Overheard

A week in NYC always makes returning to Sacramento more than a little difficult. One thing I forgot how much I missed about a big, bustling city is the inevitability of eavesdropping as you go about a normal day. At MoMA on Friday, while looking at photographs by Berndt and Hilla Becher, which I like very much, I overheard a woman saying to a man beside her, “These are boring. These are insulting to me as a viewer.” You just don’t hear stuff like that around Sactown.

It reminded me and Andrew of two of our favorite comments we overheard American tourists saying abroad:

In a Madrid shop full of knick knacks: An American man entered, glanced around, then announced loudly to the entire store, “Well, nothing here I can’t live without!” then left.

In a Krakow shop full of handmade wooden crafts: I was selecting a few small wooden birds when I overheard an American man talking to the salesclerk in a slow drawl. “Y’ever see an American dollar coin?” he asked her. I could only pray that he didn’t try to actually give her the coin.

Ah, humanity.

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