FINALLY!

Tonight at the store, I found somebody who gets even MORE attention than me!

First of all, let me preface this by saying the roads were busy and the store was packed when I got there. While driving (only about 1/2 a kilometer), two different guys shouted things at me, two teenage girls on a motorbike screamed, "YOU ARE MY SEESTER!", and more than a few kids dropped their toy cars to stare at me driving by. When I got to the store, there was a herd of parents with small children crowded around the front, waiting for their son or daughter's turn to ride the lone mechanical pony or car or whatever it is. They all stopped to watch me walk by. Once in the store, a few people in the checkout line got distracted from pulling items out of their baskets as I walked by.

So I got the few things I needed while pretending to not understand the things other shoppers whispered to one another about me being white.

Then I got in the checkout line. There were 3 people in front of me: an older lady, a young girl with a jilbab (head covering) on, and a man covered in tattoos. He had lots of piercings too. And wouldn't you know, it took that little girl a solid minute to even notice that I was standing there because she was too busy staring in awe at the tattooed man.

And then when she noticed, her eyes got really big. And she looked at me for 5 seconds. Then looked back at the man for 5 seconds. Back at me. Back at the man. She was visibly conflicted about who deserved to be stared at more. Until finally she had to turn around to pay for whatever she was buying, and the moment was over.

I was tempted to get the guy's number so I could invite him with me everywhere I go to offset the attention on me. But in the end, I just paid for my things, waded back through all the crying children waiting for their turn on the pony, and came home.