moved in

So week number one in my new host home has flown by! I was super happy to back in school and back to my routine. I like it when my life is somewhat predictable...there's something soothing in that. But anyways...my new host family! They are fantastic and so far it feels like a good fit. Here's the lowdown: I have a host mom named Dagwar (strange name I know, but we call her dada for short), a host dad named Martin, and a host brother, matej (or matko for short). My host bro is eleven so there's a kid in the house! It makes me so happy to have at least one little person running around the house again! Admittedly one is not much compared to seven but it's better than nothing!
I now live in a suburb of Zilina called Budatin. It is a really nice neighborhood and was developed only in the last couple of years or so by the looks of things. My street is actually built right on a hill. If you look down the road at my neighbors homes (I live at the top of the hill) it's a steep decline down before you hit the bottom of a mini mountain. It's really beautiful out here and quite secluded. So that's another thing I appreciate, not living so much IN the city. The neighbors houses are still ridiculously close to ours but there isn't nearly as much traffic and the air almost smells fresh, so i guess you could say its kinda like living in the country.
My first week has gone relatively smoothly. There hasn't been too much to adapt to, since this family is quite similar to my last. We live in a decent sized house, I have my own room, both my parents work (my mom is an oncologist and my dad a gynecologist so from the looks of things they are pretty well to do), and they are really active. The major adjustment has been the bus. Ugh. Now, since I live outside the city I have to take 2 buses to get to school, (but luckily it's just one bus to the centre). SO this is how my morning commute goes: ten minute walk to bus stop one. three minute wait for the bus in the cold, wet, and sometimes miserable weather. Ten minute bus ride to the centre. Two minute walk to bus stop number two. Ten to twenty minute wait for next bus in the once again less than enjoyable weather. Twenty minute bus ride to bus stop three. Ten minute walk to school. Yup its a bit of a hike and I definitely haven't mastered it yet. Oh how I miss my car!!!! And to make matters even more challenging, the bus from budatin only runs once an hour after 11 am so you really have to be sure you dont miss it or else you are stuck. Because of this I have encountered my fair share of challenges when it comes to public transport. On my first day for instance, I managed to miss my first bus which consequently caused me to miss my second bus on the way to school and then on the way home from school I missed my stop to get off and had to walk back. i guess i just have a knack for missing the bus.
The other adjustment I haven't made quite yet but I know I will have to make is my family loves to ski. And when i say loves to ski, I mean LOVES to ski. My host brother and sister (who is the us right now on exchange) are both professional skiers you may say. My bro just finished competing in the European downhill championships and my sister has medals covering her room, so by the looks of it they are pretty good at what they do too! So since my host sibling is skiing virtually every weekend my host family purchased a little apartment in Raca is what I have refered to in other blog posts. So I will be spending alot of time here and presumably be getting quite good at skiing. Which couldn't hurt I guess.

This week has actually flown by because I have been exceptionally busy. I had two english lessons this week which went really well and I also found a studio which offers drop in dance classes. So I went with mariely to BELLY DANCING! Yes that's right, Paige, the girl who can't even move her hips in a full circle is going to do belly dancing. But it was actually really fun so I think I will go back. They also offer yoga so I think im going to give that a shot as well. Plus I've actually had some homework to do and I had bridge club somewhere in there, couple visits to the library, and a rotary meeting. so life is good.

Now one last funny story to share before i finish with my rambling. Today in Phys-ed we had two presenters come in to teach us about self defense. It was actually really hilarious. They would show us a move and then we would get down on the mats and try and do it ourselves. We being Mariely and I and all the boys in our class because the other girls were to wimpy to give it a shot. Now you need to know this self defense wasn't just if someone comes up to you and starts punching you. oh no. it was more like if someone was mauling and beating you to the ground or something. So it entailed me laying on my back and then mariely laying on top of me. We wrapping our legs around eachother and manoevering our arms in strange ways until I found my head and arm sandwiched between Mariely's thighs. It was at this point, that Mariely and the instructor thought it would be convenient to ask me how to say 'thighs' in English. I was like what? What are you pointing at? I'm sorry I'm a little pre occupied here at the moment--what with being choked and all". Eventually I figured out what they were asking and we were able to continue. As strange as this position sounds it wasn's a fluke. This was what we were going for. Once you get someone in this position you are actually able to knock them out in under 15 seconds becuase when you squeeze your legs together you cut the blood supply of to the brain rather efficiently. (look what you can learn in a day in Slovak school!)And let me tell you I felt how it works. You get dizzy in a manner of seconds. So watch out world! Paige can choke you with her thighs! The instructor was really nice and he offered for mariely and I to come in to the studio sometime for a free lesson and I think mariely and i might actually take him up on that. surprisingly enough. I mean what the heck. I'm in Slovakia, it's something I would never do in Canada for one reason or another so why not give it a shot now that I have the time.

okay enough typing for me and enough reading for you. phew!

bye bye

p