I've had two amusing little encounters in the last 2 days, and (lucky for you) I'm in the mood to write :)
But before I tell you about those, I want to note that I've also been noticing something peculiar around the city; that is, the spots of dried vomit on the sidewalks, and especially at bus stops. I noticed three spills on Saturday, one on Sunday, and another two today. It's gross, but also really fascinating because I never noticed them before, and I'm wondering if this is a new trend in the health of the city or if people have been vomiting on the sidewalks since before I arrived. I'm guessing the people who produce these messes are likely drunk- actually I'm hoping they are because otherwise there are lots more sick people spreading their germs all over the buses than I thought. And it's also good for drunk people to throw up because it means their bodies are rejecting the poison they've been feeding themselves! (Gosh, I'm such an optimist! Who knew?)
Ok, so these funny stories...
I was walking home from the bus stop early Sunday afternoon and crossing through a parking lot as part of my usual route. I noticed a car in front of me stop and go into reverse suddenly, which struck me as a bit odd because there was plenty of room to turn the car around without reversing. Before I knew it, the car was next to me and the driver was saying, in English, "Hey, are you going home? Let me give you a ride!" My eyes must've jumped out of my head! The man looked sort of familiar, but in a Slovak-guy sort of way, and I've met so many people in so many different circles these last two months, I had no idea who he was! Obviously startled, I asked, "Do I know you?!" He said something like, "I don't know, but I'm your neighbor, I've seen you..." I was only half listening to him though because the other half of my mind was trying to figure out the answer to my question for myself. Anyway, he knew to speak English to me and the pieces were starting to come together, so I got in the car and let him drive me home. Now I remember better- he does work for Zuzka's family and I remember he was in the garage when I was trying to use miming, broken Slovak, and made-up German to ask if Tetra packs go in the recycle bin with the papers or plastics (it's plastics, by the way). A-ha! Anyway, that was one interesting encounter...
The second (and briefly because I want to go to sleep now): I was standing at the bus stop at about 8 o'clock this evening, debating if I wasn't being lazy for taking the bus two stops down to the Lidl instead of walking there... Suddenly, a man approached me to ask something, in Slovak. I gave my usual phrase, "Nehovorim po Slovensky," to which he asked, in broken English, where I'm from. I told him I'm from the US, and then he wanted to know if I'm here on holiday so I told him I work here as an English teacher. He asked something about the duration of my stay, but that's always a tricky question because "How long you stay in Slovakia?" could mean "How long have you been here?" or "How long are you going to be here?" I just came from an English lesson, so I was ripe for miming some past and future stuff to communicate that I've been here 2 months and I'll stay...two years? Maybe more? Maybe less? I don't know if he understood, but he introduced himself and asked,
"You go for coffee with me?"
"No, no, I can't. I'm going to the store, then I'm going home, I told him.
"Next week, here, we go for coffee?" he asked.
"Ehhhhhh....I don't think so..." was all I managed to get out. The problem is, I always want to give an excuse, but his English was so awful, I'm sure I couldn't explain any of the million reasons why I shouldn't go to coffee with him. Then we got on the same crowded bus and stood next to each other in somewhat awkward silence (but not too awkward for me because I was convinced that we had both maxed out the phrases we know in the other's language). Luckily, he got off at the stop before mine so I didn't have to wonder for long if he would follow me in to the store! Whew!
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