Phone calls home..

In the area in which I work , there is a pay phone. It is quite sweet to be witness to the phone calls home from some of the students. These come from those who are usually FAR from home. They have been (so far) Italian, British, Spanish or Japanese. The calls are always of the same nature, and it is evident that THESE kids are good ones and MISSING home(aww)

The girls tend to emote enthusiastically, but the boys are laconic,and usually answer their (apparent interrogator) , “yeah, yeah, or “ok…ok..” They crouch over the phone and stare at the wall as they talk. There is no chair there(a shame) so it can be quite the standing ordeal. Sometimes they give up and sit or recline upon the floor…

I feel for them, and know how hard it must seem to be so far from home and often in a seemingly indifferent local. I smile (hopefully unobtrusively) as I pass..