Parking Lot Pep Talk
I’m not looking forward to shopping. I am almost never looking forward to shopping. This is a benefit of living abroad with one suitcase– I can’t acquire new things since … Continue reading
Show Me State Signs
Traveling, scrawling, but I thought you might like these signs from a road trip through Missouri. Wednesday, we will observe some mid-flight flirting. I watched the whole encounter with a … Continue reading
Booklove
Lost in my dreams, I somehow cross at the traffic signals, never bumping into street lamps or people, yet moving onward, exuding fumes of beer and grime, yet smiling, because … Continue reading
The Top Ten Search Terms: Seek and Ye Shall Find
Last year, I posted the most frequent search terms that led people to my blog. It used to seem quite random–for example, “Chuck Norris Drowns a guy in Rice” led … Continue reading
The Hamam Opt-Out. Istanbul.
Because the idea of sitting in a hot room and being scrubbed by a stranger sounds more like Dante than vacation, I’m parked in the waiting room of the Turkish … Continue reading
Making Arrangements for Another Adventure
Now I’m inclined to think it was the inevitable outcome of my years in Europe. Almost all the people who’ve had most effect on me I seem to have met … Continue reading
Sundance Kid
The shaggy-haired boy has stopped his bicycle to watch a man on a machine unearthing blocks of cement. The boy plays with the strings from the hood of his sweatshirt. … Continue reading
On Dogs and Tough Guys
The slim, green-eyed teenaged boy wears the now-typical skinny jeans, flashy shoes, and puffy black coat. He stands with his elbows out a bit, holds his arms away from his … Continue reading
Road Trip. Colorado, Kansas, and Who We Are
…we’re not born with unlimited choices. We can’t be anything we want to be. We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, … Continue reading
But You Can Drive Something Foreign…
For the very notion of homeland, with all its emotional power, is bound up with the relative brevity of our life, which allows us too little time to become attached … Continue reading
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
As bus merged onto the highway, leaving no chance for unhappy passengers to disembark, a group of Slovakian college students old enough…
Iceland. Or The Moon.
How foolish we were to be afraid of loneliness. -Graham Greene. The Heart of the Matter.
Tomatoes and Crushes
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
He had been handsome when younger; he remained handsome, but had reached an age where people gazed at him like his days…
A Warning for the End of the Wanderlust
I would become a respectable person. I left the university, trained for my father’s profession, went abroad to get a better grasp of things, then went home and worked hard … Continue reading
(Nearly Forgot You, Friday)
Next week we’ll go back to Europe. For now, let’s pick something up from to Georgia, USA. * Her prayers, when she remembered to say them, were usually perfunctory but … Continue reading
Say Peynir!
From a spot in Gülhane park, one can keep a clear sight of the lines of people posing with the Atatürk statue. A bronze figure on a stone base, he … Continue reading
Holiday Travel
The crowd of people at the gate wore looks suited for various executions. They wore sneers of people leaving vacation behind. Even the crowd of pilgrims who climbed through Medjugorje … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 