Everybody Hurts

Pointing, holding up fingers to represent numbers....smiling.  Searching for what things mean.  

On a boat tour with the guide yabbering in Czech.  Are we discussing an environmental issue or the historic value of where we are?   People look at things along the way so I try to imagine what he is saying.  

...

At the super market Kevin heads up to the checker to study the process. He reports:  we are supposed to bag our own groceries.   We don't need to weigh the produce. They take credit cards.  And no, they don't give you bags; we should have brought them.   (But we weren't supposed to take the small carts out of the store so I end up in the parking lot with a nice checker screaming and pointing in Czech.  She takes the cart.) 

People glare at me when I talk to Kevin.   We are different, not one of them just because we don't speak their language.  And Americans don't exist here.   So they always give us this odd look...

And on occasion, I mean rare occasion, they speak English to us.  Some of them say things like, "Big heat now" but others rattle away, maybe with a British accent mixed with Czech.  Sometimes they call us Americký (American), which always humors me to hear that word in the middle of a sentence because then I'm sure we have caused a discussion on what we are doing here. 

Mainly they are quiet; they just glare at us.  If we ask them if they speak English, they will laugh at us and respond back in long Czech sentences.  Or switch to German. 

.....

Driving down the highway today I searched for a radio station, anything that wasn't  yabbering at us.... Surprisingly, I heard an REM song I know; 

"When your day is long

And the night, the night is yours alone

When you're sure you've had enough

Of this life, well hang on

Don't let yourself go

'Cause everybody cries

And everybody hurts sometimes

I'm suddenly comforted by this song, not saddened like I usually feel when I hear it.  I can not only understand it, I can sing along .... And yes, everybody hurts, sometimes. 

Not right now, not for me.  Not the Americký.  I'm just insanely tired and ready for a nap....