Babel

Today as I was walking towards my museum of choice, I ran across a middle-aged Asian man. He was frantically looking down at his map and then up at a building (granted, it was beautiful). As I walked closer to him (seeing as he was standing in the middle of the sidewalk it wasn’t hard to), he looked up at me with pleading eyes, and spoke in broken English: “excuse me, I want to be here (points at Karlsplatz) is that this building?” I turned him around, and showed him the way…the clarity in his mistake became immediately apparent. This little conversation left me with a few thoughts. First, this man either knew that I was a tourist or hoped I spoke English. I am going to hope that it was the latter while recognizing that the former could have been true. Then I remembered how miserable it is to be lost in a country where you know none of the language. How lucky are that our native tongue is an accepted method of communication throughout the world. Even if I spoke Albanian, I probably would have known some English. And even at that, it is the most frightening experience to be in a country and not be able to communicate at all – this man’s problem in Vienna, Austria sent me right back to my days in Sarajevo, before I knew a few key words and my way around (sort of). It also reminded me how scary it can be to be in a foreign place where you are just another drop in the bucket.

In any case, I was able to help this man, take a lovely walk through the Stadtpark (city park) and spend an afternoon in the Museum for Applied Arts (MAK). It was a wonderful day and I really enjoyed the exhibits. Later in the evening a group went to Prater, a permanent fair. We went on lots of shaky upside-down rides and ate lots of greasy fair food – including a giant piece of fried bread (pizza size) with garlic stuff on it.

I have been able to see a lot of Vienna this weekend. I went to the Belvedere gardens and museums on Friday afternoon (after turning in the rough draft of my paper). I spent a rainy Saturday inside the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum. I am a little museum-ed out at the moment, so Prater was a nice shift in scenery. I have one week left in Vienna to try and process all that I have learned about the West Balkans and international organizations.

 

I hope you are all well!

Love,

Lauren