"Why am I sitting here and I don't have a dollar?"

Had a nice pizza at a place H2 knows.

So we've crossed the wonderful Si-o-Seh Bridge and stop by the famous chaikuneh underneath it to have some tea and smoke the hubble bubble. Its established early that there's an American on the premises.

One of the guys who works there is giving us a lot of attention. He knows about five English words and want to use them all. He's Baktrian and uses an accent that H2 has a hard time understanding. He keeps coming back and forth to our table.

Each time, H2 gets a little more annoyed. He thinks that giving him a tip will convince the guy to leave us alone. H2 stops short and instead thinks maybe he'll tell him I'm from China.

The guy leaves and comes back. H2 finally tells him I'm from the Maldives. The guy wants H2 to tell him what "Let me" means. H2 tells him and the guy turns to me and says "let me" and joins us again.

His badgering is persistent. Finally he blurts out, "Why I am sitting here and I don't have a dollar?" I have to write that down in my book. He asks H2 what I'm writing and H2 replies I'm copying down his 'poetry'. We crack up and he leaves.

He comes back again and I say, "Befarmayid." ("Here you are.") The guy says to H2, referring to me, "I suppose he's Persian, too."

We leave him a tip, thanking him for his poetry.