Home at Last!

Well,...I'm HOME! :-)

I left Slovakia and arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota as scheduled on August 18th, a week ago today! Apologies for the delay in writing, and for the lack of blogs all summer. I still fully intend to post more blogs, and to write and post an August newsletter, so I hope you will still check back with me from time to time. I have a lot of things I would still like to tell you about, and now have the time to write to you all! So I'm not finished yet...check back in with me sometime soon! :-)

The big "coming home" was really exciting!! My day on the 18th of August started early, at about 4 am. (The goodbye in Slovakia was really difficult, but a memorable experience in itself. I will also write about that later.) I arrived at the airport around 4:15, checked my bags and went through security, and then I was on my way! My first flight was about an hour, Bratislava, Slovakia to Munich, Germany. Following a pretty reasonable wait there, my second flight was from Munich, Germany to Chicago. The O'Hare was stressful and crazy...BUT I managed to successfully get off my previous flight, go through customs and security checks, collect my bags, recheck my bags at a new airline, take the tram to the other side of the airport, go through security again, RUN to my flight gate, and make my flight. I had about an hour and 20 minutes to do all of this, and I had doubts I would even make the flight. Even the desk assistants I talked to at the O'Hare were like "No, you're not going to make that...here's the next flight time." But luckily, my flight departed nine minutes later than originally stated, so I lucked out and made it! Phew!

When I got to Minnesota, I was welcomed by my parents, my brother Jake, my best friends from college Megan and Kerry, one of my best friends from high school Chris, and my aunt and cousin Wendy and Brianna. Wow, so many people to welcome me!! It was really fun, and they had balloons and welcome signs (in both English and Slovak even)! We stood around in a big circle for over an hour talking, it was so exciting!!I'm really lucky. I've been so blessed in my life, and days like these (that remind me of that in a big way) are wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming.

It feels strange, but wonderful to be home. I'm SO happy to see all of the familiar faces, and I'm having a great time catching up with everyone! It's still all a bit overwhelming, and being home still feels really new. I'm curious as to how I will feel a month down the road. I'm currently organizing my life (and my room), job searching (anyone have any suggestions for me, writing/editing/publishing related, in the twin cities area?), but mostly just spending time with my family and friends. And still working on sleeping off the jet lag, believe it or not.

Ok, well I will be in touch again soon! Happy Monday!
-Ashley

July Newsletter

(*Pictured: Me, Zuzka, Kristen and Jessica, before the Vychodna Festival Parade started. This is Zuzka’s relative in his traditional village costume, displaying artwork in his yard. The second photo is a group of folklore singers who performed in the parade.)

Life in Hybe
Ashley Severson, Young Adult in Global Mission
July Newsletter

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your summers and seeing a lot of the sun! Haha, sort of funny to use a sun as my logo for this newsletter. It was chilly and rained through MOST of July, a little crazy! But everyone was grateful, for the most part, because the gardens and crops needed it. Anyways, so this was my last full month in Slovakia. I thought it would be a bit difficult to fill my time, because all of English classes finished in June, but I was wrong! This month was extremely busy too!

The first weekend in July was the Folklore Festival in Vychodna, packed with traditional Slovak folk dancing and singing, fairytales, food, crafts, and more. This festival is the most famous in Slovakia, and I was really lucky to be SO close to it! Vychodna is one of Hybe’s neighboring villages, only about 6 kilometers away. So did I enjoy my time at the festival? Well, I think one of my new life goals is to become a Slovak folk dancer and come back to this festival to perform. Ha! I enjoyed everything a great deal, but most of all the dancing. I went to one of the children’s fairytales, called “Chin Chin” and it was fun! The fairytale is about two birds that fall in love. The boy bird is lazy and irresponsible, and when the two birds fall in love their parents aren’t happy with their wish to get married. The parents think that they are too young and that the boy bird will not be able to properly support his new wife, and they were right. The two newlywed birds can’t find a place to live, food to eat, and everything falls apart because the boy bird is so irresponsible in providing for her. The story ends with him learning his lesson, the two fixing their lives and the boy bird learning how to take care of his wife. (This made me think…I feel like American fairytales are usually about girls wanting a boy, and in the end getting what they want. And Slovak fairytales are about being domestic. Do we have a lot of fairytales about being domestic? Hmm.) I also ate a lot of langose at the festival (fried dough with garlic, cheese, tartar sauce and ketchup).

I went to 3 of the main stage performances for folk dancing: the first on Saturday evening with a variety of different types of dancing, some singing, and a few bands; the second on Sunday morning, featuring other international dancing and/or singing performances, from the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, and Italy; the third on Sunday afternoon, which was another variety show of different styles of dancing and singing. All of the costumes from every performance were so detailed and fantastic! I think I spent about half of the time at the festival looking through my camera lens, but everything was just great and photogenic, so it was worth it to keep those memories. During the festival time I also got to meet up with my volunteer friends Jessica and Kristen, and we went with Zuzka to her parents’ house. They were so welcoming and nice as always, and it’s always great to see them! I enjoy them a lot. We went to watch the parade together, which was a collection of representatives from different villages and cities all over Slovakia. They were all dressed in traditional costume, and either dancing or singing, or both. Zuzka showed us which performers were from which villages (she could tell because of the costume designs…every village or city has an individual design), and explained that Hybe doesn’t actually have its own traditional costume because it has technically been considered a town instead of a village since quite a ways back. While we were watching the parade, I even was able to recognize the melody of a few Slovak songs and sing along (ok, mumble, because I didn’t know the words) to some of them, with Zuzka and her dad! Good times! :-) The whole weekend there was just great! I was really happy for the opportunity to be there and see everything, and I hope to make it back to the festival again someday.





(*Pictured: The main stage at the Festival’s finishing ceremony, with all of the performers gathered together on stage. The second photo is one of the performing groups at the Vychodna Folklore Festival.)

In the middle of July we had children’s camp! (detsky tabor) Wow, what a week! It started on Sunday afternoon right after church and ran until Thursday afternoon. It was BUSY let me tell you! And we (me, my host sisters, and other girls from the youth group who helped for the week) slept at the parsonage all week instead of going home. We had about 23 kids for the week, arriving at 8 or 9 am and returning home at 8 or 9 in the evening. The camp had an Indian theme, which was really fun! We made Indian hats and clothes and put up a teepee (which we decorated ourselves with paint beforehand). We also had competitions for age groups to see who could “retreat” the quickest. When we heard the theme song from the popular German film “Winnetou,” every kid and volunteer started screaming and running to the home base position, and the first group with all of its members to line-up won points. (Everyone was shocked when I said I had never even heard of this film before camp.) We also each had nametags with our own Indian name for the week. Some had traditional Indian-type names, like “Biela Kvet” (white flower), and some just names without meaning. Mine was one of those, it was “Harka,” and I liked it! Remembering so many kids’ names in Slovak is difficult enough, so trying to remember their Slovak Indian names proved to be pretty challenging, but I managed.

Some of the activities we did were: going to a cave together near Liptovsky Mikulas, going to a small swimming pool in Hybe together, having parents/family night on the 2nd and 4th nights of camp, relay races, bow shooting contests, games (a lot of soccer), arts and crafts (designing our Indian costumes, painting the teepee, and drawing/coloring), a scavenger hunt in town (going from house to house and getting people to donate funny things for our competition), singing, watching films (cartoons and the film “Winnetou” and saying table grace in like 4 different ways (clapping and holding hands, short songs, long songs, spoken word). The family nights were really a fun time, with lots of singing and games involving both kids and parents together. For one of the games at the first family night, the pastor told parents to find their kids in the circle and stand by them and my host mom came up to me and was like “my kid!” It was really sweet.

Other thoughts about camp: One of my favorite things I did at camp was playing badminton with little Dominik (8)…he’s a sweet boy, and we had a nice time playing together. Another favorite activity for me that week was going to the swimming pool. It was TOTAL chaos because the pool was a bit small, and there were almost 30 of us in it between volunteers and kids. It was quite loud, and there were all different ages (the cute 4 and 5 year olds with floaties trying to swim next to the rowdy 12 and 13 year old boys trying to nail each other with balls), but I had a great time! I really appreciated it because I could have fun with them more easily with the language barrier. Swimming is swimming, and you don’t have to communicate much to have a good time (even when we wanted to it was difficult, because it was so loud). I was able to have a good time with everybody: talking with the other volunteers and some of the kids, playing catch with the older kids, helping the younger kids float around, catching the younger kids in the pool, etc. I’m really happy that children’s camp was towards the end of my time here, because my Slovak was at its best. Any time before that and it would’ve been that more difficult to understand/communicate with them, but I think things went pretty well! I’m constantly amazed by our pastor and how energetic he is, and how wonderful his attitude is about participation and everything. I think this community is extremely lucky to have him!

Some highlights from the month have been: Remember my mention of Ester being born in June? Well, she was baptized at our church in July! Their baptismal process is very similar to ours, including the sponsors coming to the front and them bringing the baby to the baptismal water and wetting the baby’s head. Zuzka’s friends from Canada (she was a nanny in Vancouver for 3 years for this family, and the mother and daughter both) came to Hybe to visit for a few weeks (Pat and Lauren). It was such a pleasure to meet and get to know them, sightsee with them a bit (we even had the chance to go up to the top of our church and see the old bells!), and see them together with Zuzka. After losing touch with each other for about 10 years, I think it meant a lot to all of them to be together again and make new memories. For our children’s summer camp program, my host sisters and a few other girls from our youth group filmed fairytales for the kids to watch each night. It was pretty hilarious to get in on the filming action, watch them dress up and be crazy, and to see the finished product. (My favorite one stars my sisters, both dressed as bumblebees.) Lubo did an awesome job putting everything together! I hope I will be bringing a copy home to show all of you, because it’s pretty entertaining. The fairytales were all imitations of popular Slovak cartoons, so I learned of a few more shows here.

A challenge I’ve had in July, since school and everything ended, is that I haven’t felt very productive. I’ve been quite busy still, but without school to help at and other regularly scheduled activities, I’ve felt a bit guilty. I have had so many great experiences this summer, and I feel like the more I want to help with things, the less I can. In fact, it’s opposite, which has been true for a lot of this year actually. Everyone here is always helping me and making my experiences amazing all of the time, and sometimes I wish I could reciprocate more. This goes back to the feelings I had this winter too, about wanting to be “productive,” but I am still learning time and time again that it isn’t the “work” that has made this year what it is…it is the fantastic people. My greatest hope is that I have helped make their experiences great, and that their memories with me are as good as mine are with them.

Another challenge I’ve had this month is the sadness I feel from only being able to stay in Hybe for about eight months. I really feel that God put me at my first placement for a reason, and I know many benefits from being there, and met many fantastic people there too, but Hybe REALLY feels like my home in Slovakia. In spite of feeling that God put me in Koseca for four months for a reason, I still can’t help feeling frustrated. A part of me is selfish and upset that I won’t experience a full year here in Hybe. Because I’m heading home in August, I will miss my host family’s cousin’s wedding. I will miss four more months that I could’ve had talking, acting stupid and laughing with Zuzka. I’m not even sure what I’ll do without her. And a Christmas with all of them, with my host family, who have become like an extension of my own family in the past 7 months. And some of their birthdays and name days that I originally should’ve been here for, if I had spent my entire year here. So sometimes, even though I think I understand, I don’t really understand why. If only I had those months…but I don’t. My time to leave will come soon and I will be praying for peace of mind. I want to be less selfish and trust God and His reasons, though it may be difficult at times. I pray for this beyond this year too, in the rest of my life. I feel so much more prepared to do that after my year in Slovakia. Again, I thank everyone SO much for their support in helping me to do this. It has been amazing.

On that note, I’ll leave you until next month. Technically we don’t need to write an August newsletter, but I’m going to anyway. It just wouldn’t feel right to write only 11 newsletters for a year of adventures away from home. Hope you’re all doing well! If you get a chance, please check out my blog at ashleyrenslovak.blogspot.com.

Take care and God bless,
Ashley







(*Pictured (from left to right): 1. A group of girls at children’s camp: Emka, Beatka, Sarinka, Simonka, and Debi. 2. Some of the kids by our teepee and dressed in their Indian costumes. 3. John 3:16 puzzle in Slovak. We put it together outside, trying to pin down the pieces with rocks so the wind wouldn’t blow everything away. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...”)

June Newsletter

*Pictured: The stage set-up at the Christian music festival in Bratislava in Hlavne Namestie, a group photo during our hike in Slovenksy Raj: Linda, me, Jessica, Mary, Emilie, Mark, Kristen, Maike, and Anne.


June Newsletter

Hi everybody! As I write this, over half of the summer has already flown by. With each month that goes by, the time just keeps getting faster and faster! June was a jam-packed month, I hardly know where to start. I feel really blessed to be here, and feel more so with each month I spend here. I’m really excited to have my whole summer to spend here with these people, and to experience another (and the warmest, yay!) season in Slovakia. I guess I’ll start from the first day of June.

June was a month full of children’s choir performances, and June 1st was the opener in Brezno. The choir took a great trip to the city of Brezno to sing at a benefit concert. The concert was held for a young teenage girl who has many health problems and health care related expenses. We were one of many groups to perform in the Evangelical church, located in the park of the city’s main city square. We sang four songs for a very full church, and among the crowd were many parents and fans from Hybe that traveled with us by bus (including my host parents). This was one of my favorite performances with the choir, because the atmosphere was really fun. My host mom started clapping at the start of one of our songs and got the whole church to join in within a few seconds, and people everywhere were rooting for us and smiling. It was a great time! Another highlight of this year was our performance in Bratislava. At the end of June our children’s choir took a trip to Slovakia’s capital city to take part in a Christian music festival, Stretnutie Krestanov. We took part in the all-day festival in the city’s main square, Hlavne Namestie, along with many other choirs from around the country. We sang about 8 songs on the big stage for hundreds of people gathered in the square, and we had a blast! Our pastor’s brother-in-law is a pastor as well, and his choir invited us on stage to sing one song with them, which was also great! Their choir also sang the theme song to the popular cartoon show “Krtko,” which was fun and went over really well with all of the kids. I was really happy to see so many parents and friends from Hybe again, everyone is so supportive of us.

Another performance we had, the night before, was at a church in a small village in Jahrndorf, Austria (from Bratislava we drove over the border, it was a short trip). This was a nice night too, and maybe the most fun part for me was that it was in Austria and everyone was speaking German. It was exciting to cross the border with everybody, and to be there when everyone started freaking out. “AH! I don’t speak German, does anybody else speak it? I can’t understand anything! How do we know what to do?” I think it helped some of the kids relate to me a bit better, when I explained that this feeling of being lost in a language was something I experienced on a daily basis for quite awhile when I first came to Slovakia. After the performance, we were invited to the local park shelter for a big potluck-style dinner, and it was delicious! And finally, our children’s choir also performed at a regional festival in the village of Liptovsky Jan. As I’ve explained before in my blog, Slovaks celebrate name days, and the 24th of June marks the name Jan (American version is John) on the Slovak calendar. (My host dad’s name is Jan!) So in celebration of the name day Jan (a big day, because Jan is one of the most popular names in the country), many surrounding villages join together to have a choir festival at the church in Liptovsky Jan (village is chosen because of the name). A great time was had by all. Singing in the children’s choir has been one of my favorite things to do this year, and I have a lot of new memories from June.

In June we had our last official volunteer meeting, a seminar in Slovenksy Raj (Slovak Paradise). The whole group met together for about four days, spending time catching up, hiking, and doing some end of the year evaluations. We also had the opportunity to meet our program’s new coordinator, Nata. We had a really nice time together, as we always do, and it was sad to say goodbye to each other at the end of it. We have grown into a little family, and each other’s support systems, and it was the last opportunity to be all together. But I think we took great advantage of it, and had a great last few days together. We spent an entire day out hiking in Slovensky Raj, took other walks, had great food, swapped photos and stories, and shared a worship service together. We talked a lot about our process of readjusting back to American or German cultures and the reality of coming home, and how we could continue to rely on each other for support. I think it will be a really challenging experience for everyone, and all of our experiences will be quite different, I think. I look forward to keeping in touch with them in the future, and seeing the American volunteers again at our retreat in October! :-) And we spent time at the retreat planning reunions for further down the road, where we could get together and reminisce, try to speak Slovak (if we remember any at that point), and eat the great Slovak food we’re going to miss.

Some other random highlights for the month: I did some traveling in the Czech Republic after our final volunteer retreat; to Prague with 3 of my volunteer friends, and to Pilsen (Plzen) on my own. Pilsen was especially exciting because I have ancestors on my mom’s side of the family that came from there. They left in the 1880’s, moving to the U.S., arriving in New York. I have no surviving relatives left there, but it was a really fun opportunity for me to go to the city and explore. I really enjoyed it. Lubo and Katka Suchtarova (a family active in the congregation, both are in charge of technical aspects of our worship services and the church’s website) had a baby girl! They named her Ester, and she is their second child (the first, their son Timothy who is 2 years old). This month my host sisters and I have made big events out of watching the American movies they play on cable during the weekend evenings, watching them together both at home and at my host family’s relatives’ house across the village. Some highlights this month: Garfield, Shall We Dance, High School Musical 1 and 2, The Prince and Me, and Titanic. It’s been really fun to look in the weekly magazine/television guide and look forward to them! It helps me a lot too, because I know the films in English, and therefore know the context, which helps me to try and understand the Slovak or Czech language dubbing.

One of my best friends/roommates from college, Megan, came to visit me here in Slovakia, and I was able to bring her to both Bratislava and Hybe to meet my host family and others in the community. I was happy to show her what my life has been like this year, the people in it that are so important to me, and to show her how much progress I’ve made with the Slovak language. She has a lot of experience learning languages, so it was fun for me to have her here to relate to. I also had the chance to really get to know another family, the Lofajovci family (Zuzka’s in-laws), because Zuzka Lofajova (the mother) needed to learn English for her new job. I’ve been going over to their house a few times a week to teach her basic English words and phrases that are related to hotel reception. It has been really fun to get to know her and her family better: her husband Marian, her older son Mato (18), her daughter Simona (15), and her younger son Filip (7). Zuzka and Simona’s English has gotten better, and having conversations and trying to teach Zuzka in Slovak has helped me tremendously too. I finished teaching at both of the schools and had nice last days at both. In Hybe, the English teachers I work with and all of the students from grades 5-9 put on a small ceremony to say goodbye to me. It was really sweet! The oldest class even sang a song they prepared for me in English: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! In June. I don’t know why, but I loved it!

I will be in touch again soon with an update for July! As always, I thank you kindly for your support in keeping up with my adventures!! If you get a chance, please check out my blog at ashleyrenslovak.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Peace and love,
Ashley





*Pictured: Me in Prague (with the Castle in the background, standing next to St. Charles Bridge), and one of my favorite shots from Pilsen. This is in the main square, near St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral.

Novomanzelia Zuzka and Martin

Today I attended a Slovak wedding, and it was beautiful! I want to say congratulations to the newlyweds (novomanzelia) Martin and Zuzka (previously Ziskova) Pivkova. In Slovakia, the woman and men have the same base for a surname, but the woman's name always ends in "ova." The ceremony was held at the Evangelical church in Hybe today at 4:00 and it was very nice! Zuzka looked beautiful, she had one of the most unique and gorgeous wedding dresses I've ever seen! I attended the wedding as a guest (I'm friends with Zuzka, and have only met Martin one time...don't know him very well, but he's very nice!), and also Mladis (our youth group, which Zuzka is a very active part of) sang! It was really fun! We rehearsed last night and prepared the sound system in the church, and then practiced again today before the ceremony, and I must say that I think we sounded really nice! They gave me a cheat sheet, luckily, so I didn't have to try and memorize all of the Slovak lyrics. The name of the song we sang was "Piesen pre Michaelu" (Song for Michael) by Kompromis, and it's a really great song. I will be bringing a copy of it back home with me, and would love for all of you to hear it! We sang it because Zuzka really loves the song, and the group. I sang with my host sisters, the pastor, and 7 others. The chorus translates to something like this:

"There's only one way we want to go,
only You, God, You show us the light,
we can only come towards You,
for You we have hearts that beat."

From what I saw at my Slovak wedding experience, I think that Slovak and American weddings are quite similar. But there are of course differences, most of all in the events that take place before the ceremony itself starts. In traditional Slovak weddings, the groom's company (his family and close friends) accompany him to the house of his fiance. In the house, the man officially asks permission again to marry and take their daughter. After permission is given, the new bride and groom, along with their families and friends, all walk in a procession to the church. Some of us were waiting at the church already, but a majority of the wedding guests came with the processional group. They played "Here Comes the Bride" loudly on the organ as the guests entered the church. The song finished just as Zuzka the bride started to walk down the aisle, and softer music played in the background as she walked toward the front. She was linked in arms with her dad, and Martin also walked down the aisle in front of her, linked in arms with his mom (what I assumed, anyway).

The ceremony started with a small sermon from the pastor, and the couple stood at the beginning of the aisle as they listened, maybe 15-20 feet behind. After Pastor was finished, they moved up closer to the front and kneeled at the altar. There they repeated their vows, individually and some were said together, and eventually exchanged rings. After the rings were exchanged, the Mladis youth group sang the song while Martin and Zuzka looked on. Next, Pastor took Martin and Zuzka over to a table set up in the front corner, and together they signed the marriage license documents together. Also Martin's brother and Zuzka's cousin (they didn't have bridesmaids or groomsmen) signed because they were the two witnesses who stood behind the couple for part of the ceremony. As the ceremony finished the organ played the traditional song that we play at the end of weddings, and Martin and Zuzka led everyone out of the church. Like our weddings, the couple waited outside the door so that everyone could congratulate them on their way out. When I went through I congratulated Zuzka in English (her English is pretty good!), and I wasn't sure if Martin spoke any English, so I asked a friend how I should properly congratulate him. I said in Slovak, "I wish you much happiness with Zuzka," and kissed both him and Zuzka on the cheeks (traditional way to greet and/or congratulate each other). Martin smiled at me and said, "Thank you very much!" in English! It was nice. They are a really sweet couple together.

When everyone had made it through the line, the bridge and groom left the gates of the church and got into their car, which was decorated with white ribbons. Traditional folk music was playing in the background as they got in, and as they walked out people threw cukriky (candies) at them (like we would throw bird seed, or blow bubbles). They also had a bus waiting behind the get-a-way car for the family members and close friends of the couple. They proceeded on to a celebration/dinner party. One difference between American and Slovak wedding traditions is that for Slovak weddings, many people attend the ceremony, but only close friends and family celebrate afterwards at a party. At the ceremony, the people in the processional sat in the pews at the front, as well as on the side pews, and there were many people up in the balcony watching over. The people in the balcony weren't personally invited by the couple, but still attended the wedding to watch, and they were all up in the balcony casually dressed.

I made a card in English to give to Zuzka and Martin (along with Zuzka Ziskova..they both used to be Zuzka Ziskova until today, but now it's Zuzka Ziskova and Zuzka Pivkova...confusing...), and it had a poem in English, and another wedding greeting in English, as well as a sticker with a nice verse and quote. We also gave them pink flowers, and took photos together with Zuzka. Sweet! :-)

CONGRATULATIONS again to the newlyweds, Martin Pivko and Zuzka Pivkova!

Christmas in July

So tonight when I got home from my trip back to Koseca and Dubnica (to say goodbye to friends at my first placement), my host family and I had a really fun night together! We celebrated Christmas in July...SO much fun.

Because I was limited with space and couldn't manage to carry all of my luggage alone, I left a box of my things at Diakonia in Koseca with my friend Zuza. I grabbed the box and took it with me this time, as it was my last visit, and brought it back tonight when I came back to Hybe. A majority of the box was filled with Christmas things, the stuff I didn't need to bring with me when I changed placements. On the car ride home I told my family that I had a box they could look through and choose what they wanted to keep, and they got really excited! HURRY UP AND GET IN THE HOUSE!! :)

I opened the box and started bringing things out one by one to the kitchen, and everyone got excited for each thing I brought. I brought out: (most of the items sent to me from my parents) a baby Christmas Tree, small colored ornaments, beaded garland, little gingerbread men and women, silver bows, Santa stockings, an American flag Christmas bulb, a headband with two silver disco balls bouncing off the antennas (from my New Years Eve celebration in Spain), a Christmas card and bracelet, a nativity scene puzzle, a candle and candlerholder, a singing electronic bear that sings, and a Christmas cd with Christmas songs in English! After I showed them the Christmas songs in English, they grabbed an old cassette tape and we started to play Slovak Christmas tunes too! They had many of the same songs, and I tried to understand the translations. Their most popular is "Ticho Noc" which is "Silent Night" in English.

We had such a great time together, laughing and catching up after being apart for another week. We ate dry cocoa waffles (I bought them in Trencin and brought them home for everybody, they're a great snack, and really different from our waffles), looked at their old family photos, and decorated the Christmas tree together (mostly Janka and Katka did, while everyone else watched and admired). Good family bonding!