sometimes, you're just grateful

Today we were on the tram, riding home from the grocery store. Three students in my group were sitting more or less in a triangle, with an older woman we didn't know sitting between us. We've been told to be quiet on the tram by older people before, so when she started looking between us expectantly I thought she was going to shush us. Instead, in heavily accented English, she asked where we were from. Surprised, we told her we were from the US and we were here studying. She asked what. We told her we were studying the Holocaust. Calming she points herself, "I was in that." Like it was a movie we knew. We must have displayed our shock on our faces because she clarified, "Yes. I was in Auschwitz." WHAT. I GOT ON A TRAM WITH GROCERIES AND WALKED OFF HAVING CHATTED WITH A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR.
We chatted further. She was very proud of the fact that she now is a great-grandmother. After being the liberated when she was 15, she mothered 2 sons, 4 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. She talked of them proudly, as if knowing that those 12 human beings that she clearly loved so dearly were close to never being born. She glowed as she talked of her 4-year-old great-grandson who is already speaking English. Fierce pride in America lives within those liberated by the American army. Her response to a pause in the conversation was "Yes, my life has been hard" and shrugged. Hard? Psh. That makes my life look like a glowing beacon of joy and bon bons.
When we inquired about her life, she told of us her youth in Hungary, and then her later life as a scientist. She travelled all over Europe working with microscopes (that's all we could tell, as I said, it was heavily accented--though 100% better than my Czech). She inquired about our lives, and seemed as interested in us as we were in her. As we travelled through the city towards our dorm she pointed out nice parks and wanted to know what we had toured so far, how long we would be there, etc. We left the tram feeling awed and grateful.

Eastern Europe is an amazing place, you never know who you'll meet on the train, or what they've lived through.
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Emily