Little Debi and the Aleš Circus

I’m going to write about this amazing little girl named Debi. Her full name is Debora (our version is Deborah, pronounced a bit differently), and her nicknames are Deborka and Debi. I like to call her Debi. She is SO. CUTE. And I’m pretty sure she’s the sweetest 5-year old I’ve ever met. She is so smiley, so loving, and kind-spirited. She has this wide smile with a big gap in the front where she lost her teeth, and little baby teeth poking out on each side. Cute! Debi is Ada's (the pastor’s wife) niece. She has a twin sister, and Debi is the younger of her two daughters.

In late-May, I had the AWESOME opportunity to go to the circus!! The CIRCUS!! I don’t know why I find this so crazy exciting, but I do! My host sisters had mentioned it a few weeks earlier that they could get discounted tickets, and that maybe we would go. MAYBE?! Let’s go!! What a great cultural experience…the circus! I’ve only been to a circus one other time in my life, and that was the Shrine Circus in 4th grade. I remember having a pretty great time there too, but most of what I remember is the glow stick necklaces whipping through my dark surroundings, and the Shrine Circus sippy souvenir cup I got (which I still have, by the way…that thing has an amazing lifespan). Anyways, I was quite excited for a foreign circus experience, but mostly just excited for the circus in general. Because who doesn’t love the circus?

I was even more excited when I found out that I was going with my sisters AND Debi and Sara! We get to go to the circus, and get to hang out with cute kids at the circus! I’d met Debi before, and knew who she was, but hadn’t really gotten a chance to hang out with her. She immediately yelled, “Ashley!” and grabbed for my hand, and started talking about her new jumper shirt that she was excited about wearing. Her and Sara both grabbed my hands, which made me feel pretty special! They both know Katka and Janka much better, and they can actually talk with them, so their excitement in seeing and hanging out with me felt pretty great. They wanted to sit by me on the bus and we spent the whole bus ride talking about which animal words they knew in English, and they knew quite a few. Horse was their favorite, and we spent a bit practicing how to say that, and I practiced in Slovak too; “kon.”

The circus was set up in a big open field, blocked off by red trucks that said, “Circus Aleš.” The circus was in an actual circus tent, a pretty decently sized red, white, and blue striped tent! We were standing in line for tickets, and I was bouncing around all wide-eyed, and I think my host sisters thought I was a bit crazy. I was more excited to see the circus than the 4 and 5 year old. Janka told me that last year’s circus had been in Hybe (I was a bit surprised, because Hybe is so small), and that they had taken Sara and Debi then too. Sara had started crying almost instantly because she was scared of the animals, BUT I’m happy to report that she didn’t cry this year! (Although, she looked close for about the first 20 minutes.) Anyways, I had a great time! Such fun, and innocent fun, and TONS of kids everywhere laughing and smiling. We even ran into Marek and Radko (Zuzka’s boys) with their grandpa, and they looked like they were having a lot of fun too.

I think I would’ve had a pretty good time anyway, but watching the circus with Debi on my lap made it that much better! I got to hear and see her reactions to everything, and so many times she turned around with wide eyes to ask me questions. Let me tell you, with the exception of Easter services, I have never wanted to understand or be able to speak decent Slovak more! (I think I’m doing well and improving all the time, but still have SO much to learn.) When I cute little kid at the circus asks you questions, all excited, it’s SO frustrating not to be able to tell her things. I did understand parts of what she said, and a few times I didn’t have to tap Janka on the shoulder (every other time I did, so Janka could answer Debi’s questions). A few times I just nodded along and said, “Yeah? Good!” because I didn’t have the heart to break up her excitement with “Sorry, I don’t understand those words in Slovak.”

Debi really liked the horses and the ponies. The first act was 4 ponies running in circles together, and two of the ponies had monkeys riding them on the back. So funny! We both laughed. They had a dog performance, and this cute gray poodle dog started walking around on his hind legs, and I squealed a bit! Haha! Debi even turned around to laugh at me a bit; she probably thought I was a little crazy. They had ponies, horses, dogs, lamas, camels, snakes, and rabbits. I figured that this circus would have mostly animal tricks and shows, since it was in a tent outside and in a rural area, but they surprisingly had a LOT of gymnasts and acrobat acts! I was impressed. They had gymnasts swinging on ropes, tangling themselves in sheets and hanging from the ceiling in many positions, a girl juggling things with her feet in crazy positions, and they even had a knife thrower! The knife thrower threw knives around his assistant’s body, against a board. I’d never seen this before. (It made me think of the classic “I Love Lucy” episode, where she’s in that position.) It was a bit unsettling though, actually, because the woman assistant at the board looked terrified! She didn’t look calm or collected, and wasn’t really composed, and just looked really nervous. Yikes! I was kind of glad when that part was finished, to be honest. Anyways, the entertainment was really amazing, and they had a lot of it! They had an acrobat team of three younger guys (I would guess mid 20’s), and they were fantastic! They made me nervous too, actually. (I’m thinking more about their safety, rather than how cool it is that the three of them are stacked and balanced on ladders. I think I’m getting old! Hehe.) They did a catapult event even, and they shot one of the guys (who was on STILTS!) into the air backwards, and he landed on a floor pad! Whoa. During intermission Debi and I danced a little bit in the bleachers while we were waiting for the second part, and she told me about how she hates cotton candy.

After the circus we went for ice cream, and then headed back home. Janka, Katka, and I stayed for dinner at the pastor’s house and ate langose with Debi and Sara. Almost all through dinner I made faces at Debi, and she made faces at me, and we tried to imitate each other’s faces, and make weird noises. It was great fun! (Once again, being able to do stupid things with my face pays off.) Our night at the circus is one of the funnest things I’ve done this year in Slovakia, hands down.

The next night, while I was at the parsonage for a Dorast youth group meeting, and the youth group was sitting outside in a big circle. We had finished the Bible study and were just talking, hanging out, and I noticed that Debi had come out of the house. Almost everyone was engrossed in conversation (in Slovak, so I really wasn’t too engrossed), and Debi was just standing on the side of the circle with a scared and intimidated look on her face. She didn’t know almost anyone there (she doesn’t live in or near Hybe), and there were so many people, and I think she felt overwhelmed. After a minute I caught her glance and motioned for her to come over by me, and her nervous look turned into a huge smile and she started to run over to me. It was so sweet, and I’ll never forget it.


A few days after the circus I learned that Debi is sick, and has a kidney disease, and that she has spent SO many days of her short life in the hospital. A friend told me about her, “She has been in the hospital so MUCH, but she never complains. She just hugs her teddy bear, suffers quietly and takes it like a trooper.” She will probably continue to have health problems throughout her whole life, maybe problems working, or having children, or who knows what else. This just breaks my heart, and I wish such a young, sweet kid didn’t have to suffer. Does God have a reason for this? I don’t know. But it’s situations like this that are so confusing, and make me wonder that exact question. My prayer request this time is that you prayer for Debi to be healthy, safe, and happy! She deserves it.







Pictures (from top to bottom): Debi (blonde hair) and Sara at the circus, the outside of the Circus Ales, the inside of the circus tent, my host sisters (Janka on the left, Katka on the right), Debi, and Sara, after the circus and ice cream.

I've Lost the Ability to Speak English

Just wanted to inform you all that I may or may not be able to speak in English when I return back to the U.S. in August. The other day I said, “Thanks, I had really much fun.” A few other highlights of mine in the past few weeks, “This kind is expensiver,” “he is such a pesk” (an awkward combination of pesky and pest), and “it takes basicer math.” Also, the words “borrow” and “lend” have become interchangeable in my brain, and when asked to explain the difference between the two words (a friend at school asked)…I explained the meaning of the two words and incorrectly used them, exactly OPPOSITE of how they’re supposed to be used. I've recently spent time traveling with the other volunteers, and we spent quite a bit of time laughing at each other’s inability to speak coherently. Many of our comments or stories ended with, “WHAT did I just say???” It should be interesting to be back in the U.S. (And how am I supposed to interview for jobs…with a degree in ENGLISH…hoping to get a job writing or editing in ENGLISH…Oh man.)

Daniel Vosair

So I mentioned in a previous blog that a man from Hybe had died in early May.

I decided to attend the funeral and pay my respects. I attended the funeral with my host sister Katka, Starka, and Starka’s daughters (Elena and Alica). Daniel Vosiar was a member of the adult choir in church, the one I attended and helped with (playing piano at rehearsals) for a while. He was 59 years old. He was born and raised in Liptovsky Mikulas and worked there for a majority of his life. The church was packed with people (like 4 times the amount of people who show up to regular church services), so that was really nice to see. The altar and pulpit were covered with black cloths, and every single person there was dressed in black from head to toe. I had to borrow some things from Katka, including shoes.

Before we left for the funeral, I kept thinking, I SHOULD know what he looks like, and I’m sure I would recognize him right away, but I can’t remember what he looks like now. I started looking through some of my pictures from when my family visited, because we attended an adult choir practice and took a few snapshots. I asked Katka to help me find him, and she found him in one of my pictures. “Ah, that’s him!” But it’s only a picture of his backside. Katka starting running through the photo albums they have on their computer, trying to find him in pictures of community events. She found two others, besides the one I had; one was of the back of his head, and his head was cut off the top of the photo in the other. It was a bit frustrating and eery, and I never did see an actual photo of him. There was just something sad about that, because I wanted to remember him and keep him in my memory, but without pictures it’s so difficult to hang on to the memory of him. Without pictures, memories can fade so quickly. Although I’ll never really be sure, I think I do remember him. At the second or third rehearsal I attended, things were getting more comfortable and I was talking to the choir members a bit more. After we had finished for the evening (around 6 pm), a few of the older men came up to me and were joking around a bit, trying to speak with me, and one was like, “Ok, we should go have wine now! Let’s all go have some wine! Come on!” And he was smiling and jabbing me in the shoulder, and he really wanted me to join the old guys for some wine. He was pretty jolly and friendly. This is the memory he will hold in my mind, whether or not it was actually him. I just wish I could remember what he looked like.

We used a special type of Spevnik (the Spevnik is the traditional book of worship for Slovak Evangelicals), used especially for funeral occasions. It was quite interesting. It’s a small black book with hymns, and the hymns are divided into different sections. The section used is specific to that person and/or how they passed (for example tragedy, old age, in battle, if they were children, etc). The service itself was quite formal, and there was very minimal crying. I think their perception of death is that it is very natural, a part of life, and it is less…emotional? (for lack of a better word…). I think that all humans, regardless of culture, mourn death, but I believe that some cultures individualize death more than others. (Remember, this is only my opinion, and an opinion formed on a service where I couldn’t understand words…). It felt like these people were dealing with his death in a very “matter of fact” type way. It felt like they were acknowledging him as an individual person, of course, but that they were also going through a traditional routine, acting with minimal emotion (on the outside, and keeping their emotions on the inside) and having another ceremony to acknowledge death in general. I hope you can follow my thoughts on this; it’s a bit difficult for me to explain.

At the end of the service, as the organ played loudly, Pastor (Pan Ferrar in Slovak) led everyone outside and onto the street. All of the people present at the funeral walked in a procession line down the main street of Hybe, about half a mile, to the cemetery. When we arrived at the cemetery, everyone one gathered in or around the Smutko Dom (the “sad house”). There is a smutko dom at every cemetery in Slovakia, and it is where Daniel was laying. Another interesting thing about the service itself at the church is that Daniel’s body wasn’t present. It was in the smutko dom, which is a small, wooden, chapel-type building with pews and a small front altar. Throughout the funeral day, the body of the person being mourned is put in the smutko dom, and then all of those who wish to are able to come and see him. (The situation is like our wake, except this is only on the same day as the funeral, and it doesn’t take place at a funeral home. Funeral homes don’t exist here.) The smutko dom was jam packed, and the rest of us circled around the open doorways and once again pulled out our books to sing. After about another half hour of hymns, prayers, and words from the pastor, the pallbearers carried Daniel’s closed casket out to the hearse, which was waiting at the cemetery gates. Once the casket was put inside, we continued to sing around the hearse for another 15 minutes or so. I was quite confused while this was going on, wondering where they would take his body, on his funeral day, other than to his gravesite. I was informed later that he was being taken to the crematorium to be cremated, and that he would later be brought back to the cemetery to be buried at his plot. I guess the casket only serves the purpose of presentation for the body during it’s time spent in the smutko dom.

After Daniel was taken away, some people left, but most of the people started walking through the cemetery. I guess this is the time that everyone visits their loved ones buried in the same cemetery. On the way to the Turcanova family’s gravesites, Katka and I had a big discussion about what was going on. She was helpful and explained a lot to me, and she also taught me new funeral words in Slovak. “Pohreb” is funeral, “hrob” is grave, and “kazet” is casket. On our trip through the cemetery, I was shown the gravesites of Starka’s parents, Starka’s brother, Starka’s husband, and Elena’s husband. We stopped at each for a bit, and Starka, Elena, and Alica spent a decent amount of time ripping dandelions and weeds out of each plot to make them look nicer. Each gravesite (or at least each one that I’ve seen) has it’s own individual platform base, or box around the border, and many real flowers and plants can be planted within the boxes. Anyways, it was a nice experience, and it made me feel closer to them and like I was a part of the family. It especially helped with Starka, because some days I just get so frustrated with her. Seeing her silently visit her family’s gravesites, and my being able to see the graves myself and learn about who they were, helped me to see Starka as more of a real person. That sounds a bit strange, but there are times when I just get caught up with “the crabby old lady that lives in our house” or “the lady that barks at me about how I don’t eat enough food,” and I forget that she has this past. She has a past, her life, where so many of the people she loved were alive and she was young and vibrant. It’s especially difficult to see her as a person at times because I can’t REALLY understand her personality from the words she says, and I can’t ask her about her past experiences, or ask her about her family. I like to think she had a similar moment of realization when my family came to visit. Like she saw more depth to me, and I wasn’t just “this weird silent American girl who lives in their house” or “this girl who makes her crazy because she doesn’t eat enough.” She was able to understand a bit more about me by meeting my family, and just by being reminded that I DO have a family, and a life she doesn’t really know about.

We all went for a short walk after our time in the cemetery together, and then we headed to Elena’s house for coffee. And there, Starka proceeded to bark at me about how I should put sugar in my coffee, and that I SHOULD eat more cakes and cookies. But this time I didn’t mind so much, and it felt a bit different.

So I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked…and back to the point of this entry…I have a prayer request. Please say a prayer for the family and friends of Daniel Vosair. May he rest in peace.

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.

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.

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.

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!