Ain't nothin to do

From Georgia

Today I actually have something to write about since I'm on spring break and I can do...things...besides work and homework. I've neglected me for the past few months, so now's the time for pampering.

I decided to go for a walk today. (trust me, its a big deal to have time for this). I like walking. So I walked to "The Park", which is probably my favorite part of Atlanta. I think we need a park like this, in L.A. It's huge, it's busy and full of life. I walked to my bench (only designated as my bench two weeks ago on my birthday...When I sat there for 2 hours pondering life), sat down, turned on my music, took out my notebook and started to write. Just as I began to unlock my thoughts, this older man sits down on the other side of my bench. Then a minute later, he starts to talk to me.

"Ohh, you write so fast" - him
"oh, yeah I guess *insert friendly awkward smile*"
"I can't write so fast in English. But I can in Farsi" - him
"Oh, well I can't write Farsi, so we're even"

Then I turn back to my writing and try to regain my thoughts. But nope, he couldn't catch the hint. He then asked me what music I'm listening to. It's American music right?
"actually no, its Israeli" (it really was)
"Oh, you speak........Hebrew?"
"No, but I understand a little."
"Oh...forgive me, I don't speak English so well"
"Its ok......."
"You know.....Hebrew? It's what they speak in Israel, yes?"
"Yes it is and no I don't speak it"
"Oh, I know 3 languages. Farsi, Arabic and English"
"....Nice"
"You listen to Israel music, I listen to Arabic music. Here, listen"
.......he pulls out his earphones and I listen for about 2 seconds....
"...Hah...ok...nice! *insert awkward smile*"

He never took the hint that I wasn't really so interested in talking and I couldn't ignore him... So he continued asking me questions like where I'm from, do I go to school, where do I work.....and then finally....

"Maybe you can teach me English for..one hour a day? And I teach you"
"Uh, sorry, I have a lot of work......and uh...I'm busy...But I'm sure there is a school here that you can go to!"

Ok, I had enough. I slowly packed my stuff and left my bench (I gave the man another quick awkward smile). My peace had been disturbed. I walked home, all the while checking behind me to see if I was being followed.


After all this, I remembered something. As a child, I used to take acting classes all the time. One of my favorite games was where you had one character on stage sitting on a bench at the park, feeding the pigeons and minding there own business. Then you walk in and have to get the bird feeder to either talk back, laugh or weird them enough to the point that they'll leave. Once they're gone - you take over as the bird feeder and someone else walks in.

So today my friends, I experienced in reality - one of the games I used to love as a child. And I think I lost.