The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
Palms
Two small boys track the line of workers trimming the palm trees. The men in green jumpsuits stare up at the man-lift. The boys nod at each other with tight-lipped smiles and start in motion. The slightly smaller of the boys unfolds the large package in his hand. He takes out a gruesome mask–a green and red face, half pig and half monster. The mask has a tuft of black hair at the top. He tugs the rubber mask over his face, despite the August heat, and roars as he approaches the first few workers. Large fronds fall around the men and boys, but most of the men ignore the growling, gaze right over the boy’s head at women passing by, or sometimes briefly glance at their work. Finally a man near the middle, caught off guard, gives a small leap and a double-take on account of the costumed boy. The boy’s unmasked friend is delighted! Success! The boy wants a high five, but his friend’s mask blocks all peripheral vision so the celebration settles into a solo fist pump. Though they only come up to the elbows of the men chopping the palm trees, the boys rush away triumphant, as though they could have done the job without the lift.
–Izmir, Turkey.
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Reblogged this on turkischland.
I had a cup of Turkish coffee once at a party with mostly Greeks. It was very thick! Beautiful building above. What is it? It seems small.
The first picture is an Ataturk statue in the İzmir Kültürpark, and the second is the Konak Cami, both in İzmir, Turkey. The coffee can inhibit one’s sleeping patterns, for sure! When I’m here, I stick to instant Nescafe, just to be on the safe side.
How is it that you became interested in those parts of the world (and the others)?
Hmm, trying to remember… 🙂 I moved to Austria because I liked their novelists. I went to Bosnia because I had a fantastic student from that country. I came to Turkey for vacation, and opted to return for a lovely young man. Literary/romantic reasons, it seems!
Media reports were that the crowds at Madonna’s concert (where she exposed her breast) in Turkey were that they were enthusiastically wowed. What do you think?
I’m not too sure. I’m not running in “Madonna crowds” in Turkey these days. Several of the big pop artists here are women in their 50s and 60s! Adja Pekkan is 66 and making club music, but I don’t think an act like that would be part of her shows. People respect her voice. The voice really matters. 🙂
I just wondered if you had heard anything through the grapevine or newspapers about it. It didn’t ring true for me. I’ve heard and seen some of these big pop artists on programs like 60 minutes. Well, if the voice really matters, then that’s another reason for me not to believe what I read; Madonna never had much of a voice.
If people are going to pay big bucks to see her live, I don’t imagine they can afford to be disappointed. 🙂
Reblogged this on The Nice Thing About Strangers.
Do you ever wonder how Turkey ever managed to produce Ataturk, Paige ? I do, quite often …
No solo se trata de viajar, sino verdaderamente conocer donde se está y tu conocimiento sobre los lugares que visitas me impresiona. Excelente post. Un abrazo
¡Muchas gracias! Es usted muy amable. 🙂
Paige
Reblogged this on Espacio de Arpon Files.