tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post7646314462762894252..comments2024-03-25T20:06:01.587-04:00Comments on Novel Adventurers: Lost In LeipzigSupriya Savkoorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10854983392374596718noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-63829198358407054152012-03-01T15:36:25.455-05:002012-03-01T15:36:25.455-05:00Better than a map, right, Patricia? :) I did a lot...Better than a map, right, Patricia? :) I did a lot of following people with groceries in the GDR too. Especially if they had something rare, like bananas.<br /><br />Supriya, I'm afraid I have no pictures of me standing in long lines. Just the memories in my head. We should do a whole topic on bakeries.Heidi Noroozyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03351899620446316075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-50412563379895387732012-02-28T15:31:18.911-05:002012-02-28T15:31:18.911-05:00I love bakeries period. Anywhere. Have you ever no...I love bakeries period. Anywhere. Have you ever noticed they're always different, wherever you are, but they are always comforting? Though Heidi, I'm trying to picture you, a young American woman, having to stand in a long Communist-era breadline.... don't you have pictures of this, looking hungry and sad? ;)Supriyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06517702822500748969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-82574032432813191392012-02-28T15:29:00.924-05:002012-02-28T15:29:00.924-05:00It certainly was a lesson worth learning! Great st...It certainly was a lesson worth learning! Great story, Rik! I'll bet you became the designated navigator on all your later adventures, huh? :)Supriyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06517702822500748969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-58837668129179675352012-02-28T00:51:05.170-05:002012-02-28T00:51:05.170-05:00I love your image of following your nose to find t...I love your image of following your nose to find the fresh bread. In Italian towns (and even cities), I always find the market by watching for middle-aged women pulling full shopping carts. By walking in the direction they are coming from, I ALWAYS find the market.Patricia Wintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095600674659292509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-62993287328943841202012-02-27T14:45:31.390-05:002012-02-27T14:45:31.390-05:00Sangeeta, you're right, it can be scary too. I...Sangeeta, you're right, it can be scary too. In an unfamiliar city, you don't always know where the unsafe neighborhoods lie. I don't know why the GDR authorities picked 15 as the maximum number of employees for private enterprises, only that they discouraged private business altogether. An all to capitalist notion for the Communists, I suppose. They were trying to build a socialist consciousness, and private enterprise didn't fit with that ideal.Heidi Noroozyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03351899620446316075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-85316376070287765842012-02-27T13:02:37.202-05:002012-02-27T13:02:37.202-05:00There are few things better than fresh baked bread...There are few things better than fresh baked bread!!! Interesting restriction of fifteen people, maximum, for private companies back then, just curious why fifteen? As for getting lost in foreign countries, it can be very interesting but also very scary!. Got lost in Turin, Italy and I could have done without the menacing people who shooed us away and the others who did not restrain their dogs when they growled at us, it was a culture shock for me, we don't treat people like that at home. In the end though, most of the people were very friendly, we saw places we would not have otherwise and using sign language and possibly the most horribly put together phrases we eventually found our way. It made for great memories though and I got lost in the next country I visited!SangeetaNancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12999167538978486320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-21614524358779930842012-02-27T12:15:42.891-05:002012-02-27T12:15:42.891-05:00Now that was tough love! And confidence in your ab...Now that was tough love! And confidence in your abilities. He'd have gone back looking for you if you hadn't made it back, wouldn't he? But it was a lesson worth learning. Thanks for sharing the story, Rik.Heidi Noroozyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03351899620446316075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018311341701044333.post-3586438520762150392012-02-27T11:13:08.276-05:002012-02-27T11:13:08.276-05:00Heidi’s story reminded me of one of my lost advent...Heidi’s story reminded me of one of my lost adventures;<br />It was back in 1984 when I had a fellowship to study Polish folk arts in the mountaintop village of Istebna Poland. I had just arrived in the country with very limited language skills and was struggling to fit into this strange new land, when my teacher, Jozef Broda, asked me to join him on a walk through the woods to shop in the town store. <br /><br /> We walked just a short distance on the main road and then headed into the woods. Jozef was telling me about all the native trees and mushrooms and he kept asking me, “Are you paying attention?” I told him, "yes" and he kept walking, twisting and turning our way through the thick forest. We finally came out of the woods and walked down to the center of the town. We walked into the store, where the shelves were almost bare, but there were a few items left including two long sausages hanging from a meat hook. Jozef remembered that we had to mail a letter, so we went next door to the post office. When we returned Jozef's face dropped. We looked up and saw that the sausages were gone, with only two tiny ends of meat left suspended from the hook. Jozef sadly filled the knapsack we were carrying with a few loaves of bread and some vegetables. As we walked out the door he said, “I have some business to take care of, so I want you to walk back home with this knapsack, by yourself. You were paying attention, weren’t you?”<br /><br />He then jumped onto a bus and disappeared into the hills. I didn't know my way back on the main road so I had only one choice and that was to go back the way I came, through the woods. At first I was angry. I had only been here a few days, a stranger in a strange land, and now I had to find my way home on my own. Then, I stood on a high hill, and I could see the school in the distance. It looked far but if I could navigate my way down the hill, then through the woods, I thought I could make it. It took me about a half hour or so to get down the hill. By then it was getting dark and I still had to get through the woods. As I slowly retraced our trail my mind flashed back to our journey in. Was it at this tree we turned, or was it that one? I concentrated slowly working my way through the tall spruce trees. At last I saw the opening to the main road, with the school just ahead. I had made it.<br /><br /> Josef’s wife scolded him for leaving me behind. Josef said, "Life is Hard. It was good for him to learn that, even in an unfamiliar place, you can find your way, if you pay attention to your surroundings” <br />At the time it seemed like a very harsh lesson, but as the years passed I have come to realize that by paying attention to my surroundings I can always find my way back from where I came!Rik Palierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16438399258162001209noreply@blogger.com