Košice-Lunik IX

I went to school on Monday, but not on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Instead of going to school I went to a city in Eastern Slovakia named Košice. I went to Košice with my father and Šimon. We were in Košice for a documentary film festival at which my father had some of his films playing. Although most people think of documentaries as boring, I don't think these movies were boring, well some of them weren't.


We took a train from Bratislava to Košice, it was to be a four hour long journey. Soon after getting on the train I fell asleep. I woke and read a little bit then got bored and started to wander around the train. After wandering aimlessly around the train for a while I returned to my seat and sat there and tried to go to sleep. In the end I succeeded in falling asleep. I awoke when the train stopped at Košice. we exited the train and were soon found by the people who would be driving us to the hotel we would be staying in. There were two people a boy and a girl whose names escape me. The two people were working for or helping or doing something along those lines for the film festival. They took us in a car that was the festivals sponsor. They took us to the hotel and helped us put our bags in our room then left.   


The first movie we were to see was titled Lunik IX. Lunik 9 is one of if not the worst gypsy ghetto in Košice. The special part about the screening was that it wasn't in a movie theatre, it was in Lunik 9. We were taken to the ghetto by the same people who had also picked us up from the train station in the same car, a baby blue car that closely resembled an ice cube. I think everybody in the car except my father for some strange reason I don't understand was extremely nervous.


As the car pulled to a stop we got out and I set foot for the first time in a gypsy ghetto. Gypsys for all you who don't know are the darker skinned people in Europe and are often times victims of unfair prejudice. Me being very white stuck out very obviously, somewhat like an elephant at the grocery market. We watched the film above on the projector in a small huddle. Soon my father started taking pictures of not only the film, but also the surrounding buildings and landscape.

The apartments of Lunik IX

Soon my fathers camera flash started getting attention, he got a few funny looks and then a drunk man came up to him. The man asked my father why he was taking pictures of the apartments and not the movie. My father told him some nice thing that was meant mostly to appease him. The two talked for a while it was hard to detect hostility or friendship in ethiers voice or comments. After a while the drunk man left leaving us alone.   


We started to wander around, just my father, Šimon and me. A group of teens spotted us there were about six or seven of them. They came towards us, we kept giving each other nervous looks. They were right next to us and they started talking to us about the ghetto and how things were in it. It turns out that the apartment rooms where no light shown out the windows was not because all the lights were off, it was because the inhabitants were unable to pay for the electricity. We often saw the lights all around flickering on and off. The whole place felt very eerie.


We walked with the boys all around the buildings. They told us about the school and the other luniks, there are other such neighbourhoods but I'm not sure how many. We talked and what they said was very interesting, they told us about a rich gypsy who didn't live far away they also told us about the various problems of living in lunik IX.


Soon the movie ended and we soon after that left in same car we had come in but with many more people. We were packed in extremely tight. The car ride was uncomfortable, but when we got back to the hotel we took a very comfortable shower then fell on our beds and slept like logs.