Of course, this turned out to be true:

[persona_non_grata]

I just wish they would stop talking about us as though we were part of Europe. I hate it when the mayor does that, too. It was another mayor who wanted to split the city, and with Greece going the way it was, of course everyone agreed. (Except for Greece. And anyone who had family here. And, and, and.) But they talk about this place like it can be two places at once.

Maybe, once, it was like that. No longer.

Ekrem and I stood on the bridge today looking at the customs station, talking about. On our side, it's mostly robots. Over there, they have humans. More errors, he says. Not because the humans are stupid, but because they're paranoid. The robots don't bring emotions into the situation, so people respond more nicely. Or something. I was just stuck on the idea of a human being feeling me up, checking me for drugs or whatever it is people bring over.

I told Ekrem as much, and he said:

"Is being touched such a bad thing?"

I was too shy to answer.