The Sounds of Morning in My Slovak Town
It takes a while to get over jet lag—many days, in fact. So, as I was laying awake in my bed at 4am feeling hunger pangs since my body thinks it is dinner time back at home, I started to pay attention to what I heard, waiting for signs that the morning was coming. It went something like this:
4:14am A car starts and the engine revs for a minute or two before pulling out.
4:32am A large truck rumbles through the intersection.
4:34am I notice the first birds chirping.
4:40am A few more cars warming up their engines.
4:41am A toilet in the flat above flushes.
4:54am Someone blows their nose and the faucet in a bathroom sink is running.
4:56am Another toilet flushes, or maybe it’s the same one.
5:01am A bus, I’m certain. I can recognize the familiar sound the gears make when shifting.
It reminds me of when I first moved to Slovakia in 1999. My block of flats where I lived was near a factory on a hill. Later my students told me it was a brick factory. There was (and still is today) a bell that chimed every work day morning at 5am. I remember, when I first moved in and couldn’t sleep from jet lag, hearing the bell chime and watching through my window as people walked to the factory.
At the moment my husband and I are staying with his father in a different block of flats, close to a main intersection in the town. In one direction is the town center, in another direction is the next bunch of villages.
The funny thing is that through the night you hear almost no traffic. It’s as if car traffic ceases through the night. This is such a contrast to where I live in California, where you can see and hear cars on streets all through the night.
I decided to get up after I heard the bus go by. The day has definitely begun when a bus full of people are on their way.
5 Comments on “The Sounds of Morning in My Slovak Town”
Margarete, a short village story when I visit my companion in Slovakia. My relatives live in the small neighborhood and have some animals. As you do I sometimes lie awake to hear the morning sounds or maybe sometimes lay awake to hear the Saturday night parties from the pool down the street. Anyhew, my cousins have chickens and the one rooster crows about 2am on a regualar basis... . Everytime I talk to them I remind them about their "blind rooster" and that they should get another one, and the word "preco" comes up. And they say he starts his day early... . We all laugh... . Regards, Joe.
April 21st, 2010 at 08:58 PM
Joe, I think that rooster lives in my town too. I spent the night at a different relative's house and wouldn't you know, there was a rooster crowing in the middle of the night, not even close to day break. What's up with that?
April 21st, 2010 at 09:02 PM
Morning noises are incredible out in the village .... the birds, the dog, the chickens and cockerel, the pump out side to get water for the pigs, the village tannoy system.. it's endless... and last night, the frogs kept me awake !
April 28th, 2010 at 07:39 AM
Talking about Roosters crowing. A man in Brisbane Australia took to his neighbours rooster with an axe after several months of no sleep. I think it sent him cook-ooh... Although I'm sure everyone else appreciated the reduction in noise at 2am, the man was arrested and charged over the incident.
May 1st, 2010 at 03:56 AM
and I have every morning the rooster (with a megaphone) and what seems to be the hounds of baskerville, down in the valley below. So different from London, with the 4am planes going to Heathrow, so I can't really complain...
May 5th, 2010 at 05:48 PM