SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

"... Or the best teacher. Have you forgotten?" my friend Janja reminded me.

Time passed and I forgot about acting and enrolled at a teacher training college. Despite my commitments and many extracurricular activities, I had plenty of time for unusual fun. 

I lived in a house with six apartments. There was a big garden and a yard for the children to play in at the back, and the main road at the front; Titova Street, now Dunajska Street. Although there were many tenants in the house, I got on best with the family of the couple with three daughters who lived above us. The couple loved children and often baked us a dessert or gave us a piece of chocolate. In those days, all that was just for sometimes, just for a treat. 

Want to know what my unusual party was like? 

When I was free, I opened the window in my room and looked out at the street. I counted cars. One day I was about to close the window when suddenly there was a burst outside the house. I saw a dark car and a bicycle lying on the ground. Suddenly an ambulance came and then everything calmed down. The incident spoilt my peaceful evening, because if I see someone suffering, I feel for them.

When I was rushing to school in the morning, I met Mrs Fanchi on the stairs; crying, all miserable.

"My Frane didn't come home. Now I'm going to the police to find out where he's lost," she said.

I felt sick, but I didn't dare tell her what had happened the night before. It seemed absurd to me that he should have been run over by a car right in front of the house. I rushed off to school, but when I came home, Mrs Fanchi was sitting in the yard; she was crying.

"What will I do now? I'm alone and old. Frank will never come back."

I hugged her and promised to visit her every day.

"I'll be happy to bring you something and listen to your stories," I consoled her.

One day she complained to her mother, "It's okay during the day, but in the evening it's terrible. I can't sleep and I stay up all night." 

Mum understood and, wanting to help her, she suggested: "Would it be all right if you did everything for school first and then went to Mrs Fanca's with dinner in the evening? We would eat together and then I would sleep at her place. In the morning I'd get up a little earlier, come downstairs, tidy up and go to school."

She was waiting for my answer, but I was up for it immediately. I ran to the lady, told her what my mother had suggested, and she was overjoyed beyond words. She was impressed by our cordiality. She was so grateful that she was crying with happiness.

Then it was as we had agreed. Day after day, we wove invisible threads of love and we grew more and more connected. Suddenly, we both felt that primal love that only connects a grandmother and a granddaughter and makes us both happy.

Darinka Kobal, 26. 3. 2025