Sunday, November 29, 2009




A weeks worth of stuff....

AHHH its been long time since I've posted (a whole entire week and a half to be exact!). I've been keeping really busy these past couple of weeks which has been nice. Everyone seems to be gearing up for christmas around here. The decorations have come out and the town square looks soooooo beautiful! There are lights and sparking things everywhere! I love it! and everyone assures me it will look even more beautiful once it snows here. Yeah! It hasn't snowed here yet! I cant believe it. Everyone kept telling me ohh you have to be ready, Slovak winters are cold..... but I'm still waiting for the cold to get here. I mean it was 11 degrees the other day!

Now for THANKS GIVING! Oh my goodness it was so much fun! So Mariely and Paul and I all woke up early and headed on over to my councilor's house (its walking distance from my current host home)for the day of cooking. Boy oh boy was it a lot of work! I have a new appreciation for you dad. Cooking a turkey, making gravy, potatoes, and stuffing isnt exactly easy. In fact I'm rather impressed all the food turned out as good as it did. I mean it could have gone really bad, three teenagers in the kitchen all day long. So Paul cooked the turkey and potatoes (with my councilors guidance of course) and Mariely and I worked on the pumpkin pie. Okay now this was hilarious. We were gathering all the ingredients for the pie when Natasa pulls out 'the pupkin'. I took one look at it and said, ummmmm sorry to break it to you Natasa but thats not a pumpkin!. It was a squash of some kind. And at first I thought it was a spaghetti squash, which would have meant we were in big trouble but it turned out to be some sweet squash so it worked just fine. Mariely and I then slaved away for the next two hours, preparing the pumpkin batter and pie crust from SCRATCH! (as a side not, it is quite difficult to bake here. For instance they don't use baking soda and chocolate chips don't exist. Also you can't buy a pie crust anywhere because it also doesn't exist.) Now I would find making a pie from scratch difficult in itself but you have to remember we are in Slovakia so that brings it to a whole new level of difficulty. Translating all the ingredients into Slovak, converting everything from cups into mLs, and trying to illustrate what "mash" or "mix" or "cut in" is in slovak is no easy task. BUT we managed to make it through and much to my surprise a beautiful (and delicious!) pumpkin pie was born. Once everything was finsished we set the table with ribbons and fancy cutlery and candles... the whole shibang, and voila! American Thanksgiving in Slovakia!
It really did make me so happy and it was really cool being able to share some of Canada with the Slovaks. They LOVED the pie because it was unlike anything they have here and my councilor's already asked me to make it again for her. I forsee a lot of baking in my future.

So Thanksgiving was on thurs last week and then on Saturday I got to go to the mountains with my host fam!! It was fantastical! It was about a 3 hour drive to the High Tatras (across the entire country!) where we stopped and did some hiking. It was funny because at the beginning of the trail it really isn't beautiful at all. All you can see for miles are whats left of trees. It was just stump after stump after stump in what looked like a deserted wasteland. So to be honest I wasn't very impressed. But then my host dad kindly explained to me that five years ago there was a huge wind storm and it snapped all the trees and left the entire area devastated. Once we made it to the base of the mountain though it was truly stunningly beautiful. We hiked for prob 2 hours into the forest, up the mountain, stopping at two pubs along the way. Yes there are even pubs in the middle of the forest in Slovakia! So we would stop have a rest and get a drink. I had some mountain alcohol as my host dad called it. It was called Borovicka and its made from Pine trees (fun fact #103: Slovaks can make alcohol out of anything. Plums, peaches, pine, spruce, pears... you name it and they have an alcohol of it). It was disgustingly strong.....definitely not my favorite thing in the world. I also had some mountain tea which was yummy! Along the trail we say beautiful waterfalls and were surrounded by huge towering coniferous trees. The smell was wonderful and the sights amazing.
After the mountains we all piled back in the car and headed for Strbske pleso. An absolutely stunning lake. And when I say stunning I mean stunning! I've never seen anything so breath takingly beautiful in my life. I have pictures which don't do it justice but Ill put them up for you to see for yourself. Here we walked aroudn the lake a little bit and stopped for supper at a cute little cabin restaurant serving traditional slovak cuisine. It was delicious! I had a plate full of, you guessed it, potatoes and cheese! It was halusky with cabusta. Yum Yum Yum!

Now I'll fast forward to this weekend.Nothing eventful happened this week. I attended Rotary, had two story hours at the english school, played futbal,and went to school. SO onto the good stuff. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZooooooooooooooooooooomMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
This Friday I went to Mariely's house to sleep over becuase my parents went to Bratislava for something. (im not entirely why because they dont tell me all that much...prob because I dont understand all that much. I'm just getting used to being uninformed). So Friday I went out with some girls from school. No dancing this time but it was still fun. And saturday, oh saturday I went shopping with Mariely. She needed a dress for Stuskova (which is their version of graduation here). Stuskova is next weekend (they celebrate it in Dec for some reason) so we really had to find one this weekend. Now I have to explain the situation because there was slight panic that we wouldn't find one as we were confined to Zilina shopping centers. There are two malls but they are about the size of sherwood park mall. So when it comes to shopping they are good but sometimes you just want to go to west ed for shopping. SO I spent ALLL day sat watching mariely try on virtually every dress in Zilina..........and we did find one eventually. Thank goodness! It was loads of fun though (I know you males reading this prob won't understand in the slightest what I'm talking about but the ladies will). I found my dress in H&M while I was in Bratislava visiting the Canadian Embassy. It was funny because I had under an hour in the shopping center but I knew I needed a dress and Bratislava has fantastic shopping, so I managed to find one. Now thats skill! So needless to say I'm super excited about stuskova. I have a super cute dress, and a beautiful wrap and hand bag which I'm borrowing from my host mom. So I'm all set.

Okay and last item on the agenda. I had a lovely day today with all my host family. We went out for lunch to a restaurant, which is not very common here, with my cousins and aunt and uncle and grandma and it was very nice. I ate tons of food!!! Probably five pieces of this delicious cake my grandma makes that has cream cheese and chocolate in it and homemade cheese cake and chicken smothered in cheese and rice and fries and OH MY GOD I AM SO FULL! After the restaurant we came back to my family's house to sit and watch tv and talk (and the adults drank of course) and I had a good time with both of my cousins. I love them! Barbora (they call her bobka for short) is ten and Jakub (or kubo) is 15. I go to school with jakub so we know eachother really well now and we have a good time together.

So that is all. phew!

p


ps. IVE BEEN HERE THREE MONTHS!!!!!

Friday, November 20, 2009

THANKS GIVINGNESS


The final table setting!

Our pie!!!! Can't believe it actually worked!

Our Slovak pumpkin!

Mariely and I slaving away. We're trying to figure out if the dough looks like it was supposed to.... I had never made pie before, let alone a pie crust so I didn't know what to expect.

The girls in the kitchen. In the middle is Natasa my councilor who is the one who kindly gave her kitchen to us.


ps. I'm off to the mountains today to do some hiking with the fam so I'll be back to tell you more about it and the pics!

p

Wednesday, November 18, 2009



Mariely and I sleeping at school....


Me with friends

A pretty pic of Zilina

Aqua park fun

More friends

Happy Day!

So as per my facebook status; I am happy. Why you may ask? Well let me tell you!

1. I got my haircut today. Hurray! I needed it cut for the past month or so but wasn't quite sure how to go about doing it. But my councillor made me an appointment last weeka and away I went. I was more than a little bit nervous though, I must admit. I mean how would you feel heading out to the hairdresser's in a foreign country with minimal language skills. I wasn't sure where I was going, how much it would cost, or who would be doing the actual cutting, but I came equipped with a picture and very telling facial expressions just in case. EEgads it could have turned out really bad. But I assure it didn't. I look as beautiful as ever. As for the cost, it is ridiculously cheap to get your hair cut here. I got it washed, cut, and styled for only 13 euros (about 20 dollars). And Paul, the other inbound, went to the barber down the street and got his cut for 2 euros! You just can't beat that price.

2. MY CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK IS IN THE MAIL!!!!! and it should be here tomorrow. So for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, let me catch you up to speed. I ran into problems when I visited the foreign police on Friday. UGHGHGH. They rejected my criminal record check for two reasons. One the date on it was expired (It was ten whole days over three months. Cause you know, I could've committed a terrible crime in Slovakia in those ten days) and number two; it only cleared me provincially (except that it was issued by the RCMP! but anyways...). So this made my life terribly difficult. I was in need of a new document, and I needed it in less than a week. SO I had to make a spur of the moment trip down to Bratislava to the Canadian Embassy (who are now my heroes)to get a new one. Thank goodness they could help me. And so now here I am, impatiently awaiting the arrival of my precious ticket to remain in Slovakia legally.
So to say the least, I've been slightly preoccupied for the past couple of days straightening all this mess out. But I've done it, thanks to the help of my family and all the many mighty rotarians out there. Once again HURRAY!

3. I had my first story hour today and it went wonderfully. So in case I haven't told you exactly what I am doing with this english school (which is entirely possible) I will tell you now. I have been volunteering twice a week at the Helen Doron English School for Children in my city. THis is an internationally recognized program that teaches young kids english. After a couple of weeks with them, helping them make props for their classes and things, they asked if I would be willing to prepare a one hour lesson, using stories, to teach the kids. Of course I said yes; so for the past few weeks I've been busy preparing all kinds of props and crafts, as well as practicing my theatre skills. And today was my showcase. It was so much fun! I tell three simple stories each lesson and then get down on the floor with the kids and act it out. Today I had seven kids come ranging in age from 3 to 7 and tomorrow I have nine! So until christmas I will be telling stories to these two groups of kids each week! I'm super psyched if you can't already tell..... :)

4. And the fourth and final reason I'm happy today? I get to miss school tomorrow to eat turkey! Double HURRAY! I love my councilor. She promised us (us being all the inbounds in Zilina) that we could get together and have a thanksgiving day. All of us were busy for Canadian thanksgiving so we agreed to celebrate it on the American holiday. And since she is leaving for Cuba or something this weekend she said we should have it during the week; which means I get to miss school! SO I'm missing all eight hours of school tomorrow to sit at home and eat turkey and attempt to make pumpkin pie. I am unbelievably excited to have a taste of home. You have no idea..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Okay so maybe that gives you a little bit of an idea.

Lots of love like always!

p

Thursday, November 12, 2009

food food and more food Some school and more food

Well the food here never ceases to amaze me. I just finished eating this delicious dip stuff with bread. It was cheese and mayo and raw garlic. It was soooooo garlicky but soooooo dang good! I'm sure you can smell me from a mile away now but it's all good because I'm just heading to bed anyways. Also food related, I am getting dreadfully sick of potatoes (zemiaky). I eat them everyday often times twice a day. And on top of that when there aren't just plain potatoes they are always cooked into the meal somehow! They are everywhere!

And I'm turning into a true European... I've started taking showers at night. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd start doing that. But it really is quite nice. You shower at night just before bed then sleep in really late in the morning, roll out of bed, throw on yesterday's outfit, grab an apple or two for breakfast and you're good to go in 20 minutes. It's beautiful! Nobody really cares what your hair looks like here. Most people have long hair and they either put it in a ponytail or just let it be. They all seem to be fans of the 'o naturelle' look which is all good with me- I mean the less effort I have to put in the better. AND it's totally acceptable to wear the same outfit three days in a row here, in fact it's encouraged, so you conserve laundry. I must say I still like to shower everyday, even though most people here shower every second or third day. I prefer not to smell like a barn.

As for school it's the same old same old pretty much. Boring as ever. I had a biology test today and I'm pretty sure I failed it. You see it's difficult as it is to learn everything in Slovak, then on top of that you have to deal with the fact that the teacher doesn't even speak a word of English so I have no idea what she expects of me. At least this time I knew what the test was on. I had three worksheets to study from; one was the digestive system, one the circulatory system, and the final one the respiratory system. Fun stuff, learning those giant words in another language. Ha so I did my best to learn them in three days, and I didn't think I was doing half bad, that is until I saw the test today. It was not what I thought it would be. Instead of having to label the diagrams (which I assumed would be my task, seeing as my worksheets were diagrams of the systems and thats it) I had to write all the parts of the respiratory system down in slovak from scratch, name the components of the blood, and list what parts of the heart carry oxygenated and de oxygenated blood. Oh boy. Not good. Oh well. I thoroughly enjoy the fact that it doesn't matter if I fail or even if I get zero though. It's really quite refreshing after having almost killed myself for two years in IB.

This brings me to the ancient teaching styles here in Slovakia. For one they still use chalkboards. And how the teacher's teach is by giving notes orally (no pictures, nothing on the board, and most definitely no power points). So as if it isn't hard enough trying to follow written notes in a foreign language, I have to try and listen and interpret what I hear onto a piece of paper. Yeah it's virtually impossible for me to do. So that makes, my learning anything virtually impossible, which then in turn isolates me from everyone else. So I prefer to keep my nose in a book or something so my day isn't quite so dreadfully loooooooooong. I have anywhere from four to eight 45 minute lessons in a day with ten minute breaks between each lesson. Breaks are wonderful, I get to eat and visit with friends. We don't get to take lunch until after the sixth lesson which is at about 130 so I'm always STARVING by the time lunch rolls around. This is probably a god sent because the food isn't particularly appetizing most days. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm cafeteria food.

Well seeing as I'm back on the topic of food and I started on the topic of food that's probably a good place to leave it for now.


Lots of love to everyone! I miss you all!

P

Monday, November 9, 2009

woot!

Okay so it's official. I'm back to my happy go lucky self. HOORAY! It only took me two months to get there-but hey I made it! And I guess you can't really blame me. I mean adjusting to a new culture,family,language,food,school, and friends and well lets just put it simply: A whole new way of life; isn't easy. It's not easy but it's an adventure.

This week was pretty mellow. But ya gotta have a mellow week every now and then. It was nice. I went out Friday night to a tea room, pub, and then the disco which, as always, was awesome. The tea room was hilarious. I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest because all my friends just kept telling me 'oh it will be so nice! They have every kind of tea you can imagine and it's so cozy and wonderful!' Let me paint the picture for you though. It's in a typical run down sketchy looking Slovak building. You walk in and have to go up these narrow set of stairs which turn sharply around a corner. You are then met abruptly with a door which you swing open only to be hit by a wall of hot, 'incense' smelling air. I look around and I have to stop myself from giggling. There are tables set really low to the ground and mattresses laid out everywhere. You have to walk through strings of beads to get into the room and at the front there are rows upon rows of clear glass jars filled with god only knows what. It was hippie central. You pulled up a mattress, got comfy and sifted through the menu which contained hundreds of different types of teas. You could have ordered any tea under the sun, I swear! There were fruit teas, black ones, green, yellow, ones with caramel, some with milk, some with coffee, some with herbs, some hot, and some cold, but you get the picture. It really was lovely once I got over the fact that I was lying on a mattress on the floor ordering tea. I ordered Jablko strudla (apple strudel) and it was absolutely delicious! It was soemthing like apple cider but so much better! mmmmmmmmmmmm.
So that was the tea room. The pub was typical, sit, socialize, drink Kofola (Slovak coca cola which is 100 times better than ours), stare off into space because I have no idea what anyone is saying anymore. Good times. As for the disco it was crazy as usual. LOUD music, TONS of people, smoke everywhere, blinding lights. Also a good time--I have no idea why, but it is.

So I found out a very interesting piece of information the other day and I still can't quite believe it. I was talking to one of my school friends who has a part time job and I asked him how much his wage was. I could hardly believe his answer. He gets 2 euros an hour which is the equivalent of $3.20 canadian. Wow. And he said that's a reasonable wage for a student working part time. SO now I understand why people are more stingy about there money here. They have to be, or if they don't now they most certainly had to be in the past. The thing is although food and the necessities are significantly cheaper here, products like clothing and electronics are the same as in Canada if not more. I found the same Mp3 I bought in Canada for $40 here and it was going for 66 euros ($80 can). So money is definitely valued more here by the people, especially the older generations, who have lived through communism. My counsellor (who is probably 50 or so) was telling me how during communist times (which lasted all the way until 1989)she was forced to sew all of her families clothing. She wasn't a seamstress or anything but she had to out of necessity. She said there was absolutely nothing in the shops. Just imagine, living through such a change. In only 50 years this country has faced immense change. From foreign invasions, to communism, to becoming it's own nation-a heck of a lot has changed. And all the people living here have not only witnessed but expereinced that change and I think you can see it their faces, in their actions, and in their choices. I guess it made me realize why there are holes in all the sidewalks and the buildings are old and sketchy. There's a good reason, the country just hasn't been around that long. You can see it everywhere. They are trying desperately to make it look more pleasing to the eye. All of the communist flats which were originally a dirty white or grey are now being painted bright summery colors, and they are constantly fixing the roads and sidwalks, repaving streets. I dont know though, part of me likes the big square builidngs everywhere. I think they give the country character and act as a reminder of exactly what this country has made it through.

So I'm back, I'm ready to roll, and take on another week. What in store this week? I'm volunteering at the english school, playing some futbal, going to a rotary hosted concert, prob some disco time, and who knows what else. :)

p

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

AHHHHHH! I just had a FULL conversation with my mom! (those are screams of delight not fear....). I'm so proud! It lasted for longer than five seconds! More like ten minutes to be exact! We talked about school and friends and her daughter and the weather and the library. So there's proof that my slovak is coming along slowly but surely. (She only knows about 20 words in english)

The second reason I am in a particularly good mood: I finally found my way to the library (kniznica). It's actually fairly substantail in size and has an entire room dedicated to english books and magazines!!!! Oh you have no idea how happy that made me! I really like the library as it is, and now I really appreciate it's glory, as I've been deprived of english for two months. My counsellor helped me get a library card so I can officially take out books and just go and sit and be. It's going to be wonderful!

I tried yet another new food today. It was deep fried and full of cheese. surprise surprise. But it was really good. Langosh it was called. Pretty much deep fried dough with cheese and sourcream in it. yummy yummy yummy!

And keeping with the happy note, I'VE BEEN HERE TWO MONTHS! Wow. One fifth of my exchange is complete. crazy. When I look back at the past two months I can't believe how much I packed into them. I've expereinced, FELT, and done soooooooo sooooooo much! It's ridiculous (that one was for you megan!). I'm definately ready to take on the next eight months. Bring it on :)

Things are getting better. I actually look forward to school now, as boring as it is, because there are people there I love to be around. I'm working on getting closer to my host parents as I can actually communicate somewhat to them now. I'm loving volunteering at the english school and my story hour starts in two weeks! Futbal is buckets of fun. I'm going to start playing bridge (yes! you heard right-bridge. It's actually very popular with the younger generation here....) with a school club starting next week. And I love love love my exchangee counterparts; Mariely and Paul. We have so much fun together and have gotten really close. Mariely and I spend practically everyday together. I can only imagine what it'll be like after ten months. It's going to be so sad to leave but hey its an excuse to go to Mexico!

Well on my list of things to do tonight: blog. check. Hem my pants, by hand unfortunately because I can't find a sewing machine. Watch Bones. Read my book (the Alchemist). SLEEEEEP!

I think all of that's doable. Especially the last one. I'm really working hard at taking care of myself(and you know it's so hard going to bed early). It's been very trying this week being sick and all. Everyone, I mean everyone, is concerned for my well being. Now this is nice but after a couple of days you kind of get tired of everyone touching your face and feeling your head and telling you you don't look well. I never know what to say to that; "Oh you look terrible today". I mean what am I supposed to say? "Why thank you! That's just what I wanted to know. A confirmation that I look how I'm feeling--like crap." The medicinal treatment here is different than what I'm used to. I usually tough it out but they definately don't do that here. They all genuinely believe that you can catch cold by being in the cold, that organges and tea or the magical cure for anything, and that if you are feverish (even slightly) you should not eat anything cold. So when I went out, which they didn't even want me to do, I couldn't have ice cream like Mariely and Paul. *tear* and I had to wear like a bazillion layers of clothing. Needless to say, it's annoying from time to time but I've just learned to surrender and embrace it. It's hard for me, but I just let them take care of me. I am however, happy to report that hundreds of litres of tea and a gazillion oranges later I'm feeling better. Thank goodness!

p

Hey and have a request for you guys, faithful blog readers. I would really love it if some (or all) of you guys sent me your addresses either by email, on facebook, or as a comment to this blogpost. That would be grand if you could do this for me! And you never know you just might get a special something in the mail..... :)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloweensky

Halloweensky being the word they use for Halloween, which, they don't really celebrate here. It was strange on the 31st you couldn't have even guessed it was Halloween. There were no crazy costumes, decorations, or pumpkins anywhere. What they do celebrate however is something that translates roughly as 'all souls day'. It's a day where the whole family gets together to go out and visit the graves of all of your lost loved ones. I went with my family on Saturday to my hostdad's side and then on Sunday to my hostmom's side. We gathered at my grandma's (babka's) house and met all the other family (my cousins and aunts' and uncles), ate a fantastic meal of soup, ham and potatoe salad, and then proceeded to the cemetery. The cemeteries are so beautiful at this time of year, with the all the leaves changing colors, and everyone bringing candles and flowers to lay at the head stones. It was a really cool experience. I helped as we decorated the grave of several people, laying flower arrangements and lighting lanterns. When we were done it looked lovely and on the way home, in the dark, you could see all the candles glowing in the distance. I must admit I like this tradition much better than the 'americanized' halloween. It's much warmer and heartfelt and EVERYONE participates. As we were driving from my city (Zilina) to Solcany where my babka lives, there was so much traffic. In Slovakia you can tell what city the car is from by the license plate so it was fun watching to see where all the people were from-and they were from all over the place! In some areas on the road they had police patrolling because of the high traffic volumes. As my dad told me with a smile on his face, "all of Slovakia is on the move".

Before we headed home on Sunday we stopped for a short visit with a cousin of my mom. Now they live in this little tiny village about 30 min from the nearest city. It was really interesting getting to see into the lives of the village people. As I had suspected, their way of life is much different than the people who live in the cities. First of all they live on this little, narrow dirt road, as does everyone in the village. I don't think there was a paved road in the vicinity. Most of the houses had a large garden, taking up the majority of their land, and the houses were all so tiny and quaint. When you walked into their house you realized it only had three rooms; the kitchen/living room, bedroom, and bathroom. When you walked into the kitchen you were greeted with blast of warm air as that is where the wood stove was and it was being used to heat the house that day. As I looked around at the kitchen I wished I could have taken some pictures for you to see. It was like it was taken right out of I don't know when but sometime a long time ago. Maybe the 70's? All the appliances were super tiny. There were hand crafted carpets on the floor, embroidered tapestries on the walls, and brown tiles half way up the walls. Even the way they were dressed fit perfect. He was wearing a (probably home made) knit vest over a turtle neck, and she an oversized sweatshirt with leggings. So the country, village life in Slovakia is much different than the life in the city.

The lanscape is absolutely stunning here right now. The mountains are covered in this beautiful sea of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens and in the morning you can see the mist lifting from the night. The ground is scattered with all the colorful leaves and with every step you here the unmistakeable 'crunch!'-fall is definately here and I love it! I step out onto the balcony off of my room each morning, take a deep breath of fresh air and just gaze at the beautiful sight to be seen. Between the rolling hills, neat little recutangular back yards, and well kept fields, it's all very pretty. Or in slovak one could say: 'To je vel'mi pekne! Vela krasny farby!' 'it is very pretty! Lots of beautfiul colors!'

Anyways, it's Sunday (nedel'a) today so a new week is about to begin. What this week holds I'm not too sure, but I'm happy to be going back to school again after being home every day last week but one.