Safe and Sorry
An elderly woman in a headscarf lined up the start of YMCA, arms outstretched, but there was no one else to finish the chorus. Preparing for the 2 am flight … Continue reading
The Rush
In Kreutzberg, on a street of hip shops and Indian restaurants and postcard stands, a young boy with wavy brown hair hurries down the street. In winter, the sidewalks are … Continue reading
Nice to Meet You
His mother always started up a conversation with the other people on the train. She was like an old bird dog just unpenned that raced, sniffing up every rock and … Continue reading
Pick Me Up
The Taksim bus station, night and day, hosts chaos. Buses line up and depart from four doubled-up lines and feature the soundtrack of air brakes and honking horns. Pedestrians, as … Continue reading
Still Here
He also felt an excited touched surprise that such a complex of emotions could still exist in such an old man. “Such an old man,” he thought to himself until … Continue reading
Bitte Schön
Greetings from Overcast Istanbul! I’m here collecting new scraps of stories and taking a little time to reset and reassess. This week I’m reblogging three posts from the early days … Continue reading
Last Minute Turkish Lessons Because…
Being in the foreign country means walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has his family, colleagues, and friends, … Continue reading
Volim, Ne Volim
It was a Sunday afternoon, not long after my arrival, and my pathetic-looking protein bar didn’t seem a nice option for a celebratory relocation meal. So despite the rain that … Continue reading
Clever Boating Term and a Link to the Lemon Tree
The sunset was a dusty purple and blue–like eye shadow colors that women only wore in magazines. I had been collecting the sunsets in amazement at their variety, and to … Continue reading
Cross Over
Maybe it was the impact of the sky and the water, but even the narrow road had its charm. Driving the curves, or walking on the crumbling shoulder that grew … Continue reading
Packs of Blondes
Granted, it was a small sample, but from the Turkish TV dramas I’d watched in passive attempts to learn the language, all of the blonde women were evil. Friends in … Continue reading
The Bold and the Apprehensive
The couple boarded the plane extremely late and toting five carry-on bags between them. The flight crew looked the other way. He opened nearly every overhead compartment in their section … Continue reading
A Traveler’s Wish
After this, I want silence, time to wonder, to think & to feel, to look at different cities & speak different tongues, & become wonderfully anonymous & lonely. -From Iris … Continue reading
Shoulder to Shoulder
On the winding road down the Croatian coast, a couple gazes toward the turquoise sea one usually only glimpses in movies. She sighs, ”We’re driving in the clouds.” But he … Continue reading
An Icelandic Sky and A Rushdie Sigh
A sigh isn’t just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can. -Salman Rushdie. The Moor’s Last Sigh.
Misguided Tour
Waiting at the station, she made a quick phone call. “Hi, baby, hi, yeah. Your brother is here, he’s going to take me around today. But he doesn’t actually speak … Continue reading
Rock With You
The bus is running and the doors hang open, but not a single passenger climbs in. At other gates people impatiently crowd the doors, but at #3, everyone waits on … Continue reading
A Seat of One’s Own
A boy and his little brother–each armed with a sack of groceries–board the bus and rush to pile onto a single vacant seat. The younger boy’s brown eyes flash as … Continue reading
Business Man or Poor Man
Two Australian girls reacted with alarm that their protein bars hadn’t melted in the heat. Outside the Dubrovnik airport, waiting on a bus to the city center, the girls stared … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 