pamphlet perv strikes!

19.08.07:

my time in istanbul is almost over. i have today and then tomorrow morning, basically. i have to leave for the airport by noon to catch my flight back to amsterdam & then go back to the hague for two days, waiting for my aer lingus flight back to new york. i hate saying goodbye, to people & to places. still, i do it alot. sometimes i wonder if i'll get tired of it. sometimes i think i am tired of it. and sometimes i can't wait to say hello to somewhere new.

G and i met at noon at my hotel. we'd planned today as a bhosphorus tour day. we got to the ferry terminal and were told that the tour (which is a summer-time tourist route) is a 6 hour thing. that's 3 more hours than the passengers on the minnow & they ended up deserted on an island. we decided to biff it. that's way too long for our adhd selves. we decide to make our own tour. but the convergence of adhd & lazy make for a pretty skimpy tour. plus being on a ferry takes us far from tavla, and that's unconscionable. so we get on and off two ferries that don't really take us anywhere we haven't really seen already. but whatevz. that's enough to sate me. i've been on the bhosphorus. we go back to my hotel, shower and change, and then head over to beyoglu. internet first, tavla second. after playing many, many games (i am actually improving both at tavla and at smoking narghile), G and i part ways. he's going to hang with some people he met & i decide to poke around town again. my 25 y.o. man friend from yesterday has the day off today, but i decided against hanging out with him again. i wanted to sort of have a low key last night in town. to bid a languid goodbye to the city.

G heads off in his direction. i walk back to galata tower to check out some of the side streets. eventually, i wind my way back to the main drag of beyoglu. i catch some pervert-y looking mans staring. i've faced down worse. indian men would put these guys to shame in a lechy stare smackdown competition.

i pass by our friend, pamphlet guy. he sees me alone and marks his prey. brochure guy is going for broke tonight. he grabs my hand and tell me how beautiful i am. he doesn't see G anywhere in sight so he comes closer. too close. i tell him that i'm going off to get a drink. he invites himself along, or rather invites himself to take me out for a drink. i point out that he would be a very bad employee if he ditched work right at prime pamphlet-handing out time. he shrugs and says he can work later. apparently (and perhaps creepily so), my beauty is so captivating that it is worth losing a pamphlet-passing out job for. suck on that nyc boys.

anyway, i manage to sidestep away by saying that i'd come by again later but that i had a "friend" to meet for drinks. by "a friend to meet" i mean G. he understands. backs off. watches me go up to cheap beer alley. now maybe i shouldn't have gone to cheap beer alley; it's right near the pamphlet guy. but it's also a good place to go & i sort of feel familiar there by now. i get a drink at post-punky-cheep-beer place and end up sitting outside at a table beside many of the punk contingent. we talk. we laugh. we cry. okay, no crying. but we did laugh. and smile. i, having nursed my beer for a century, finally pay up, say goodbye and foolishly walk back down the direction of pamphlet perv. i spot him, but he has his back to me. so thinking fast, i figure i can stealthily sneak right past him without him seeing me. oh but i am not a lucky woman. never have been.

he is delighted to see me. and especially to see me sans G. he stops me. he tells me loads of woo-ing me sorts of things. i'll speed this up actually since it went on for a while. i'm beautiful. he wants to live with me. he's never seen anyone so beautiful. he wants to marry me. he wants to take care of me. he wants to be my husband (i'm not sure how that differed from marrying me, but anyway.) he wants to know everything about me. he wants to meet my family. blah. blah. after 20 minutes of fending off his weird level-jumping advances. marketing to blase westerners is really not his thing. not that i'm blase about it. i really want out. of there. finally, i tell him that i have to go because G is waiting for me. then he starts insisting on a kiss. just one kiss. just one kiss on his lips. okay, no, just one kiss on his cheek. on his chin. forehead. lips again. neck. can he kiss me. on my lips. on my cheek. on my forehead. neck. chin. eyelids. we list all the parts of my face he can't kiss. which is all of them. i think maybe i can shame him. after all, he's seen me with G a lot. he knows G. i tell him that G is my boyfriend and that i can't kiss anyone else. he looks around and says "G isn't here right now. i won't tell." WOW. mind you, this is right on beyoglu main street. now, people are starting to look at us. and i feel really weird. i tell him i have to leave. i withdraw myself hastily from his grasp (he's been holding on to my arm and standing super close to me. i say i have to go to the tram to meet my boyfriend. he asks if he can walk with me. i don't say anything. he walks with me.

first thing he does as we head off toward taksim square is fling his arm over my shoulder and draw me close to him. i fling his arm off my shoulder and move away. the barrage of compliments and requests for kisses continue. all the way to the tram. the arm flinging persists now and again. he can't really keep up all that well because i am practically sprinting to the tram. i see resignation on his face. turns out i'm not interested in him. go figure. i make it to the tram station and he waves from the top of the stairs.

ick. i really should have just gone out again with C, my waiter-friend.

i get back to my room, pack up my things and flop into bed. all by myself. never thought that would be such a happy thought.