Bus Musicians

It's interesting being overseas again, and not just because everyone talks funny and uses a different kind of money. In fact, those two differences, arguably the two most noticeable, quickly become so commonplace so as not to be noticed at all. It's the little things that come out of left field, take me completely by surprise and suddenly remind me that Toto¹ and I aren't in Kansas anymore.

This morning for instance:

Having missed the bus I needed to catch, I was riding in for language training resigned to the fact that I was going to be at least 5 minutes late. About half way through my ride, unobserved by me since I had my back to them, a father and son boarded my bus. As soon as we started moving again, music filled the bus. As it turns out, father and son are actually street musicians who had decided to take their act on the road. At least for one or two stops anyway.

What really astounded me about their whole performance was not that they were very good (they were) nor that I had seen them playing this past weekend at the antique market (I had). What was truly shocking to me and made me have one of those, "Oh yeah, I'm in Poland" moments was the reaction of the bus driver.

There wasn't one. He didn't say anything. He didn't stop the bus and order them off. He didn't even yell at them to stop playing. He just kept on driving as he always does and enjoyed the music along with the rest of us.

Towards the end of their time on the bus the son started walking around with his little tip collection cup.

I made sure to give him a nice tip today. Half for the music and half for reminding me of the cultural experiences that pass me by everyday and too often escape my notice.

-Dave

¹Originally I was going to say that Toto represented Melissa, but on reflection I decided that she might not appreciate that since Toto was actually a bitch. So we'll just say that Toto represents my right shoe. And since I didn't have a camera with me this morning...