The most random thing that’s happened to me this month

I was taking the subway back home from Daegu a couple of weeks ago, and there weren’t any seats where I normally sit, but there were seats open at the end of the car, so I sat there. An old man got on a few stops later, and tried to talk to me. I tried to make him understand that I don’t speak Korean and couldn’t understand him, but it didn’t work very well. He left me alone for a minute and then handed me a tomato. I was confused. I tried to refuse, but he insisted. Then, in Spanish said to me (as he pointed to my thigh) “very big”. Then he pointed to his thigh and said “very small”, again in Spanish.

Of course, I was totally offended that some random Korean man felt it was necessary to tell me I’m fat. But I was even more confused by the Spanish. Why he thought I would understand Spanish, I don’t know. I did, actually, only because I call my boys “piquito” which means small, the word he used. It was very odd. I put my headphones back in my ears and was glad when the train ride ended a few minutes later.

I told my mom this story when it happened, and she pointed out something I didn’t think of at the time. Above these seats was a picture of a person with a broken leg, an old person, a woman with a small child, and a woman who had eaten a beach ball (I assume that they were going for pregnant with that one). I was sitting there when the man got on, so he probably thought I was pregnant and sat there on purpose. He probably thought “Wow, she’s gained a lot of weight with this baby”, and thought he was being funny. It’s a shame I couldn’t share in the joke.