Getting Groped Gracefully

I took our kids and our teammates daughter to the park yesterday afternoon. Whenever you go out with kids, you get lots of questions: "how old are they," "can they speak" and many times "are you nursing them?" Although this is a strange question for us Westerners to ask a complete stranger, I've been asked it many times and so it doesn't shock me anymore.

Well, yesterday this sweet old man, probably in his 80's came up to me and asked all the normal questions. But as he got to the nursing question, I had a hard time understanding his accent, so I told him I didn't understand. So he moved closer to me and puckered his lips to mimic sucking and said "chi nai," meaning to "nurse your kids." And aparently he thought I didn't understand his charade, because out came the hand to pet me. I wasn't real shocked at first because many older women will point to my chest asking if I nurse. But petting was a new thing for me. I decided to walk away and play in the grass with the kids. Well lo and behold, here he comes again. He snuck up from behind and persistently made the sucking motion with his lips asking "chi nai" and felt the need to once again pet. I kept saying no I wasn't nursing, but he thought continuing to pet me might get his message across clearly. I finally started walking backwards to get away and he kept persisting until I walked away from him.

I walked home shocked and a bit embarrased, but also laughing at the whole ordeal. You just never know what a day will hold!