60-second smiles

Here are a few little snapshots of life that have made me smile recently:

Pick a language, any language

I've begun my Christmas shopping. The cold weather and the realization that I'll be home soon has prompted me to get started. But I'm not a great shopper or gift-idea person, so I brought along my better half who happens to be an excellent gift-idea person.

H. and I communicate in English, with the occasional Czech word thrown in when necessary. However, as we popped in and out of small stores we found ourselves in a bit of a linguistic puzzle. We realized that the language we used in the shop depended on who spoke first, us or the shopkeeper.

The first store we went into was a wooden toy store and we were in the midst of a discussion when we crossed the threshold, so the shopkeeper greeted with a strong, "Hello!" and addressed us in English. The second store was full of traditional crafts and handmade goods and we were quiet as we entered, so the shopkeeper greeted us with a friendly "Dobrý den" and continued to us in Czech. After conversing with her in Czech for five or 10 minutes, Honza turned to me and asked a question in English. The shopkeeper made a funny face and asked if it was ok to continue speaking in Czech or if she should switch to English. Honza and I agreed Czech was fine, to the amusement of the woman.

And so we spent the afternoon experimenting with sociolinguistics and confusing poor shopkeepers all over Prague.

Nuts for Nuts

I arrived at the office of one of my students and on his desk was a large plastic bag of walnuts. He asked if I like walnuts and asked me to take as many as I would like. I asked if he had brought them from his cottage, as I know many Czechs that gather nuts and fruit from their cottage trees.

No, they weren't from his cottage. The nuts, in fact, were from an elderly man that was looking for spare parts for a home appliance. As my student's company sells and deals with new and used appliances, the elderly man came to request some small nuts and bolts that he wasn't able to find in the hardware stores in order to repair his home appliance.

These small pieces didn't have a real monetary value so my student gave them to the man for free. A few hours later the old man returned to the company with a bag of nuts from his own trees to thank my student. Nuts for nuts, what a fair and tasty exchange!


Pantomime in the morning

Public transportation makes me happy for many many reasons: environment, economics, convenience and free entertainment.

Last week a mom with her two little girls, about 6 and 3 years old, got on the early tram with me. Usually I'm engrossed in a book when I'm on public transport, but that morning it was just too early to get the brain moving so I was people watching. The youngest girl sat in front of me and the mom and older sister took seats further up the car. The little girl refused to sit with them, maintaining her independence. The mom kept an eye on the little one, but let her have the freedom to stay where she was. All over the little girl was written that childhood pride of "being big and being on one's own". She counted her fingers, looked around at the people standing and generally entertained herself.

Then something caught her eye. She began to do a curious series of pantomimes. First her hands on her cheeks in surprise, then putting her hands up and shrugging in confusion, next she put one hand on her mouth and the other on top of her head. I was quite interested in what she saw that was prompting her little drama. At the next stop the family got off the tram and I had a better view of what the girl had been looking at. It was an advertisement for a new play at one of the many theaters. The ad was done in the Andy Warhol style of blocks of photos colored brightly. The woman in the ad was making various faces and poses. The little girl had been imitating the ad.

Now, when I'm on the tram and I see this ad I have an overwhelming desire to imitate the woman in the poster. Oh, to be a child again...