The police called and told me to come down to the station. They said they needed to ask a few more questions. This time I went there on my own. They showed me my list of stolen items. They asked me to check the value of each thing. Then they told me to go into …

Continue reading Sitting Next to a Thief

My friend took me to the police station. The first thing I noticed were the posters of half-dressed women. A year and a half in the country and I couldn't get used to these posters that hung everywhere--police stations, doctors' offices, buses, and plastic bags to carry your vegetables home in. The officer told to …

Continue reading Poster Girls and Mugshot Men

"I help you," he said. "Thanks, but I'm fine," I said. We walked along the ice-covered sidewalk in the dark. I didn't know him. I stepped on an ice patch and spun. My oversized backpack pulled me down to one knee. He helped me up, picked up my backpack, and slung it over his shoulder. …

Continue reading A-ha! There it is!

and I needed something different today. Thanks to monkeybird.

I didn't go to cause him trouble, but loneliness and culture shock do not make for clear thinking. The first few months at my Peace Corps were not going well. The headmaster asked me almost every day to repeat French phrases I didn't understand. My students threw themselves on the floor if they any paid …

Continue reading Other Men’s Girlfriends and Other Vexations

My professor asked if I wanted something to drink. We were sitting at his dining room table with my thesis between us. He offered me juice, soda, or coffee. The first two sounded juvenile, and so I said coffee. I didn't drink coffee, but I didn't care. He was drinking coffee. "How do you like …

Continue reading Coffee and Playing Smart