Men on buses: A tale of three cities...

Kahnawake Pow Wow - Echoes of a Proud Nation 2011 - POST 2

Previous Post:
1. Intro to the Kahnawake Mohawk/Kanienkahaka reserve


Today, a side story of two men I met on my way to the Kahnawake 2011 pow wow:

On the bus going downtown I met a Chinese man who immigrated to Canada because he said the pretty women in Shanghai only marry rich men. And he really really wants to have kids. His mother came here so she can babysit.

He was on his way to church--he's going to a Mennonite church because the girls are more likely to want children, except he's been going for two years now and still isn't a member and they'll only date members. He's not a member because you have to believe man is essentially sinful, which he doesn't. I said, maybe you should find a church closer to your beliefs, cause I don't see how this will ever be reconciled. He said he's tried in the gay community too. I was like -- ?? He said: They have daughters! Fair enough.

He's tried Moslem girls, but they want to get their educations first. I said yes, they're serious girls, they're in all the business programs. I said maybe you should try a book club, he said he did but it was all old ladies. I said, hm, taking a course won't help because 20 year olds are too young. He was quick to assure me they weren't. (He's 30.)

I said, in Montreal they are, because they all want an education. He seemed confused/dismissive, like Why why?? I said, this is very important, what's a woman going to do if she gets divorced, how is she going to take care of herself? Most women want an education these days. You need to understand women, if you want to find one to marry. Look for women in their late twenties, who've done their degrees, that's when they're interested in marriage. He seemed to be taking this in.

This poor man. He was very personable though. I told him if I ever meet a woman who's dying to have kids, I'll pass on his email address. Ladies, he won't mind if your parents are gay, Muslim, Amish, or anything else under the sun, provided you want to have children! He's not planning to move back to China, though he's partial to Europe. He's an engineer with a job, and he tutors people in math.

At the metro I found the bus for the reserve, and another man started chatting with me--this one a retired truck driver who'd been married 4 times. "And would I get married again?" he said as we boarded the bus. "You bet." His birth mother lived on Kahnawake, but he'd only met her as an adult. (He wasn't Mohawk, but his mother had married a native man.)

He has a 20 year old girlfriend in Cuba, and once the paperwork clears he's going to marry her. But he wants to live down there, in her house. He told me a bit about the reserve, and his life, and previous wives. He said, you can't find a woman in Montreal, they're all crackheads and hoors. He'd also seen me talking to the Chinese fellow on the other bus, and asked me about it. Then said, he should go back to China!

So I met one man who came to Montreal to find a wife.
And another who left Montreal to find a wife.
And the second man judged the first man for coming to Montreal to find a wife.
Maybe he wasn't being racist, maybe he'd meant it as a warning: Tell him to go back to China--here they're all crackheads and hoors!

Public transportation is all kinds of entertaining, my friends, when you're in a sociable mood.

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Technically a tale of 2 cities, and one country. I don't remember what city the Cuban woman lived in, sorry. I put a photo of Havana.