I saw an old man’s penis.
Wednesday I finished my classes around 11:30 and walked back to the Minhang teachers’ hotel to pick up my stuff. I crossed the road, and then noticed a little guy just standing there as the students walked past. He was over 50, and was dressed in a poor, farmer-ish kind of way. As I approached him, I noticed him casually opening and unopening his coat, and then I thought, “WAIT A MINUTE! IS THAT HIS PENIS AND TESTICLES HANGING OUT?!?” Sure enough, the next time he did it, I saw that while he had buttoned the top button of his pants, his fly was undone, and his penis and testicles were protruding, like he had pulled them through the hole. Not only was this unattractive, but I also wondered if it was really uncomfortable. None of the students walking by seemed to be noticing him, and I wondered what to do? Like, should I make a fuss? Or wouldn’t that just make lots of girls look, embarrassing them? Should I tackle him or something? Should I go to the security guard at the crosswalk and make a complaint? I stood there kind of stunned for a minute, and then decided to just say to the man, “WHAT are you doing?” He sort of laughed, and then shuffled off across the street.
After collecting my stuff from the hotel I came out, and saw the guy was still across the street. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but it involved his crotch in some way. I approached the security guard by the school gate and explained to him what had happened. I pointed out the man across the street and said I thought it was the same guy, although I couldn’t be completely sure. While I was talking to the guard, another student came up to try to be helpful or something. He listened for a minute, and asked if I was lost or something. The guard said to him, irritably, “Some old man just showed her his penis. Don’t you understand Chinese?” The guard said he’d send someone over to talk to the flasher, and at that point I went back to the campus. I was supposed to have lunch, but it kind of messed up my appetite.
The man may have been mentally ill or mentally retarded rather than a run-of-the-mill flasher, but it was hard to tell. I’m hoping I won’t see him next week.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
too many “rods” recently….
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:33 am
Wow. You do live a colorful life there. Heh! I think you did the right thing though. Although, I will say that anybody deranged enough to flash children in such a public place is not necessarily the kind of guy you should even bother confronting. You would not have been wrong at all to simply go to the security guard right off. They’re trained in dealing with people who are unpredictable and have nothing to lose and no shame (which is a possibly dangerous combination).