Obvs-ervations.

By making many trips into the Bazaar over the past few weeks and by spending time at school I’ve come to make a few obvs, if you will. One in particular.

Everyone looks at you for quite some time--I mean they stare. it’s the you are foreign type stare. Im used to this because when im in india this is the type of stare that I get. Its starts with the hair and then I get a complete assessment from head to toe stare. it’s the same feeling here. And I cant quite remember if people stare like this in europe.

It really is funny because they are not harmful judgmental stares, just curious ones. And I do my fair share of staring in the buses as well. Im just curious as to how this came to be in other parts of the world and not in america. I mean, staring is totally rude in america. And when I look at someone im REALLY good at doing it in a sly way. But here, there’s no need! You can be as obvious as you want. Maybe we are too sensitive in america, or we feel we are judging, or it just makes everyone feel uncomfortable.

What is uncomfortable is when I can tell someone is staring at me. As a teacher, Im constantly surrounded by teachers and kids all day long. In teachers room, there’s at least 5-10 teachers in there at a time. And in the hallways, well its crowded. Im really not the attention grabbing everyone look at me type person. So when I walk down the hallway or into the cafeteria I go into my cringe mode and walk quickly and efficiently.

But I can tell their eyes are on me. My natural reaction is to meet their eyes, but that’s like meeting five peoples eyes. Or, when its one person it turns into the slightly awkward I-know-you-are-looking-at-me -I-have-caught-you. Which is like way worse then people looking at me. Sooo, I fight the urge to look back at them. So now I have become really good at fixing my eyes at many other places in the room when this happens. But usually when its someone I know, I look at them with a big smile. And then I get a smile back. And turkish people have the greatest smiles. They smile with their whole face. Which in my opinion, is like the best use of all your face muscles. They smile, squint their face, and wink at you with both eyes. The best way to non-verbally communicate.