schaurig - scary

ah, spring. as the flowers come out, and the leaves come out, so to do the freaks.

today in our lovely little neighborhood park, which i walk through every day, an elderly man exposed himself to me. i've never had that experience before. i somehow thought a trenchcoat was required, but i guess i was wrong. he was wearing a little fedora. i didn't know how to say "gross - put it away" in german so i just took the widest route i could around him and sped up my pace.

that would have been disturbing enough but then as i approached the train station, a man selling newspapers came up behind me and whispered something into my ear. he probably just said "hey, buy a paper," but in german everything sounds menacing, and paired with my earlier experience, i was not amused.

what interests me most about these experiences is that they didn't bother me more. the old man seemed sad and confused, and the paper guy was just a weirdo. there was a time in my life, not so long ago, when i would have been totally freaked out, couldn't sleep and would have decided to avoid these areas in the future. but today my reaction was fairly indifferent. i won't be avoiding the park in the future, in fact i intend on going back through tomorrow morning - you know, to enjoy the view... the tulips and daffodils, of course. not the man parts, you dirty readers!