Travel Log – Slovenia

As I waited for the bus today, I met an older woman she must have been in her mid-eighties. She had an elegant piece of fur around the collar of her coat and a mustard colored scarf tied loosely around her head. She walked towards me and began to speak with me in Slovenian. I quickly smiled politely and said two of the six words I know… “Dober dan” (which means “good day”). She then took another glance in my direction and rattled off a sentence. Having absolutely no idea what she said I smiled again and said “no Slovenski, English and Portuguese.” She stared right back at me with her beautiful green eyes and as her mouth puckered in disappointment that she would not have someone to speak with as she waited for her bus, her rosy cheeks then formed into a grin. In the short time that I waited for my bus, we did what we could to communicate with one another. She told me she spoke Slovenian, French, Dutch and almost no English.

She then took a lock of my hair between her fingers and smiled at me as if to compliment my hair and then immediately pointed to her teeth and then pointed back at me with a smile as she raised her hands with joy. I smiled back and thanked her in Slovenian, “ hvala”. I pointed to her collar, to my eyes, to my cheeks and then back at her in an attempt to compliment her as well. She smiled and pulled a small booklet out of her purse. The booklet looked like her old passport. She opened it up to show me a photo of what she looked like when she was my age. “AH!” I said with amusement enjoying the moment. The green paper of her passport popped like the colors of fall leaves after a short rainstorm. A photo I would have loved to capture except this was the one-day I had chosen not to bring my camera. Lesson learned, it would be the last day for sure. My bus arrived and with a grand gesture she bid me goodbye. Hoping to see her again with my camera in hand!

xo,

Judith

Photo: www.judithrae.com