here like I did at home. I think it has something to do with the fact that I know I am viewed as different and "the other" and therefore an object of curiosity.

Also, its not hard to ignore them here. I just do my usual "bitchface + confident stride" walk and that works well. When it doesn't work, I talk to the guys and politely ask them to leave me alone or tell them to have a nice day. That typically works but not always!

Yesterday night, I went out to Senegambia, which is a hotspot for clubs/bars. Its basically a Gambian Adams Morgan! I was with a fellow PCV and her two friends visiting from America. When we were walking outside of a bar to head home, we had 10 guys swarm us and walk with us asking us various questions and offering marriage. We managed to get rid of the majority of them but when we stopped to get some food, a couple of them would not leave us alone. So I started talking to one of the guys and explained that my friends were visiting from America and that I just wanted to spend time with them and was that okay? I said I appreciated him walking us to the food cart but that I had limited time with my friends and would it be okay if I spoke with only them? The guy said yes and he was sorry for disturbing us and went away.

I realized that when you couch your "screw you, go away" request as asking for permission here, the guys don't get as aggressive and are flattered that you are polite in your request. So...score one for cross-cultural learning! We shall see if this tactic continues to work. I suspect it won't always!