Hello again!

So I tried to put up pictures of the Slovensky Bethlehem, but it keeps giving me an error message so you will just have to wait. I will try and put them up when I get back home again. Because I'm off to Raca, a neighboring ski town, to celebrate New Years Eve or Sylvester! I'm going with Mariely and her family and I think it's going to be a blast! By what I've been told, it's going to be outside (which is okay because its 4 degrees here) and we will be staying in a cabin tonight. There is a dinner and party and disco and fireworks and walking in the wilderness....so all in all sounds like a good time to me!

So that's where I'm headed. Be back sometime tomorrow to tell you how it went :)

Stastne Novy Rok!! Happy New year!

HALUSKY

So I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda glad Christmas is over. It's a big relief to be getting back to normal routine (I never realized just how much I thrive on structure until I came to Slovakia). Don't get me wrong, I loved having the opportunity to celebrate it in another country and learn a different way of life so closely-but it was rough.

I've had a wonderful past couple of days though as I've been working hard to keep myself busy. Yesterday I woke up with the house to myself (which is always lovely and quiet and peaceful) and I made myself toast (which is a special treat when you live in Slovakia). Later on I went out with friends, and we had plans to go to a Mexican Restaurant for Mariely, but it turned out to be closed so we just went to a pub. It was nice night out with friends. Today was even better! I went to my favorite little coffee shop in the morning and ordered a delicious caramel latte and sat and read my book (I got from the library) in the back corner. It was so relaxing and made me so happy. Then I went to the English school for a couple of hours to plan out my lessons for next weeks story hours. And the best part came next. I went with my councilor to a place called Slovakia Bethlehem. It is this giant (10 m by 4m) wooden carving which is stunningly beautiful! You can't even imagine the detail that it has. And what was really neat about it was that each section represented a different part of Slovakia. I could have stood in front of it for hours and still not seen it all. There were little black smiths, women sewing, castles accurate right down to the windows, animals, and a nativity scene right in the middle. And get this--they all moved! I don't even understand how one man could finish such a master piece all on his own. It really was spectacular. I will put up a photo of it but it definitely doesn't do it justice!
So after the Bethlehem scene I stayed at my councilor's home for a couple of hours and worked in the kitchen with her. She showed me how to make delicious vegetable soup and Halusky! You have no idea how proud I am! SO when I get back I promise you all I will make some Halusky just for you so you can have a taste of slovakia! I have come to really love my councilor and her husband and they seem to have adopted me as their daughter so it's really nice. They are such kind people and I feel very loved by them, and I've only known them for four months. But that's kind of how it is with exchange. You get to be able to call almost any place home and you get really close to people in a very short time, partly because you are forced to if you want to survive, and partly because people are so kind and warm and welcoming to you. It's a very neat experience I don't think you can get any other way.

Since I have been on holidays, and will continue to be for the next two weeks, I have had a fair amount of time on my hands (okay thats a lie, I have had a LOT of time on my hands) and so I have been playing with my camera. I have taken several pictures in around my host home and Zilina. I've created an online album and so I will share the link here. So if you are interested, I invite you to take a look. I think they are really representative of just how beautiful this little country is and they give you an idea of how the city really feels. So Enjoy!

http://cid-61a3334c3c7815a5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Slovakia%20in%20December?authkey=e6fsuZVZttM%24

This is a picture I took on Christmas Day. No Snow!! It was really warm this year. +7!


These are the gifts I got from baby Jesus!


This is a picture of Knedla (what they call dumplings) and the tortillas we ate with goose. They love to drown them in oil and eat them with cabbage.


This one of the trays full of homemade goodness that my mom made.

Vianoce! (vee-an-o-ts-eh)

Christmas Christmas Christmas in Slovakia! Okay there's a lot to write down here so you can't say I didn't warn you! Here we go!

December 24th
The majority of the celebrations occur on this day. And I would say the Slovaks know how to celebrate! I woke up to my grandma in the kitchen cooking soup which was such a nice surprise. My parents were both at work still and my brother sleeping so I had a nice little chit chat with her (in slovak of course) and it was really nice. She gave me tiny glass of borovicka, a special Slovak alcohol made from pine, because as she put it 'its a special day'. My parents came home from work and running last minute errands at about 12 and we sat down for lunch. It was special mushroom soup they only eat on christmas eve. Once the soup was done, much to my surprise no more food came out. Apparently it's tradition to fast on Christmas Eve from noon lunch until you eat the big dinner around 5 or 6. I thought it was funny though because they all said, you can't eat anything, but you can drink. And drink they did. But I'll get to that later. But man oh man was it a good thing I fasted! I really don't think I could have fit all that food into my stomach any other way. I mean wow! There were several courses to this meal and each one was fantastic!
Course one: capustnica. Soup with sauerkraut, sausage, mushrooms, and a whole bunch of other stuff I'm not sure I really want to identify. It was good but definitely not my favorite thing in the world. I'm not a fan of the sour cabbage which is rather unfortunate because the Slovaks can't seem to get enough of it.
Course two:Carp and potatoe salad. This was delicious! Now my family doesn't follow the whole tradition with the carp (thank goodness!) because it entails buying a live carp at the supermarket (you should see the giant tubs they have of them on pretty much every street corner) and keeping it in your BATHTUB until Christmas when you kill and eat it. Just as glad I didn't have to experience that Slovak ritual firsthand. And I just have to mention the potatoe salad here is to die for. It has boiled egg and cheese and potatoes of course and all kinds of veggies and garlic and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Course 3:Rice cakes with honey and garlic. Yup you heard right! It was one of the strangest combinations I think I've come by yet but it was delicious! You take these paper thin rice wafers (I don't even think we have them in Canada) and smother them in honey and then toss in some raw crushed garlic and bon apetit! They say it's for good health in the new coming year because all the Slovaks seem to be convinced things like garlic and tea can ward all kinds of disease. And I dunno, could be true, you never know!
Course 4: Oh yes there's more. Fruit. Placed in front of me was this giant bowl heaping with every kind of fruit imaginable. Wonderful it was!
Course 5: Okay and this is the last one I promise. Sweets. All kinds of homemade goodness! Chocolate and caramel and cookies and nuts and anything else you can imagine. But by the time you got to this course I must say I was rather full. I dare say they do it in this order on purpose. It was probably for the best. And it's not like I haven't eaten my fair share of sugar over the past few days. What with being surrounded by platters full of sweets, it's kind of hard to avoid.

Once the eating had ceased. Thank goodness, because I thought I might explode,the present opening commenced. Now in Slovakia, Santa Clause doesn't exist (there is st Mikulas who came on Dec 6th if you remember) and instead they say the baby Jesus brings the gifts himself. The whole story is much more vague than the Santa Clause one. There is no mention of how Jesus makes it to all the houses, there's no magic sleigh with flying reindeer, and the presents just seem to appear under the tree sometime in the evening. Much less convincing if I do say so myself. So we exchanged gifts, jesisko (little Jesus) brought some for everyone. I got a Slovak cook book in English which I'm really excited about. Now I can cook up some Slovak cuisine for you when I return home! And a shirt that has a slovak man on it eating Halusky. I gave my host parents a card with an attempt at a kind message in slovak in it, an ornament I bought while in Vienna, and a picture of us together which I had framed. Writing in the card turned out to be a whole lot harder than I thought. I know quite a few words in Slovak now but they are all very direct and to the point so it's kind of hard to write a nice mushy message. What I came up with in the end was something along the lines of Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you! You are fantastic people! But they got the point and they really seemed to like it.

Then the rest of the family came over and the celebrations really began. And this is where the alcohol comes in. The Slovaks really know how to drink! Now I mentioned before I had a shot of borovicka in the morning with breakfast, well that wasn't the last. I had one at both lunch and dinner and then there was more than one glass of wine. And I was trying not to drink! You see it's like this; as an adult (or youth for that matter) in the Slovak community it is essentially your responsibility to have a glass in your vicinity at all times. And, as I quickly figured out, when that glass is empty that means you want more, not that you are finished. So the key is to keep one sip in the bottom of your glass so it looks like you're still drinking it. This way you can avoid countless refills and questions as to why you're not celebrating. So that was the beginning of the evening. Later on, say 9 or so, everyone picks up and relocates outside. Yes outside! We stood around in the middle of the street visiting and drinking with the neighbors for the remainder of the evening. I ended up leaving early as I went with my host grandma to church. This was the highlight of my evening. It was so nice to walk (we could walk because it was 7 degrees that day)to the church hand in hand with her and hear the christmas carols. I loved it, it was almost magical!

Some other little things that I noticed that were interesting was in the morning our neighbor brought over a plate full of goodies for us to enjoy! I thought that was a nice treat! As well the door bell was ringing a lot more than usual that morning and everytime it did my host bro would run and look out the window to see who it was before he answered it and he often didn't answer all together. I didn't understand why until he explained that the gypsies often go door to door around christmas looking for money I think. And that brings the 24th to a close.

December 25th: Vianoce D'en: Christmas Day
Christmas day is a whole lot more relaxed here and it consists of more eating and drinking. Everyone crawled out of bed by 1 to get ready for the big dinner at 2. All the family came over again and we shared a meal of goose, tortillas, knedla (what everyone calls dumplings, but they really aren't dumplings), and purple stewed cabbage. This is most definitely my favorite Slovak meal. I love the purple cabbage, actually on second thought I love it all! I would dare to say I like goose more than turkey in fact. Oh and funny story. Much to my horror I had the honor, as a guest and young person, to eat the liver (yes the liver!) of the turkey. And after they phrase it like that and my host dad tells me very emphatically how he loves the liver and its the best part, I couldn't exactly turn it down. So I ate it. It really wasn't that bad actually, kind of good in fact. My host mom fried it up, drowned it in grease (like all Slovak cuisine) and then folded it in a tortilla. It was much better than the school cafeterias version that's for sure!
And then all was finished. The family went home by 5 and we just sat on the couch in front of the tv and digested. What we watched on the tv however, I found to be quite entertaining. They were a series of old Slovak and Czech Fairytales. All of which included old hags, peasants rebelling, witches, and dragons. I didn't really understand any of it but just watching the acting was entertaining. It is also tradition to play the Slovak version of Cinderella here on Christmas too.

December 26
Nothing. A very uneventful day in Slovakia. In fact, almost all of the shops are closed. So definitely not any Boxing day blowout sales going on.

And there you have it; Christmas Slovak style! I'm really grateful I had the opportunity to partake in all of their celebrations. It was a really cool experience and I'm sure there's only more to come in the next year!

A view of Bratislava, Slovakia's capital


These are some of the other exchange students in Slovakia. We are really close friends now!


A plate of Halusky. The Slovak food which always talk about. Its made from poatoes but tastes like pasta and it has goat cheese on it.


Proof of how alcohol is everywhere here. This is at the train station. You can buy a bottle of vodka or borovicka for 2 euros just at the local concession.


A picture of the super old stretchers they use at the hospital. They really do use them! We saw one with a patient on it! This was just in the hallway of the hospital.

So there are some random pics just to fill you in!

Hey I'm back again 12 hours later! SO last night I went to a Christmas dinner with the staff of the English School I've been volunteering at. The school itself is really small. There are two centers: one here in zilina and one in prievidza which is 40 km outside of Zilina. Each school has two teachers and then there is Katka who owns it all. So there's really not that many people but all of them or young women (most between 23 and 27 but one of them just turned 19!). So we all met at the school and then headed out to a restaurant in the center and I had a FABULOUS TIME! And boy oh boy did I need it! It really helped pick me right up again and it was really reassuring. Because they are all teachers their english is fantastic, which meant that I could converse in full sentences using big words at normal speed for the first time in months and you have no idea how wonderful this was!!! Extra-ordinarily wonderful! It was also really nice because it reminded me that I do actually have social skills, the ability to converse with people, and the ability to make friends when I'm in my element and that makes me feel a whole lot better about my whole friend situation. Not only do I have to speak in a foreign language (which I am far from mastering) but most of the kids at school are significantly younger than me and enjoy talking about things I just don't find funny so i would say I'm little out of my element when it comes to socializing at school. But that said I have been given the opportunity to really throw myself into the english school if I want. Katka has offered me a position as storyteller twice a week if I so desire (and I think I do) plus I'm welcome any other time I have freetime or feel like coming in. So I forsee a really good friendship forming between myself and the 19 yr old teacher Sonia. Not only is she my age, but she went on exchange to America last year so she really gets what I'm going through. I really had a lot of fun with her last night and so hopefully we will be able to see more of eachother outside of work.

Now, I have to point out that it made me laugh when I went back and reread my last paragraph. It sounds like I have to strategically plan how I'm going to go about making friendships but the sad thing is you kind of have to as an exchange student. I was talking about this with all the other exchage students when we were in Bratislava and they all said the same thing. It's like when you see someone with the potential to really be your friend you have to go about pursuing that opportunity otherwise it will just pass you by. Because for the most part all the people you want to make friends with already have a lot of friends and aren't really looking to make many more so they just won't put the effort in. So that means you have to work double time. It really reminds me of the movie 'I love you man' that I saw a while back where the groom has no man friends so he has to go about making some. And it's hilarious because they say planning a get together with a new friend is like planning a 'man date'. That's totally what I feel like sometimes you have no idea. Like yesterday, I knew if I ever wanted to go out with Sonia again I had to ask for her number and facebook and things but whenever I exchange contact details with someone (and give them my beautiful rotary business card) I feel strangely like I'm asking them out on a date or something. And then I just giggle to myself and think ohhh the situations I have been in while on exchange--the list is endless!

And twelve hours later my emotions aren't running quite as high (I told you!! :P). At the moment I'm getting excited for tonight and tomorrow. Two Christmas dinners with lots of family and friends! As well I'm going to a movie this afternoon with Mariely and a friend so that should be nice as well.

talk to you later! Merry Christmas! Vesele Vianoce!

p

Christmas is fast approaching. In fact it kind of crept on me! It's strange being in another country for such a special holiday. I can feel that it's Christmas and I can see all the excitement in the people around me and the holiday cheer but it just isn't the same. I don't have that unmistakable 'christmas feeling' I always get when I'm at home and so I could hardly believe that it was the 22 today when I looked at my calendar! It's almost like you have to work to get yourself excited for the holidays here because you don't have all those normal things that que you off. Like the pulling out of the christmas decorations or the craziness of school leading up to the holidays, or the madness of getting all of your shopping done. Here school is never crazy for me (its quite the opposite in fact), the decorations are out but they don't have any deeper meaning to me, and I had to buy some presents and things but I have so much time on my hands that I was finished my shopping way back in November.
As fast as Christmas crept up on me, so did the holiday blues. It was crazy, they just hit me like a wall one day. I was so happy for the longest time and things were going really well. It didn't feel like anything could bring me down but down I have come. I have been ridiculously homesick the past few days. It is a different kind of homesick this time though. I just genuinely miss my family and friends and everyone really. I wish I could teleport myself home for a day or two and then come right back to Slovakia. Actually that's a lie, at the moment Im not even sure I want to come back to Slovakia, but I'm sure those feelings will pass. I mean you could ask me in a couple of hours and I'm sure my answer would be totally different.I think most of the difficulties come from everyone being so busy with the holidays coming so as the exchange student I've kind of been neglected the past couple of weeks by my friends and family and then on top of that all my activities ended so I have absolutely nothing to do except sit at home and mope. And let me tell you that is NOT what you should do when you are homesick! I've been working really hard at digging myself out of this rut though and it's working I think. On sunday I baked a gazillion cookies and wrapped them up in little packages to give out to my friends. It was super nice and it got me in the christmas spirit. I had so much time I even hand made little tags to put on all of them. Sad I know. haha but I loved it.
Today I went to the tea room with my friends from school (it was the last day today!!) and that was fantastic! It was super super super nice!
I've been having some difficulty with friends here. I really don't understand the Slovak people sometimes. There'll be one time when we all go out and I really feel like they are my friends and I have a really good time and then the next day it will be like we are back to square one again. They don't really talk to me and it's like we never went out. I don't get it. For one they aren't very good at showing emotions period. I realized this the other day within my host family. My host parents were talking to their daughter who is on exchange to Brasil via skype and you should have seen the looks on their faces! They were so happy! And then it hit me. I've never seen them like that. They just go about their day to day duties and work and work and work. There is very little expression and they rarely offer up anything of themselves. So that makes it rather difficult to get into their circle of trust. At this point I'm past the shy stage thank goodness! People actually talk to me now and express some interest in what I do, so all I can do is hope that they will come around eventually. I'm sure they will.
Okay and one random story for you before I head out to a christmas party with the english school. I got up the nerve to go into one of the gazillion cheap china shops here and man was it crazy. When i say a gazillion I really mean a gazillion. They are on every corner and everyone seems to shop there. I still can't bring myself to do it. They are basically these giant warehouses full of rip offs and cheasy everything. But boy oh boy is it cheap! You can buy a pair of fake leather boots for 15 euoros ($20) and clothing for 5 or 10 euros a piece. But it was really funny because having never entered one before I was expecting the shop to be this tiny little thing because that's what it looks like from the outside. BUT once you are inside you see it's enormous and contains piles and piles of crap. You can pretty much buy anything under the sun there, really! Now I understand why lots of people have to shop there though. It's really quite sad because all the clothing and everything seems to be the same price as in Canada for the most part but the wages the slovaks earn is so much smaller! So for them what I think is a decent price, is really expensive for them. I'm sure it has something to do with the switching of economic structures as well as the change from the slovak crowns to the Euro this past January. I ask and the answer always gets really complicated really fast so I think Ill have to do some reading on it before I can begin to understand it all.

Okay so I gotta run! I think it should be a nice evening! and tomorrow I have a christmas dinner with the fam so that will be nice too!

So a week removed (not for any good reason, other than pure laziness) I'm here to tell you about my wonderful adventures in Vienna and Bratislava. Fantastic! (imagine that word being shouted in a sing songy way and you get the effect I'm going for).

So as I had mentioned in my previous posts (on more than one occasion I believe) I had the opportunity to go to Vienna and Bratislava last weekend with Rotary. It was one of our bi-monthly exchange student gatherings. Now, these get togethers (which include all the rotary exchange students in Slovakia) are always fantastic in themselves but this one was particularly amazing. So let's just get to the point. I LOVE VIENNA! That is all there is to it. I have been there before, with my family and I liked it then but I must admit I didn't really appreciate it's greatness until the second time through. It really is a magnificent city. I love the feeling of it, how it looks and the masses of people--it was simply magestic! It was super cool because we got to go there during christmas time too so it was extra beautiful, all decked out with lights and trees and music. W-O-W. I really don't know what else to say. It was a once and a lifetime oppportunity (because come on when else am I going to get to experience the christmas markets in Europe!)and I sooooooooooooooo wish you all could have been there to see it with me. I didn't take too many pictures because I just found myself getting frustrated. The greatness of the scene just can't be captured on my simple little digital camera, but the pics I did take I will share of course!
Okay so I think you get that Vienna was fantastic and perhaps you're wondering what we did while we were there? Uh huh good question. We shopped! What else? I was in heaven. I can't believe it but Rotary just let 35 exchange students loose in a foreign city for five hours to do what we like (within the law and the four D's of course). Myself being with three other girls who are strangely similar to me and paul hit up the shops. We did some looking around downtown and then continued on to the markets. Oh my! There were sooooo many people (really you have no idea!). You had to pretty much wiggle worm your way through the crowds to see the booths but it was worth it. There were so many beautiful crafts to be oggled at and I bought so many cute little things. I got some sweet hand made ornaments and beaUtiful scarf, an Austrian waffle (mouth watering goodness!) and a practical but lovely hand bag. All in all a more than successful trip.
Yes, the shopping was wonderful but what was even better was the atmosphere. I felt like I was living in a fairytale, dancing up and down the streets with carols in the background the sky lit by lights. It was also kind of a surreal experience being put out into the real world again after having been surrounded by everything Slovak for three and a half months. It was surprisingly hard to go back to being just english. I kept speaking my terrible broken Slovak to people and they just looked at me like I was a major freak. What on earth is this girl doing trying to speak to me in a language only 0.2% of the world understands when it's obvious she knows english. I'm sure it's what they were thinking. I could see it in the way they shook their heads and rolled their eyes at me. And then there were the crowds. There were hoards of people EVERYWHERE. Our tour guide said that more than a thousand tour buses would enter Vienna that day alone! Dealing with that many people would be fine but it causes certain complications, like say when you really have to pee. I mean in Europe to start with public bathrooms are hard to come by (at least ones you're willing to set foot in) and then when there are that many people, well let's just say the line goes from here to timbucktwo. BUT I had to pee THAT bad, so we waited. and waited. and waited. And when we finally got in we had to pay 1 euro, which is ridiculously expensive when you think about it. I mean those people are going to be rolling in the dough by the end of the day. The upside of paying to pee though, is you get toilet paper (which really is a rare comidity over here) AND the lady wiped the toilet seat after every person so you didn't have to deal with all the pee on the seat (which is also a big problem. I guess girls don't like their butts to touch the seat but come on! Work on your aim a little!). So sadly we spent an hour out of our five precious hours in vienna peeing and eating, but I mean what are ya going to do? Needs are needs and they have to be met wherever you are.

So that was Vienna. Now I want to share with you some random little tidbits of info I've picked up about socialism while I've been here. It really is an interesting topic to bring up with people and I love to hear their stories. I talked for an hour yesterday with my councillor's husband about it and learned a lot! It's really eye opening having the opportunity to hear about it from someone with firsthand experience. By the sounds of it, communist times really were like how our high school text book described them. People had everything they needed. They had no problem buying bread and potatoes and milk and eggs--the necessities. What was difficult to come by was the things that Slovakia had to import. He said it was his job in the family to stand in line everyday after work for hours just so he could bring home a pineapple or a bunch of bananas or some mandarins. And then he explained that he was fortunate in that he had a high paying job at the time (he made $300 us dollars a month) but when it came to what they could own it made no difference. Even though he had the money to get better things for his family, he couldn't because they just weren't available. Everyone had the same things. And he said this changed the way people interacted. He thinks the slovak people were more open and friendly in these times because there was no competition, people could care less about stuff. As well they had a lot of time on their hands. Everyone worked but no one worked hard because there was no incentive to. And when they weren't working they didn't have much to do. People weren't working to achieve something greater because they didn't know what else was out there. They didn't hear about the west or how other people were living and the west didnt hear about them. So when the walls finally fell, and the truth was revealed, everyone was really surprised at what they saw. The west couldn't believe the socialist countries actually had everything they needed (they were under the impression that times were terribly difficult, people were starving and dying under the commmunist regime) and the Socialist countries were astounded at the progress made by the west.
I also learned that when the turn over from communism to capitalism began you could buy one of the flats for $1600. Imagine! An apartment for so little! And another major problem a lot of people came across was the education. Many people in my parents generation were in the middle of completing their degree in uni when the regime crumbled, so then they were faced with a choice. The entire world was suddenly available to them, they could study whatever they wanted. All the people who worked could start again too. Many people had the chance to change professions completely and move way up the totem pole.
There are definitely remnants of communism everywhere. Two things I've noticed at school and in the community are cheating and a lack of line ups. At school EVERYONE cheats and it's pretty much socially acceptable. The punishments are school are virtually non existent and it just seems to be part of the culture. All the other exchange students have said they've noticed the same thing too so it's not just my school. And the lines, well there is just no concept of them. You can start one and people just but in all over the place. And if you are bigger than the person in front of you then you are entitled skip ahead of them. I see at school everyday in the concession and cafeteria lines and then the other day at the post office. It drives me nuts! But I'm starting to get the hang of it, you just have to be assertive and butt too and then it's all good.

So so so. Life is pretty good. I can feel the christmas blues beginning to settle in but I like to think that it will never get as bad as it was in the beginning. And soon enough christmas will be here and then January 10th i switch families (scary but exciting!) and then the end of Jan I will have made it half way! I can hardly believe it!

P

ps. I really am becoming european. Between showering at night, eating a giant meal in the middle of the day, going out every friday, and now, now I'm wearing panty hose under my pants. What is the world coming to!

Well I'm back from the doctor's and I'm still in one piece! I still can't believe the hospitals here. It really is like a snapshot from a movie made in the fifties or something. In order to enter the hospital grounds you have to go through these huge (scary) iron gates and then once you're in there it's like it's own functioning community. Paul called it the 'Health Fortress' which seemed strangely accurate. There are different buildings devoted to different services and all of them are equally terrifying. There are rows of the big communist flats and in the middle is a road for the ambulance and a series of courtyards which they've tried to spruce up with dead trees and empty flower boxes. And that's just the outside. You go in through the rickety door and all you see everywhere is drywal exposed, dirt in the corners, tiles pulled up on the floors, not nice. All the staff have wear white from head to toe too! I wouldn't be surprised if the nurses still have to wear the traditional dress and hat. And I took a picture of one of the trolley beds they use here! It was just sitting in the hallway and we were looking at it like 'is that an antique or do they actually still use it?' when a patient came rolling by on one. I'll put it up for you to see.
How they operate all together is just different. First we had to get our blood taken in one room (at least the nurse was really good at it. One poke and voila two viles just like that) then we had to go outside to another building to get our xrays done. Which was just a fun expereince. not. We had to go into this little room and strip from the waist up and then stand in front of this freezing cold metal contraption while it moved us sideways abruptly. Then once that was finished we waited in the hallway while they developed the proofs. They just left the door open so we could see everything they were doing. Including other patients xrays of various parts of the body. And then we had to go back to the other building to give the xrays to the lady and then we had to go to the front to pay and then baack to her to give her the reciept and then we were done. It really is an inefficient system but hey! it's done and I'm all clear so hopefully I can finally get my visa!!!! And I hope I won't have to make any more trips to the hospital so I can avoid all that sketchiness all together.

okay now I've gotta run! I'm off to VIENNA!! Have I mentioned how excited I am yet???

bye!

P

I'm up nice and early this morning (530 am) to go to the doctors and you can just imagine how pleased I am. I have to go to another city because there are Rotary connections there and get all cleared before I can actually finally get my visa. I guess the Slovak people think I could have contracted TB in the three months I've been here so off I go.... I think it involves being pushed up against a old metal table with no shirt on for an xray and the drawing of some blood. Oh lovely. Plus it doesn't help that the Slovak hospitals look REALLY sketchy, but then again maybe I'll be going to a private clinic and those are quite nice, tucked away in an apartment usually. We shall see.

So I have to go but just thought I'd fill you in on the matter..........

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MIKULAS!!!

MIKULAS!!!!! (pronounced Meekooolash) was soooo wonderfully fantastic this weekend. I am incredibly tired, having gotten to bed around 4 on both fri and sat night, but it was well worth it!
Okay so a bit of information to fill you in before I dive head first into my description of the weekend. In Slovakia they celebrate christmas twice in a sense. They have mikulas day, where st nicholas comes and brings sweets to everyone who leaves their shoes on the window sill, and then they have christmas on the 24th when Jesus comes down to earth to visit. St. Mikulas is historically a man who was known for his kindness. I had the story translated to me but I'm still a little fuzzy on the details. There was something about him saving three young women from having to live on the streets, even though he had nothing. Regardless, he is now known as a saint in all of Slovakia.

So back to the story, after the fantastic stuzkova which i gushed about in my last post, I slept pretty all day saturday. When I finally managed to roll out of bed for lunch around 2 pm, I had to scramble to get ready for my next adventure--Mikulas!
My family and I (plus Mariely) piled into the car and headed out to a cabin. It was this super cute little place in a mountain village. We met up with my aunt and uncle and their two kids (jakub and Boba who've mentioned in previous posts) and two other families who are university friends of my parents. I was sooo excited to get there and see the cabin. It was the cutest thing ever! When I looked around I couldn't help but think we looked like something out of a christmas catalogue, we all had to wear red shirts (family tradition) and most of us had santa hats. So sat was a pretty fantastic day. Here's how it went down:

First we ate. The couple who own the cabin rent it out to people and they do all the cooking! So we had delicious chicken (and rice of course) plus yummy traditional slovak polievka (soup).
Then we played tons of foosball and table tennis.
Then there was more eating. So many delicious snacks EVERYWHERE! I swear I could have gained 20 pounds just that day, but what's christmas for right? But there was every kind of cheese you could imagine and pretzels and sausage and chocolate galor!
Then santa and the devil came to visit. Yes the devil comes on christmas in Slovakia! The dads got all dressed up in masks and brought down a big bag of sweets for everyone. We sang (and I learned) a traditional slovak christmas carol. They say in slovakia that the good children get sweets and the bad ones sticks and coal. And they made us sing or dance or recite a poem if we wanted to get our treats so I belted out rudolph the red nosed reindeer for all to hear.
Then there was more eating. I mean how could you resist you were just handed a bag full of yummy treats.
Then the rest of the evening was filled with music, sad attempts to ballroom dance, talking, laughing, and more ping pong (they really do love it here).

All in all it was a wonderful day, not just because it was loads of fun but because I really felt like I fit in. I felt like I was part of the family and my Slovak was good enough to communicate to people! I've really come to love my host family, especially my host dad. It was a fantastic time.

On a different note, I had Rotary this monday, and I went as usual but this time it was particularly entertaining. It was one of the Rotarians 60th b day so there was a big celebration going on. So big I might add that the exchange students (the other inbounds and next years outbounds from slovakia) had to be shipped off to another room. Apparently the no alcohol rule means we can't even witness the consumption of alcohol. So all the Rotarians thought we were safely tucked away in the back room, but little did they know we could hear them loud and clear. They were all singing folk songs in their deep manly voices at the top of their lungs, and it was too funny. We also had this special cabbage soup for the occasion and let's just say it wasn't my favorite. It didn't seem like much of a delicacy to me, filled with cabbage, mushrooms, pork, and god only knows what else. I nibbled away at my little bowl while Paul packed away four helpings. At least someone liked it!

AND on the topic of Rotary I am super psyched for this weekend. I leave on Thurs for four days in Bratislava and Vienna! Christmas shopping at the traditional markets!!! I can't wait. I get to take the train there and all the other exchange students will be on the same train so it's going to be an absolute blast! I just have to make it through tomorrow. One more long day at school then the sweet taste of the weekend! woot woot. And another thing to look forward to (aside from christmas and all that jazz) I am switching host families in under a month. My next family will be Mariely's and I've met them and spent a lot of time with them already so I know it will be a smooth transition. Its kind of a bitter sweet feeling though, because I feel like I've just finally settled in and now I have to be uprooted again but I think it will be good. And this time the change will be no where near as traumatizing as the beginning was so I should be good. :)

love as always!

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ps. I genuinely can't believe I've been here three months, however slow it went in the beginning, the time is flying by now. Each day I am amazed by something new, it truly is a surreal experience!

Stuzkova!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOO it was Stuzkova last night. The closest thing we have to this celebration is Graduation but let me tell, our graduation ceremony is sad and pitiful compared this!

I'm still not entirely sure why they hold there graduation in December but they do. The graduating class from the school i'm attending is about 50 people (two classes). So Mariely and I got all dressed up. Mariely is like a little diva and she loves glitter (I'm not so keen on the whole sparkle thing...) so it was hilarious watching her get ready. Sparkling lip gloss, nailpolish, hairspray, eyeliner....and anything else you could think of. You could see her in the dark! Then when we were finally ready (I say finally because it took us three hours to get ready. Most of this was dedicated to trying to figure out how to curl her hair with a straightening iron. We ended up looking it up on Youtube! So now I know....).

When we arrived at the hall I was surprised by how beautiful it was. There were floor to ceiling deep red velvet curtains, sweeet little table settings, and a giant dance floor cleared. The parents of the graduates sat on one side of the room and the grads on the other side. We (as the exchange students) got to sit with grads which was nice. We came in greeted all our friends and gushed about their beautiful dresses and suits and then took a seat in the hall, not knowing what to expect. I then proceeded to be swept off my feet at how beautiful the whole thing was. They still have a lot of tradition tied into their graduation and it genuinely felt like a celebration of what they have accomplished. They took the time to thank their parents and teachers for their support over the years.

All the grads walked in, in pairs an did this walk about so everyone could see them all dressed up. Ruffles and pink are definitely in over here! There were alot of them to be seen! Then they did the ribbon pinning ceremony. each grad was called forward and had a green ribbon pinned to them (kind of like we have our square hats in America) and the students tied a green sash around each of their teachers that read THANK YOU. Then it was the first dance. All the daughters went and got their dads and the boys their moms and they all two stepped to a traditional sloval folk song. This was super cute but the whole thing made me feel really home sick to be honest. I wasn't expecting it too because I was so excited for it but it definitely did. I think it was because you can see all your friends are sooo happy and they have their really close friends and family all around them. And there was me, I had no one (except Mariely). So that was the hard part, trying to shake off the aching I felt inside , but I did eventually.

After the dance there was some eating and then all the grads got together again and put on the performances they have been working on for the past few weeks. They were hilarious little skits and dance routines! I didn't understand mcuh of it but it was still more than enough just getting to watch thme. They had make shift costumes on but you could see their done up faces and hair peaking through. The one class did a dance to the MJ song Thriller and the other a musical kind of performance. There were videos they made posted on a screen, and the teahcers did a tribute to them as well. Then of course there was more dancing. At one point the students all took a teacher and danced with them.

At midnight all the grads gathered again in a circle, one for each class. They opened a bottle of champagne and poured it into a GIANT wine glass and each of them took a sip as it was passed around the circle. Then when all of it was gone, they threw the glass in the middle and smashed it on the floor! All of them rushed in to pick up a shard of glass to keep as a reminder of the night and they joined hands and danced to a song about stuzkova that is played at every stuzkova in Slovakia. It was really funny but really nice to see.

So all in all, I would say slovak grad beats out canadian grad any day. It was amazing to watch and so cool to be a part of it all. I will put some pictures up later when I get a chance.

Now I am off to a cabin with my family and Mariely to celebrate Mikulas! (St nicholas day). On Monday is the real day but everyone celebrates it on the weekend. I have no idea what we will do but i've been instructed to wear a red shirt and bring extra clothes because we will be staying there overnight. I'm super excited because I know it will be a good time. I will tell you all about it when I get home on Sunday~!!!

Love!

P

Yet another new experience to add to my long list.... yesterday, while at school (during break thank goodness) my cell phone starts ringing. This is weird in the first place because nobody usually calls me let alone in the middle of the day, but i answered it anyways...and guess who it was??? The Canadian Embassy!! Hahha. It was so funny to hear "hello is this miss reeves? This is the Embassy calling...". So apparently they are still having problems with my silly visa. But I'm not totally sure to be honest because nobody really seems to tell me anything which is just a wonderful feeling. I guess the document which I went and got from the embassy wasn't good enough for the foreign police either so it has to get sent back to Bratislava to be superlegalised. Oh goody. They aren't threatening to send me home anymore though and they've made it pretty clear that the rest is out of my hands and that i just need to let them take care of things so here's hoping it gets figured out before I have to come home in July!

Oh and funny story. I was sleeping at Mariely's house the other day and I fell asleep before her (I always do. I have this knack for being able to sleep anywhere at anytime, and here Im always tired so I'm even better at it). So she was watching tv on the laptop while I was snoring on the floor next to her and all was well. But she informed me in the morning that I was sleep talking, and all i kept saying over and over again was 'anglictina! anglictina!' which means English! English! in Slovak. So I guess I'm beginning to dream in broken english, bad accents, and simple slovak. That should make for some interesting dreams!

Today at school it wasn't quite as boring as usual. In the morning we had to arrive to the city centre instead of school to see some sort of presentation but nobody knew what it was. After seeing it though I have a feeling the school did that on purpose though so kids were less likely to skip. It was quite strange all of it. We sat in this rather large theatre and all the lights went out and there was fog on the stage and loud music and disco lights. I had NO idea what to expect and then all of a sudden people started to dance. Then out of no where there was this loud crashing sound and BAM! a video started on the background screens. But it wasn't the kind of video I was expecting, it showed images of major collisions and it was a whole lot more graphic than anything you would be shown in a Canadian school. I mean there were blood and guts and real people flying through the air. Quite disturbing to be honest. And that's how the presentation proceeded for the next hour or two. It was strange strange mix of dance, music, video, and presenters all in an effort to deter bad driving and the use of alcohol and drugs while driving. In retrospect, I'm not even totally sure that's what it was about as I wasn't able to understand any of what the people were saying but I could infer what they were getting at by the traumatizing images flashing all about.

THEN after that interesting experience we walked in a giant clump (all 100 students) back to the school which took us about twenty minutes. As soon as i returned to the school I was off to help out with the english competition being held this week. They had asked me if I would be willing to read different articles and stories out loud to the students for the oral examination part and so I said sure. I think they were really appreciative to have a native speaker there to do it. It was really funny becuase I had to sit at the front of the room and read aloud two different articles two time each to 20 plus students in the room (many of which were my classmates). They then had 15 minutes to answer questions on what i had read aloud. It was neat to be involved and I am doing it again tomorrow.

And random story number four, I have to do a project in German on my family. I'm supposed to create a poster with pictures and words of all of my siblings and parents. Then I have to say each of my siblings names and how old they are out loud to the class. This would be just fine if I didn't have EIGHT younger siblings. Like geeez Mariely only has two sisters so her job is easy and there I'm going to be; 'this is Isaac and this is Jane................................................and FINALLY this is Naomi!". But I'm excited for it and it should be fun. Plus I like German because I actually get to Participate.

Okay well now I am off to my english storytelling hour and then I'm going to finish some more scholarship applications.... But I'm getting really excited for the stuskova (prom)!!! It's in two days!!!! Yay!

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