So I had yet another action packed, filled to the brim, full of adventure weekend. To give you an idea of the craziness that ensued I've compiled a list. A list of words that descirbe the weird, wacky, and at times hilarious moments that went down. Here is goes: GIANT hill, slippers, zoo, orangutan, castle, sloppy kisses, kids, storybooks, castle, para-gliders, nausea, old men, and mysterious SUV.

I'll begin with Friday; the day of fun, friends, and freezing. It was our last day with the Octava class which was really quite sad. I enjoyed my time with them and made a lot of friends, friends who invited me out on Friday night. Three people in my class were turning 18 that day too so that just added to the adventure. I met up with some of the girls from my class at the bus stop with no idea what I was getting myself into to be honest but happy all the same to be doing something with people my own age. From the bus stop we continued on to a park in the middle of the city. You must remember though, that by this time it is already dark and rather COLD! because it is almost October. So all of us girls made it to the park in one peice shivering our fanny's off only to find a whole bunch of other people equally cold. From here the girls, being the logical ones, suggested we head to the city centre where we could go inside and warm up. However, little did I know how difficult it is motivate a group of slightly intoxicated teenagers to relocate. After 45 min of useless attempts to convince them it would be much warmer if we just walked a couple of blocks down the road, we left. We had had enough of freezing our butt off and instead had a wonderful evening in a cute little pub in the city centre. And that takes us to the end of Friday.

Saturday was probably the best day of all. It was another ridiculously amazing day trip with my family. We went out to Bojnice, which is a small city about an hour away from Zilina, which is known for two things; it's zoo and it's castle (strange combination I know). But I am getting ahead of myself here, there is a funny story to be told. On our way we stopped at a small village where a traditional slovak music festival was taking place. We got out, looked around, and took in all the sights and sounds. There was a huge pot over a fire, where they were preparing goulash (beside the pot was quite literally a mountain of potatoes! I've never seen so many in my entire life!), and many men in traditonal slovak dress holding long pipe like instruments. The slovak dress is beautiful with many colors and detailed embroidary, I loved looking at it all. There was one set of costumes I couldn't take my eyes off of in particular because it was a group of old men in belly shirts. Admittedly they were beautifully embroidered, traditonal slovak belly shirts, but belly shirts all the same! I thought it was funny and apparently I looked a little too long because before I knew it I was being ushered over and squished between these two large slovak men for a picture. I liked the idea, but was feeling slightly uncomfortable at how close we were when one of them planted a big sloppy kiss on my cheek! It was hilarious! I couldn't even believe it! Once I recovered and my face lost a few shades of red, I was released and found myself on the road again with my family.
In order to get to Bojnice we had to drive up these extraordinarily narrow, windy, moutain roads, which are bad enough on their own, let alone when you are in Slovakia where the speed limit is somewhere around 140km/h and they all drive like maniacs. I got soooooooo soooooooo soooooooo car sick, to the point where I felt like i was going to barf again. I was reliving the horrors of my arrival and it was not pleasant! So apparently I wasn't doing a very satisfactory job at hiding my nausea from my family since at one point my cousin turns to me and says "did you drink a little to much last night?" to which I reply "what?!". Then it hit me, I had been out with friends, got home late, in Slovakia everyone drinks (I mean everyone).... they thought I was hung over! So just to reassure you Rotarins, I wasn't. So then I had to go on to explain to them that I was car sick because I get motion sickness really easily, and I have no idea why and I don't know any other grown adult who gets car sick but I do and it's a pain in the arse! Good times.

So we finally made it to the castle and it was absolutely stunning! I loved it! We took a guided tour and I got to see all the beautiful architecture, tapestries, furniture, and art. It really was amazing. I took lots of photos and I will put as many as I can on here and all of them on Facebook.
After the castle it was Zoo time! This was really fun because the zoo was huge! It was like a hike through the wilderness and half way up a mountain just to see all the exhibits. Okay and my favorite part of the zoo was.....the orangutan! OH MY GOD it was the cutest thing I have EVER seen! Not the big orangutan but the four month old baby one! I wanted to scoop it up and take it home with me!
Once we were finished with the zoo we headed on home and I went to a movie with my friends from school in the cinema. It was really fun but guess what we saw? The Ugly Truth! It's really funny because here it just came out but I saw it in theatres in Canada months ago! So I saw it again and it reminded me of just how good a movie it is. I loved it.
After the movie I slept over at Mariely's house which was super fun too because we had a total girls night. We ate chocolate and cold pizza and cake and watched House. It had Spanish subtitles so I made her day. She was so excited to be able to watch it and acutally understand everything that was going on. It was really great.

Sunday the day of heat, exhaustion, beauty. Mariely and I woke up closer to afternoon than morning and were enjoying ourselves while lazing in bed staring at the ceiling when her mom came in. She informed us (in slovak) that we were to get dressed and that someone (we didn't understand who) was going to pick us up in 45 minutes. She also said something about a hill but nothing else. We agreed and went about preparing ourselves for the day. Once we were ready her mother ushered out the door and pointed at the end of the road, motioning for us to go there, so we did, still not knowing exactly what was going on. Shortly after a lady in a mysterious SUV (with paul, the other exchange inside) pulled up beside us and motioned for us to hop in. We quickly got in and before we could even sit down we were speeding down the road. It turned out that the mystery women was Paul's host mom, soon to be my host mom so it was nice to get to meet her. Within minutes we arrived at the base of this giant hill. I would dare say it was a mini moutnain but all the same it was beautiful. At least I thought it was beautiful until I found out we were going climb it....ughhhhh. So up we went, sweating in the heat, and slopping around in my highly impractical slip ons. After an arguous climb we made it to the top and much to my surprise it was worth the climb. IT was soo incredibly beautiful up there! And of course I didnt bring my camera because nobody told me where we were going,but the others had their's so I will steal their pictures no worries. You could see the whole city from up there and we also got to watch a bunch of people go paragliding off the side of the hill. It was so cool and they made it look so easy! Paragliding is now officially on my list of things to do before I die. The view was indescribable. Simply breath taking.

So that brings my weekend to a close. I'm sorry that my post is pretty much a novel but I just don't wanna miss anything! and I LOVE to share! So more will come. I promise!

love,

p

Rotary Rotary Rotary

It's official. I LOVE Rotary. They have ridiculous connections.

It's become apparent that the past few weeks, though action packed and ridiculously amazing, weren't really reality. Having fallen into somewhat of a routine I realized (days ago) that I was in need of some regular activities to keep me busy and more importantly allow me to meet people. And so I set out on a mission to find some things to fill my time. And boy oh boy did everything seem to just fall into place! I love it when that happens! Now I think I might have too much going on!

It all began one day (Tues I believe) when I noticed an article in the local newspaper. I always enjoy looking at the paper although I can never really understand what it says. I like looking at the pictures though and it makes me look busy while I sit awkwardly at the kitchen table waiting for dinner sometimes. This is however, beside the point. The point is I understood the heading of one of the articles because it read "something in Slovak and.... Helen Doron's School of English for Children". And then it suddenly dawned on me... 'Hey! why don't you see if you can volunteer there, I mean it's english and teaching and little kids, three things you know and understand!'. So within minutes (because you all know I like to get things done and I was really excited at the prospect of being able to spend some time with little kids) I was emailing the organization.
Now I had no idea what kind of response I would get or if I would even get a response at all. I mean I think I would of understood completely if they ignored my inquiry because think about it: there is this girl from a foreign country emailing you in another language asking if she can help out with the kids and claiming she comes from a ridiculously large family of nine children! But since I slipped in the little but apparently extremely useful word 'Rotary' all was well. It turns out that the main lady of this organization is friends with my rotary counsellor! Needless to say they are more than happy to have me help out around the centre and have offered me some really awesome opportunities! To start I will go there once a week for a couple of hours after school. They said I am welcome to attend some of the classes, to see what their method of teaching is all about. The method is actually very similar to how 'Signing Time' works for those of you who are familiar with it. It uses a lot of songs, and pictures, and actions in order to keep the kids attentive and to help them remember the words. I got to sit in on two classes on Thurs evening and I really enjoyed it. The kids are so cute and it was really fun getting down on the floor with them and playing. Plus I think it will be excellent practice for me because they speak simple slovak and they could care less if I make a mistake, so i can practice my slovak on them without being humiliated at the same time!
Aside from helping out in the classrooms they also said that if I was willing they would arrange to have a free drop in class with me 'a native english speaker' for the parents and the older students. This way whoever is interested can come and ask me questions, learn more about exchange or Canada or whatever else I decide to talk about, and practice their english. All in all I'm pretty excited about this opportunity and I think a lot will come of it!

The second awesome thing that clicked into place had to do with soccer. I had been asking around if there was a girls futball team anywhere in Zilina, and more specifically one that played just for fun. I hadn't received much of a response from anyone however until I asked one of the Rotex girls and they said they knew some girls on a team. So I got a chance to talk to these girls and they said they would love to have me on their team. Most of the team members are only 16 but I'm okay with this because it's either I play on their team or I play for the women's league which is apparently really intense. They meet tues and fri at 3:30 for practice for now and then once the season starts I'm not sure when the games will be. But I'm happy to be able to be a part of a team and it's really nice to be in my position. You can try new things and if you're terrible at it (like I am at most of the things I've tried here) it's all good because a)nobody cares and b)nobody knows you well enough to say anything and c)everyone just assumes you've never done anything like it before and that you don't have that in your country. It's Fantastic!

And the third and final thing that fell into place (thanks to my amazing counsellor once again) was church. She took me to this presbyterian church down the road from where I live and introduced me to all the people there. It was really good but funny at the same time. They of course asked me what church I attend in Canada and I had to try and explain to them what the United Church was. This would have been difficult in itself. let alone the language barrier! But after some interesting descriptions and some googling they seemed to understand. If you could all have been flies on the wall I'm sure you would have found it quite amusing. I know I was laughing on the inside.
The church is a very new building (and beautiful) and it turns out they offer a lot more than just sunday services. They have youth services and a whole swack of programs running all year long. By the looks of it they offer a whole bunch of different youth group activities so I'm pretty happy about this as well. I think it will be a good way to meet some people my age who aren't busy drinking and smoking all the time. It has been a little difficult up until this point finding people who I really want to be friends with, people who are my kind of people, but I think I will be able to find some here for sure. And they didn't all look like extreme church folk either which is always a good sign. I am most excited about some of the classes they run though. They have a cooking class and they asked if I would be willing to teach some of the youth how to prepare some Canadian dishes or desserts. I said of course, but then I realized I'm not too sure what dishes are Canadian. SO if you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated!

As always I will keep you updated. We will see if these activities turn out to be as good as I hope they will!

love,

p

First and foremost I apologize for my delayed posting. (Even though it was prob a well earned holiday for most of you from my often lengthy and detailed descriptions.) And the reason for my tardy response: rotary has been keeping me busy. In the grand scheme of things this is probably a good thing because the busier I am the less time I have to wallow in homesickness and tears. And I'm not gonna lie, at this point I could probably swim in the amount of tears I've produced. I've been crying alot but as a wise woman once told me (aka my mom) "the more you cry the less you have to pee!" so I'm not too worried. I guess its all just part of the whole roller coaster exchange process. Man oh man though, sometimes I wish I could stop and get off for a bit, then keep on trcukin' but unfortunately no such luck. Guess I just have to keep pushing through; tears, happiness, frustrations, and excitement included.

And while we're on the topic of tears I might as well share a funny story. My host dad walked in on me crying for the first time today which was an awkward encounter. I mean I'm sure he knew it would happen eventually (he does have a 17 year old daughter)but I feel for the poor guy. I had just had a long day at school and could feel the tears welling when he walked into my room and was like "what are you up to?" "How was school today?" and that was it. I was a gonner. And he goes "oh oh oh are you crying? Are you okay?". It was really sweet and I didnt really know what to say because NO I wasn't okay! I was missing my home and my family and friends! but it wasn't like life or death or anything (which was what my father was concerned about). Of course, boys just don't get it. But it all worked its way out. My dad evacuated the room as quickly as possible and just softly told me to meet him downstairs when I was ready and that was that. I guess that's one way to tell your host parents your feeling homesick.

But it hasn't all been sad and tearful. This weekend was AMAZING. On Friday I went with a Rotex and the other exchange students to Martin (a neighboring town) for a fair. It was really fun and there were rides and super yummy carnival food and tons of booths to look at. I got some really beautiful jewelry and we ate deepfried cheese! I also had my first encounter with the Gypsies. They were everywhere! For those of you who don't know, the Gypsies are a visible minority here in Slovakia. There is a lot of unrest about them and their rights and such. It's all very similar to the aboriginal people in Canada. But they look like East Indian people and all the little kids were super cute! I just wanted to scoop them up and take them home with me! It's difficult to figure out what's really happening with the Gypsies though because the issue is very touchy and controversial and some people are very prejudiced against them. So perhaps with time more will become clear. I also want to find some books on it but finding any kind of book in English here is quite difficult.

On sat we went to Liptosky Mikulash (a mountain town) with some of the other exchange students and some Rotarians. My counsellor drove the three zilina exchangers down and we had a wonderful day jam packed full of adventure. First we had a meet and greet with some of the Rotarians (very early in the morning I might add) from the three cities and then (much to my surprise, but really I shouldn't be surprised anymore) out came the alcohol. Yes, the adults had shots at 8 in morning before we embarked on our adventure in the wilderness. Now I haven't said all that much about the alcohol here yet but boy has it been something I've needed to adjust to! No joke, the men (and women for that matter) really do drink beer like water and wine really does come out at every occasion. Its crazy! Needless to say I think I will be desensitized to alcohol by the time I come home.
So after the hard liquor was gone we split into our groups. Some went hiking, some biking, and some played tennis. All the exchange students opted for the hiking because the tennis and biking looked rather intense. The hike wasn't long, nor was it strenuous (thank god) but it was beautiful. I put lots of pictures up on facebook for those of you tech saavy enough to see them and for those of you who aren't I will post some of them here.
After the hike there was alot of sitting and chatting and of course more alcohol. This went on for the entirety of the afternoon, and then my counsellor collected us and we piled into the car and headed for our next stop: a friends house. Here we met for chocolate, and cake, and bubbly water (which is absolutely everywhere here!) and yet another chit chat. This one was really nice though becuase the lady had an 18 year old son who had very good english so we were able to participate. A couple of hours passed and we headed out on a mission to find hlushky. My counsellor was not satisfied that Mariely's (the exchange student from mexico)first encounter with hlushky was at the school cafeteria so we stopped at a traditional slovak kitchen. This was delicious! I like hlushky, especially when its not made in the school! Then finally we were headed for home, with a short stop at a traditional slovak market where we saw some goats and fancy pigeons. By the end of this day I was so tired but really happy! It was one of the best days I've had so far I think!

On Monday was our second Rotary meeting which was yet another expereince to add to everything. For those Rotarians reading back home, it's very different here. It feels more like an elite of powerful executives than a collection of business men and women coming together to make a difference. This could be for any number of the following reasons:
a) I'm a severe minority. Being, one, a woman, and two, young. (It really is a sea of white hair, ties, and beards)
b)I was only able to understand the words 'exchange student' and 'family' in the whole hour and a half I was trapped in the board room. (When everything is in a foreign language it tends to seem a whole lot more mysterious)
and c) NO ONE SMILES, laughs, or even smirks. I think there was one time when some of the men let out a little giggle and the others proceeded to glare at them as they clearly percieved it as a rude interuption.
So there are no fines, no funny jokes to start of the meeting, and no happy bucks but I am confident that they get things done. I wouldn't want to mess with this Rotary Club, that's for sure!
And my last comment; school has been pretty good this week. Since my class is in France I have been in Octava (the grade higher) and I am liking it. The classes have been really relaxed and at times we have not even had a teacher (because apparently subsitutes don't exist over here) since they are in France. I think I will be able to make quite a few friends in this class too. It has been a little easier since they are all my age and they have had exchange students in their class before.

So to finish things up, I'm happy and have this overwhelming feeling of pride that I've made it through my first month. This is officially the longest I've ever been away from home, let alone completely surrounded by a different language and culture. It has been rough but I didn't exactly expect it to be smooth sailing. That said, when I'm feeling down, now, I can just look back at all I've done, felt, and experienced and say, "piece of cake! I can do that 9 more times no problem!" :)

well ahoj!

p

The Boulder

The past few days were a little rough for me. I was homesick, feeling a little lonely, and just kinda down in general. Then (sorry but I'm just gonna be completely honest here)I got my period and it seemed to fix a lot. You gotta love hormones. Ughhhhhhhhh. not. So now instead of feeling like a person whose been completely squished like a pancake by the boulder they were so desperately trying to push up a hillside, I feel more like I've propped my boulder in place and have stopped to smell the flowers along the way. Soon enough my boulder will start to slip, I'm sure, and I'll have to tend to it again (hopefully it won't squish me this time though), but until then I really am enjoying the daisies.

Moving away from the extended metaphors now and onto some of the more juicy information like the cafeteria lunch special today. Oh my GOD! It was kind of really gross! It was Hlushky, which is the national dish of Slovakia. It is pretty much potatoes and cheese but the potatoes taste more like pasta to me. I have had Hlushky before and I quite enjoyed it, but apparently there is such a thing as 'good' hlushky and 'bad' hlushky and on a scale of 1 to 10 this was probably a 2. It wasn't horrid or anything but it kind of felt like I was camping and we had limited supplies and we had to make due with an old pot and a campfire. They put bacon in it which had the potential of making it better, but it didn't help, all you could taste was the bacon grease. YUM. The sad thing is, when I think about it I'm pretty sure my brothers alex and dan would have loved it. It was similar to their morning hash browns smothered and fried in bacon grease.
Needless to say I went hungry today. But that leads me to my next topic: weight gain. YIKES! I think I could do with going hungry a few more times. Although I don't have a scale and I'm not %100 sure I would guess I've already gained 5 lbs or so. wonderful. Lets just say my midsection has a few extra curves at the moment. But curves are good right? A desirable feature on a woman? Nope not like this they aren't. Oh well I don't really mind, as long as I don't come home looking like a wooly mammoth it's all good.
So in an attempt to slow the progression of my transformation into a beast, I've joined the fitness club at my school. I think this should be fun and I know it will be good for me. I just hope it's not too hardcore. I'd rather not die of exhaustion. This doesn't appear like it will be a problem however, because although all the girls in my class are ridiculously skinny, they don't seem all that enthused about physical activity. You should see our gym class. It's really quite pathetic. We had to do push ups today and our teacher made us do man push ups. Well that was a mistake. I think we all made it to 4 and then collapsed into puddles on the floor in giggling fits.
I've also decided to join the school Tourism club and the English Drama club. I can't quite believe I willingly signed up to perform in front of people (the thought of it makes me shudder) but I figured hey! this is a year to take risks. So I'm gonna try something new! Wish me luck. The tourist club should be excellent. It's kind of strange name for it, but what we will do is go out to the mountains and surrounding areas for hikes and nature-esque type things. It's going to be a good way for me to get exercise, see the country, experience the nature, and make friends so I'm excited. I just hope it turns out to be as good as I imagine it to be. I'm not sure whether or not it will. My school seems to have a lot of good intentions but I think it often doesn't follow through with the implementation part. So we will see.

Tommorrow my entire class leaves for France without any of the exchange students. *tear* I so wish I was going! But I totally understand why we can't go. It was too short notice, and money, and room, and such. Still it's sad. So since my classroom will be empty we (being myself and the other exchange students) are being shipped off to a different grade level, Octava B. I'm actually excited for this because it means we get to spend a week with a different group of people who are much closer to our age. We had an opportunity to meet them at the beginning of this week and they all seem really great. It's a good way to make friends I think. Oh and I just have to add because some of you will appreciate it; surprisingly enough my business cards make for excellent networking tools. I've been handing them out all over the place, so I guess Rotary really does know what they are doing! :)

This weekend I am looking forward to a day trip with my Rotary councillor and some other Rotarians. I think we are going to a neighboring town to do some hiking, biking, and sight seeing. It will be very nice, and I'm looking forward to getting to know my councillor a little better plus her son might be coming... and let's just say, well, he's not an eyesore. It will be good I'm sure.

So thats all I've got for now, but I know there'll be more. There always is!

<3 p

ummmmm.. I can't think of a title right now so it will have to be titleless...

Today was a holiday which meant NO SCHOOL! Yay! but it also meant that I had to find something to do with myself in which case it would have been much simpler if I had friends. But alas I dont really have friends so it was difficult. I spent the morning just lazing about the house which I, personally, enjoyed but I'm not sure my host parents felt the same. They kept asking me what are you going to do today? Co robis? Co robis dnes? SO I figured I should at the very least look busy so I went out to explore. This was well worth my while as I discovered a whole section of the city I didn't even know existed! I was so excited! Behind my house over a hill and in some trees there is this beautiful park! It seems really large and it had all kinds of beautiful paths into the wilderness with different monuments dispersed throughout. It was really cool! Now sadly I didn't really get to see all that much of it because I was on foot and it was almost an hour into my walk before I even made this discovery but in the future I will go back for! and maybe even on bike so I can really get somewhere. So that was the first of many random and somewhat stange discoveries I made today.

The second came just before lunch (obed). My mom was busy cooking lunch and my dad making a salad when they turned to me with serious expressions on their faces and asked; 'Paige, can you go to the store and buy us some cheese? We need 200grams of feta.' I laughed at first because I was expecting some important information to come from their lips but no they simply wanted some cheese. I was more than happy to go get some too! I was overjoyed to have something to do and honored to be given such responsibility (sad I know, but I really have no, nada, nothing, as far as responsibilities go here so far). My dad wrote down the type of cheese he wanted, how much he wanted and gave me some money and I was off.. woohoo! to the grocery store. On my way there (its like a 10 min walk) I was thinking to myself; 'okay you can do this. You can get the right kind of cheese, show them that you are capable, its all good.' So I got to the store found what I thought what I thought was feta and headed for home only to discover it wasn't! So then I had to go back to the store with my dad and we RETURNED the cheese! It was slightly embarrasing I must admit, standing at the returns counter. I couldn't understand what they were saying either and im not sure whether that made it better or worse to be honest. I'm pretty sure my dad told the lady that it was my doing because she looked at me kind of funny and snickered to herself. It was pretty entertaining.

Discovery #3: They eat cauliflower covered in batter then fried in grease. EVERYTHING, and I mean everything! is covered in some kind of bread here! Enough said.

After lunch, I went for a bike ride with my mom which lead to crazy experience #4. I was happy to be going out for the afternoon and I thought it would be a good bonding experience with my host mother. It turned out to be that and so much more. I went upstairs to throw on some sweatpants and I came down to find my mother decked out head to toe, in riding gear. I mean the shorts with the padded but, gloves, sunglasses, spandex shirt intense shoes. Everything. So I quickly realized my picture of a peaceful, leisurely bike ride around town was inaccurate. I also realized I needed to prepare myself to die. I am NOT in good shape, but let me tell you, if I do that every week I will be! We rode for over 2 hours I think and went all around the city and out to the river. It was actually really nice, burning thighs, sore butt, and aching back, aside. I loved being able to see the city and biking along the river was absolutely beautiful! So even though it was difficult, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to get out of bed tommorrow I would definitely do it again. It was one risk worth taking.

Okay and the last discovery of the day, and quite possibly the most random, concerns mushrooms. Yes mushrooms. It seems that they are a big deal. Here I was thinking a mushroom is a mushroom, you can buy them at the store fresh or in a can, its as simple as that, but my host dad quickly fixed that. Apparently there are a lot of different kinds of mushrooms and a lot them grow naturally here. This seems to be somthing the slovak people are quite proud of in fact. Since arriving here I've come across the topic of mushrooms on several occasions, sometimes when I least expect it. At my babina's my uncle brought out this book of mushrooms to show me, when we were walking to the store for cheese our friend showed us a bucket of mushrooms he just picked from in the mountains, and on our bike ride I saw some people picking mushrooms in the ditch. Its so random, and kind of funny. Sadly I have not yet come across mushroom soup however, and those of you who know me well know that I love mushroom soup and used to eat almost everyday for breakfast. I MISS it!

Okay and I lied there is a sixth random discovery. They don't have peanut butter here! I tried to explain what it was and my cousin just told me; "well you could just make some, there are peanuts in the cupboard" and my dad told me "ahh here we have some!" but it was nutella. My dad doesn't understand and he insists that nutella is the same thing. Its really cute. I was trying to explain it further and I said that we eat it on toast at home and then I realized they don't really eat toast here either! Perhaps I will get my mom to send me some sometime... then perhaps they will understand. :)

Well I think thats more than enough reading for you.

good night!

p

The Disco Experience and Lunch with Babina

So as you might have gathered from the title, I had a pretty busy weekend! Two day trips! one on Sat and one on Sunday.
I'll start with saturday. We left early (ish) in the morning for Bratislava. This was my second visit to the capital city, which is rather large with lots of unique architecture. It has a really cool mix of the old and the new. I like it there but I don't think that I would want to live there.... too big! First we went shopping which of course I enjoyed. There are two large shopping centers so I got to alot of different shops. Then after our shopping extravaganza we went to Disco world 2009 dancing competiton. It was crazy! It was pretty much this giant dancing festival where dancing groups from across Europe come to compete. So it was actually really impressive! Mind you I really have no idea what is 'good' disco and what is 'bad' disco. I can't even begin to describe these dance moves though. There was freestyle which was a combination of breakdancing and jazz and hip hop and then there were groups which were more like hip hop than anything else. And I have never seen so much glitter in my entire life! I'm not even joking! All of the dancers were covered from head to toe, guys included, and there was also a lot of spandex and plastic/pleather pants! Very interesting indeed.....

So then on Sunday we swtiched gears completely and went for a nice Sunday brunch at my babina's (grandma's) house. This was really nice. She lives in a cute but quite old little flat in a smaller town about two hours from where I live. The house is the house where my host dad grew up so he was really happy to be able to show me where he came from and all of his family. I got to meet some of my cousins and my autns and uncles too which was really cool. They were all so kind and welcoming! I felt right at home. I think it was just what I needed, because that morning I had been feeling quite homesick but after being there for a couple of hours I felt much better.
But really I have never eaten so much in my entire life! There was so much food, so much good food! We had lunch which was goulash (yummmy!) followed by pork on dumplings smothered in a creamy sauce (yummier!). then after that there was cakes and cookies and crackers galore! Chocolate squares, rice crispies, peanuts, cheese pretty much anything you can imagine and more. You could literally eat your heart out. Needless to say I really enjoyed myself (and felt only a few sizes larger by the time I left!) :)

And now it is sunday night and tom is school so I should sleep some, so when I'm bored out of my mind I'm less tempted to nod off. So good night! and thnaks for listenting (really!).

p

continuing along

Okay so a random story of the day is what I'll start with. Gym Class. Need I say more? Here, gym is old school. The gymnasium looks really sketchy, pretty much like out of a movie made in the 50's. The floor boards move when you walk and the mats we used looked like ancient artifacts. It was interesting to say the least. And the instruction is comparable to my surroundings. Today we all had to get weighed and measured... god only knows why. So that was really a confidence boost when all the girls on this half of the planet are super skinny. I'm not even kidding, here everyone is super small, so in my class of girls I'm pretty sure I weighed 8 kg more than the next biggest girl. This was wonderful especially considering I haven't even gained the exchange 30lbs yet. Hahaha oh well, I guess I'm just representing the world view of Canada and the US as 'large' nations. The first question everyone always ask me when they find out I'm from Canada is; Do you speak French? and then follows; "Is it true that all you eat is fast food? Do you know how to cook?". Its really funny hearing some of the stereotypes people have. Also at the orientation weekend all the Americans were counting when I said 'eh' which I do apparently say but not as often as they would have liked. BUT back to gym class. After being measured and weighed I was informed that for the first few weeks we have to undergo fitness exams. fun. Today we had to count how many sit ups we could do in one minute and next we have to count push ups and we have to run for 12 minutes and we also have to record how far we can jump. Why?????? I dont understand why this is all so important!? But I must say gym class is much better than some of my other classes. At least we get to move around and its a change of scenery. Also my gym class has some of the girls from the other class in it so I made some new friends which was an added bonus.

What else... well I've got the bus schedule down which is really nice. I kind of like taking the bus now. I'm adjusting but I really really really miss Lenny (my car)! This week has been a little rough. I think the novelty of exchange is beginning to wear off and now the reality is sinking in. Its a weird feeling though because its not like I'm overly sad or anything and I am really happy to be here and still amazed at all the new things I come across but I miss some of the little things from home, my car included. I miss the food! and always having what I want in the house. I miss talking in full english sentences! I think I might come home with a bad slovak accent speaking broken english. It s so funny because I constantly catch myself speaking in an accent and I usually have to speak very slowly and in simple terms for my host parents to understand. Plus I'm always thinking of the simplest ways to say things because my slovak vocab is so limited (admittedly its growing everyday but its still a long way from descriptive). the peope here must wonder 'where is that girl from?' 'she speaks strange!
Because of the language barrier I constantly find myself in strange predicaments. Like today for instance I was sitting innocently on the bus minding my own business when this group of old ladies come on and start muttering in slovak. Now I've gotten pretty good at just glazing over and blocking out the slovak because I don't understand it. So it took me a while to figure out that they were muttering at ME! Once I figured that out I tried to understand and I told them I dont' speak slovak very well but they kept on until they looked very irritated with me. Eventually, however, they just sat down. I think they wanted me to move seats but i have no idea why because there was plenty of room for everyone and the bus was almost empty. But i guess I ll never know now!

This evening I went to a film at the cinema as they call it. We saw the proposal. It just came out in theatres here because they get the movies much later than us. We say a preview for Knowing too 'coming soon to theatres' which was funny because we rented that movie a couple of weeks before I came here. The proposal was HILARIOUS though. I loved it! I have to say I think its my new favorite movie. I don't know if it was actually a good movie though or if Ive just been so deprived of english tv that I would think anything was good hahaha. It s convenient here though because most of the movies (the ones that aren't dubbed) are in english with czech subtitles so I can actually enjoy them! It was really nice going out with friends though, it helps take my mind off home.
This weekend I am going to Bratislava again to watch a eurpean finals disco dance competition so this should be interesting. Apparently my host sister was a world champion dance competitor and my host brother is the mc at this competition. I would like to point out though before you all jump to conclusions like I did, that disco here is not people jumping around in spandex and neon colors. Thats just what they call pretty much any dance I think except the tradtional slovak dance whcih they call folk. But I will be able to more fully describe what this really is after my weekend is over as i will have experienced it for myself. I think I will also get an opportunity to go to some disco clubs......yikes!... it will be interesting!
And on Sunday I am going to my grandmas house for a celebration of some kind so I'm excited for this too! It will be good Im sure!

Well its late here and I have school tom so I should go get some sleep. thnks for listening! really!

p

craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy fun!

Well here I am again! with a whole bunch more to share with you all! This weekend (as I mentioned before) was my first orientation meeting.... and it was AMAZING! It was so cool meeting people from all over the world the best part was that they actually totally understood what I was going thru. We had a blast talking about all the things we thought were different about here and our homes, sharing funny stories, hard times, and solutions. I think it was really goood. It reminded me that I'm not in this alone, there are a lot of others going through the exact same things.
So who was there? There were a lot of Americans! I never expected so many but there were alot! There were supposed to be 59 of us total from the district (which covers slovakia and czech) but a few couldn't make it out. So there were probably around 20 americans, there were 3 Canadians (myself, 0ne from kelowna, and one from dawson creek), like 10 mexicans, and 7 brazilians, one girl from Japan and one from Taiwan, and 2 from Australia.
And what did we do? Well there were a couple of presentations but really what we did was stay up all night long, hike halfway up a mountain, eat really interesting food, dance up a storm, and raft down a river. It was a crazy weekend and I am SO TIRED!! But I made a lot of really great friends and a couple good rotary connections.
Okay, I'll start with the food. It was good but very different. They tried to feed us traditional slovak and czech food so we had sauerkraut on four pieces of sourdough bread with pork one night and then schnitzel and potatoes another night and some chocolate yogurt! for breakfast. We had this strange tea stuff with every meal too. All of it was pretty good except I just couldn't quite handle the sauerkraut meal. I really hate looking at soggy bread, and so the thought of eating just grossed me right out, I just couldn't do it. But there were a lot of people who didn't really like that meal so one of the girls at our table pretended to be vegetarian and got the vegetarian meal which looked much more appetizing and we all shared that so we didn't have to starve. It was funny and a good bonding moment :).
The rafting was really cool. We went down the Vah river on this wooden box with benches on it essentially. There were two tour guides on the boat/raft thing stearing and paddling wearing traditional slovak dress and apparently this mode of transportation is traditonal for the slovak people because they used to use it way back in the olden days. After the raft which was freezing cold I might add because we got wet and it was only 12 degrees that day, we took this long walk half way up a mountain to a castle. This was really cool beacuse you could see so much from on top and I took some really beautiful pictures which I will post eventually here for you to see. It was strecno castle, the second castle Ive visited since I've been here.
Once we were done at the castle they made us walk all the way home which was actually quite a ways (we took a bus to the castle so I dont know why we didn't take one home!). By the time we got back to the hostel we were staying at we were not only tired from the five hours of sleep we had gotten the night before but also exhausted from hiking up a moutain and walking all over the place! Then we had to dance that night! It was really fun though even though I was absolutely wiped out. The dance was ridiculously fun because there were all the different cultures so we had all kinds of music going and the mexicans would teach a dance from their country and then the brazilians one from theirs and then there was some slovak music and some american music of course. Eventually we all made it to bed but most of us not until the wee hours of the night.
Then it was hometime at 1030 on sunday. The weekend really went by so fast! I was so bagged at the end of it all and really excited about the prospect of coming home but when my host bro picked me up he informed me that we were going for lunch at my grandma's house. So I was like oh okay but it turned out to be really nice actually.
It was my host moms mother and she is a very sweet lady. She made us soup and chicken and potatoes and this cheese thing and fed us homemade pickles and cake too! I was soooooo unbelievably full when she was done with me! I'm beginning to understand the meals more now. This is how it works. You eat whatever pretty much for breakfast but lunch is what is REALLY important to them. Its like they go out of their way to make sure you are fed lunch, and it should always be a full hot meal. That is why we eat at school at the end of the day because if your parents aren't home to prepare a luch for you then you eat at school (or you go to grandmas...). Its really cute because the are always concerned about whether or not you had enough to eat, everyday my host parents ask me 'how was lunch? did you get enough to eat? Are you sure its okay?' and everyday I assure them I'm fine. Then they don't eat supper really at all. In my family my mom cooks a big meal on Sunday (for lunch) and we eat together and then we have the left overs for the rest of the week for supper and half the time my mother doesn' t even eat anything at all! So its taking me some time to adjust to this new eating routine but its coming. I'm so used to semi starving all day and then coming home and eating a big supper so this is definately different, but in a way it makes a whole lot more sense. Eat the most in the middle of the day and you'll have more energy for the rest of the day....

well my eyelids are feeling rather heavy at the moment so im going to have a nap before my parents come home from their weekend trip to bratislava to golf.

dobru noc! (good night)

p

Okay so I almost had another mini panic attack last night haha (not really but it WAS ann anxiety inducing experience to say the least!) My family and I were off to visit some family friends and they happen to live in one of those many blocks of flats that are around. So I was secretly very excited to get to finally go inside one of these buildings (I was very curious to find out whether or not they look as in rough shape on the inside as they do on the outside....). Much to my surprise the the living areas of the flats were actually very nice! This particular flat was beautifully decorated (in all IKEA! I might add :)) with new flooring and windows, so it looked warm and inviting.
On the contrary, the halls and corridors outside the living areas are not so inviting, nevermind the ELEVATOR! Now this is where my horror comes in. We had to get on this little tiny tiny tiny elevator thing (we being three full grown adults) to get to the seventh floor. Now some of you may know that I am not a huge fan of elevators in the first place as I had a recurring dream of being trapped in a glass elevator as a child, but anyways.... I was horrified to discover that this was actually the contraption we had to take up seven floors. It was literally only one meter by one meter in size and its one of those ones where you get in close the door but it doesn't really actually seal the elevator because you can see and feel the wall moving on the side. And when you got into the thing it sunk more than a few inches and it creaked and squealed the whole way up. Boy oh boy am I glad I don't have to take that up to my house every single day! I still can't quite believe we made it all the way up. I just kept having these visions of the whole thing (myself included) plunging to its demise.

Other than that not too much has happened since yesterday. More school today. it went until 1230 or so then we went for lunch. I think school is going to be trying. Its very difficult to understand anything thats going on and very few of the teachers (except for the english teacher who is AMAZING And my favorite!) translate anything or explain anything. I would say they don't even acknowledge my presence but I think they do sometimes and I just have no idea what they are saying! Every so often I hear the words exchange student and then everyone laughs usually so I'm not too sure if its good or bad.
We got our schedules (which are subject to change) today so I kind of know what I'm in for now at least. There are a lot of subjects! In geography we are supposed to learn ten new words in slovak each class and then in Math we will be tested on them instead of trying to comprehend math in slovak. (which is almost impossible I found out today). We (being the mexican and I) are also going to give a presentation on our home countries to the class at the end of the year in Slovak. So I'm excited for this because it will actually give me something ot work on. Every student in the class was assigned a country and that is like our final project I think. And in English we get to give presentations on ourselves and where we come from and things like that so that will be good. I'm glad some of the teachers are trying to accomodate us and at least attempt to integrate us into the classroom. If they didn't I don't know if I would make it to the end. You have no idea how long five hours is when you have no idea whats going on and no way of figuring it out. Today was the longest day of my life!!! School is boring as it is and then when you can't even understand the language, well then its just a blast....* note to self-bring something to do!
Now I am getting ready to go to my rotary orientation meeting. It is three days long in Strecno. I am very very very excited! It looks like it will be a really fun weekend! I can't wait to meet all of the other exchange students from all over the world! So my next post won't be for a while but ill fill you in eventually! JUst brace yourself for my return because i will probably have a lot to say!

P

Okay well first things first, I think I had THE best sleep ever last night! I dont know why, it wasn't even very long, but I actually felt somewhat refreshed after it! So that was a good start to the day.
Next on the agenda was breakfast..... Last night, on our way to a surprise Rotary meeting which I will talk about later, my family and I stopped at the grocery store. I thought we were just picking up some things but NO, it was a special stop for Paige! I think they think I'm not eating or something because they wouldn't let us leave until I had picked out some things for breakfast. I honestly don't have a very large appetite in the morning and have been just fine eating my single cup of yogurt but I guess they took that as I don't like anything in the fridge..... So I had to come up with something. So today for breakfast I had some dinner rolls and meat and cheese which was good, it was however no match to my usual canadian grilled cheese sandwich or tuna on toast but it will have to do until they let me (and I figure out how) to use the stove here.
After breakfast it was off to school. I'm liking having somewhat of a routine now. Its nice and makes the day go by much more smoothly. School was rather uneventful and a painful repeat of yesterday but the teacher assured me that lessons should start sometime next week (or whenever the time tables are made). So we will see I guess. I have to say I am definately getting better at going with the flow because here I have pretty much no other option.

Oh but let me talk about the JOLLY FESTIVAL!!!!! It was sooooooo super cool and amazing and it made me so unbelievably happy. I think we could learn a thing or two from these europeans! So this festival happens every year in my city, Zilina, and is famous across the entire country of Slovakia. It runs from wednesday all the way through until Friday night and the whole time there are different workshops running, acts, plays, activities, and so much more. Different youth and adults from around Zilina come together for weeks before hand to plan all these workshops and pull off the festival. Its coordinated by an organization called Harmony (which I want to find more about!). So all over the town square they had stuff going on that was completely adapted for people with disablities. There was painting, a hippie section with tie dye and acting, dancing, chanting, singing, and silent acts just to name a few of the activities. But my personal favorite was in the center of the square, where there was a fashion show going on. The people with disabilities could pick any outfit creation they wanted from these giant boxes of costumes and clothes and then strut their stuff on a runway they had set up. It was the sweetest thing ever, and those of you who know people with disabilities, know how much fun they can be when the spotlight is on them! I just imagined Jane up there singing into the microphone and showing everyone her beautiful princess dress! The best part was that a huge part of the community was there to show support, there were people clapping and cheering for them, egging them on. It was really cool to see and I can only imagine the awareness it brings. I'm not gonna lie though, it did make me more than a tad bit homesick but I think the happiness and excitement balanced it out. Also on Wed night there was this really great concert and all kinds of people showed up to dance and celebrate. It was really cool to be a part of it!

I am also happy to report that I had my first meeting with some Rotarians last night. This was very nice! they are all such kind people! We met in the city square (this seems to be where everyone goes for everything) and had ice cream and chit chatted. I met my councillor and she is quite possibly one of THE nicest and understanding people I have ever met. She has never been a councillor before but she has hosted many exchange students with Rotary and both her sons have been out on the exchange before so she knows alot about the experience. It is nice to know that I have yet another contact if ever i need to talk or help or whatever. We found out we will be attending a Rotary club meeting on Monday so I am very excited for this! I hope that we will be able to attend the meetings weekly, partly because I like to know whats going on and also because I am in desperate need of some things to fill my time with. I am also very curious to see the differences between the operation of the club in sherwood park and here. My next major exciting thing that is going to be happening is my orientation weekend (this weekend) at strecno. I am so excited! There are 56 other exchange students I think in the czech and slovakia and I will get to meet them all! and they are from all over the world so that makes it even cooler!

Some other things that made me really happy in the past 24 hours are: I learned how to take the bus from my house to school and from my house to the city centre and back again! You have no idea how AMAZING this is though! I had forgotten how much I love my independence! It has been (and will continue to be I'm sure) such a humbling experience to be so reliant on others for everything. I am also going to work with my host dad to find some slovak lessons for me to take. This will help me with the language I think and also with meeting some people and getting me out of the house! I cant wait! WOW I always sit down and think, hmmmmm it will be a shorter post today but then I start writing and its like it all falls out... and there's no holding it back!

bye bye
P

Matej and I in front of the castle in Orava

My host mom and dad although its not a very good picture!

Me in front of the Opera house in Bratislava

Me and Jacub (cousin) and Matej (bro)

the Marianas Square in Zilina at night

AHHHHHHHHHahahahahahaha!

Okay so this morning I thought I was going to die I was SO nervous (for school)! I honestly felt like I was going to puke or something, I couldn't believe it.... I just remember thinking, "oh my god oh my god oh my god what on earth did I get myself into!"

But after I recovered from my mini panic attack, all was well. It turned out to be not that bad at all actually. So here's a little run down of what happened:

My First Day at School SLOVAK Style!
My mom, Dushana, drove myself and my cousin Jakub to the school for 815 this morning. I think its funny because school starts almost an hour earlier here but I still get to leave the house half an hour later! than at home in Canada. (we left at 8). Once we got there I had absolutely no idea what to do. I couldn't remember what class my teacher had told me I was in and I can't pronouce her name for the life of me its something like pani marcheska I think but when they say it it sounds more like annie mmmmarts eschka said really really fast. So I went and found my cousin and told him i needed help! and he just shook his head and said 'oh boy' but eventually we figured it out.

Class started officially sometime around 830 and we all just sat down in the class room (the desks are in pairs so I sat next to the other exchange student and we looked confused together). All the kids quickly ran to their desks as soon as the teacher came in but other than that they didn't show much respect for her. Most of them sat there and talked while she attempted to explain what was going on (at least thats what I presume she was saying but in reality I have no idea because it was all in Slovak). She also assigned some of the kids tasks like we have in elementary school. One person is responsible for collecting money (we paid 50 cents for our notebook/agenda book thing and 2.50 euro for something else), one for attendance, one for watering the plants etc.... This went on for two hours and then we were dismissed. That was it! At 1030 everyone went their seperate ways. Those of us who ordered lunch went to the cafeteria and everyone else went home. I guess because it was the first day it was short or something.... i 'm not too sure.

BUT one thing that was interesting was the cafeteria food! You know how in the movies and on tv they always show the caf food as being really gross, and not looking very appetizing?, well thats exactly what its like at my school. Its going to be interesting! Today it was a giant spoonful of rice and one piece of chicken that cracked when you tried to cut it. It tasted all right but its definately not anything gourmet thats for sure! And the day before you have to pick which meal you want the next day (you have two choices, one with meat and one with sugar they say but im not sure what 'sugar' means...) this should prove interesting for me though because I looked at the menu and I have no idea what either meal is. I was hoping perhaps I could make out some of the items but no such luck, its mystery meals for me.... i really need to make some friends to help me out!

Speaking of friends, some of my classmates seemed pretty nice today so i think I will be able to manage. There were only three other slovak girls there today plus myself and the mexican exchange student. the teacher said quite a few of the students are missing because it was a Slovak holiday yesterday or something. They will be back next week though. The three girls were very kind and understanding though, only one of them spoke to us in english because the others were too shy which is understandable, I don't mind because then I get some practice with my slovak anyways. The mexican student is quite nice too. She speaks english pretty well so this is how we were communicating since I don't know any spanish except what I've picked up off of Dora the explorer. It donned on me today that there are three exchange students and Im supposed to have three host families so I think we will rotate families. I looked for the guy from the US but i didn't see him today, maybe tomorrow, we will see. For now I am doing just fine.

Tomorrow at school we have five lessons and then for the afternoon we are going to something called the 'Jolly Festival' which is this festival that students from all over the city put on for kids with disabilities so I'm excited to see what this is all about! I think it will be interesting and I will like having the chance to see kids again, I feel deprived! I'm most excited about the people watching though, I think it will be funny watching some of my classmates interact with the kids, most of them don't seem to thrilled to be in school at all. In my school I don't think they have an academic route or a regular route like in Canada so all the kids; geeky, nerdy, preppy, unenthused, bad ass, and try hard, are all smashed together in one class. So it will be a unique experience at the very least.

but i will keep you posted!

p

I have had a FANTASTIC past two days!

but I'll start from the beginning and see if I can remember everything that has happened. :)

Yesterday we woke up early as a family so we could get as much packed into the day as possible. We were off to the northern part of slovakia (I think at least, it was very close to the polish border). I liked this trip the best so far of all the things I ve seen and experienced in Slovakia. We took the back way there through several small towns and villages (or 'willages' as they all say here in their slovak accents). It was really cool being able to see the smaller villages because this is what makes up the majority of Slovakia. There are very few larger cities, in fact Zilina is the third largest with only 85000 people. The smaller places differed from the large cities quite a bit. The architecture was very old, the houses very, very, very small (and when I say small I mean one room max!) and older looking and there were tons of gardens. The gardens were quite large and almost everyone of them had someone working in it. Tilling the picking and watering all by hand. My family said that most people in the villages grow all their own vegetables and things. The little villages were quaint and cute surrounded by absolutely beautiful scenery. You could see the mountains in the distance and the houses were dispersed between giant hills. The closest we have in canada would be around the Calgary region in the foothills I think.... but I really liked it.

So after driving for an hour and a half or so on some very small and winding roads we made it to Orava. Here we went to the Orava Hrad (castle) which was super! cool. I really liked having the opportunity to learn about some of the history and I think my family enjoyed sharing it with me. We did a tour and it was all in slovak but Matej (my host bro) would translate some of it for me so I got the jist of what was going on. My cousin came too (jacub) and so it was actually pretty fun. It was good bonding for us I think. Each time I go out and do something with my family it makes it a little easier and it makes me feel a little more at home. I look forward to the time when we have memories and stories to share together. (and I know that time will come sooner than later). We stopped for lunch before heading to the next part of our journey and I had a traditional slovak dish, Hlushky, or something close to that. It was very good! It tasted and looked just like perogies all cut up and smothered in cheese and sour cream. It was very interesting but also very delicious (but not very good for you I think)....

After the castle we drove a little further (we were 5km from the polish border) and we went to an Aqua park which was really fun. Its at a resort kind of place where there are hotels and skiiing in the winter, so there were quite a few tourists. The park itself is not like anything I've ever seen in Canada but it was really nice. The slovak people are really smart you know..... its pretty much the hot springs in the mountains but they built a whole water park around it. So there are like five or six sizeable pools full of water (some hot, warm, and luke warm) and each one has something different in it. There was a giant water slide and fountains and a wave pool and these jet bed things and a whirl pool and so it was very fun.
After a couple of hours in the pool we decided we had had enough so we headed towards home. We stopped in tersava (thats how it sounded but thats not what its actually called) a very beautiful town known for its scenery. Here we had supper and went to a friends house for the evening. The people here seem to really like to entertain one another. At there house we just sat and talked and I tried to make out some words. I can pick out a word or two every couple of sentences but other than that I have no idea what is going on. I think sometime s I must look like a deer in the headlights because they always ask me "are you alright" "are you sure?" hahha but usually I am fine, just concentrating on what they are saying. When they all start talking so fast it all seems like one giant word to me!
Finally after an action packed day we headed for home. On the way home we say the castle at night which was also very beautiful because it was all lit up. And that brings that day to a close.

The next day (today) I got to sleep in, which was nice. I always feel very tired it seems. I think it is because even if I sleep a very long time its not a very good sleep because i always wake up in the night and things. Right now I know I am nervous for school tomorrow because I have no idea what to expect and no idea what on earth I am doing. So Im thinking once school starts and the rotary orientation meeting next weekend is over and done with i will be a little more relaxed and I will be able to sleep better. But we will see.
okay sorry I got distracted... back on track... In the afternoon I had a delicious lunch at home with my host parents, we ate outside and it was a bbq slovak style. They thought that it was so cool that they were having a bbq but it was just this little tiny grill thing on the back porch. It was very cute! Then for the afternoon we went over to our neighbors for a visit. This was very interesting. I met all the neighbors from the area as they were all there. they say they have get togethers like that often but today was special because it marked the last day of holidays and teh end of summer. It was really fun! My neighbors have three girls so I got to meet them and they were thrilled that I knew english and they were very excited to have me speak to them and to hear about canada. I am just glad to have made some more friends, I gave them my phone number so sometime they said they would take me out! I am very happy to have some friends (especially because they are girls!).
I really liked hav ing the chance to just sit back and watch everyone all afternoon. Seeing how they interact and what they talk about and things. What everyone said was true, I must admit, they do drink an awful lot here! As the evening went on I think they went through 6 or 7 bottles of wine and there was also beer and hard liquor too. it is like it is second nature to them though, theyve all grown up with it. The mother of our neighbor's is definately a 'food mama'. I ATE SO MUCH! she kept offering and offering and offering! It was very nice but oh boy... even when i said no thank-you she would put it in front of you anyways! it was all very good though, I enjoyed it!

Now I am in bed writing to you, but I should sleep soon. It is eleven here and I must wake up at 7 tom for school. I can't believe school is here already! I am very excited but also very nervous about it.
On a somewhat random note before I say good night....Man oh Man am I learning a lot! and I haven't even started school yet. I am in awe, its kind of difficult to put into words. Its like a roller coaster ride though. I have hours where I am very very happy and then moments when I am sad and missing home (more so the familiarity of everything that comes with home I think) but at least my mood always seem to go back up. And on top of this crazy roller coaster ride Im on, I am completely overwhelmed with gratitude. I am so unbelievably grateful for what I have been given! and I think 'holy shit!' I am in Slovakia, on the other side of the world! completely submersed in another language and culture. It is surreal and amazing! And to think this is only the beginning! WOW!
I think this is the start of something more though... I have a feeling that this will not be the end. That when I am done here I will be travelling to all kinds of other places to see all kinds of people and cultures and ways of life. Im lovin it so far, all of it, the downs included, Mind you I have no idea what I will think in a few months, so you might want to ask me again then!

bye for now!

p