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