Akira: Free Write 1/17

This post will consist of random thoughts I have had but haven't really developed. They will blossom as I type and probably end within a paragraph or so. I spend a lot of time alone and thus, a lot of time thinking. There are a great many questions in my head about this Athens place and most don't have an answer. All of these anecdotes I will share can be finalized with one word: Why. And I don't know why. I haven't the slightest "why" in most of these instances. I just want to put them down.

I went shopping on Tuesday. Bought my presents for my family and friends. Shop owners are quite pushy and really enjoy talking even after given a firm "No." One man with weird teeth and a dirty face followed Richard and I for 200+ meters, trying to get our attention. He didn't even appear to own a shop, just had a tattered catalog of models he kept trying to shove in our faces. Makes you wonder how desperate you have to be to resort to stalking tourists and what he actually was attempting to sell. I wasn't about to humor him.

Another man, a homeless man, escorted us from one shop to another, showing us places where we could find the exact souvenirs we sought. We supposed he would get a cut of the profit if the customers he brought purchased something at the shop. He had a kind smile and, unlike the previous stranger, I felt genuinely sad for him. He seemed so bored and sort of lonely. He was a bit scruffy but just seemed so eager...Why?

There were fire spinners in the road these past two days. Just standing in the intersection. Dressed in black clothes with dreads and big smiles. Spinning sticks of fire in front of antsy drivers. Why? Why not on the sidewalk? Why in a place where people can do no more than scowl and throw a coin out their window? No one seemed to pay them any mind, yet I was entranced. Why fire? Why in the road? Why during 5 o'clock traffic?

The maid stopped in today. I felt awkward and started cleaning with her. Why?

Oregano chips taste really good.

Why did I write about Pan in my last post? Everyone else wrote something believable. A goat-god is about the furthest things from believable--Oh well, I tried, right?

My power cord is wrapped up in customs.

Why am I still homesick?