AUGUST 10th: The anonymous Mac Donald’s guy

I have always said that eating at Mac Donald’s is like having sex without love. Before you eat you can hardly think of any other thing. You crave it so badly that you could do anything to get it. You know it is bad for you, but you don’t care. Then you devour it in a very few time, and right after you eat the last bite you start feeling bad. So bad that you just want to flee from Mac Donald’s and completely forget about it. You even promise yourself that you will never do it again and you actually buy it. But after some days without junk food you start to feel like it again and the whole process starts over. This statement is also applicable to other restaurants like Panda Express, the Mac Donald’s of the Chinese food. All this reminds me that I haven’t been to MacDonald’s in a long time, hahaha!

So Kim dropped me off at Ljubljana railway station and we said goodbye for the third time in the last four days :-) I started walking around the station trying to find an open door to get in and buy my train tickets but every door I tried was locked so I kept walking around the station. Some other travelers were trying to get in as well, and since I was walking a little bit faster I guess that they thought that I knew what I was doing, so they started following me. After ten minutes and two laps around the freakin’ train station I decided to go ask in the only place that was still open; Mac Donald’s. So I and the 10-15 people who were following me from a certain distance got in MacDonald’s. It was pretty empty of people but so full of a junk food fragrance that for me is like Channel no 5. It took me less than a second to find the right excuse to buy a burger; because of course junk food is the cornerstone of travelers’ diet. The cashier was pretty lonely and bored so we talked for a while. He informed me, and at the same time all the people behind me, that after 10 pm train tickets must be bought once you are on the train. When my smoky tasty “Lettuce-less Royale With Cheese” was ready on the tray right in front of me and I put my hand inside my Tollar pocket I realized that most of my Tollars were gone. The poor cashier would probably get that same shit everyday. He shook his head and then I went all out and I emptied the rest of my foreign currency pockets on the counter. The guy shook his head again but at the same time gave me a smile and pushed the tray a little bit towards me. I exhaled a “Hvola” (Thank you) from the top of my lungs. It was a small favor, but at that moment it meant so much to me. I Hvola’d the guy so many times and told him that as a way to pay him back, I would tell this story on my blog, if I ever wrote it.

I sat down at a corner of the station on top of my mat while enjoying every bite of my free meal. At that point I realized that I was alone for the first time in the whole week and that unfortunately the trip had come to an end. Just like when you hook up with the nicest girl of a party, once the party is over you are just looking forward to share it with your friends. And that is how I felt. I pictured myself with Samar and Anjuli; “Pack Anjuli” as Miguel baptized us because whenever I went to hang out with the Spanish guys in Miami they would always come with me. I pictured us three in Miami, having rice and chicken at Anjuli’s old flooded apartment, laughing out loud non stop as usually with the best vibes ever and sharing all our fresh stories of the summer including every single detail. Saying our famous “Mira Anjuli…”, “pero listen Samar…”. Samar would be telling us about Portillo, her trip to Lebanon, Spain and Puerto Rico. Anjuli would be telling us (while talking on the phone at the same time) about her VISA problems in the Trashcanistans and how her mom tried to bribe some immigration officer in order to leave some country. Then Abi would arrive in her trunk-less car and would tell us we are late, while I would be telling them all about Klagenfurt, Pag, Ljubljana and the Amon Empire and the blast I had with you guys. And I am putting all my efforts from the bottom of my heart, to make this dream come true and be in Miami as soon as possible to keep doing what I like the most: Having fun with my friends. Because just like Carla Bruni says at the beginning of her “Quelqu’un m’a dit”,

“On me dit que nos vies ne valent pas grand chose
Elles passent en un instant comme fanent les roses”

“Someone said that our lives are not worth much
They pass in a minute just like roses fade.”