Saturday, March 8, 2014

Those Wild Bikers!

    One of the first days we were here in our little town, I saw a mother and daughter riding their bikes through the town and they proceeded to shop. The daughter was in her 50's, I suppose, and the mother was in at least her 70's. "How cute! "I thought, "Good for her!" (the mom) to be riding a bike so late in life…

    What I once thought was an anomaly - it certainly would be in the States- is more the norm here! People have been riding their bikes or walking everywhere for a very long time, especially during the times of socialism and communism, when having a car was only for the very privileged.  It also makes great sense in a country where gas is at least $7.50/gallon. No need to use all that gas if you are only going a little way. You will often see people of all ages - especially 'older' people- riding their bikes many places.

   The variety of bikes is also quite astounding! When I was a kid, my folks refitted an old Schwinn to make it look pretty new… gold with a gold banana seat and those high wing handlebars with gold handle grips.  I swear, that bike is over here by the thousands, but the seat has often, though not always been changed out! There are also old rusty contraptions that have been pieced together from many a dead bike, new bikes (though they get stolen quite easily), bikes with a lower to the ground gearing, and electric bikes.

   It is nothing to see a number of older people riding along to/from the local market [called the piac (pea-ots)], local woven baskets on the handlebars, and a sturdy plastic/fiberglass bag in the holder over the back tire. They wave to the ones they know and say, "Jo napot kivánok!" (Good day I wish you)
and sometimes may even stop in the street or off to the side to chat.

   You can tell we are still foreigners from 'the sticks' here, we say "Jo napot kivánok!" to everyone! Sometimes we get people to say that back, or sometimes we try to strike up a conversation about the weather or whatever. Thank Heaven more and more people are responding to us as though we really know what they are talking about! We get glimpses into the conversations, but we have a long way to go with the language.