Ahoj Ahoj Ahoj!

This past week has been pretty fantastic, aside from my being sick and all, but other than that it's been a blast. Let me share...

So as I said before I had a rotary weekend. It was our second weekend so far (we have one every two months or so) and it was fabulous! It's so much fun with the other exchange students. All the Slovakian indbounds were there so there was something like 40 of us in all. It was hosted in Banska Bystrica a city of 80 000 so it is considered to be a major centre in Slovakia. It was a beautiful city with lots of architecture and history.

We were staying in dormitories so that was an adventure in itself. There were two to four people in a room and up to 8 people sharing a bathroom and shower. And I've officially learned my lesson. I never bring a towel to events like this because in the back of my head I always assume we will be staying in hotels like in canada, but boy am I always wrong. Since it was a dorm we slept on tiny little beds and there were no complimentary items to 'enrich' your stay. SO I had no towel (luckily I brought shampoo and things this time) and I was going to be staying there for three days....my choices? Well I didn't really have all that many. There happened to be some little tea towel like things they left each of us for who knows what but it served the purpose, I got dry eventually.

The itinerary for the weekend was pretty packed like it always is. We got there fri and had a few hours just to mingle and get to know everyone a little bit more. There are two other Canadians, both guys. One is from Kelowna, and the other is from Dawson Creek. They seem like decent guys and we bonded as we had the obvious in common-- we're from the same place. So Fri we stayed up nice and late and were then ridiculously tired on sat but it was still a good time. We got to go on a tour of the city by foot (in the rain sadly) and then we went to see some monuments like the leaning tower, and a church, and then SHOPPING! Yay! I love to shop and it was so nice to get to go with friends again! and friends who speak english no less! It was fantastic. I've made pretty good friends with a group of girls, two are from the US and one is from Japan and the other from Thailand. So we had a blast scavenging the mall for four hours. Sat evening was the ping pong tourney. It was a ridiculous amount of fun. I had my doubts. I mean you're hitting this little ball back and forth, how much of a work can that be? Well I admit it, I was wrong, because it was a really good work out and surprisingly intense. I came in dead last but that was all good. I thought I put up a good fight for it being my first time and all.
Then came the disco which was in this pub in the basement of the dorms. You gotta love Slovakia, there are pubs everywhere! It looked a little sketchy to start with, witht the dim lights, grungy ceiling, and lack of flooring, but once you started dancing that really didn't matter all that much.
So then Sun came around. We went to the national uprising museum which I found to be quite interesting but I had trouble focussing as I'd only gotten four hours of sleep the night before. It did make me realize just how much this little country has been through though. It really is amazing. It's seen a lot of hard times in a very small amount of time. Then it was home time. I think we were all ready to go home. We had had a lot of fun but we were all so exhausted.....

Random but ..... THERE ARE MAPLE LEAVES EVERYWHERE HERE! And I think it's kind of really funny because they are Canada's national symbol and there are hardly any in alberta. But that aside it makes for a really beautiful autumn season. I'm liking the weather here a lot. The autumn season is nice because it's actually wet. It's rained pretty much everyday for the past couple of weeks, but I don't mind it at all, in fact I love waking up to the soft pitter patter of rain on my roof. And up until just the other day I was assuming the weather would be the same as in Canada because everyone kept telling me about cold slovakian winters but then somebody informed me that the coldest it usually gets is minus 14. HA! I said, that's not that cold at all! So needless to say this winter is going to be nice.

And I am sick at the moment....blahhhhhhhh! We only had three days of school this week and I've been home for two of them. It's nice to be able to just stay home without feeling like I have to be somewhere, because I dont do much at school. And I don't think I've ever slept so much in my life! Yesterday I woke up at 8 went back to bed at 9 unitl 1 then was up for two hours and went back to sleep until 6. It was a beautiful day! I guess my body needed the break! It's also funny experiencing how people on the other side of the world treat sickness. At first my cold just started out with a nasty cough so my parents solution? they are gave me a cup of hot water with a shot of brandy in it. Admittedly it did help, but I just thought it was really funny. They also seem to go for a lot of the herbal stuff here. I've been instructed to drink loads and loads of tea, and I have to eat like a bazillion oranges and apples and banananas for the vitamins. They have been taking very good care of me though, I feel bad because I know they are extra worried because I am the exchange student. And it's also difficult to explain to them that I feel like crap but that I know it's just a head cold and that I'll be okay. It's an adventure that's for sure.

So this weekend is a super long weekend. We have no school thurs and fri (but my parents had to work thurs). I think it's fall break. So tom I'm super excited because I will be going to an aquapark. I've been willing my body to get better all day so I can go. I think I've convinced my parents I'm healthy enough to go, so fingers crossed. I really do feel a lot better but my cough is still here and it's really not that convincing. I kind of sound like a dying goose or something. Mariely and Paul and my cousin Jakub are coming too. Im really excited to go. It should be a really good time. Other than that I'm not too sure what else is in store for the weekend. I shall find out soon enough though.

lots of love

p