Patterned

Posted by Joe Deegan (Martin, Slovakia) on 27 August 2008 in Cityscape & Urban.

These buildings line my walk from the bus stop to the school. They were originally standard-communist gray, but the city repainted them sometime after the split with Czechoslovakia. As I took this photo, a man was cutting the grass behind me.

Today I spent some time thinking about how very ritualized my life is. Without realizing it, I tend to find meaning, and take comfort, in the simplest of patterns. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s not always what’s happening that counts. Sometimes, just the feel of familiarity is enjoyable (The Shapes of Things, as Rod Stewart might say).

When I came into the office this morning, all of my colleagues were gathered around drinking coffee and shooting the shit. I might as well have been in the teachers’ lounge in my own high school. It didn’t matter that they were all speaking Slovak. In a way, I was glad they were. I didn’t have to participate at all. I could just relax for a moment. That is, until one of them offered me a shot of some kind of lemony booze (then I could really relax - 5 o’clock somewhere!). No worry: another teacher took one as well, since we were both new.

In all seriousness, though, it’s the same thing with TV. After my day of rambling through the city, I really enjoy turning on the Slovak news. Mostly, I have no idea what is going on. There is video of a bridge, or some kind of ceremony, or an investigative-looking segment about the price of Edam cheese. It doesn’t matter. It’s really just the rhythm of the broadcast that feels soothing. There are anchors, who turn over the show to weather people or correspondents. Everyone repeats the name of the station in closing. There’s a theme song and slick-looking graphics.

I guess what I’m feeling isn’t exactly nostalgia, since I don’t really pine for the teacher’s lounge of my high school. Nor do I miss my local newscast (at all). I just realize that the way life is arranged here feels similar, in many ways, to home, and this seems like a good thing. It makes me a bit more optimistic about finding some understanding here.

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