Walking in Maribor

A view of the city sans traffic

There’s a curious phenomenon in this town when it comes to crossing the street. Instead of signals or stop signs, they just have cross walks, marked on the pavement by a wide dashed line. In theory, the oncoming traffic is supposed to yield to any pedestrians waiting to cross; in practice, you sort of launch yourself into the street and hope that whoever’s coming stops. Usually it’s not a problem, but a couple of times while out running I’ve seen people slam on their brakes as someone steps from the curb.

Speaking of traffic, last evening while driving down to the Lent Festival we had a slight incident trying to park Tina’s brother’s car on a narrow, busy street. A woman and her friend had just been backed into, and in reversing out of that collision, bumped Gregor’s car. When everyone got out of the car they of course all began speaking a mile a minute in Slovene. It sounded to me as though the two women were trying to deflect blame and say it wasn’t that bad and talk their way out of it (in truth, a small scratch had been left on the front fender), and from the tone of Tina’s voice, I thought that she was responding sarcastically, saying “Sure, sure, whatever you say, yeah, right,” etc.

This went on for a while as phone calls were made and information exchanged. Needless to say, it was frustrating to stand there waiting, not being able to help or even understand what was being said. Eventually I found out that I had it all wrong; the women had both been very apologetic, and Tina in turn had been reassuring them it was no big deal and apologizing for having to call her brother to see what he wanted to do. So, this is the other side of the language barrier, which for the most part, as noted, has made words strange and pleasant to listen to.

When we did arrive at Lent and made our way to some marvelous seats for the ballet, it was once again a relief not to be distracted by the constant murmuring of people milling around under the stands or around the open-air venue. And somehow the practice of watching for nonverbal clues made paying attention to the stylized acting and dancing a richer experience.

A beer update: A few Slovenes, including Tina’s friend Peter, have concurred with my opinion regarding LaÅ¡ko (not to mention Miha, who also commented). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. And the draft version is certainly an improvement. I still haven’t dared to try Union, but at some point, I will.

An overall update: I’m having a wonderful time. Everyone I’ve met has been incredibly warm and friendly, the city is beautiful, and while it’s rained off and on, the weather’s been pretty good, nice and cool and sunny from time to time. The bread deserves its own post. This afternoon we’re off to meet more family and friends and apparently the Slovenian army; wish me luck.