Gypsy Lovin'
I apologize in advance for the lack of photos but i thought that it would be ok to at least give u something and i'll add a photo later, which i do have btw.
The story starts as I was leaving the town of Sighisoara the other day and walking to the bus station. The town was about as big as Kralupy but a million times more gorgeous (yes it's possible). Anyways, I was walking to the bus station with all my stuff and got there with plenty of time to spare, maybe an hour or more. I walked around looking for a market where i could buy some cheap food for snacks or sandwiches. After walking around for a while, I realized that that was a lost cause and that I just wanted something. I finally went to the only place that I had noticed to be open and selling food... a pizzeria.
As I walked in, I was accosted by this gypsy fellow with a clipboard of sorts. He asked me a question (I wasn't sure if he was wanting me to do a survey or give him money) so I just looked at him and said, "Uh... English" which gave him the idea to step down so I then thought his English was none. I sat down and five seconds later, he asked if he could sit with me. Now, at this point, I'm getting confused. I know I'm traveling alone. Gypsies have this reputation for me to be lazy thieves, always trying to scam you somehow. So needless to say, I was a bit hesitant and cold towards him right off the bat.
I sat and looked at the menu and decided what kind of pizza I wanted. Somehow, we got to start talking, and I was partly right. He was a poor gypsy, but he was studying in university and was almost at the end of a 200 km hitch hike home. So... I'm still thinking that somehow he's gonna scam me, so i kept my things close to me still and we keep talking. His English isn't that great, but we get by talking to each other, and he is super friendly and interested to talk to me. His clipboard was his hitch hiking sign it ended up. And so we stop talking a bit, he's drinking his coffee and reading a book, and I'm trying to eat my pizza fast enough to make my bus. We had ourselves some good convo though. He taught me how to say several important things in Romanian and it was fun. He really wanted me to learn some important phrases.
So anyways, at the end, I was quite please with the situation and I was happy to pay and leave with one more nice experience to my name. But wait! That's not it. I asked the lady to pay, and this guy, George was his name, told me that he really wanted to pay for me. I was confused. We'd only been talking for 20 or 30 minutes. And he can't even afford to buy his own bus ticket home and he was now buying my lunch. It was quite interesting I thought. And here he is paying for my meal, a gypsy. I'd have never thought it possible. I was quite humbled and felt bad for being so cold to him at first. The least I could do was get a picture with him, so I got my camera out and took a photo and promised to email it to him. Now that was a good experience.
The story starts as I was leaving the town of Sighisoara the other day and walking to the bus station. The town was about as big as Kralupy but a million times more gorgeous (yes it's possible). Anyways, I was walking to the bus station with all my stuff and got there with plenty of time to spare, maybe an hour or more. I walked around looking for a market where i could buy some cheap food for snacks or sandwiches. After walking around for a while, I realized that that was a lost cause and that I just wanted something. I finally went to the only place that I had noticed to be open and selling food... a pizzeria.
As I walked in, I was accosted by this gypsy fellow with a clipboard of sorts. He asked me a question (I wasn't sure if he was wanting me to do a survey or give him money) so I just looked at him and said, "Uh... English" which gave him the idea to step down so I then thought his English was none. I sat down and five seconds later, he asked if he could sit with me. Now, at this point, I'm getting confused. I know I'm traveling alone. Gypsies have this reputation for me to be lazy thieves, always trying to scam you somehow. So needless to say, I was a bit hesitant and cold towards him right off the bat.
I sat and looked at the menu and decided what kind of pizza I wanted. Somehow, we got to start talking, and I was partly right. He was a poor gypsy, but he was studying in university and was almost at the end of a 200 km hitch hike home. So... I'm still thinking that somehow he's gonna scam me, so i kept my things close to me still and we keep talking. His English isn't that great, but we get by talking to each other, and he is super friendly and interested to talk to me. His clipboard was his hitch hiking sign it ended up. And so we stop talking a bit, he's drinking his coffee and reading a book, and I'm trying to eat my pizza fast enough to make my bus. We had ourselves some good convo though. He taught me how to say several important things in Romanian and it was fun. He really wanted me to learn some important phrases.
So anyways, at the end, I was quite please with the situation and I was happy to pay and leave with one more nice experience to my name. But wait! That's not it. I asked the lady to pay, and this guy, George was his name, told me that he really wanted to pay for me. I was confused. We'd only been talking for 20 or 30 minutes. And he can't even afford to buy his own bus ticket home and he was now buying my lunch. It was quite interesting I thought. And here he is paying for my meal, a gypsy. I'd have never thought it possible. I was quite humbled and felt bad for being so cold to him at first. The least I could do was get a picture with him, so I got my camera out and took a photo and promised to email it to him. Now that was a good experience.
posted by Zach Barnes at 11:38 PM
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