What Kobe Bryant Means to Me

When i think about Kobe Bryant, his name never reminds me the three pointers, lay-ups, dunks or all those awesome perfomance he had. What i remember is that i spent 8 miserable days in the United States in 2015. And i smile now when i remember those times. I spent my first 8 days in the US without anything. No shirts, No shorts, no socks, no underwears... Nothing. My luggage was sent to another airport and then to another place and then to another place... It took 8 days to reach me. Right before getting on the plane, to lighten my backpack, i transfered some stuff to my luggage. My shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush, towel and everything was in it.  I kept only my phone's charger and hairdryer. I had some amount of money. I had a little ripped jeans on me and i went to the work with that and i was told that i couldn't wear such pants because they are considered as fashion. And also i was given a t-shirt as a uniform. So i went around and bought some stuff to wear. Also I gave half of my money for accomodation for 2 weeks and deposit. 2 days later, a friend of mine came and gave me brand new socks because he had many. I didn't know if i would ever get my luggage. I was calling the airline company's help desk every day but i was getting no help.

So I started working and in the first week i didn't get many hours. probably i worked less than 20 hours. It didn't go well because i couldn't focus. I was constantly thinking about how i would wash my socks and underwear to wear them next day. One day i went to work for night shift but I was told that i was supposed to come for the morning shift. I lost that day's earnings and every day i was spending money and also i didn't want to spend money for the things that i already had. When i didn't work, i stayed at home and killed the time with friends in the balcony. The house had got two floors. I was staying in the second floor. While staying at home once,  a bald guy called Mike showed up. He said  that he was going to Baltimore and he was selling his clothes to make gas money. He had a bag of clothes and took them all out and showed. The clothes were very ordinary. They were mostly t-shirts and shirts and they hadn't attracted me until i saw the LA Lakers jersey. It was Kobe's. A big player... I could wear the jersey everywhere and it would fit me well i thought. And my friend pushed me to buy it. He reminded me that i had nothing to wear. I asked how much the jersey is. Mike replied ''15.'' I told him that i could give 5 and he lowered the price to 10 and then again i told that i could give only 5.Then i bought it for 5 dollars.  What a bargain!  I was overjoyed. He threw the jersey to us and i dropped the 5 dollar bill to him. And he left. We were checking the jersey if it is original and it feels new and were happy happy that it is alright. Finally i was able to think of trying it on. I tried it and i was not happy anymore. It was way too big for me that it felt like a skirt. And I am a tall guy actually. I was literally lost in it. I checked the tag and saw it was an extra long one. And i have never worn it. It did not feel like a bargain anymore at that point but now it feels like something that i can keep as a memory forever. A good memory indeed...

This guy called Mike showed up again with bags in his hands a week later. In bags there were food this time. He was trying to make his way to Baltimore like the last time. I told him to come up. We sat and he poured out everything. There were many canned things and a pack of burgers. Burgers were the only food among them that attracted me. I didn't know how to cook but i could fry things. I asked how much he wanted and he said ''a couple of dollars.''  What a bargain again! What a nice guy this Mike is... the pack had 4 big burgers and i was thinking that i was doing a nice trade thanks to Mike. I ate those burgers 2 days. I didn't again look at its tag to see expiration date. But hopefully nothing happened. And i didn't mention about the jersey to him. I couldn't blame him.  And I never saw Mike after that good burger trade.

The city was full of churches. Even there were 2 or 3 that were very close to my house. During the summer, on specified days, they serve dinners, lunches for free. There was one which serves breakfast every day. One of them was giving everyone a shower kit which included towels, shampoo, soap in the first visit. It was what i really needed when i discovered that church. Thank you church people... I took it  one day before my luggage arrived. How lucky. Even for one day it made me feel a bit more safer. It made me so happy at that moment but i didn't get to use them much. The next day i got the good news and rushed for the student center. I was coming back joyfully with my luggage. Directly took the desserts that  i brought from home out and shared with people.  Back to the topic, all summer long we went to those churches to eat free food. In one way they were doing something good for the community and in other way,  they were just doing their missionary work to convert people. They were planning sometimes events, raffles.  I even won tickets for mini-golf facility once  yet i didn't have chance to use those tickets.

In the last weeks of my summer, we discovered a church which was a bit away from my place. Like 100 streets away... On Wednesdays, the church was serving lunch. Homeless people, lonely people, old people, students were going there. The food was the best among all the churches i tried. Moreover, they were not just serving food there. There was a table in the middle in the church and you could take donated clothes for free. There was one table and there were so many bags of food. The food was mostly canned food in green bags and they seemed very familiar to me in the first sight. And then i remembered. And then I got it... Damn Mike...