Funniest Thing for June

This item appears on page 17 of the June 2008 issue.

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is BRUCE KIELSMEIER of Klamath Falls, Oregon:

Being a 70-year-old male, I am certainly not used to being the target of a wolf whistle, especially when the whistler is a young male.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, this February, I was walking ahead of three teenaged boys when I heard the whistle. I turned around and saw them laughing. . . at me! They were teasing, making fun of me.

Then I remembered that I was wearing tan slacks, my usual attire, and that in Georgia and other Eastern European countries men just don’t wear light-colored pants; women do. Men wear black pants.

Fortunately, I had a pair of black slacks, which found plenty of use during my remaining days in Georgia.