bazaar

"yes please"

"lady"

"excuse me"

"can i ask you one question?"

"you speak enlish?"

"huney buney"

"come here"

"yes angel"

"i know what you needs"

"want a look leather jacket"

"let me show you"

"nice lady"

"you look tired. i can help. cay? cafe?"

"spain?"

"you are different"

ALWAYS preceeded, "where you from?" the dreaded question. i only stopped answering it today. it took me a long time to figure out that that was their in to the tourist psyche.

ah, how grand it was! i unwittingly ended up three metro stations away from where i started. and after all of that heckling and looking at worlds of material, i exited with a mere bag of dried figs (that melt in your mouth like cookie dough) and what was left of my roasted almonds (that snap under pressure like twigs). a day of overstimulation demanded a quiet night and i climbed into the top bunk in my shared room as soon as possible. i eagerly awaited the emotional, minor praise of the daily morning prayer exuding from the mosque to wake me up for my next adventure to ankara.