Hello clapping after arrival. Hello arrival. Hello not giving a shit about seat belt signs
in or out of a plane, and wanting to always get the bag out first,
while the hostess hollers from the other end of the aisle, sir, please,
sir close, sir fasten,
but sir turning so
exceptionally
deaf.
Hello baggage claim and walking out to meet my mother. Hello summer blue sky healthy and detached. Hello cab driver honking and I, ignoring, and him, honking and stubbornly slowing down, and I walking on and stubbornly chatting.
Hello honkinghonkinghonking. Hello traffic jams, Christmas lights, oh wait those are traffic lights. Hello not giving a hoot about those either. Hello idiots throwing crushed empty beer cans out the car window. Hello smoking.
Hello lunatic driving. Hello lunatic road structures and bridges and exits. Hello inhaling exhaust fumes in long dark tunnels. Hello speed and impatience and unsafe families.
Hello old dirty public buses. Hello no bus stops around.
Hello breath-taking shades of green and blue during the day. Hello glittering lights in the nightly distance. Hello large statue of the Virgin Mary blessing this all at once.
Hello gorgeous stone houses and grandmothers dressed in black. Hello Turkish coffee a million times a day.
Hello large gold crosses hanging against hairy chests and serious tattoos of Kalashnikovs carved across a teenager’s neck.
Hello lingerie billboards and lingerie billboards and more lingerie what? billboards.
Hello lingerie billboards and lingerie billboards and more lingerie what? billboards.
Hello weddings and random late night plans and staying up way too late. Hello trusting someone or something out there is watching over you.
Hello knefeh. Hello long shouldered mountains and skinny winding roads to get there. Hello almost heart attack or nervous breakdown to get to the very top. Hello hazy green green summits.
Hello beach.
Hello old universities and over-sweetened Nescafe and broken down cab drivers who suddenly decide to park on the side that’s not really a side but a whole road lane and people behind him cussing and puffing and sticking their heads out the window because there’s no such thing as patience. Or courtesy.
Or losing hope of renewal.
Hello foreign tourists who are just locals who know nothing about the way this whole thing works.
