Our hostel looks like something out of a cold war movie; it's nine stories, it's made of grey cement, and it has the most terrifying elevators I have ever seen in my life. They are literal steel boxes (complete with doors you have to manually close), free hanging in what I can only assume is a dark shaft directly into hell, and which stop frequently several feet below the actual floor. Oh, and when you get on and off it kind of swings back and forth a bit, like you might actually be swung into the netherworld. Several of the more testosterone-ridden members of our group think it's just hilarious to jump up and down in these steep death traps. I take the stairs as often as possible.
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| The view. |
Another fun quirk in our new home is the shower situation. The stall is about the length of 2/3 of a bathtub, and the bottom is about six inches deep. However, the whole unit is about three feet off he ground, the shower head doesn't affix to the wall (it's on a long hose that sits on top of the faucet) and it's basically the weirdest cleaning set up I've ever seen. Some of the group have endeavoured to try and hang the hose up in some fashion so they might try and hobble together some sort of western shower experience. I've chosen to sit in the weird six-inch bathtub and just hose off awkwardly.
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| Makes sense. |
I have to say though, with the exception of possibly plummeting to my death in the elevators, all of this kind of heightens the experience. We're fully in Eastern Europe now. I realize that Prague and the Czech Republic were once joined with Slovakia, but there's something about this place that seems much more austere and formerly communist than what we saw further west. It's both grim and exciting all at once.
Our main purpose for being here is to spend some time in the Roma settlements outside Svina and Vel'ky Šariš and learn as much as we can about our host families. I'd hoped that reading some of Dr. Scheffel's book Svinia in Black and White might ease some of my anxiety about entering the settlements, but the fact of the matter is these are a terribly marginalized people that live in some of the poorest conditions surrounded by people that hate them. I don't think there is going to be anything easy about being there, but that's kind of the point. We're here to experience something that we never would in Canada, and to learn as much as we can about Romani culture. If we can avoid being mauled by rabid dogs or eating questionable meat while we're there I think it will be an overwhelming success.
We're going to go to Tesco in a bit and pick up some essentials before we hunker down for the night.
Our main purpose for being here is to spend some time in the Roma settlements outside Svina and Vel'ky Šariš and learn as much as we can about our host families. I'd hoped that reading some of Dr. Scheffel's book Svinia in Black and White might ease some of my anxiety about entering the settlements, but the fact of the matter is these are a terribly marginalized people that live in some of the poorest conditions surrounded by people that hate them. I don't think there is going to be anything easy about being there, but that's kind of the point. We're here to experience something that we never would in Canada, and to learn as much as we can about Romani culture. If we can avoid being mauled by rabid dogs or eating questionable meat while we're there I think it will be an overwhelming success.
We're going to go to Tesco in a bit and pick up some essentials before we hunker down for the night.
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