Slovene Sunday - Hypnotized by a Gypsy

Elder Jensen and I had come down on the train from Celje. We were in Ljubljana for Zone Conference with all the other missionaries, but we had come a bit early. I'm not sure why really, but Elder Jensen had lived in Ljubljana just a few months previous, and I'm sure it still felt like home to him, and he wanted some time to just BE in the city he had loved.

So we were wandering around the center of the city, and he was showing me the sights. This wasn't my first time in Ljubljana, but it was the first time I wasn't rushed and there wasn't piles and piles of snow. I could finally take in this magnificent city! We'd walked from the train station, and my eyes had been wide the whole time, looking at all the buildings on our way, and the people, and I'd turned my Slovene ears up all the way so I could try and understand the people. In Ljub they had a different way of speaking than in Celje - it was slower, but also more back in the throat, and it was unfamiliar enough that I really really had to strain to understand what was going on.

We walked to Preseren's Square, and up Copova Street for a bit. Then, since it was so sunny and he didn't want us stuck in the shadows of the buildings for too long, Elder Jensen led me back to the Square, and across one of the bridges over the Lubljanica River. I think we were now on what translated to Fish Street, and it was full of shops and touristy things. The restaurants were one street farther in, which I would learn in a few months when I became a resident of the city myself, but for now I was happy with what I was seeing.

Warmth from the sun radiated everywhere, and it was actually a very very beautiful day. We'd walked quite a ways, and Elder Jensen decided to sit on the low wall that separated the street from the steeply sloping bank to the river. We had been sitting that way in silence for a few minute (or more likely I had been asking him questions about the cit because I was curious and he liked to be the know-it-all) when I saw a gypsy beggar-girl walking toward us.

She was probably 18 or 19 and had a baby with her, and he was, I suppose, pretty. She had long dark hair in a ponytail or braid, and she was skinny without being bony. She came up to us and said something in the whiny intonation that gypsies used. I had been taught by my previous companion to ignore all gypsy beggars, so I turned slightly away. Besides, she had an even differenter accent than the Ljubljanans and I couldn't understand word one without major effort. But Elder Jensen could.

He knew what she was saying, and that compounded on the fact that he was straight Straight STRAIGHT! I don't think any of my other companions were affected by women in quite the same way Elder Jensen was.

I just have to stop here for a second and say that I did not realize I was gay while I was a missionary. Women never held quite the temptation to ogle, that they did for all my other companions. Without a doubt, every single one of my eleven companions were straight males, and they dealt with their repressed missionary horniness in different ways and to different degrees, and I was more disappointed with some than with others. I could never understand why it was so easy for me to ignore women and girls, when it was SO difficult for them to - I just thought I was perfecter or something, more spiritually-minded or that I could see people, whereas they could only see objects to secretly lust over. Nevermind that I would steal glances at the handsome men I happened to meet, and sometimes my companions, too. Shhh.

At any rate, Elder Jensen seemed to be the most strongly affected, and this was the first time I got to see it in action. As I turned away from the guttersnipe, Elder Jensen turned toward her. He gave her all of his attention, and she in turn told him her story, I assume - I couldn't understand much of it. I hear the word for money, so I assumed she was asking for some. He kept saying that he couldn't give her anything, and that's how it went for a few minutes. Her story got more complex and harder for me to follow, and he kept repeating himself, but with a kind of glazed look in his eyes.

Eventually I heard him say OK, and then he stood up. She turned and walked away, and he just followed. Walked completely away from me WHICH YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO! He even left his missionary bag sitting on the bench. She had somehow hypnotized him with her gypsy-voice, and he was off to do her bidding! I was stunned and slack-jawed at the power women could have over men, and also that he seemed to have totally forgotten about me. After a second I snapped to my duty to never leave his side - I grabbed the bag he had abandoned, clutched my own bag, and ran after them. There wasn't much talking between the two, and I trailed behind, forgotten, and misplaced.

We walked back over the bridge and into Preseren's Square again, and all the way up Copova. We crossed Slovenska Street and went into the department store Nama, and took the escalator down to the basement floor where there was a small grocery/convenience store. I still followed behind, and still no one said much. The gypsy girl went to the baby aisle and after a short deliberation picked out a package of disposable diapers. Elder Jensen took them from her, and then we went and stood in line, where he paid for them. She thanked him profusely (that much I DID understand), and then she left our lives, smoothly, up the escalator. Elder Jensen watched her all the way up until she was out of sight.

Then he snapped out of her spell, heaved a breath and shook himself. "Oh!" he said, "I forgot where I was!" I don't know if it was true or just an act for my benefit. He claimed that he had completely forgotten where he was and what he was all about. I was pissed that that included forgetting about me, for a dumb GIRL, which we had sworn off as missionaries. He deflected by thanking me for keeping my head and remembering his bag. I still wasn't sure what to think, but began trying to learn the city so that if anything like that happened again, I wouldn't be completely lost and would be able to take care of myself.

"C'mon Elder Young," Elder Jensen said, "Let me buy you an ice cream from this great shop I know - you'll love it!" So off we went to enjoy more of the city.

Sorry

Again, no Slovene stories this weekend. I'm leaving for LA tonight to see Miss Coco Peru in PERSON tomorrow!



And I get to go with my dear friend Cheri, and stay in wonderful hotels, and meet a friend in Vegas, and visit the beach for the first time in twenty years. And best of all, it's all paid for - I'm not over-stressing my budget. I did it on my own!

COCO PERU!!!

Slovene Sunday - Metapost

Sorry friends - I am beat. As Ethel Mertz once said, "I can't do any more, my finger's worn down to a nub!" New story next week.