Friday, May 30, 2008
Slovak Football
I really enjoy watching soccer (“football” in Europe), and I wish the sport were more popular in the United States! Bummer. Anyways, I had a nice time last week at the football game in Hybe: Hybe v.s. Vavrisovo (a nearby village). (The league is community, and for any men over the age of 18.) Unfortunately, Hybe lost 4-1, and everyone joked about how bad the team was. I even heard “please God, help them because they’re terrible” a few times. I didn’t think they were that bad, and it was entertaining to watch, and fun to be at an event where I could root for a Hybe team! Also, the football field is at the opposite side of the village, and I’d never been over there until last weekend. It’s a nice, elevated area, with a good view of the village and Krivan Mountain. Here are some photos I took at the game. Hybe players are in red, Vavrisovo players in blue.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
My Trip to the Ukraine
So in preparation of coming to Slovakia, I had to do some paperwork and background checks to apply for my yearlong temporary residence permit in Slovakia. For foreigners visiting Slovakia for longer than 90 days, this is required. It is referred to as a "permit" rather than a "visa" because it is issued within the foreign country when a person has already arrived there. Anyways, so we prepared the necessary documents for our permit, and all of us volunteers individually visited the police stations in our separate areas to solidify our permits. Well, the police in my area, for reasons nobody understands (I guess sometimes it just depends on the specific city's department), did not like my information and documents and didn't give me a residence permit (luckily, the other volunteers didn't have problems with this). After 5 trips to the station my program decided to cancel my permit, and I was then declared a "tourist" for the rest of my year here in Slovakia.
In March I made a trip to the Ukraine to meet with Daniela, my program coordinator, so we could cross the Slovak/Ukraine border, in order to get a passport stamp to prove that I had left Slovakia and wasn't here for longer then 90 days. It was an interesting experience! I felt sort of strange about the situation, like I was a questionable foreigner sneaking around, fleeing from country to country to avoid getting in trouble with the law. HA, dramatic, but a funny thought. I guess this situation happens sometimes, and our program has had to deal with the situation before, so it’s really not a big deal. At first it was a bit irritating, because of the time and money spent this summer trying to obtain documents and background checks, but it has actually been a pretty entertaining experience and funny story to tell, so I’m glad it worked out this way!
I met up with Daniela and fellow volunteer Mary (near her placement’s village) so that we could cross the border together. Mary didn’t need a stamp and was just along for the experience, and it was fun to have her with us! We traveled by car to the borderline, next to this small desolate village in Eastern Slovakia, parked her brother’s car in a nearby lot, and joined the long line trailing up to the border’s checkpoint. We took a few pictures from a distance of the checkpoint, and then stood around for almost an hour. Then Daniela came up to us and informed us that she had noticed a sign that stated U.S. citizens would NOT be able to cross at this point. She double-checked with a guard at the line, and sure enough, we weren’t able to cross. Confused and irritated, we got back in the car and came up with another plan to drive to another border crossing, about an hour’s drive away.
We went to the small village of Ubl’a and made a second attempt, and we were successful! It was sort of a long and quiet process with Mary and I standing there quietly not really understanding what was going on. This border checkpoint wasn’t in or near a village, but out in the middle of nowhere, so the whole borderline area was eerily quiet. We again parked the car in a side lot and joined the line to walk over the border instead. While I waited for them to check my forms and passport, and I glanced around and quietly gawked at the welcoming signs for the Ukraine. And I thought Slovak was difficult…I’m quite happy that I wasn’t a volunteer in the Ukraine, due to the fact that the language looks horribly scary (their letters are more symbol-like, and nothing like the English language, or Slovak). When we were finally let through, we went “shopping,” which was walking about a mile down this deserted ditch area towards the gas station and square of 4 small shops. We stopped at each shop and bought a few things, and asked if we could get Ukrainian Hryvna (their currency) in change as a souvenir for our trip. The woman at the first shop was really sweet and gave us some coins. I purchased some strawberry ice cream, which was really tasty, and Mary and I both bought a bottle of vodka for our host families. Her host dad and my host mom had a birthday in the same coming week, so we bought them a small bottle as a gift from our trip. (My host mom thought the gift was HILARIOUS because she’d been joking for almost two weeks prior to my trip that I should buy a nice bottle of Russian vodka when I crossed the border, pointing out this commercial on TV over and over. So I actually bought a bottle to be funny. I knew she was kidding and that she would think I was crazy, and that I didn’t understand her encouragement to buy Russian booze was only a joke. And I was right; it’s exactly how she reacted. Too funny!)
We were in Velykyj Bereznyj, Ukraine for a grand total of about 45 minutes, and then we crossed back into Slovakia and went home. So now I can tell people about how I went to the Ukraine for the afternoon to buy strawberry ice cream and vodka! The first picture posted is of Mary and I standing in the ditch, about halfway between the checkpoint and gas station/shop area, holding our gifts of vodka. The second picture is of us walking back into Slovakia. As we were walking back to the borderline, we saw a lineup of about 20 cars waiting to cross over, so we were really glad that we decided to cross the border by foot instead. As we walked by, one guy (who was just hanging out beside his car, eating part of a sandwich) asked us if we were hungry and offered us part of his sandwich! Haha! That’s a typical Slovak for you, always hospitable and offering food, even to strangers, on the side of a road and practically in a ditch.
In March I made a trip to the Ukraine to meet with Daniela, my program coordinator, so we could cross the Slovak/Ukraine border, in order to get a passport stamp to prove that I had left Slovakia and wasn't here for longer then 90 days. It was an interesting experience! I felt sort of strange about the situation, like I was a questionable foreigner sneaking around, fleeing from country to country to avoid getting in trouble with the law. HA, dramatic, but a funny thought. I guess this situation happens sometimes, and our program has had to deal with the situation before, so it’s really not a big deal. At first it was a bit irritating, because of the time and money spent this summer trying to obtain documents and background checks, but it has actually been a pretty entertaining experience and funny story to tell, so I’m glad it worked out this way!
I met up with Daniela and fellow volunteer Mary (near her placement’s village) so that we could cross the border together. Mary didn’t need a stamp and was just along for the experience, and it was fun to have her with us! We traveled by car to the borderline, next to this small desolate village in Eastern Slovakia, parked her brother’s car in a nearby lot, and joined the long line trailing up to the border’s checkpoint. We took a few pictures from a distance of the checkpoint, and then stood around for almost an hour. Then Daniela came up to us and informed us that she had noticed a sign that stated U.S. citizens would NOT be able to cross at this point. She double-checked with a guard at the line, and sure enough, we weren’t able to cross. Confused and irritated, we got back in the car and came up with another plan to drive to another border crossing, about an hour’s drive away.
We went to the small village of Ubl’a and made a second attempt, and we were successful! It was sort of a long and quiet process with Mary and I standing there quietly not really understanding what was going on. This border checkpoint wasn’t in or near a village, but out in the middle of nowhere, so the whole borderline area was eerily quiet. We again parked the car in a side lot and joined the line to walk over the border instead. While I waited for them to check my forms and passport, and I glanced around and quietly gawked at the welcoming signs for the Ukraine. And I thought Slovak was difficult…I’m quite happy that I wasn’t a volunteer in the Ukraine, due to the fact that the language looks horribly scary (their letters are more symbol-like, and nothing like the English language, or Slovak). When we were finally let through, we went “shopping,” which was walking about a mile down this deserted ditch area towards the gas station and square of 4 small shops. We stopped at each shop and bought a few things, and asked if we could get Ukrainian Hryvna (their currency) in change as a souvenir for our trip. The woman at the first shop was really sweet and gave us some coins. I purchased some strawberry ice cream, which was really tasty, and Mary and I both bought a bottle of vodka for our host families. Her host dad and my host mom had a birthday in the same coming week, so we bought them a small bottle as a gift from our trip. (My host mom thought the gift was HILARIOUS because she’d been joking for almost two weeks prior to my trip that I should buy a nice bottle of Russian vodka when I crossed the border, pointing out this commercial on TV over and over. So I actually bought a bottle to be funny. I knew she was kidding and that she would think I was crazy, and that I didn’t understand her encouragement to buy Russian booze was only a joke. And I was right; it’s exactly how she reacted. Too funny!)
We were in Velykyj Bereznyj, Ukraine for a grand total of about 45 minutes, and then we crossed back into Slovakia and went home. So now I can tell people about how I went to the Ukraine for the afternoon to buy strawberry ice cream and vodka! The first picture posted is of Mary and I standing in the ditch, about halfway between the checkpoint and gas station/shop area, holding our gifts of vodka. The second picture is of us walking back into Slovakia. As we were walking back to the borderline, we saw a lineup of about 20 cars waiting to cross over, so we were really glad that we decided to cross the border by foot instead. As we walked by, one guy (who was just hanging out beside his car, eating part of a sandwich) asked us if we were hungry and offered us part of his sandwich! Haha! That’s a typical Slovak for you, always hospitable and offering food, even to strangers, on the side of a road and practically in a ditch.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Things that make you go....huh?
When us volunteers got together for a weekend back in April, we were exchanging stories and trying to understand some strange health concerns we’ve heard at our placements. We compiled a little list, and hopefully we will add to this in our remaining months. I just thought I’d share some of them with you.
-Breast-feeding up until the age of 5 years old is acceptable.
-It is dangerous to sleep in the same room as the computer, whether it is on or off, because it will make you sick and give you diseases.
-You shouldn’t sit on the ground if you are a woman, inside or outside, because then you won’t be able to have children.
-If you don’t wear socks indoors, you will get sick.
-If you don’t wear slippers, you will get sick. (Keep in mind that they often times don’t use soap or hot water to wash their dishes, but then blame my sicknesses on not wearing slippers in a decently heated house.)
-Going outside with wet hair is a death wish. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like.
-If you drink cold things, you will get sick. It will make your throat hurt.
-If you don’t put sugar in your coffee, it’s not healthy.
-It is really dangerous to wear your hair binder around your wrist.
-Breast-feeding up until the age of 5 years old is acceptable.
-It is dangerous to sleep in the same room as the computer, whether it is on or off, because it will make you sick and give you diseases.
-You shouldn’t sit on the ground if you are a woman, inside or outside, because then you won’t be able to have children.
-If you don’t wear socks indoors, you will get sick.
-If you don’t wear slippers, you will get sick. (Keep in mind that they often times don’t use soap or hot water to wash their dishes, but then blame my sicknesses on not wearing slippers in a decently heated house.)
-Going outside with wet hair is a death wish. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like.
-If you drink cold things, you will get sick. It will make your throat hurt.
-If you don’t put sugar in your coffee, it’s not healthy.
-It is really dangerous to wear your hair binder around your wrist.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Out Walking with Marek and Radko
Here are a few more pictures from a morning hike me and Kristen took with both of Zuzka's boys!
Radko's Reaction
So in my last newsletter I mentioned that I had a photo of Radko's face (Zuzka's younger son), reacting to my stupid cheek-flapping thing. So just wanted to share the picture with everybody. He is adorable, and I'm excited I can make him laugh from time to time! :)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Lunch Table Talk
Just a quick post about something I heard today during lunch at school. I have a meal plan set up with the school, so I eat there every day, regardless of whether I'm teaching that day or not. Pretty good food, for the most part! One of the main cooks is Zuzka Zikova's sister-in-law, and she's really sweet! Anyways.
The teachers were irritated today because a law was recently passed in Slovakia, that starting next school year the students in the primary schools (elementary schools) will have to start learning two languages. They currently study Slovak and grammar, and they are required to learn a second language. Well, now they will have to learn a third also. The teacher's were venting about the Slovak school system, and how it's a bit ridiculous for the young kids to have to work on 3 languages at once. Especially since the new third language will have such little class time per week that they will barely benefit from it or learn anything. They learn english as their second language, and they will choose from German or Spanish for their third language.
They were also discussing the upcoming change of currency. Starting in 2009, Slovakia will be on the Euro, getting rid of Slovak crowns. From the reactions I've witnessed, it seems everyone is quite nervous about it, and a bit irritated. It seems a bit sad to me, since I think currency is such a unique and interesting difference in each country. But now each country is joining the European Union, one by one, (Slovakia had it's accession into the EU in 2004) and eventually changing over to the EU. It will "help their economy greatly" many people say, but the people of Hybe seem nervous and a bit doubtful. Everything will be more expensive because of the currency conversion rate. Also, everyone is a bit irritated because they will mainly be using coins with the Euro, and they currently use more paper bills with crowns. I was watching a news report on TV awhile ago with my family, "Our Wallets Will be Heavier Next Year." I'm glad I'm here to use the Slovak koruny while it's still around.
*This is a picture of a few Slovak koruny, paper bills. 20 sk is equal to about $1.00 U.S., 200 sk about $10.00, and 500 sk about $25.00
To see pictures of the upcoming Slovak Euro coins, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_euro_coins
Each individual country of the EU has coins designed specifically for their country, similar to each U.S. state having their own uniquely designed quarter backing. Slovakia will have coins with their Coat of Arms, Krivan mountain (really close to Hybe), and the Bratislava Castle.
The teachers were irritated today because a law was recently passed in Slovakia, that starting next school year the students in the primary schools (elementary schools) will have to start learning two languages. They currently study Slovak and grammar, and they are required to learn a second language. Well, now they will have to learn a third also. The teacher's were venting about the Slovak school system, and how it's a bit ridiculous for the young kids to have to work on 3 languages at once. Especially since the new third language will have such little class time per week that they will barely benefit from it or learn anything. They learn english as their second language, and they will choose from German or Spanish for their third language.
They were also discussing the upcoming change of currency. Starting in 2009, Slovakia will be on the Euro, getting rid of Slovak crowns. From the reactions I've witnessed, it seems everyone is quite nervous about it, and a bit irritated. It seems a bit sad to me, since I think currency is such a unique and interesting difference in each country. But now each country is joining the European Union, one by one, (Slovakia had it's accession into the EU in 2004) and eventually changing over to the EU. It will "help their economy greatly" many people say, but the people of Hybe seem nervous and a bit doubtful. Everything will be more expensive because of the currency conversion rate. Also, everyone is a bit irritated because they will mainly be using coins with the Euro, and they currently use more paper bills with crowns. I was watching a news report on TV awhile ago with my family, "Our Wallets Will be Heavier Next Year." I'm glad I'm here to use the Slovak koruny while it's still around.
*This is a picture of a few Slovak koruny, paper bills. 20 sk is equal to about $1.00 U.S., 200 sk about $10.00, and 500 sk about $25.00
To see pictures of the upcoming Slovak Euro coins, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_euro_coins
Each individual country of the EU has coins designed specifically for their country, similar to each U.S. state having their own uniquely designed quarter backing. Slovakia will have coins with their Coat of Arms, Krivan mountain (really close to Hybe), and the Bratislava Castle.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Some Current Happenings
Hi everybody! I wanted to wish all moms a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! (Especially mine, Love you Mom!)
In honor of Mother's Day, the youth choir performed during church this Sunday. They sang two songs, both related to moms and family in some way, and a few of the youngest kids said a little poem and few words (pretty cute!). Then all of the kids took a red or yellow tulip (freshly cut, the flowers are really blooming here) and a Mother's Day card, and headed out into the congregation to present their gifts. The cards had a short poem, something like, "Dear God, Thank you for the angel you gave to me, my mom." I gave a card and tulip to my host mom, Jana, and she was grateful and kissed me on the cheek. When we left church, she had a rose and card from me, from Janka, from Katka, and from Zuzka M. (one of my host sisters' best friend), and she was beaming with pride. It was pretty cute!
On a sad note, an older man from the village went missing last week on Thursday, and then was found in the river in Hybe on Friday evening. They aren't sure what happened, I guess he had some medical problems and was taking heavier medication, amongst other things. Please pray for his family and friends, and the people of Hybe. He is at peace now. They announced his death a few days ago on the Hybe loudspeaker (like they usually do with every death in the village). Every village has a loudspeaker, for general announcements, folk music, etc. They play a specific song to go along with each death announcement, and the song is suprisingly cheerful! Well, actually not really cheerful, but it sounds sort of grand and stoic, and honorable, rather than mournful and sad. I like that, helps them go out and style and puts a positive feel to their memorial. At least in my mind it does, anyway, I'm not really sure how the Slovaks feel about it.
Our family made a visit to mother Jana's sister's house in Vychodna (the neighboring village). At first we were all planning to take the bus together because the car was broken, apparently, but at the last minute I was informed that, "the car is only a little broken, so we can drive it now." HA, um...alright....(Luckily we just sort of drive their old bomber red car putzily from village to village on back roads.) So we took a family roadtrip.
Anyways, Jana's sister is Hana, Hana's husband is Marion (who told me I LOVE YOU in english many times on my first day in Hybe, because it was at Hana's 50th birthday party, and everyone had been drinking for like 6 hours prior...) and their kids are Peter and Hana (Hanka, since she is the younger generation). We had cakes and coffee, and usually when we do this I tend to zone out. They speak really quickly and I sort of automatically tune out, but during this visit I understood a lot more of their Slovak conversation than normal, so that's really exciting! I've been practicing more with Zuzka at school, and that helps. It's easier to remember words and phrases when I have a funny memory or situation to associate with it. My host sisters taught me how to say, "I'm here for cake!" and made me say it when we arrived at their house. Katka and Janka had a good time telling their aunt about how they hit a wild pig on the road with the Pastor's car, while their friend was driving it (long story...), and I was able to laugh a little along with them! Really nice. I haven't really been able to understand jokes or funny stories (in Slovak) for 9 months or so now, so I feel like I'm finally making more progress.
The other day I went to the city of Martin, for the first time, on a little trip with my host sister Katka! We met up with her friend from school (also Katka, and she speaks some english too!) and took the bus, a train, and then another bus to Martin. We went to the Slovak National Library. Katka and Katka both are students, studying at the Catholic University in the city of Ruzomberok. Katka (my sister) comes home every weekend and stays until Monday morning, then leaves again, then returns home Thursday night. BUT....she just took her final exams today and now she will be home for the summer!! I'm pretty excited I will see her more often now. :) She is studying education for children with special needs. She has spent many hours in the past month or so watching sign language study videos, practicing for her final exam. Pretty interesting to watch, I've never really learned any sign language.
Anyways, also in Martin, we shopped around in the city center, (after finding the books they needed to order from the library), and then went for pizza. I LOVE PIZZA. And I really miss American pizza. The pizza here is still good, but I miss pizza with tomato sauce (they use ketchup here instead...they also use ketchup for spaghetti) and almost every type of Slovak pizza is loaded with corn and ham. It's usually pretty good, but I miss American pizza. (I was spoiled in college...I had a roomate that worked for Pizza Hut and brought home free leftover pizza quite often.) Anyways, pizza was good, and we went for ice cream afterwards. I had blueberry ice cream, and I ordered it and got to practice my pronounciation, "čučoriedka." Tasted great too. Me and Katka were full and slept on the train and bus rides home and almost missed Hybe. Luckily Katka woke up when the bus stopped at our stop and jumped up, whacked my shoulder, and we made it off the bus in time.
Katka got new fish!! They are very cute, big mouths, orange and white, named Sampson and Delilah. I hope these guys stick around for a long time. It's nice to see a fresh tank with fish in the kitchen again, after a few months of just snails and a dying plant.
A few weeks ago I had a really fun night at the parsonage! I went over to visit Ad'a (the pastor's wife) and their kids, Sara and Sam. Most of the time it was just me and the kids hanging out, and we had a great time!! :) We had yogurt together, they tried to teach me a few songs in Slovak, and we played Pexeso together. (Pexeso is basically memory, matching the cards into pairs, and the pairs have one item labeled in English and one in Slovak, so we can learn new words together.) And we also hung out in their room and they showed me a cd of kiddie english songs they have, and asked me if I knew each one. I knew most of them, and we could sing along together! (Somewhat, because Samko had no idea what he was singing, kind of like me trying to sing along at church and youth worhips in Slovak). It was a great time, and hopefully I will be visiting their house more often from now on.
I'll end with some Starka stories. Last week I was sitting in the kitchen with my host mom and sisters, Starka's daughter, sister, and grandaugther. I was just sipping my coffee when Starka came right up to me and started barking something at me. Like usual, I didn't understand (she always uses slang words, and she has no patience, so she never slows down or really tries to communicate with me effectively). I just kept saying, "What? I don't understand." Then she just started saying (in Slovak, of course), "Come here! Let's go! GO!"
"GO WHERE?!"
Finally Janka translated, after everyone was cracking up, that Starka wanted me to come to the gas station, just outside of the village, with her and Jan because they needed to fill up their gas tank for the car. So I went, and we had a nice little drive. While Jan was in the station, me and Starka sat in the car and tried to have a little conversation about the weather (it was raining a bit). Haha! Our conversations are pretty short and ridiculous, funny usually. Jan came back and gave us chocolate covered banana candy bars, and I was pretty excited.
Also, on Mother's Day dinner at home, Starka was helping cook the meat. She put all of the finished pork paddies in a plastic container in two piles and set them on the table. I thought nothing of it and grabbed a paddy to put on my plate. Then I heard Starka behind me yelling, "Mine! Mine!" And then she came over and stole my paddy from my plate! With her bare hands. Apparently she had chosen a special paddy for herself, but then didn't put it on her plate in the first place....? It was in "the hot pile" and I was supposed to take from "the cold pile". (Slovaks, or at least my host family, have a strange thing with food being too hot or cold...they think hot food is bad.) Anyways, we all laughed about it, pretty crazy. I swear, some days she's just a feisty and stubborn little kid trapped in the body of an 81 year old.
In honor of Mother's Day, the youth choir performed during church this Sunday. They sang two songs, both related to moms and family in some way, and a few of the youngest kids said a little poem and few words (pretty cute!). Then all of the kids took a red or yellow tulip (freshly cut, the flowers are really blooming here) and a Mother's Day card, and headed out into the congregation to present their gifts. The cards had a short poem, something like, "Dear God, Thank you for the angel you gave to me, my mom." I gave a card and tulip to my host mom, Jana, and she was grateful and kissed me on the cheek. When we left church, she had a rose and card from me, from Janka, from Katka, and from Zuzka M. (one of my host sisters' best friend), and she was beaming with pride. It was pretty cute!
On a sad note, an older man from the village went missing last week on Thursday, and then was found in the river in Hybe on Friday evening. They aren't sure what happened, I guess he had some medical problems and was taking heavier medication, amongst other things. Please pray for his family and friends, and the people of Hybe. He is at peace now. They announced his death a few days ago on the Hybe loudspeaker (like they usually do with every death in the village). Every village has a loudspeaker, for general announcements, folk music, etc. They play a specific song to go along with each death announcement, and the song is suprisingly cheerful! Well, actually not really cheerful, but it sounds sort of grand and stoic, and honorable, rather than mournful and sad. I like that, helps them go out and style and puts a positive feel to their memorial. At least in my mind it does, anyway, I'm not really sure how the Slovaks feel about it.
Our family made a visit to mother Jana's sister's house in Vychodna (the neighboring village). At first we were all planning to take the bus together because the car was broken, apparently, but at the last minute I was informed that, "the car is only a little broken, so we can drive it now." HA, um...alright....(Luckily we just sort of drive their old bomber red car putzily from village to village on back roads.) So we took a family roadtrip.
Anyways, Jana's sister is Hana, Hana's husband is Marion (who told me I LOVE YOU in english many times on my first day in Hybe, because it was at Hana's 50th birthday party, and everyone had been drinking for like 6 hours prior...) and their kids are Peter and Hana (Hanka, since she is the younger generation). We had cakes and coffee, and usually when we do this I tend to zone out. They speak really quickly and I sort of automatically tune out, but during this visit I understood a lot more of their Slovak conversation than normal, so that's really exciting! I've been practicing more with Zuzka at school, and that helps. It's easier to remember words and phrases when I have a funny memory or situation to associate with it. My host sisters taught me how to say, "I'm here for cake!" and made me say it when we arrived at their house. Katka and Janka had a good time telling their aunt about how they hit a wild pig on the road with the Pastor's car, while their friend was driving it (long story...), and I was able to laugh a little along with them! Really nice. I haven't really been able to understand jokes or funny stories (in Slovak) for 9 months or so now, so I feel like I'm finally making more progress.
The other day I went to the city of Martin, for the first time, on a little trip with my host sister Katka! We met up with her friend from school (also Katka, and she speaks some english too!) and took the bus, a train, and then another bus to Martin. We went to the Slovak National Library. Katka and Katka both are students, studying at the Catholic University in the city of Ruzomberok. Katka (my sister) comes home every weekend and stays until Monday morning, then leaves again, then returns home Thursday night. BUT....she just took her final exams today and now she will be home for the summer!! I'm pretty excited I will see her more often now. :) She is studying education for children with special needs. She has spent many hours in the past month or so watching sign language study videos, practicing for her final exam. Pretty interesting to watch, I've never really learned any sign language.
Anyways, also in Martin, we shopped around in the city center, (after finding the books they needed to order from the library), and then went for pizza. I LOVE PIZZA. And I really miss American pizza. The pizza here is still good, but I miss pizza with tomato sauce (they use ketchup here instead...they also use ketchup for spaghetti) and almost every type of Slovak pizza is loaded with corn and ham. It's usually pretty good, but I miss American pizza. (I was spoiled in college...I had a roomate that worked for Pizza Hut and brought home free leftover pizza quite often.) Anyways, pizza was good, and we went for ice cream afterwards. I had blueberry ice cream, and I ordered it and got to practice my pronounciation, "čučoriedka." Tasted great too. Me and Katka were full and slept on the train and bus rides home and almost missed Hybe. Luckily Katka woke up when the bus stopped at our stop and jumped up, whacked my shoulder, and we made it off the bus in time.
Katka got new fish!! They are very cute, big mouths, orange and white, named Sampson and Delilah. I hope these guys stick around for a long time. It's nice to see a fresh tank with fish in the kitchen again, after a few months of just snails and a dying plant.
A few weeks ago I had a really fun night at the parsonage! I went over to visit Ad'a (the pastor's wife) and their kids, Sara and Sam. Most of the time it was just me and the kids hanging out, and we had a great time!! :) We had yogurt together, they tried to teach me a few songs in Slovak, and we played Pexeso together. (Pexeso is basically memory, matching the cards into pairs, and the pairs have one item labeled in English and one in Slovak, so we can learn new words together.) And we also hung out in their room and they showed me a cd of kiddie english songs they have, and asked me if I knew each one. I knew most of them, and we could sing along together! (Somewhat, because Samko had no idea what he was singing, kind of like me trying to sing along at church and youth worhips in Slovak). It was a great time, and hopefully I will be visiting their house more often from now on.
I'll end with some Starka stories. Last week I was sitting in the kitchen with my host mom and sisters, Starka's daughter, sister, and grandaugther. I was just sipping my coffee when Starka came right up to me and started barking something at me. Like usual, I didn't understand (she always uses slang words, and she has no patience, so she never slows down or really tries to communicate with me effectively). I just kept saying, "What? I don't understand." Then she just started saying (in Slovak, of course), "Come here! Let's go! GO!"
"GO WHERE?!"
Finally Janka translated, after everyone was cracking up, that Starka wanted me to come to the gas station, just outside of the village, with her and Jan because they needed to fill up their gas tank for the car. So I went, and we had a nice little drive. While Jan was in the station, me and Starka sat in the car and tried to have a little conversation about the weather (it was raining a bit). Haha! Our conversations are pretty short and ridiculous, funny usually. Jan came back and gave us chocolate covered banana candy bars, and I was pretty excited.
Also, on Mother's Day dinner at home, Starka was helping cook the meat. She put all of the finished pork paddies in a plastic container in two piles and set them on the table. I thought nothing of it and grabbed a paddy to put on my plate. Then I heard Starka behind me yelling, "Mine! Mine!" And then she came over and stole my paddy from my plate! With her bare hands. Apparently she had chosen a special paddy for herself, but then didn't put it on her plate in the first place....? It was in "the hot pile" and I was supposed to take from "the cold pile". (Slovaks, or at least my host family, have a strange thing with food being too hot or cold...they think hot food is bad.) Anyways, we all laughed about it, pretty crazy. I swear, some days she's just a feisty and stubborn little kid trapped in the body of an 81 year old.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Captions for the Picture Load
(from top to bottom):
1. Me hanging out with Zuzka's son Marek, making stupid faces.
2. Group picture from when Kristen came to visit. Me, Zuzka, Marek, and Kristen
3. Youth Choir rehersal
4. Me with the sheep! This is out back behind my house family's house.
5. My host mom with the family milk cow.
6. Bryndzové halusky, in the making. This is traditional Slovak food (halusky are potato dumplings, and Bryndza is a type of sheep's cheese, and fried bacon bits are also put on top when it is served).
7. My mom and my host mom. The two moms!
8. Me, my dad, and brother, in the Bratislava airport when they arrived!
9. The Hybe primary school, where I help teach english.
10. Katka, Starka, me, and Janka
11. The daughters and dads: Katka, my dad Steve, me, my host dad Jan, and Janka
12. Me with the cooks at Hybe school: Sona and Zuzka.
13. Me and Jake in Liptovsky Hradok
14. Me & Zuzka in her classroom, at the boys school I help teach at in Liptovsky Hradok.
15. Me and my host sisters!
16. The whole group, the two families: host dad Jan, brother Jake, dad Steve, me, host mom Jana, host sister Janka, host sister Katka, and Starka.
17. Cross emblem on the Slovak flag's Coat of Arms.
1. Me hanging out with Zuzka's son Marek, making stupid faces.
2. Group picture from when Kristen came to visit. Me, Zuzka, Marek, and Kristen
3. Youth Choir rehersal
4. Me with the sheep! This is out back behind my house family's house.
5. My host mom with the family milk cow.
6. Bryndzové halusky, in the making. This is traditional Slovak food (halusky are potato dumplings, and Bryndza is a type of sheep's cheese, and fried bacon bits are also put on top when it is served).
7. My mom and my host mom. The two moms!
8. Me, my dad, and brother, in the Bratislava airport when they arrived!
9. The Hybe primary school, where I help teach english.
10. Katka, Starka, me, and Janka
11. The daughters and dads: Katka, my dad Steve, me, my host dad Jan, and Janka
12. Me with the cooks at Hybe school: Sona and Zuzka.
13. Me and Jake in Liptovsky Hradok
14. Me & Zuzka in her classroom, at the boys school I help teach at in Liptovsky Hradok.
15. Me and my host sisters!
16. The whole group, the two families: host dad Jan, brother Jake, dad Steve, me, host mom Jana, host sister Janka, host sister Katka, and Starka.
17. Cross emblem on the Slovak flag's Coat of Arms.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
April Newsletter
Hello all! Happy spring! (Actually I feel a bit bad sending spring cheers, as you have had snow through this entire month…sorry about that.) The weather is finally getting warm, and it’s so exciting! All through winter I kept asking, “How warm is May, usually? How hot will it be in June? July?” Their weather here is supposed to be pretty comparable to our weather in Minnesota and Wisconsin, so I was hoping for really warm weather this summer. But the answers I kept getting weren’t so hopeful. “Um, well it actually never really gets THAT warm here” or, “It should be pretty warm by the end of July, or early August, around the time you’ll be leaving to go home.” That made me a bit disappointed, but I’m happy to report now that the weather has been pretty warm in the past few weeks! I’ve spent quite a few nice afternoons reading outside against our fence in the driveway path, sporting my big green sunglasses. My host mom and Starka think I’m a bit strange, and often come out to give me more towels or pillows to sit on, and ask me if I’m cold. I will really be tempted to drag a beach towel and lay out in the yard in a bathing suit with a book and my tunes, once the weather gets really hot, but then they make think I’m REALLY crazy. So we’ll see.
The process of getting to know the kids and teenagers in the youth group has been a bit slow and challenging at times, but it’s still going steadily. The pastor is always very encouraging and tells them that they must speak in English to me for practice, but they are still shy. I think they are afraid of speaking because they’re embarrassed of their English, therefore most of my communication with them is in Slovak. This is good practice for me, presents limitations obviously, but we are getting along better and better all the time. I had a really nice time playing with a group of kids last week at the playground equipment near the church. I played tag and hide and seek with them (which was pretty great, I haven’t done that in a LONG time!) and I learned 6 new names: Dominik, Marek, Filip, Tomas, Linda, and Dominika. They even tried to speak some English with me, which was quite exciting! I count that as a lot of progress. Their approaching me in Slovak is progress for sure too, but their attempts to speak with me in English really mean a lot to me. This coming week we will be going on a 3-day retreat together, so I’m looking forward to that opportunity to hang out with them, and will update you on how it goes next time!
I have also found another way to communicate with them this month (well, maybe the younger teens and children, more so than the older kids, but they still find it amusing too). I introduced my cheek flapping talent to them, and it’s gone over REALLY well! Haha! Who’d have thought some stupid useless talent would’ve come in so handy here? Not me, for sure. It’s a super impressive talent, let me tell you! (Or maybe not so much…:-P) When I was 14 and our family hosted a foreign exchange student (Yay Paarnaq!), she dazzled me with her cheek flapping abilities and inspired me to learn. And so I spent a lot of time practicing, and now I’ve passed it on in Slovakia. It’s been a really funny way to connect with the kids, and I’ll take whatever connection I can get! Some of the kids I’d never talked to before, the ones who were to nervous to approach me, now come up to me and smile and point to their cheeks, “Mozes?” (which means, “Can you?”) And then they giggle or smile. It’s pretty fun. I also do a nostril-sucking trick, but this one isn’t as popular (thankfully, because I usually feel lightheaded if I do it too much). Thanks God, for giving me the ability to do stupid things with my face! (Here is a picture of Radko’s reaction to my cheek flapping! :-)
My english classes are becoming more and more comfortable, so that’s exciting! I have some faithful regulars for my community classes now, especially for my beginner class. The same three come every week, and we have a pretty fun time together! It’s a nice challenge for me, speaking only Slovak while teaching them, and in return I get the chance to learn some things in Slovak from them. I really appreciate their willingness to learn the basics, and their enthusiasm with writing and practicing their notes. Their attitudes, and the informal and small class size make the classes really enjoyable! Also, my days teaching at the Liptovsky Hradok school (with the boys) have been really fun this month. I’ve spent a lot of class time helping the boys prepare for their conversation exams in May, having one-on-one conversations with them about various topics. If you’d like to read more about the funny times I’ve had there, please check out my blog and read “Giggly Boys.” I’m especially happy to be there because of the fun atmosphere and because of how much fun I have with Zuzka! She’s a riot.
I got together with volunteers a few different times this month. Kristen came to visit for a nice weekend! We spent most of it with Zuzka, taking her boys for a hike, and she also came to both Mladis and Dorast youth group meetings with me. Also, some of us met up in Secovce (near Kosice) for a weekend to visit Mary. We spent some time with the pastor she works with, Mariana, and had dinner with her family. I had the chance to participate in a Bible study in English (led by Mary), which was really exciting! After Easter, I was feeling especially frustrated with the language barrier at church, so I really appreciated that time, as well as the English church service we went to in Kosice! At the service, we got to meet some other volunteers from the ELCA (volunteers of all ages), which was really fun! They aren’t here through the Young Adults in Global Mission Program, but through the ELCA teaching program. We had the chance to visit with them during fellowship time at the church, as well as visit their apartment afterwards. It was fun to meet more Americans (some from Wisconsin!) and share experiences about living here long-term (most of them have been here longer than a year).
Something that has been a bit strange for me in this past month or so is the attention I’ve been getting in the area. Everyone keeps telling me that I’m such a “celebrity” now, because in the last two months I’ve been featured in the church magazine “Zvon,” in the city newspaper, in the Liptov newspaper (the newspaper that covers the bigger region), as well as the country-wide newspaper for educators and school members. My picture has been in all of these, articles of information, interviews with me, as well as interviews with my family (from when they came to visit in March). I’ve met people on the street, and they tell me, “Ah, I saw your article and picture! I know who you are!” It’s a bit strange. I guess it’s pretty common for foreign volunteers to come to Slovakia to teach English, but they are usually only sent to Bratislava or Kosice, to the bigger cities. It’s really rare for a small village to have a native speaker around to help with English classes, or to attend church activities. I’m pretty grateful that I’m in a smaller community (although I admit it’s challenging at times, coming straight from Minneapolis, which I loved so much) because the relationships and experiences I have here will be much more personal. I have the opportunity to get to know people really well, I feel safe and looked after, and the atmosphere is just cozier than it would be in a city.
Also, one thing I wanted to tell you about is something that happened in March, but I thought I would save it for my April newsletter: my family (Mom, Dad, and Jake) came to visit me here in Slovakia!!! :) It was so amazing to see them, and sometimes now it doesn’t even seem like they were really here, a bit hard to believe. They were here for about a week, and it was a whirlwind, but really fantastic! We spent a few days in Hybe, where they had the opportunity to meet my host family (my mom even made Halusky, the traditional food of Slovakia, with my host mom and grandma!), Zuzka and her family, the pastor and his family, as well as many other people from the church and community. They had the opportunity to visit both of the schools I help teach at, see both the adult and youth choirs reherse, sit in on a Lent church service, have dinner with 3 different families, and have hot chocolate at an old castle-made-restaurant. After our time in Hybe, we traveled to Koseca to visit the people and places from my first placement. It was really special that they met people from both parts of my year, and that they were able to see so many things during their time here.
In Koseca (and the area around it) they were able to see the nursing home where I worked and lived, meet some of the nurses, residents, and Zuzka! (And of course, Frankie the bird too.) We went to visit Obchodna Akademia in Ilava, where I first helped teach english, and met with the teachers and the headmaster of the school. We even went into a few of the classrooms while class was in session! They let the students ask my family some questions, and it was pretty entertaining. We also met other friends and people in my life from Dubnica, and then we were on our way again. We next traveled to Bratislava and spent the night there, getting a little taste of Slovakia’s capitol, and took a day trip to Vienna, Austria the next day. In Vienna we tried some fun restaurants, toured the Belvedere Palace, saw the St. Stephens and St. Peters cathedrals, and were able to tour the city center for awhile. We all had a great time together, and it really meant a lot to me that all four of us could be together! We ended the exciting, jam-packed week with a goodbye in Bratislava, and although goodbyes are always hard, it was much more content than the first time. I’m quite excited to see them again on August 19th in Minneapolis! :-)
Although we had no prompt this month for a question to respond to, I thought I would add a few thoughts to last month’s question. “ How is your leadership shaped by the crosscultural or multicultural experience you are facing?“ My response to this would be that it has been shaped into something completely different than I’ve ever had to deal with, because of the language barrier challenge. I’ve felt so frustrated at times because it has been a bit impossible to be a leader (in a traditional way). I would really like to help teach Sunday school classes, or sometimes lead a discussion at a youth group meeting, but the language barrier prevents me from doing so. It has been difficult, trying to think of myself as a leader in this context. I guess my leadership role, in this way, can be filled only with actions and the example that I set with my attitude. It’s not exactly the way I had imagined “leading“ when I was preparing for this year of service, but it has taught me to think outside of the box.
From this prompt, also, I got to thinking about leadership within the communities I’ve served in this year. It is always valuable life experience to work with different types of leaders, watch them, learn from them. This has been a unique experience, in that I’ve had the chance to work with religious leaders this year. I’ve worked near or with pastors in both of my placements and have had two really different experiences. During orientation we were told, “You’re probably going into this year thinking, ‘I don’t have any expections‘ but it’s not true. You all have expectations, whether you think you do or not“ and I’ve found that to be true in many different cases. One being the attitude and leadership of pastors. I had an interesting conversation with my fellow YAGM volunteers about this topic, and some agreed that they’ve had similar reactions to the pastor’s they’re around. I think it really has been great life experience, seeing how different religious leaders approach their communities, their jobs, and how their attitudes reflects their actions.
Ok, well this is quite long, so I better wrap it up. Thanks so much for reading this, for your support! I ask you to also check out my blog when/if you get a chance. I’m trying to be more consistant with adding blog entries, and knowing that you guys are reading them makes me excited (and gives me the energy to write even more)! I hope this finds you well! Thanks again :-D
God Bless,
Ashley
The process of getting to know the kids and teenagers in the youth group has been a bit slow and challenging at times, but it’s still going steadily. The pastor is always very encouraging and tells them that they must speak in English to me for practice, but they are still shy. I think they are afraid of speaking because they’re embarrassed of their English, therefore most of my communication with them is in Slovak. This is good practice for me, presents limitations obviously, but we are getting along better and better all the time. I had a really nice time playing with a group of kids last week at the playground equipment near the church. I played tag and hide and seek with them (which was pretty great, I haven’t done that in a LONG time!) and I learned 6 new names: Dominik, Marek, Filip, Tomas, Linda, and Dominika. They even tried to speak some English with me, which was quite exciting! I count that as a lot of progress. Their approaching me in Slovak is progress for sure too, but their attempts to speak with me in English really mean a lot to me. This coming week we will be going on a 3-day retreat together, so I’m looking forward to that opportunity to hang out with them, and will update you on how it goes next time!
I have also found another way to communicate with them this month (well, maybe the younger teens and children, more so than the older kids, but they still find it amusing too). I introduced my cheek flapping talent to them, and it’s gone over REALLY well! Haha! Who’d have thought some stupid useless talent would’ve come in so handy here? Not me, for sure. It’s a super impressive talent, let me tell you! (Or maybe not so much…:-P) When I was 14 and our family hosted a foreign exchange student (Yay Paarnaq!), she dazzled me with her cheek flapping abilities and inspired me to learn. And so I spent a lot of time practicing, and now I’ve passed it on in Slovakia. It’s been a really funny way to connect with the kids, and I’ll take whatever connection I can get! Some of the kids I’d never talked to before, the ones who were to nervous to approach me, now come up to me and smile and point to their cheeks, “Mozes?” (which means, “Can you?”) And then they giggle or smile. It’s pretty fun. I also do a nostril-sucking trick, but this one isn’t as popular (thankfully, because I usually feel lightheaded if I do it too much). Thanks God, for giving me the ability to do stupid things with my face! (Here is a picture of Radko’s reaction to my cheek flapping! :-)
My english classes are becoming more and more comfortable, so that’s exciting! I have some faithful regulars for my community classes now, especially for my beginner class. The same three come every week, and we have a pretty fun time together! It’s a nice challenge for me, speaking only Slovak while teaching them, and in return I get the chance to learn some things in Slovak from them. I really appreciate their willingness to learn the basics, and their enthusiasm with writing and practicing their notes. Their attitudes, and the informal and small class size make the classes really enjoyable! Also, my days teaching at the Liptovsky Hradok school (with the boys) have been really fun this month. I’ve spent a lot of class time helping the boys prepare for their conversation exams in May, having one-on-one conversations with them about various topics. If you’d like to read more about the funny times I’ve had there, please check out my blog and read “Giggly Boys.” I’m especially happy to be there because of the fun atmosphere and because of how much fun I have with Zuzka! She’s a riot.
I got together with volunteers a few different times this month. Kristen came to visit for a nice weekend! We spent most of it with Zuzka, taking her boys for a hike, and she also came to both Mladis and Dorast youth group meetings with me. Also, some of us met up in Secovce (near Kosice) for a weekend to visit Mary. We spent some time with the pastor she works with, Mariana, and had dinner with her family. I had the chance to participate in a Bible study in English (led by Mary), which was really exciting! After Easter, I was feeling especially frustrated with the language barrier at church, so I really appreciated that time, as well as the English church service we went to in Kosice! At the service, we got to meet some other volunteers from the ELCA (volunteers of all ages), which was really fun! They aren’t here through the Young Adults in Global Mission Program, but through the ELCA teaching program. We had the chance to visit with them during fellowship time at the church, as well as visit their apartment afterwards. It was fun to meet more Americans (some from Wisconsin!) and share experiences about living here long-term (most of them have been here longer than a year).
Something that has been a bit strange for me in this past month or so is the attention I’ve been getting in the area. Everyone keeps telling me that I’m such a “celebrity” now, because in the last two months I’ve been featured in the church magazine “Zvon,” in the city newspaper, in the Liptov newspaper (the newspaper that covers the bigger region), as well as the country-wide newspaper for educators and school members. My picture has been in all of these, articles of information, interviews with me, as well as interviews with my family (from when they came to visit in March). I’ve met people on the street, and they tell me, “Ah, I saw your article and picture! I know who you are!” It’s a bit strange. I guess it’s pretty common for foreign volunteers to come to Slovakia to teach English, but they are usually only sent to Bratislava or Kosice, to the bigger cities. It’s really rare for a small village to have a native speaker around to help with English classes, or to attend church activities. I’m pretty grateful that I’m in a smaller community (although I admit it’s challenging at times, coming straight from Minneapolis, which I loved so much) because the relationships and experiences I have here will be much more personal. I have the opportunity to get to know people really well, I feel safe and looked after, and the atmosphere is just cozier than it would be in a city.
Also, one thing I wanted to tell you about is something that happened in March, but I thought I would save it for my April newsletter: my family (Mom, Dad, and Jake) came to visit me here in Slovakia!!! :) It was so amazing to see them, and sometimes now it doesn’t even seem like they were really here, a bit hard to believe. They were here for about a week, and it was a whirlwind, but really fantastic! We spent a few days in Hybe, where they had the opportunity to meet my host family (my mom even made Halusky, the traditional food of Slovakia, with my host mom and grandma!), Zuzka and her family, the pastor and his family, as well as many other people from the church and community. They had the opportunity to visit both of the schools I help teach at, see both the adult and youth choirs reherse, sit in on a Lent church service, have dinner with 3 different families, and have hot chocolate at an old castle-made-restaurant. After our time in Hybe, we traveled to Koseca to visit the people and places from my first placement. It was really special that they met people from both parts of my year, and that they were able to see so many things during their time here.
In Koseca (and the area around it) they were able to see the nursing home where I worked and lived, meet some of the nurses, residents, and Zuzka! (And of course, Frankie the bird too.) We went to visit Obchodna Akademia in Ilava, where I first helped teach english, and met with the teachers and the headmaster of the school. We even went into a few of the classrooms while class was in session! They let the students ask my family some questions, and it was pretty entertaining. We also met other friends and people in my life from Dubnica, and then we were on our way again. We next traveled to Bratislava and spent the night there, getting a little taste of Slovakia’s capitol, and took a day trip to Vienna, Austria the next day. In Vienna we tried some fun restaurants, toured the Belvedere Palace, saw the St. Stephens and St. Peters cathedrals, and were able to tour the city center for awhile. We all had a great time together, and it really meant a lot to me that all four of us could be together! We ended the exciting, jam-packed week with a goodbye in Bratislava, and although goodbyes are always hard, it was much more content than the first time. I’m quite excited to see them again on August 19th in Minneapolis! :-)
Although we had no prompt this month for a question to respond to, I thought I would add a few thoughts to last month’s question. “ How is your leadership shaped by the crosscultural or multicultural experience you are facing?“ My response to this would be that it has been shaped into something completely different than I’ve ever had to deal with, because of the language barrier challenge. I’ve felt so frustrated at times because it has been a bit impossible to be a leader (in a traditional way). I would really like to help teach Sunday school classes, or sometimes lead a discussion at a youth group meeting, but the language barrier prevents me from doing so. It has been difficult, trying to think of myself as a leader in this context. I guess my leadership role, in this way, can be filled only with actions and the example that I set with my attitude. It’s not exactly the way I had imagined “leading“ when I was preparing for this year of service, but it has taught me to think outside of the box.
From this prompt, also, I got to thinking about leadership within the communities I’ve served in this year. It is always valuable life experience to work with different types of leaders, watch them, learn from them. This has been a unique experience, in that I’ve had the chance to work with religious leaders this year. I’ve worked near or with pastors in both of my placements and have had two really different experiences. During orientation we were told, “You’re probably going into this year thinking, ‘I don’t have any expections‘ but it’s not true. You all have expectations, whether you think you do or not“ and I’ve found that to be true in many different cases. One being the attitude and leadership of pastors. I had an interesting conversation with my fellow YAGM volunteers about this topic, and some agreed that they’ve had similar reactions to the pastor’s they’re around. I think it really has been great life experience, seeing how different religious leaders approach their communities, their jobs, and how their attitudes reflects their actions.
Ok, well this is quite long, so I better wrap it up. Thanks so much for reading this, for your support! I ask you to also check out my blog when/if you get a chance. I’m trying to be more consistant with adding blog entries, and knowing that you guys are reading them makes me excited (and gives me the energy to write even more)! I hope this finds you well! Thanks again :-D
God Bless,
Ashley
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