I took a bus from Izmir to Çeşme so I could take a ferry to the Greek island of Chios. I was walking towards the harbor and there were two boys, probably around my age, or younger, walking in the same direction while eating ice cream. They think I’m Turkish at first (so it goes) and ask if I want help with luggage. One of the boys was Turkish and the other one looked and spoke like he was American. But I guess he was born in Costa Rica, had just moved to Çeşme two months ago, living in Mexico previously. That’s about all I know about him, am still confused about his family heritage.

The Turkish boy is lugging my luggage, and I am speaking to the other guy about like goth and techno (he commented about my wearing all black, I said I wasn’t a goth that I listen to all types of music and my clothing does not reflect my mood, it’s just easy to wash all dark clothing and easy to match darks with darks). Anyway we get to the ticket office for my ferry to Chios and I find out they only take cash. I don’t have any cash on me and the ferry leaves in 30 minutes and there is no ATM nearby. The American-looking boy gives me 50 Turkish Lira and tells me to have fun. I tell him I’ll pay him back, that I’ll write him a check. But he says no. I go to pay for my ticket and then I turn around and the Turk and the boy who gave me free money had disappeared. (They said they were going to rent motorbikes and go to some beach). I’m a little bit sad that I’ll probably never be able to track down the kind boy and pay him back.