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!

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