Day in the Life: Errands in Pula
Today I went to Pula on errands. Primarily, I needed to stop by the computer store and pick up a couple cords that were missing from the monitor I bought last week, but I also wanted to get a mousepad and hopefully track down some index cards I could turn into Croatian vocabulary flashcards for myself.
I took the 9:51 bus from one of the stops near me and got off the bus on the edge of old town Pula a little after 10:00. My visit to the computer store was quick, easy, and successful. Then I looked up stationary and office supply stores on Google Maps and walked to the nearest one. I asked about index cards and they said the didn't have any; I should try a nearby bookstore. When I got to the bookstore, I noticed there was a paper goods store next door, so I decided to try there first, but they also sent me next door to the bookstore. The bookstore, not surprisingly, also did not have notecards for me. They apparently had pre-printed ones for Croatians learning German, but not blank ones or pre-printed ones for learning Croatian. So I went back to the paper store just to see what they had that might be close. I did find a plastic-wrapped stack of papers a little smaller than 3x5" index cards I'm used to in the States, but I couldn't tell if they were card stock or just regular paper. I bought the stack anyway - it was the closest thing they had.
I had quite a bit of time before the first afternoon bus back to Medulin, so I wandered around, munching on a slice of pizza from one place (€2.50) and an apple strudel-thing from one of the many Mlinar bakeries (€1.20). While sitting and eating the pizza slice, I noticed the store across the street (Gulliver Production) advertised "Printing Embroidering Made to order". This gave me an idea, and went inside to see what they sold and what their prices were like. I had planned to bring a mug with me from home but left it behind in favor of bringing another book, and the price of the mugs was quite reasonable, so I got myself a custom mug for €12!
Isn't that cool?! I only had to wait 30 minutes for it, too!
During that 30 minutes, I remembered I wanted a pencil holder, so I popped into another paper store I'd seen and found one.
Once I had my mug, literally hot off the press, I made for the bus stop. There, I ended up talking for several minutes with an older man who asked me what time it was. Neither of us spoke either of the other's languages, but we managed to communicate a little - if nothing else, I understood that he went to a school that offered German, Italian, and two other languages (I don't remember which), and he studied Italian - and that he was waiting for the bus to Premantura, across the water from Medulin.
My bus came before his, so we said goodbye and I headed home to spend the rest of my day in Medulin, mostly on my computer.
And that was today's little adventure!