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| Slovakian Mafia |
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- we went for nearly 2 weeks wothout hot waater as they turned it off at the dorms to do some repairs...in Australia, if you did that, you would be sued...I swear....5:15am without hot water...not good... - we also went for a day wothout electricity for the same reason...and they think nothing of it here...it's normal... - when we first moved into our dorm we askeed the AIESECers for a mop...the guy from AIESEC just looked really puzzled & said 'We can make mop' and proceeded to show us how to put a wet cloth over a broom & sweep it around the floor....the next day in the train station, we noticed the cleaner using the exact same technique, and then again in the supermarket....so much for technology..... - at the dorms we have one laundry room, wiith one washer....for about 2000 students... - it is very small & weird to use...when myy roommate Ljubica & I went to use it for the first time, my friend Martin asked if we needed help...we were like 'yeah right...like YOU can tell US how to do washing...' then we got there & it was like 'Maaaaaaartin........help!!!' It is such a weird washer - it heats up the water in the actual machine - and only cold water goes into it...good thing really considering that we had no hot water for 2 weeks... - our clothes smell better when they go in than when they come out (I guess that's what you get with one washer for 2000 students)....we have resorted to hand washing in the bath tub & searching for a commercial laundry....how I long to have nice smelling clothes again.... - apparently I can't cook - according, oncee again, to Martin...because food needs to be 'prepared with love'...uh huh... - do you know they have rice in bags here?!? So you put the plastic bag in the water & it doesn't get all the pot dirty & is easier to drain!!! You look to see if they have this in Australia, Mum - it's heaps cool! - we have been doing quite a bit of joint cooking with our german, French & SLovakian friends (me & Ljubica from Canada that is...) & it's so amusing to see the different ways people will prepare the same food... - I have been formally invited to Germany bby a fellow trainee to teach the boys in Aachen how to skoll 'properly' after giving a casual demonstration one night. I had to finish a beer I had just ordered real quick cos we were moving pubs & I just downed it & suddenly everyone was staring at me in awe... - Whenever some one new from the LC comes back from their holidays & they are introduced to me they say 'Oh, you are the one who likes beer right?' (Complete with hand action of drinking a glass very quickly) Word travels fast..... - On my birthday a couple of weekends ago II went out with friends to my favourite club 'Tiffany's' where I proceeded to get ridiculously drunk (yes, just like my going away party) & challenge everyone to skoll against me! I won every time, of course... - the toilets at work have no toilet paper.. You have to take your own with you when you go. So everytime someone goes to the toilet, you know exactly where they are going before they say a word because they are reaching under thier desk & ripping off a wad of toilet paper. I don't understand.... - nobody appears to actually do much. I think Australian businesses are far less relaxed & casual. After being in AIESEC for as long as I have been, I am used to far more workload, more deadlines, more responsibility, etc.... No offence to the people here or the country....I realise that the unemployment rate is like, about 20%, and these people need to work, even if it is for piddly wages, but if it were my company I would sack 2/3 of the employees & just make the rest more efficient!!!!!! - the guys here, taken at face value, are ssooooooo nice. They have such good manners, they open doors for you, they are polite, they help you with your coat....but it all hides a sinister inner reasoning......no, not to get down your pants...well, maybe...but...they are brought up in a chauvinistic environment to believe that women are the weaker sex & must be protected & looked after. And that forms the reasoning behind why they look after them so well. That is why they will race to get in front of you to open a door for you, unless it is a door to an unfamiliar club/pub/bar/restaurant/whatever, where they will walk in first - to 'check' that it is 'safe' for you to enter. That is why they wil carry the dirty dishes to the kitchen for you, opening doors on the way, reach for the dishwashing liquid off the top shelf,...and then stand there & 'supervise' as you do the washing up - it's women's work. Having this realisation, I am never quite sure whether it is a joke or not when they say 'what are you doing?' 'Cleaning up my room' 'Ok, when you finish, you can come to my room & clean too'!!! And I just stand there for a few seconds going 'huh?', not quite sure if I will offend their culture by telling them to 'get f#@ked'!!! - speaking of offending peoples cultures.....apparently I need be more careful with my choice of words...and I'm not talking about the swearing aspect (Mum!). One time we were walking home & I whispered something to my trainee friend from Canada, Ljubica, & one of the guys turned around & asked what & I said it was 'chick talk'. Then I had to explain the concept of a 'chick' to him with help from Ljubica who explained it in more of a derogatory way than I did. And for once it occured to me to ask 'you're not offended by that are you?' (because I always use the term 'chick' when referring to myself or other friends) And she was like 'No, not any MORE'.... I then realised maybe I had better check that they weren't taking anything else the wrong way like when I greet people (male & female alike) with 'hey babe, ....' - we tried to go to Poland a few weeks ago for a reception weekend. We got up at 4am in order to catch the train to Warsaw. We got as far as the border when we were stopped by the border police. First we were in trouble because no one I was with (there was me, Canadian, 2 Germans, 1 French, 1 Slovakian) bar the Slovakian, had stamps in tehir passports when they entered the country. Man, if it is such a problem LEAVING the country...then why te f#@k don't they bother to stamp peoples passports when they ENTER the country....the logic never fails to amaze me...anyways...so we missed our connecting train while we were held up for them to check when we actually arrived in SLovakia. Then they decided that the Canadian needed a visa for Poland....then they decided that I did too - despite advice that we didn't (never trust internet or SLovak information). So they took us to the customs building where they let us through some barred doors & into a small waiting 'cell' with bars on the windows & locked the door, periodically coming back to yell at us in Polish. They kept us there for 2 hours while they decided whether or not we could enter Poland while our friends waited outside in the cold, missing all the trains, having no idea what was going on! Then they decided no, we had to go home, so they kept us there for another hour before our train arrived to go back to SLovakia, then had 2 guards escort us to the train, onto the train, & make sure we were seated onthe train (and not jumping out the window on the other side so we could flee to Poland!!! Not that it would have done any good because they confiscated our passports & didn't give them back till we were on the train anyways!) Then our French, German & SLovak friends decided they had missed too many trains, wouldn't get to Warsaw till nearly midnight & so they came back with us, got stopped trying to board the train & had to show their passport AGAIN...even though they never went anywhere....Man....why they think an Australian & a Canadian would want to flee illegally to Poland is beyond me.....whatever.... - had a bit of a run in with the 'darker skkinned people' who live in SLovakia a few weeks ago too...when one of them stole my purse out of my handbag at the bus stop....it had everything in there� - money, credit cards, drivers license, etc... I was left holding a busticket in my hand (thankfully - or I would have had to have walked home) and my passport (thankfully again!). This was very f#@ked up, to say the least...but thankfully, my AIESEC friends looked after me! All the trainees seemed to be away that weekend - one in Vienna visiting family, the others in Poland (they were allowed to go....). I didn't initially know that it was a 'gypsy' as such...but when I started to describe the guy to my AIESEC friends Rene & Martin they were like 'black hair?' and exchanging looks & then 'moustache? dark eyes? was some gypsy?' and I was like 'I don't know if it was a gypsy - just that he looked like that!' And they were like 'yes, I think was some gypsy'. We went to the Police station to be told to go to another police stationbecause they didn't want to deal...Police stations are heaps weird. They have bars on the doors & you have to ring the bell to be let in & they stand at the door for 5-10 minutes & ask you heaps of questions about everything before they do. Then you have to wait. When we first went there we waited 2 hours while (apparently) all the police were busy dealing with some big robbery in town...so no one was available to take my statement. We left & came back again the next day & once again - same story - wait. After a while the police came in with 2 guys who they placed in opposite corners of the foyer area that we were waiting in. My friend Martin, who was my official translator for the non-english speaking police officers, said to me ' These men are tiffs'. 'Are what?'. 'Tiffs'. 'What?'....'Ohhhhhhhhh, 'thieves'.....' Great. SO we were waiting in the same room as guys who had been� arrested!!! While we were waiting, they gave me lots of 'photo albumns' to flick through....they have hundreds of photos of gypsy crims & they kept flipping through going 'this one? this one?....' (except in SLovak). Then they took my statement & typed it up on the old fashioned typewriter - no, not a computer in sight in the whole building...should my purse ever have turned up (unlikely considering it was good quality leather - rare here)....unless it turned up at THATT station...no one would ever know where to find me to give it back (unless they posted it to Australia...) because there is just no systems.....Then they took me for a spin in a cop car through a gypsy area of town to see if I would recognise anyone...not sure whether they were for real or whether they were just humouring me but it was most amusing....I mean, I know Zilina is small, but come on, what are the odds....? Although I'm sure if I had said ' That one.' They would have arrested him straight away, roughed him up a bit & charged him!!! Guilty until proven innocent if you are a gypsy....they cause many, many problems here in SLovakia....SO now (thanks to hunderds of photos in big thick photo albumns...)I am an expert on gypsy features & heritage... - meanwhile, same weekend, Ljubica went to Vienna to visit family & her uncle had his car stolen in Bratislava where he went to pick her up from the train station. Left the car for 10 minutes to check what time her train was getting in, went outside again &....no car. Apparently this is common activity of mafia in these areas. Two other cars went missing same time, same place that day too. One guy left his car (locked), went to buy cigarettes, came back 3 minutes later - car gone! When she was telling the story to the AIESECers back here they were like 'what sort of car was it?' ANd she was like 'Mercedes'....ANd they were like 'And was it white?' 'Yep' And they were laughing going 'Yep, white Mercedes with Austrian number plates - the favourite kind!!!' Apparently it is very easy to repaint or strip which is what they do. It also took the police in Bratislava long to deal with the incident - long enought for the car thieves to have crossed over about 5 different country borders before they alerted the border police!!! Makes you wonder....Funny...your car gets stolen in Canada or Australia - it usually turns up a bit roughed up cos comeone has taken it for a joyride, your car goes missing in Slovakia - forget it! It would have been stripped for parts & sold off over the border before you even knew it was gone! - apparently all the shops in the main part of town 'pay to mafia'....it's the silent kind of crime....they come to your shop, say 'pay s xxx'000SK per month or we kill you' Pretty easy business decision I would say. On to much nicer & brighter subjects.... - yay! I had such a good day! I was woken uup by one trainee friend coming in with a present wrapped up in painted makeshift wrapping paper with 23 candles on top - all lit!!! It was a book about Germany. So I was kind of not cross about being woken up... - then I got flowers and a card from my rooommate! - then at dinner time, they lured me into tthe kitchen telling me Sylvain (France) had scratched our new frying pan...and when I went there he pulled out this present all wrapped up with candles on top! It was a calander from France & some 'Barbie Doll' writing paper...makes me wonder what perceptions of me these people have... - then we went out that night to Tiffany's & got very drunk! Sylvain & I were doing Turkish dancing and skolling beers! Then it was midnight so I wound back my watch & claimed it was 'still my birthday!' I repeated this episode numerous times - like about 6-7, every time my freinds (drunk) would respond with singing another round of 'Happy Birthday' in numerous different languages...French, German, SLovak, English...I don't know why it didn't occur to me to just stop my watch so it couldn't tick over midnight...I think it was more fun my way...although the next day I put my watch on & it was like 'No, it is not 12:30pm, what time is it really? ' It was 4pm. - then the next day I got more pressies from my SLovak freinds, and LCP here gave a very sweet birthday 'speech' telling me how he hoped I would enjoy my year in SLovakia and that I would take a part of it home with me, etc, etc (very soppy)....it was very, very sweet... - the next day I got another rose from a guy who wasn't able to be there on my birthday...he had gone home for the weekend... - the next day I got chocolate from anotherr guy who wasn't there on my birthday.... - so my birthday was excellent!!! It just kept going & going!!! All week it felt like it was my birthday! - the trainees here have been doing heaps oof AIESEC activity in preparing for their recruitment. We have been painting posters to advertise their upcoming info party, coming up with a whole marketing strategy for them & putting together an agenda + I have been talking with one NTT guy from the LC about activity for newies. They have no induction process which is very sad. So we have had poster parties every night...amusing stuff - next week I am going to an LTC - sort of like our State conference for a region other than mine, and the week after is our LTC which I will be facilitating at - yay. - I have no tv...dammit! So no, I didn't seee the opening ceremony of the olympics...but last weekend I went to a small town called Martin where I had lunch with a trainee friend's assistant's family (if that makes any sense) & the main attraction was a colour tv with Eurosport - yay!!! SO we spent all afternoon watching the olympics re-live. SO I got to see some Aussies win gold...Kieren Perkins coming second to another AUssie in the 1500m swimmming...proud AUssie moment I'm sure....alhtough I didn't get to see the presentation ceremony - they cut it... - we have been very competitive here betweeen Germany, Australia & France & our medal tallies...every day we check the nbcolympics.com page to see what is new.... Anyways....must go...will hopefully write more often & less long from now on although internet access is scarce.... |
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MEL HEWITT is an AIESEC ADELAIDE member and is currently on exchange in SLOVAKIA.�
Any comments regarding this article should be sent to MEL HEWITT, [email protected]
- Regards, Damien.� |
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