Life in a different country is exciting, invigorating, enriching. That is, if you manage to approach with humor and patience the problems you have to face every day.
WEATHER:
I grew up in a city where it reaches at least 45C in the summer and almost never snows in winter - here, it is colder than cold and it snows every second day.
- Every time I want to go out, I wear layers and layers of clothes to avoid freezing - then, I enter the bars and sweat.
- It takes me 30 minutes of trouble (15 to get dressed, 15 to get undressed) just to walk 100m to buy cigarettes.
- I do not know where and how to walk, either I swamp ankle-deep in the snow or slide on the ice.
- No question of wearing high heels.
:
My original plan was to start learning Slovak the moment I set my foot here, but I didn't. I know just a few words, so I am totally unable to communicate in Slovak and, from what I got till now, "expert in English" is not a characteristic I would attribute to Slovaks.
- Every time I need to ask something, I use the most basic English words and structures. I was more than once embarrassed because the person to whom I sounded like a primitive could speak English after all.
- The only time I talked to someone without checking their English level first got me into trouble, because the girl thought I was hitting on her and the more I tried to explain, the more suspiciously she looked at me.
- At the supermarket, I have to check the photos on the packets to realize what is what. Not such a big problem, unless you are standing in a long corridor, looking at bags of dark-colored spices, trying to guess which one is the pepper. And, when it comes to ready-made meals, I search in the tiny-lettered instructions for numbers, so as to at least understand how long and in what temperature it must be cooked.
- The janitor of the building does not speak English at all (or any other language I know), so every time there is a problem, I make a fool of myself, gesturing like a monkey in order to explain the situation. Once, I wanted to ask him for a key (there is a separate space for the garbage and it is always locked). We didn't manage to communicate, so now we have to walk three blocks every time we need to throw the garbage away.
DARKNESS:
Do you know "Hostel", the horror movie that is supposed to take place in Bratislava? Obviously, being one of the people who do not dare watch horror movies and get scared in the dark, I haven't seen it - actually, I had never heard of it until I came here and someone told me what it is about (I should have covered my ears and scream lalala). One evening, both the elevator and the staircase lights were out of function, the janitor couldn't fix it right away (yes, we managed to communicate that time, it was a 20-minute show) and I climbed 4 floors running and praying that nothing is hidden in the dark.
HEIGHT:
I went to this bar and the mirror in the bathroom was hanged 10cm above my head. I suppose that was just a mistake, definitely I am not the shortest one around!
After 4 months away from home, I can say that everything is fine and no way do I regret my decision to leave. I met new people, I learnt new things, I saw new images. But most important, I found the time and the space to calm down, think seriously, sort out some unfinished business and figure out what my next steps should be. I got rid of some of my demons, reconciled with the remaining ones and, day by day, a feeling of balance fills me up. I feel like the sea early in a sunny, summer day, stretching towards horizons I thought that were long lost and approaching to lands whose existence I was unaware of.