PONDERING

So, today's post has NOTHING to do with the photo but this IS one of my favorites from the Middle East - I think this one came from Oman.

What prompted this is ... traffic. Yesterday (Thursday), I dispatched myself at 8:45 to walk to the bus stop (about 2 minutes walk) - on an errand to mail books to Abu Dhabi and posters to Crete - for book signings.

I walked up to the bus stop where there was one Greek woman sitting. I stood for a few minutes looking in the same direction as the Greek woman - and ... no bus. Soon, a younger - much younger - Greek woman arrived and took her seat on the bench. Still no bus - in either direction. Not a word was spoken between the 3 of us - not unusual for me since I am most certainly not trying out my limited Greek skills at a bus stop!

In a few minutes, an older Greek man crossed the street and joined our (now) foursome. As I gazed past him into the direction of our house, my eye caught a motion on the ground. OH YES - a R A T! A huge rat! I told Glen it was the size of Shakespeare - okay maybe not quite THAT big but it was a monster rat. It came from the field - okay - that is a rat's domain, right - and ran underneath the dumpsters. All together now ... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! And just as quickly, it ran right back out from under the dumpsters and back into the field. The old man saw this - but still, no words passed between any member of our little group.

As the minutes on the clock ticked by and not a bus OR taxi passed us, I began to wonder several things. What if this is a strike day and there is NO public transportation? Why does my bladder pick NOW to let me know how badly it needs emptying! Why is it that people stuck together for such a brief moment in time pretend that they are totally and completely alone and make no effort at conversation? I answered this last question myself. "Because," said I (quietly), "we're in Greece and not the USA. We don't all speak the same language."

Back came the reply (even more quietly). "THAT is the dumbest thing you've said today so far. If you were in the USA, you surely would NOT be standing at a bus stop. And ALL these people except you DO speak the same language! They're not talking to each other." (What a smart mouth!)

More minutes went by and we were joined by a prissy older Greek woman - the rat had just run from the field and under the dumpster when she approached. Lightning fast, the rat scurried back to the safety of the field - but the woman didn't even notice! I was anticipating a horrific scream which would have made all (now) 5 of us fast friends. Nothing! She came and stood between me and the grandpa. Still no bus.

Before it was all over, I had stood there almost an hour - that means the first woman had been there OVER an hour - and we had been joined by one more older Greek woman. That made SIX of us - and not ONE WORD passed between us for the entire time! When we all boarded the bus, everyone went in separate directions as if we had not shared the past hour with each other. And the rat? HA!

That leads me to another ponderable question. I'm making 50 bundles of sammies, cookies and bottled water today to take to our LOTs guys. As I peeled LOTS of boiled eggs, I had to wonder - why do eggs come in 12s in the US and in 10s here in Greece? Is it the metric system? Where did the word "dozen" come from anyway? And, peeling onions reminded me of another question.

YEARS AND YEARS ago, my mama came to my small apartment in Corpus Christi to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I thought I had everything ready but when she started preparing the "dressing," she told me we had no green onions. So, I turned to my then fiance and said "Can you go get some green onions in a hurry?" He and his buddy Gene took off. They were gone FOREVER! Mama said we could have planted bulbs and waited for them to grow in that time.

Finally, they came back and said they'd been to every grocery store in town and there were NO green onions! There were white ones, yellow ones and purple ones - but NONE were green! (Seems they're called "spring onions" in New York!) Why is that?

No wonder people have so much trouble learning English - even WE can't agree! And that brings me back to the camels!

Have a happy day!