Today I had an interesting experience with a stranger on the CityCat (the Brisbane ferry service that we usually take to Uni and elsewhere).
I just had to pop into Uni for a couple of hours, so Joerg didn't go with me like he usually does. On my way back, while waiting for the ferry to berth at the Uni pontoon, I was standing in line behind another foreign postgrad student- I assumed straight away that he was a postgrad because it's the summer break which means all the other undergrad students wouldn 't be in Uni anymore, and he just didn't look old enough to be a lecturer. We spotted a couple of dophins playing in the water at a distance, and so both of us happened to turn to each other and exclaimed "Dolphins!". So then we just started making some casual conversation, like what we're studying and stuff. We got onto the ferry together and he sat next to me. Alarm bells started going off when this stranger suddenly started saying stuff like, "I am looking for a friend" and "I like girls from Singapore"... oops... I kind of doubt he was referring to platonic relationships. Mind you, I had been pretty clear about my married status from the start by waving my left hand around and making sure the wedding band was flashing in broad daylight. And he did notice (I noticed him noticing), but that didn't seem to stop him. And in case it was not clear enough, I casually mentioned that my husband was studying with me at Uni too.
Just as things were starting to get really uncomfortable, and I was praying for a happy parting between the both of us, Joerg called my mobile to ask where I was. I tried to keep him on the line without saying out loud what was happening, but obviously I wasn't clear enough; Joerg was trying to hang up quickly because he was running out of phone credit. After I hung up the phone, the guy started talking to me again, and I decided to sms Joerg instead: "Can you please meet me at Regatta? Trying to shake off someone. Reaching in 2 mins". Message sent. Prayed hard Joerg would get the message. The guy carried on chatting for a while more, but I decided, ok no more missus-nice-guy, and put on my most distant expression. Then I think he got the hint because after a couple more minutes he stopped and closed his eyes like he was sleeping.
When the ferry reached Regatta (the longest 10-minute cruise I've had so far!), I excused myself to get past him, and by now he had totally changed his demeanour toward me and just moved aside to let me pass. And I was happy to see too, that Joerg was making his way down the walkway to the waiting area. Phew! Thanks God, that nothing untoward happened, and also for Joerg being around!
This reminded me also of another similar incident that happened about a month ago, when Joerg and I were making our way to meet friends at about 8pm on a Sunday evening. While we were heading into the Toowong village carpark, a tall, lanky, tattooed man with a pony tail (yeah just picture that) approached both of us and unsteadily asked for directions to the train station. He was clearly drunk, having difficulty getting the words out, and swaying quite abit on his feet. Just so happened Joerg and I were standing about 5 metres apart, and the man looked like he was moving closer into Joerg's personal space. I could see Joerg getting wary, and he was moving away from the man. But he still gave him directions. Of course in his drunken state the man was like,"Walk where, all the way to the top?" And he sounded (to me at least) abit aggravated. So Joerg calmly told him ok, just follow us, we're headed that way too. Then he walked quickly toward me, took me by the elbow, and told me to walk quickly up that way. So we kept a brisk pace and kept about a good 10 to 15 metres gap between us and the man, who could still see us and follow. When we got to the station, Joerg just called out to the man, "That's the station" and then to me, "Let's go". So we took off, with the man calling out to us, I guess he wanted money for the train ride as well.
So grateful for Divine protection and for hubby around to get through these adventures in Brisbane!
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