There is no shame in asking for anything here. Especially from toubabs. Just today someone asked me for malaria drugs. They don’t know that I have any, the just figured I do because I’m a toubab. I have been asked for the clothes (shoes, bou bou, shirt, pants) I was wearing, my laptop, radio, money, watch, backpack, a motor pump for a well, a car, and a US visa. People have been asked for their prescription glasses. People have told me I should marry their 12 year old so that I could bring them back with me. If I gave everyone everything they asked for, I’d be naked and penniless by sundown, and constantly resisting that makes me feel like a miserly bastard.
They don’t dance around asking for things here. There isn’t really much ‘please’, or ‘can I’; it’s just not a part of politeness. If you want water, you say ‘give me water’. If you want someone’s shirt, you say ‘I want your shirt’, and there is a decent chance they’ll take it off right there and give it to you. (Pulaar doesn’t have separate concepts for to like and to want, so to compliment someone’s clothes is to risk a very awkward situation.) That’s just the way things are here, and it doesn’t really bother me when it happens in Pulaar. But when the first thing out of 90% of the people who talk to me is “donne moi cadeau”, or “Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. You give me money”, it is very hard to not get angry.
can you say no to this face?
I can deal though. My inner buddha is stronger than my inner bitter racist, thank god.

It’s hard not to get angry when prices are doubled or tripled (or quadrupled, or quintupled) based on the color of my skin. And it’s hard not to get angry when I’m called patron for not opening my wallet for everyone who asks. It’s not so much the asking that bothers me, or even the assuming that I’m rich because I’m not black. I think it’s the moral assertion that I should pay more because I have more, and the indignation when I won’t. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s an entitlement thing. I don’t know. Part of inshallah fatalism is that we do not receive by our labor; all we have is a gift from god. So of course it’s right that you should share your gifts with the less fortunate. That’s a good term and I’m going to use it more. Inshallah Fatalism. That’s probably the hardest part about being here. Followed closely by strict conservatism and gender roles. If I was a girl I’d probably order that differently.

My troubles with prices will definitely diminish as my pulaar gets better.