hmmmmmmm what to talk about first....

well its been a day or two since my last post other than photos and so much has happened already!

School school school... i had my orientation yesterday. This was very good. My teacher is the english teacher so that was very helpful. She showed me around the school and gave me some pointers and tid bits of advice for my first day (which is coming up very fast--this wed!). You may be wondering what kinds of classes I will be taking and how they will work? Well this is a good question and sadly I don't have the answer yet. (OH how I wish I did though!) I will be getting my schedule on wed. Apparrently the first few days are mostly assemblies and presentation of the rules and stuff. So we will see I suppose....
The school itself is quite different than schools back home. It is in a quite run down building with small windows (but at least it has windows!) and crooked walls and doors and things. It definately feels like a school on the inside though. It kind of reminds me of the schools you would see in old movies. Like the classic classroom with the rows of desks and a chalk board at the front.
My class has 28 kids in it; 22 boys and 6 girls so that is going to be interesting. There is one other exchange student in my class from Mexico so I am excited to meet them too! I think we may become good friends in the beginning at least. So far all I know is that I will be in geography, history, physics, math, chemistry, and biology and probably gym. I have 6-8 classes in a day and so sometimes my day ends at 130 and sometimes at 300. I have to take the bus home from school. (I think i can handle this though, I did a test run with my cousin yesterday and it went well, the bus system is somewhat similar to ours not that I've ever really taken the city bus before BUT).
Some of the things that are quite different at my school are there are no lockers, just big cabinets that the whole class shares, you have to bring a pair of indoor shoes, and the gyms are just oversized classrooms rather than gymnasiums like we know. Another thing that is different is the lunch system. Most students (if not all) eat at the cafeteria but there are only ever two meals on the menu. You have to pre-purchase lunch tickets and then choose which meal you want that day and submit it to the lunch lady. Then at luch time you can have a bowl of soup, some salad, a drink, and your meal. It seems pretty good to me but I have no idea what type of food they have yet...hahah I hope its good.

Speaking of food, the food here is quite good, its just different. Its taken me a while to get used to it and I think my stomach is still adjusting. I never really feel hungry, but I dont know if that s because they are constantly feeding me or because I'm not used to the food! Today for lunch for instance we had soup with garlic broth, croutons in it, and cheese melted on top to start. Then we had fries and rice and pork smothered in a cheesy cream sauce. It was very good but also very filling and dense? i'm not too sure how to describe it. All of their vegetables are cooked all the time and they use alot of sauces and oils and cheeses. I've also learned that you never finish you're drink because as soon as you finish it they get you another one whether you want it or not so to avoid this you just leave a little bit in the bottom of the glass to look as though you are still working on it. But they never stop drinking. Whenever we go out we always stop for a drink (I usually have coke or Fanta or water but I discovered this non alcoholic wine/juice called vinea which I really like today) and they pour you these drinks from those little glass bottles (there only ever 200 ml or so). Its quite cute.

NOW I think its time for some random things ive noticed about Slovakia. Driving here is nuts! there are hardly any lights, instead they just put yield signs everywhere. the roads are extrememly narrow and there are no yellow lines seperating oncoming traffic. I have no idea how the people know where they are going and how they don't hit one another. It astounds me! and I thought I got motion sick at home, well here I haven't had a car ride when I didn't feel sick at the end of it. The roads are so small and windy and they drive quite fast. I hope I will adjust eventually and for now I am just thankful all of the car rides are short. And they park everywhere because apparently parking is expensive...so they park on the sidewalk in random little nooks and cranys wherever the car will fit pretty much and they can make their little cars fit in come very strange places! Another different thing is they wear slippers everywhere here. When you come in the front door you have to take your shoes off and put on a pair of slippers which they wear everywhere in the house and then if you go out on the veranda or balcony out back you have to take the slippers off and put different slipper/shoes on. So they pretty much just have piles of slipper sandal shoes at all the entrances. Even if you are a guest you put on slippers! It makes sense I guess, less mud on the floor... but I miss just going barefoot but i'm getting somewhat used to it. Okay and last random tidbit of info they greet you with kisses on the cheek in a more formal setting (which took me off guard but now I've come to expect it), when they put their hand out for a shake it is very limp and weak not like canada where it is a sign of confidence to have a firm hand shake.

well thats it for now! share more later!

Paige

ps I'm going ot the capital city, Bratislava, today so I will probably have lots of pictures to put up later!