December...

 It's a bit embarrassing how infrequently I've written lately. I have two good reasons: I've been busy and distracted. So what's been happening?

Well, first of all, it snowed last night and it's still snowing right now! (That's actually a reason why I am writing, because I took a picture from my bedroom window and wanted to share it immediately). And since we're talking about current events, I should also mention that the president of Czech Republic, who was the last president of Czechoslovakia, just died. His funeral procession was just shown live on the news..loads of people following a black car through the streets of  Prague. (no snow there this morning)

Back to busy and distracted... for the last 4 weeks I've been teaching week-long intensive courses for groups of about twelve 9-10 year olds. It was challenging..some groups were more challenging than others. The biggest difficulty was that we were trying to organize a performance for their parents, but the kids didn't speak a lot of English, and I don't really speak Slovak. Basically, by the end of the week, they knew an array of circus nouns, some present continuous verbs, can/can't, has got/hasn't got, animal body part vocabulary, and words to show exclamation, like "Wow!" "Fantastic!" "Amazing!" At times I wondered, "Who is this course supposed to be intensive for? Me or them?" Some of the kids insisted on saying everything to me first in Slovak before piecing it together in broken English and gestures and pictures. It was a little stressful for me because I didn't know if they were ever trying to communicate something important to me that I wouldn't be able to understand in Slovak, such as, "I forgot my lunch, can I call my mom?" or "My appendix is about to burst," or if they were just asking questions that I was about to answer anyway.  Anyway, we made it through the month with relatively few tears :)

As for being distracted... There's no other way to say it than just plainly: I have a boyfriend now! Of course there are details about how we met and why we like each other and how we came to this stage in our relationship... and those details aren't secret, but I feel like a public blog isn't the place to publish them. If you're dying to know, send me an email or ask my mom ;)
But the general details: his name is Erik, he's Slovak, but he speaks extremely fluent British English. He's a Christian, he plays guitar, he's a Chef, he likes mountains, and loves Slovakia... Not to sound unromantic or anything, but in addition to liking loving each other, we operate with the same understanding of who we are in Christ and from that we build our understanding of the world around us (despite cultural differences), and that very important foundation is what we're building our relationship on. It also helps that we both want to stay here in Bratislava for (probably) the rest of our lives. :)  I'll say more later as things progress...

The pictures above... The top one is of course the snow outside my window. The center and bottom ones are from Thanksgiving weekend.. Those are my very first pumpkin pies from scratch (puree from a pumpkin, not from a can), they turned out pretty well considering how much I modified the recipe. The bottom picture is of Erik, Heather, Georgina, and me. Heather is the tall one- she's our good (and enduring and patient ;) ) friend who I think I've mentioned before. Georgina is the one with green hair.

Thankful List: November 2011

• The roses on the path to work,
• The sky is blue,
• My first walnut-gathering experience,
• Playing Uno and having family time with the Higgins,
• Bus zones 1 and 2 don't exist in Bratislava anymore,
• CLASS core values and community atmosphere,
• Weekends,
• Ed helping with the intensive course preparation,
• The speakers at work, so I can laminate while listening to music,
• It's not really too cold at all,
• The bathtub is unclogged,
• Experienced the inside of a thermos exploding and nobody was hurt,
• I can't shake the feeling that I love being here,
• 500g of lemons for 44 cents,
• 1 Kilo of oranges for 79 cents,
• My confidence is in someone bigger than me,
• Almost everything is finally ready for the first day of the intensive course,
• The testimony of that man from Iraq and his brother, and the girl from Tunisia,
• The yummy cakes from Maria,
• Another cozy CityLight gathering,
• Good news from Cathy,
• I wasn't late on Monday morning when I really thought I would be,
• Lived through intensive course day 1,
• Lived through intensive course day 2,
• The kids in the intensive course are nice to me,
• The Slovak lesson from the kids this morning,
• Ticket restaurants,
• The sky's been blue lately,
• Found 2 euros in my dirty laundry!
• I think I actually like riding the bus,
• 19:45 on Thursdays,
• A student introducing me to Brejky,
• Our cleaning lady because she has work and she's happy to be doing it- and she shared her optimistic perspective with us,
• The tea and key chain from Tim and Lucy,
• Friday night with Heather and Erik,
• The weekend,
• Payday,
• My phone somehow can make calls even though my minutes have expired,
• O2 doesn't charge for incoming calls,
• That little boy didn't choke and die on Sunday night,
• I managed to teach 4 lessons without a formally written plan,
• I heard my Začiatočnici class laugh,
• Another day of blue sky,
• My house plants are blooming and growing,
• Tiny tea boxes,
• Shtoor date with Heather,
• Soft, warm Camp Wonderland hoodie,
• Bed linens can air dry, even when it's cold and wet outside,
• A productive "day off",
• All prepped for most of my busiest week, with time left to relax the weekend before,
• Clearance sales at the Second Hand stores,
• Brother Andrew's story,
• Lenka going to Ghana and the financial support people are giving her,
• Leftovers from Sunday's lunch to eat all week,
• The lesson I thought would be too short ran overtime,
• The new group of intensive course kids are nice to me,
• The things I thought would make my stomach hurt more actually didn't,
• The students being so cheerful on Tuesday morning,
• Being able to go home and not think about work,
• Chatting with Laura for a bit,
• 1 kilo of mandarins for 59 cents,
• The tvaroh a čučoriedka chocolate bar from Hela and Edina,
• The chocolates from Zuzka and Mirko,
• It's my birthday and I'm still not homesick,
• Today wasn't AS cold,
• All Andrew's prepositions of place and time lesson plans and materials,
• I live in Slovakia,
• Next week should be an easier work load,
• Google images,
• Skyping with family,
• Thanksgiving weekend and all the food and friends,
• There was enough food at the City Light Thanksgiving service,
• Marek and Oto helping with the kids,
• Slovak lessons (with lots of laughter) from my new friends from Jelka,
• Thanksgiving came and went and I'm still not homesick,
• Louis is IN medical school (and not applying anymore),
• The intensive course is getting easier for me,
• My chapped finger didn't bleed today,
• They who seek the Lord will not be in want of any good thing (Psalm 34),
• A blue sky on Monday,
• A boring lesson felt like it went by quickly (for me anyway),
• The nice soaps from Heather,
• The very fancy chocolates from Erik, 
• Black currant with lemon tea,
• Tea bags that last for two or three cups,
• The worker at Terno putting out fresh rolls from the oven right as I was going to select mine for lunch,
• The pretty mirror from Nic from Bali,
• Tomorrow is Wednesday,
• Dusan's family gets to come for Christmas,
• My first pumpkin pies from scratch were good,
• Getting to soon borrow Ed and Libuš's poffertje pan,
• One sweet student in my level 3 class who loves English class (in contrast with her classmates who don't),
• Another fun and heartwarming Mierne Pokročili lesson,
• My internal Slovak keyboard,
• The washing machine is fixed,
• Little containers of tiny tomatoes for 55 cents each,
• I finally remembered to buy Band aids, 
• The convenient features on the new imhd website

November...

Today is Thursday, 17 November, the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, when Czechoslovakia broke from Communism. I'll probably seek to better inform myself about the event...later... Last night one of my students told me about her memory of it..being at school and people running in shouting about a revolution, but of course she thought it couldn't be true. But it was true, and the next day she was standing in the square, shaking her keys with masses of others.

I'm watching the 19:00 news as I write this. I understand about 2% of the words, but with the images I can gather maybe 30% of the general idea. Right now it says, "Pozor na smog! česi varujú, Slováci zatiel' nie." Something about smog and the Czech people being warned but not the Slovak people? (Thanks Google translate) But I wonder if their word for fog  is our word for smog.  Because this isn't really smog season, but the fog has been really remarkable! Last night it was so thick I could almost feel it touching my eyeballs. It was like walking through a cloud.

There was another story on the news about delinquents doing jogy (yoga) and art...
And I think maybe a rhinoceros escaped from the zoo in Prague because they kept flipping between footage of rhinos, and footage of police officers in yellow vests.
But my favorite so far was when they were talking about their paneláki (boxes of flats). They showed some older ones and some newer ones, and some that look really worn out with cracks in the sides. And the lady reporting from the street outside the flats looked so BORED. I couldn't help but laugh during her report. I imagined her to be saying, "People have been living in these things for a long time, but we're starting to realize that they're actually really old and ugly-looking. To care for this problem, the facades are going to be refinished and painted with bright colors and geometric designs." (..because that's what they seem to do when they refinish buildings here..)

Well, it seems my life must be getting pretty hum-drum if all I can think of to write about is what's on the news. All I do lately is go to work, hang out with friends, read books.. normal things, you know?

Oh! I just thought of something interesting!  This week I got a ride to work from my housemate's stepdad, Vladko. We don't share a common language yet, but it was really nice of him to offer me a ride as we were both leaving our housing area. I'm guessing he was offering me a ride from the hand motions... So I got in the car and expected he would just take me up the street to the bus stop, but we got to the bus stop and he didn't stop to let me out there, so I had to assume he would drive me all the way to work or hopefully somewhere nearby. It's funny because there weren't many moments of silence as we were in the car together, but I can't tell you what we were talking about. Mostly he was saying things and I was thinking really hard about what he could be saying, and repeating what I thought were the "key words" to practice my pronunciation, or at least feel like I was contributing something. When there was some silence, I constructed what was probably my most complex sentence yet, "Vite kde je moj školu?" There's no doubt in my mind that the sentence contains some grammatical errors, but I was trying to ask, "Do you know where my school is?" I think he understood because he said, "Nie" (meaning, "no"). So I had to "give directions" in Slovak, but actually I can't do that at all, and he had already turned off the main road and was driving in some area that I'm not familiar with. So I gave him some street names and tried to keep track of which way we came from in case I needed to backtrack by foot. But soon enough we came to a place I recognized and I was able to gesture out my idea of a logical path with the use of some spare words, and he eventually let me off immediately behind the building where I work. Whew!

Thankful List:: October 2011

• I haven't walked through a spider's web in a long time,
• The sun shines everyday (whether I can see it or not),
• The sky has been blue for at least 3 days in a row,
• I don't feel ill at all,
• Peanut butter from Ed,
• I've been spoiled with visitors,
• I have my residence card,
• I can communicate that "I don't understand" in Slovak,
• Lucia going to the insurance office with me,
• I probably have some of the most pleasant language students ever,
• Headphone jacks in the school computers,
• I didn't start crying at the foreign police when I wanted to,
• Erik walking with me to TESCO and the bus stop at night,
• Conversation lessons and materials from Andrew,
• Seeing old women with purple hair,
• Petr and Maria who randomly introduced themselves to me and brightened my morning,
• The package from home,
• The elderly man who gave me bits of directions to the post office in German,
• Being able to communicate with the ladies at the post office,
• It's cloudy but I still feel happy,
• My students not wanting their lessons to be over sometimes,
• Conversation lessons with the International Women's Club,
• Feeling a warm connection with the Mierne Pokročilý class,
• Joshua is here,
• Being able to walk across the boarder to Hungary without a passport,
• Not working at the Skydome during homecoming weekend,
• Opwekking liedjes on Youtube,
• New socks,
• The package from home (I guess I'm double thankful for that :) ),
• The "cowboy" who signed each postcard,
• Dusan playing the piano for City Light,
• "Free days" with Heather and Erik,
• Girl-chats with Heather,
• Cookies from Heather,
• Whatever God decides is best for me actually IS the best for me,
• 2 avocados for 1.99 euro,
• Warm brown bread from TESCO,
• Inexpensive toothpaste,
• TESCO in Ruzinov,
• A newly discovered, more efficient route to Heather's house,
• A no-show lesson,
• A long weekend coming up,
• The book, God's Smuggler from Joshua,
• All Heather's old food,
• Getting my insurance card with little trouble,
• The early morning conversation lesson rescheduled to the evening,
• Chocolate zucchini cake,
• Helpful feedback after being observed,
• Skype dates set-up (and carried through with),
• Money from private lessons,
• The Maze of Terror lesson plan,
• Michael Swan's Practical English Usage,
• The Twix bar from Andrew,
• Being able to borrow the creative games and things that Edina makes for kid's courses,
• Libuš and Ed's collection of English books,
• 3 pens that work really well for 99 cents,
• A great pumpkin for 4 euro,
• Paprika for 25 cents,
• Self Check-out at TESCO that I can use to get rid of pennies and break large bills without feeling like I'm inconveniencing anyone,
• Some of the most beautiful, vibrant maple leaves I've ever seen are falling in "my own" backyard,
• The sun is showing today and I even felt its warmth on my face,
• No trick-or-treaters and hardly any other reminders that it's Halloween,
• Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary for pressing leaves
• A productive but relaxing day off,
• All the wonderful pumpkin products,
• Food and train tickets are inexpensive here

20-27 October 2011

It seems I've written fewer blog updates this month than I did last month. I think that's a sign that my life here is becoming less novel to me. I'm just here... working, making friends, trying to find the best deals at the grocery store and the most efficient ways to cross town. Likely nothing too different from your lives. The language learning is still in progress. I was able to "decode" a word recently by hearing and reading it so often that I could figure out the meaning. I don't want to brag, but I think it's a good accomplishment because you have to understand some of the surrounding words to figure out the missing word. I like learning words that way because I think they stay in my mind longer :)

I've had a few interesting encounters in the last few weeks, both with people and objects... I'll number them to switch up the paragraphing format:

1) As I was stepping out of the bus today, the door closed and hit me. I almost lost my balance and it nearly knocked my glasses off! No harm done though, just a little embarrassing! In my shock, I exclaimed, loudly,  "Whoa! That was weird!" so if anyone was doubting that an American was just hit by a door, they could know right away that was what just happened!

2) I walked into a different door earlier this week. It was Tuesday and I really needed to buy groceries, so I went to the big TESCO in my neighborhood (that I just heard about recently). It was my first time in there, so as I came into the entry way I wondered if I needed to go up the moving walkways that I was looking at on my right, or if I was supposed to keep walking forward like I was doing. Then BAM! I walked right into the glass door! The woman next to me looked so shocked; it was great! (PS- I went shopping on an empty stomach, bought way more than was on my list + some toiletries, and still spent less than 21 euro!)

3) Two weekends ago I met a nice pair in the city center. I had just sat down to wait for some friends, when I was approached by a young man and an older-looking woman. They greeted me in English and introduced themselves as Petr and Maria, then we had a usual introductory conversation. They guessed I was from Russia or Austria, and I was kind of flattered by that. After we talked for maybe two minutes (and Petr shook my hand throughout the entire conversation) they said goodbye and walked away. It was nothing but pleasant :)

4) On a less pleasant note, I was waiting on a bench outside the train station on Saturday morning. A clean, well dressed older man (his hair was all white) came and sat next to me and started talking. I told him I'm learning Slovak but I don't understand him, and he asked if I speak German and I said I don't, only English and a little Dutch. He kept talking in who knows what language, and I kept listening and telling him I didn't understand what he's saying. Then he used some words I know: Hotel. Slaapen (or whatever's German for "sleeping" that's probably similar to the Dutch). I said, "Oh! yeah, that's right! A hotel is for sleeping!" I thought he might just need some help with his English, so I was in teacher-mode for a second. Then he said, "Crown Plaza hotel." I said, "Oooooh, yeah, that's just down the road..." and gave him all the directions for how to get there as demonstratively as possible. Then, I don't know what words he used, but I got the idea that he wanted me to show him how to get there. Of course I said no though because I was waiting for a friend so we could go on a trip. Then the man said, "Sex." I gasped, "I'm not a prostitute!" "Prostitute?" he grumbled, and got up and walked away. I hoped I hadn't been too presumptuous in thinking that he was actually trying to proposition me, but I didn't mind that he had left. Well, he actually came back two more times to try to get me to walk to a hotel with him, and by the third time I actually started to feel scared and irritated, and I even practically shouted at him in the best Slovak sentence I could construct, "Niiiiiieeeeee, počkám pre moj príatel!!!" ("Nooooooo, I'm waiting for my friend!") and walked away.

5) Also while I was waiting at the station on Saturday morning, when the dirty old man wasn't talking to me, I was approached by two others. The first was a man who was clearly begging. I tried to deflect by claiming that I didn't understand, but who doesn't understand and hand reaching out and the word "money"? He was being so sweet anyway, trying to talk to me in a bit of every language he knows, but still I prefer not to give money because it could go for drugs (probably most people have that conviction I think...). I didn't have any better excuse than, "I don't want to give you money." He took that so well though! He smiled, stroked my face, and walked away.   A few minutes after he left, a man with a duffel bag sat down near me and struck up a conversation. We had the typical introduction conversation using all the Slovak phrases I know best. Then, I'm not really sure, but I think he offered me his half finished cup of coffee.


All those stories are really just a little rabbit trail from the other things that I planned to write about, so I hope you're not exhausted from reading too much! :)
These last two weeks have been really packed, actually... I feel like it was the first time since being here that I've been truly "busy."  I had forgotten that I like that feeling, and especially the feeling of relaxing in between the moments of busy-ness.

This weekend I took a long moment to relax. I had a friend from Groningen, Joshua, visiting the city this Friday though Sunday, so I didn't bother going into work even for an hour over Saturday and Sunday. It was a super weekend! We had some traditional Slovak food on Friday evening, then walked around the city center for a long, long time until we were ready to give up looking for the jazz cafe. Saturday we took a trip to štúrovo, in the south of Slovakia. We drank some coffee there before crossing  the Dunaj to get to Hungary. That was my first time in Hungary, and my first time walking across a country border (especially without my passport). After a hunt for a restaurant with good prices (that would also accept the Euro), we finally found a place that was completely empty except for the two women working there. They didn't speak English or German, so as a last resort I had to use my Slovak. (One of the two women there spoke Slovak.) Whew- I was sweating! I think she was trying to sell us a salad and the most expensive entree on the menu, but I'm not totally sure. It's amazing we got our food, actually, because I can't recall a single thing she said that I understood! After lunch we walked up to the huge cathedral that was build in 997AD! See the pictures...

Standing in Hungary, looking at Slovakia, thinking, "Whoa! I live there!"

The Slovak Republic beyond the Dunaj

The cathedral from 997AD in Esztergom, Hungary

Then we walked back to Slovakia and to the train station to get our train. A day full of walking! Back in Bratislava, we had dinner and later met some of my work mates for drinks before calling it a night. Sunday was rainy, so we spent our time leisurely drinking coffee, reading, and talking in a café until it was time to go to church. Such a lovely way to spend a Sunday :)

This week at work went by rather quickly, and even ended well with a successful lesson (that I thought was going to be very difficult) about subjects and objects in a sentence. ("Who loves Mary?" "Who does Mary love?" It's complicated...) Now I'm very ready to plan some lessons lessons for next week and enjoy a four-day weekend :)

Immigration Update

I should be going to bed right now, buuuuuutt, I know if I don't write at least a little something I'm going to soon slip out of the habit of updating this.

So the news is that I have my residence permit now! (Maybe my work permit too? They only gave me one card...) I thought it wasn't going to be hard to go to the foreign police for the last time to pick the card up, but it was actually probably my most difficult trip there so far.

What happened?
Well, I went really early (arrived before 06:00) but I was maybe the 15th person in line, and it was really cold outside. They don't open the doors till 07:30, so I was prepared with tights, jeans, socks, boots, an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, a wool sweater, a scarf, and my heaviest jacket, but it was still cold and uncomfortable. And looking at the time and realizing I would be standing in the cold for an hour and a half only made it more cold. Cold. Cold. Cold.  Finally, we got inside and I push a button on the number dispenser according to my particular situation so they would know which office to call me to, but I pushed the wrong button (and got number 24) and didn't realize until everyone behind me in line had taken their numbers! So I went back to take the right number and I got 132. I wasn't sure if it would be wise for me to wait until they called that number because I would have to wait until late in the morning, but I still needed to go into school to do some planning before my lessons would start. I was frustrated with myself :(  So, when they called my first number, I went in to see the officer, who spoke a tiny bit of English. I was grateful for that tiny bit she spoke because I had forgotten my notes about how to ask for the card. She took my passport to another office (while I stood praying that she would come back with my card) and came back and told me to go out and wait by another door with my piece of paper that said 24. So I did as she told me to, but as I stood and watched them call the client numbers above that office door, they went from 20, to 21, to 22, 23, and then to 25, 26, 27... They skipped my number, so I started to wonder if I would have to wait until that office had served all their possible clients, or if I needed to go into the office and demand their attention. My officer from earlier that day had been passing in and out of the hall where I was waiting, so finally I stopped her and asked, "Will they put my number on the sign, or should I go inside and wait?" She told me to wait, then she went in the office again, talked to the other officer, then came out and gave me very quick directions in Slovak. Before I could say, "Nerozumiem" she had disappeared again. I wanted to cry. I asked some people standing nearby if they understood, but they just gave me blank stares. So I stood there praying, and trying to determine how long I would wait before either going into the office or going home and waiting until Wednesday. After maybe 5 minutes, a little Asian man (yes! another immigrant!) poked his head out of the office and said, "dvadsat`štyri?" (Twenty four?) Brilliant! So I went into the office, but the officer behind the counter didn't speak a word of English. I gave her my passport, she did stuff on her computer, then she fished out two cards with my face on them from a box on her colleague's desk, then her and her colleague fussed over the cards and some other papers for a few minutes. Then she had me sign some things. And then she kept telling me something in Slovak over and over very slowly, but all I could understand was, well, nothing. And actually, none of the words were even familiar enough that I could get an idea to start guessing what she was saying to me. Then she started pointing and that helped immensely! She pointed to a date on the paper I had signed and said, slowly, while showing me on her fingers, "jeden, dva, tri!" (One, two, three) Ahhhhh, finally I started to get an idea! Then she started pointing in the direction of offices one, two, and three! Ahhh, so I need to return to office 1, 2, or 3 on that date! (I think that's what she meant anyway!) Think about this next time you're helping someone foreign: Pointing helps a lot!!
Finally, she asked me if I have 4.50 euro in stamps, which I completely understood (even though she didn't even look at me when she asked for it) and gave to her. She stuck those on something and stamped them and messed around with some more papers, and then she gave me my sweet card!

1-9 October 2011

I'm feeling swamped with the amount of writing I need to do lately. But not the kind of swamped that makes me want to get going on it; the kind of swamped that makes me want to sit and talk to myself about what I SHOULD be writing, but without putting anything down in written words.
So sorry Mom, and sorry to anyone who I owe an email too!
Here's a recap of any highlights I can recall from the last 9 days or so (including the days of the week in Slovak for your reading pleasure!)

Sobota 1/10/11: I worked really hard planning lessons almost all day and managed to complete half the plans for the week! I took one break to shop for undershirts (I realized the long sleeved shirts I bought last month are too low). I made the poor choice to go to Eurovea- probably the biggest shopping mall in the city. I don't know the exact size..maybe 3 or 4 times the size of the Flagstaff Mall...too big for me anyway. I spent hours looking at all my options, and getting distracted and forgetting what I had come to find. And I also forked out 16 euro for a bottle of saline solution. (I thought 10 euro in Ljubljana was expensive!) I think I'll try to buy it online next time.

Nedel'a 2/10/11: Took the day to relax, walk around the city, and take some pictures before church in the afternoon. I had an interesting conversation a homeless man. His English was about as good as my Slovak, so we communicated though bits of both languages and some broken/invented German, and lots of gestures. I'm not sure what we talked about- I think he told me a few of the places where he sleeps and tried to explain that rent is really expensive here. And I think he tried to warn me about the mafia. Whenever I tried to contribute anything to the conversation he would cringe and say, "Oooh, English! Noo! No English!! Ahh!" That made for a rather one-sided conversation and he eventually got bored and left me.
Later, after church, I went with Heather, Erik, and Marek to a little restaurant for dinner. We talked about how Americans use (or don't use) a knife and fork; a great conversation to have with another American as you're both eating and trying your best to use the utensils the right way while being scrutinized by a couple European guys. I laughed so hard I was almost crying!

Pondelok 3/10/11 Teaching...
utorok 4/10/11 teaching...
streda 5/10/11 teaching...
štvrtok 6/10/11 teaching...
It's not that teaching doesn't have it's "highlights," it's just that I don't remember any of them... Actually, I remember one thing. I gave the students in one of my adult classes a feedback form to tell me what they found interesting and useful in the lesson, but since their English isn't so advanced I told them they could fill it out in Slovak and I would have someone translate it for me. One of my students asked if I know Slovak and I told her, "Nehovorim po Slovensky... I say that quite often!" Every one of the students burst into laughter and I really don't know why! Some people say my pronunciation is quite good, but now I'm not really sure!

Piatok 7/10/11: I went to a useful meeting in the morning to get some help on ideas of what to teach to my adult classes in the coming weeks. Then in the afternoon I went with my boss and one other teacher to pick up some kids and record an audio file for an Slovak/English/German book for children. Quite an experience! I thought it was going to be easy, but actually I had to read a lot (very slowly) and it was much more difficult than you would expect! First I read some things for some sort of listening exam... then there was a series of narrations for the book that they were going to let the other teacher read, but they decided his male voice isn't psychologically good for children, so I read that too. Actually, when I first looked at the script, I saw one word that I knew I wouldn't be able to read without a problem, but I had no choice because I was the only female native speaker in the studio. The troublesome word was at the end of a sentence listing the animals that someone's grandparents have at their house, "...a cat, a dog, a cow, a few hens, and one cock." (Who even uses that word for an animal anymore?) I know it was immature of me to start laughing and I tried everything I could to be serious and hold myself together, but all the pressure I was putting on myself to NOT laugh only made it more unbearable, and finally my voice started cracking and I had to stop reading for a bit. On top of that, my voice was being projected into the room where the editor, my boss, colleague, about 5 Slovak children were waiting. I'm very glad the editor agreed that we could change the word to rooster instead! After that, the children recorded their dialogues with their cute little accents; their pronunciation was perfect, by the way- or SUPER as they kept saying :)   Finally, the other teacher and I recorded our pieces of the dialog and then our work was done!
One other bit of exciting news: Hela heard from the foreign police- they have my work and residence permits ready! I'm going to go pick them up early tomorrow morning!

Sobota 8/10/11: I taught my first private English lesson in the morning! It's a one-on-one conversation class, so I just talk, listen, explain things when necessary, teach some vocabulary, and get paid for it. An easy way to make a supplementary income :)
I had planned to go into work immediately after my lesson, but then I remembered that I needed to buy some stamps before I go to the foreign police, but I had forgotten my notes about how to ask for stamps, so I had to go into a bookstore and slyly use a dictionary to learn a few key words. After getting my stamps, I stepped out of the post office, into the drizzly weather, and felt an OVERWHELMING desire to read a book in a café. It was just that sort of Saturday. So I went to the Oxford bookstore to quickly pick out a new book, but that actually took over half an hour, I'm sure, because there was a British family in the shop and my mind couldn't help tuning into their conversations. I had forgotten how wonderful it is that I'm usually not distracted by the irrelevant information I overhear on the streets and in the stores! Finally, I selected Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey because it was less than 3 euro and I know I'll love anything by her. And I bought Sophie's Choice by William Styron because I've heard several allusions to it over the past few years and I haven't understood a single one of them! It's a thick book, which I tend to avoid, but already I've read the (very long) first chapter and now I'm definitely hooked. I spent 3 euro on a sandwich and hot chocolate and read my book while it rained outside. A perfect way to spend some time!
Finally, I made it into work and got quite a bit of planning done, although not as much as I wanted. In the evening, I went to a birthday party for some Slovak friends who I met in Groningen. There were over a dozen people at the party, and almost all of them had studied in Groningen at different times over the past few years, so it was like a big reunion! Great! I stayed out much later than I had intended to, and eventually had to take the night bus home: an experience I knew I would have one day or another, and I'm pleased to say I passed through it unscathed. Lucka and Marcin kindly checked the bus times for me before I left the pub and I realized I had less than 30 minutes to make it to the bus stop or else I would have to wait another hour before the next one would come. I REALLY did not want to sit at the bus stop at night for an hour, so I ran the entire way and made it in 11 minutes! I have no idea what the distance was exactly, but I think that was a good time considering I was wearing boots with a bit of a high heal! I arrived about 18 minutes too early and had to wait outside as the wind started to cool my sweat from the run...but all in all, it was a fine experience and not at all scary or dangerous (as far as I knew) :)

You can see the rest of the photos from my walk last week at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150393489800991.400622.705455990&l=721afc4a37&type=1

 

30 September 2011

I had a primitive WC experience on Wednesday. Keep reading if you care to know about it :)

I was at a local elementary school where I teach a few lessons during the week. Between my two lessons, I have a 20 minute break, so ample time to use the toilet. I was going to take the first stall because I read somewhere that the first one is usually less-used, and therefore the cleanest, but this one wasn't even up to my standard. I'm not super picky, I just don't like to encounter pee on the seat, if I can avoid it. So I checked out the second, third, and fourth stalls, but they were all gross with dirty seats and none of them were flushed. So I choose the the second farthest one (or the 3rd farthest, because the very farthest was storing a ladder) and resolved to just buck up and wipe the seat. But I got in and closed the door (realizing then that there was no lock- just a piece of black plastic to turn, but it didn't do anything...or I didn't know how to work it) and noticed there was no toilet paper! Not even a place to set the toilet paper if there was any! So I checked the other stalls and finally the paper towel dispenser... no. paper products. anywhere. What could I do? I had to pee and the kids would be getting to the classroom soon. The thought crossed my mind to pull a few leaves off a plant on the windowsill, but the plant was in view of the open restroom door so any kid walking through the hall could see me exploiting that "resource." (I had a feeling my Wild West survival instincts would be frowned on here in this metropolis.) The plant's leaves didn't look very absorbent anyway...  So finally, I did what seemed to be my only option: I went back to that cleanest stall, set myself up on a squatting position so that I was hovering over the pot, and did what was necessary. (It was a good day to wear a skirt.) Then I "shook off" as best as I could... This adventure finally ended at the sink as I tried to repair any "discomfort" my calves might've experienced during the shake-off part, but without paper towels. I don't know how effective that was, but as I was making my best effort I looked up and saw some of my students watching and waving at me from the hallway. The perfect way to quickly get my mind off that hopeless hygiene situation. :)


Immigration update:
I went to the foreign police this morning. When I was there 2 weeks ago they said we could call in 2-3 weeks to see if my permits are ready. Hela, who's in charge of the HR stuff at the school (another of my many advocates here), called this week but it's no surprise that they never answer the phone over there. I can't get paid or get any of my benefits until I have that, and I can't wait forever, so I went this morning to see if they had it ready for me. I was up at 04:45, on the bus before 05:30, and finally in line just before 06:00- one of the first 10 people there! (Miška would be proud!) Well, despite my place in line and having a pretty low number (#23), I still wasn't called to see an officer until about 09:00. And what did they say to me?? (Oh, I brought a script of how to ask if my permits are ready- but there was another client in the same office who was able to translate for me when the information got more complicated. God is so good to me that there have always been people around to help so that I've never been in a completely impossible situation because of not knowing the language yet!) Anyway, What did they say?? The officer found my file and told me that they still need my criminal background check, but I told her I turned it in and she looked again and found it. (That's the document that I went twice in one day to give to them because they wanted the copy that was attached to the translation to be notarized.) So she put everything back in the file and said they would call me when it's ready. After making sure they have Hela's number, I tried to ask why they said it would be ready in 2-3 weeks if they were just going to let it sit as though it's incomplete for 2/3 of that time...Well, that's what I was wondering anyway (but maybe I actually was using harsher language in my mind). Actually, what I asked was something like, "Two weeks ago they said it would be done in done in 2-3 weeks, so why hasn't any progress been made?" I don't know how that question was translated, but I don't think they understood because they just kept saying that they'll call when it's done. Well, in hindsight it's probably best if that didn't translate right because asking pushy questions doesn't usually win favor with the lady who can choose to forget to send my documents on to the next step in the process. <exasperated sigh> What's that verse I memorized as a kid... Don't be anxious for anything, but in everything, through thanksgiving and prayer, let your requests be made known to God...

 One more thing! The quote of the week, after telling someone where I'm from he asked, "Arizona? Isn't it dangerous to live there?"

Thankful List: September 2011

• This toffee wholenut Milka bar
• Work starting this month
• Banana bread
• All my papers finally in to the foreign police
• Time to run in the mornings
• Sudoku puzzles
• Public Slovak courses (for free!)
• Tjamme's visit to City Light
• Sterile milk
• I don't feel lonely
• No business classes on my work schedule
• American music playing in the stores
• Having some direction about which church to attend
• Bathroom sink is unclogged
• The trip to the zoo with Zuzka (and seeing the rhinosaurus)
• Zumba class
• Making friends despite language barriers
• Being under the impression that instant coffee tastes good
• Sunday evening's with tea, cake, and good friends
• The time at the foreign police to talk to Miška and learn more about Slovakia
• I like Bratislava
• I'm not a smoker
• No prescription necessary for a tube of Hydrocortison Léčiva
• All the jars of sauce and bread topping made from the garden produce
• Burčiak
• My jacket
• The excitement of cold, dark weather
• I've been in Europe for 3 months and I'm allowed to stay still longer
• Knowing this Slovak phrase: "Prosím si..."
• All my nice, helpful, patient coworkers
• Having work keys and a code for the printer
• The broken Bankomat that I gave my pin number to didn't do anything to my account
• Finished 2 lesson plans on Saturday
• Delicious yogurt products
• A complete first week of work
• Making more connections around the city
• Renewed my bus pass with little trouble
• The conviction to buy a bus ticket, even if I don't think they'll check,
• Jozef's baptism
• The new plant from Zuzka
• Finished all of Monday's planning before the Monday of my second week
• Instant decaf coffee in the school kitchen
• Miška giving me some nice organizing/teaching supplies that I thought I had to buy for myself
• The laminator
• Inexpensive bread
• The neighbor's motion-sensor light
• Some evergreen trees in our neighborhood
• Finished TWO lesson plans for next week on the Thursday before
• A low number at the foreign police 
• The kind lady who could translate for me at the foreign police
• A Friday Slovak lesson with Simona
• A useful and interesting meeting at work
• The leaves are changing

25-26 September 2011

I've had two amusing little encounters in the last 2 days, and (lucky for you) I'm in the mood to write :)

But before I tell you about those, I want to note that I've also been noticing something peculiar around the city; that is, the spots of dried vomit on the sidewalks, and especially at bus stops. I noticed three spills on Saturday, one on Sunday, and another two today. It's gross, but also really fascinating because I never noticed them before, and I'm wondering if this is a new trend in the health of the city or if people have been vomiting on the sidewalks since before I arrived. I'm guessing the people who produce these messes are likely drunk- actually I'm hoping they are because otherwise there are lots more sick people spreading their germs all over the buses than I thought. And it's also good for drunk people to throw up because it means their bodies are rejecting the poison they've been feeding themselves! (Gosh, I'm such an optimist! Who knew?)

Ok, so these funny stories...
I was walking home from the bus stop early Sunday afternoon and crossing through a parking lot as part of my usual route. I noticed a car in front of me stop and go into reverse suddenly, which struck me as a bit odd because there was plenty of room to turn the car around without reversing. Before I knew it, the car was next to me and the driver was saying, in English, "Hey, are you going home? Let me give you a ride!" My eyes must've jumped out of my head! The man looked sort of familiar, but in a Slovak-guy sort of way, and I've met so many people in so many different circles these last two months, I had no idea who he was! Obviously startled, I asked, "Do I know you?!" He said something like, "I don't know, but I'm your neighbor, I've seen you..." I was only half listening to him though because the other half of my mind was trying to figure out the answer to my question for myself. Anyway, he knew to speak English to me and the pieces were starting to come together, so I got in the car and let him drive me home. Now I remember better- he does work for Zuzka's family and I remember he was in the garage when I was trying to use miming, broken Slovak, and made-up German to ask if Tetra packs go in the recycle bin with the papers or plastics (it's plastics, by the way). A-ha! Anyway, that was one interesting encounter...

The second (and briefly because I want to go to sleep now): I was standing at the bus stop at about 8 o'clock this evening, debating if I wasn't being lazy for taking the bus two stops down to the Lidl instead of walking there... Suddenly, a man approached me to ask something, in Slovak. I gave my usual phrase, "Nehovorim po Slovensky," to which he asked, in broken English, where I'm from. I told him I'm from the US, and then he wanted to know if I'm here on holiday so I told him I work here as an English teacher. He asked something about the duration of my stay, but that's always a tricky question because "How long you stay in Slovakia?" could mean "How long have you been here?" or "How long are you going to be here?" I just came from an English lesson, so I was ripe for miming some past and future stuff to communicate that I've been here 2 months and I'll stay...two years? Maybe more? Maybe less? I don't know if he understood, but he introduced himself and asked,
         "You go for coffee with me?"
         "No, no, I can't. I'm going to the store, then I'm going home, I told him.
         "Next week, here, we go for coffee?" he asked.
         "Ehhhhhh....I don't think so..." was all I managed to get out. The problem is, I always want to give an excuse, but his English was so awful, I'm sure I couldn't explain any of the million reasons why I shouldn't go to coffee with him. Then we got on the same crowded bus and stood next to each other in somewhat awkward silence (but not too awkward for me because I was convinced that we had both maxed out the phrases we know in the other's language). Luckily, he got off at the stop before mine so I didn't have to wonder for long if he would follow me in to the store! Whew!

19-24 September 2011: First week of classes

I must've sat down to update the blog at least three times this week, but each time I was distracted by my mountain of emails to reply to. So how many emails did I send this week? Not many. It was a week of going to bed wondering, "How did it get so late and what have I been doing the last few hours?!"

So finally now I'm writing....
Classes began on Monday, but my first and only class that day wasn't until 18:45, so I went to the school in the late morning hoping to plan Monday AND Tuesday's lessons. That was my hope and expectation. What really happened? I spent the whole time planning just my Monday lesson. Hours and hours of planning for just 60 minutes. <sigh> And I walked away from the lesson wishing I had planned still more! So you can see that I'm properly motivated to become more efficient at planning, and already I feel like I'm making progress towards that end: Today I went into work for a few hours and was able to knock out 2 lessons plans and get a start on a third!

Anyway, I don't want to sound negative (because I really do have a good feeling about starting this career) but all week I keep imagining myself standing in a pool that's filled to just the right level where I can stand on my tippy-toes and turn my face directly up and have just my lips and nose barely out of the water so I can keep breathing. Well, that's how everyone's first week of their first year of teaching is, right? (And surely some people even have worse first weeks!) As challenging as it is, I have the feeling I'm experiencing these challenges under the best possible circumstances because the school has a lot of resources, and all the other teachers are so helpful and patient with all my questions. :)

Other news... It's getting a bit nippy here: In the low 20s (Celsius- I'm forcing myself to learn the new temperature system by not converting it all the time, but rather just putting in my head what the new degrees feel like) and sometimes down to the upper teens. And I noticed today that the sun was going down around 7pm. <sigh> I don't mind cold, wind, and rain, but I'm really dreading the darkness of this coming winter. I'm always thinking about how I can gear up for it and push through the season without becoming depressed, but already I've been having bad dreams about it. Feel free to pass on suggestions and encouraging words :)

My bus pass expired yesterday so I had to get it renewed today. There's only one public transport office in the city that's open on Saturdays, and it's at the train station, so that's where I went this morning. I asked the lady behind the counter, "Hovoríte po anglicky?" (Do you speak English?) Her reply, "Ehhh, Malý, a little...Hovoriš Slovenski!" (A little... you speak Slovak!) She was smiling though, so that made all the difference in giving me the courage to proceed. I pulled out my old bus pass and said, "Prosím sí nový autobusiva...uhhhh..." (Broken, awful Slovak, but my attempt to say, "Can I please have a new bus....") She understood and took the pass, and then I passed her a piece of paper that said "60 dení" because I wanted a 60 day pass and I thought I had formed the correct plural form of "day."  Turns out they have a 30 day pass, a 90 day pass, and a 365 day pass, and the word for days (according to google translate) is dní, so I was just wrong all around. But no matter, the language gap was overcome again!  After that errand, I walked from the station to the Tesco because I wanted to find walnuts to put in some banana bread that I'm going to make...but alas, there were no walnuts at Tesco. Instead I bought a huge Milka bar that's filled with plain yogurt and crispy corn flakes. A good combination with the sweet, smooth milk chocolate :)  Once home again, my sweet housemates filled me with stuffed peppers, meatballs, and mashed potatoes. Mmmmm :D

A few old pictures

 I took a picture last night at the wine festival, but just now I realized that I didn't have my SD card in the camera. Hate it when that happens... So I pulled it up from the camera's memory, and found a few other interesting pictures also saved on the camera's memory...

Graffiti in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It says: No Nazism, No Communism, Only SLO patriotism. Kind of ironic that Slovenian patriotism allows defacing Slovene property with the English language, but I think it's nice of them to share their thoughts us.

Hot air balloons in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Seen from the window of my flat in July 2011.

A whole pig on a spindle! (is that the right word?) I was way impressed!

The wine festival was pretty interesting. A good time for me to listen to a lot of Slovak! Listening and trying to pick up what people are saying in a totally new language where you only know numbers 1-19, a few cognates, and a few verbs is challenging, but a lot is communicated non-verbally, through facial expressions, gestures, reactions, and tone of voice, so there is hope for picking up some things. It's good for my language development though, to just listen and get used to the sound of it and kinda watch how people are forming the sounds in their mouths. It's also a good time to practice looking like you're listening when your mind is somewhere else (ok, not always a good skill). And a good practice in patience. And a good motivator to really learn the language.  We ate lots of street food, and drank some Burčiak, which is a "young wine" that's produced in some 5 hour window of time on a specific day in the wine-making process. If I understood correctly, after the grapes are smashed (still done with feet, by the way) the juice goes into a barrel to ferment for about a week, then if you want to produce Burčiak you have to know when it's going to be just the right time (and they do know because their families have been making this for years and years) and you stay with your barrel and taste it every hour until you recognize that it's Burčiak. Then you have 5 hours to pour it into bottles (the bottles used, by the way, are washed out 1.5L plastic bottles that you can buy bottled water in; sometimes they don't even bother to peel the old label off). The Burčiak has less alcohol than wine, but it's much sweeter too, and it has yeast that settles at the bottom of the bottle.
The street food was mostly potato-based items... fried potato and garlic patties, potato pancakes rolled with meat or Nutella, and potatoes cut into a spiral and fried on a stick; and other fried meats and sandwiches and candies.

15 September 2011

After staring at all the emails I need to reply to, doing two Sudoku puzzles, eating dinner, and looking again at the emails, I decided it would be best to just write in my blog instead.

I had such a lovely day yesterday... It was a national holiday to honor the patron saint of Slovakia, but that didn't really affect my day.
First, I ran a whole 5 kilometers in less than 40 minutes. The last kilometer was a killer, and I was getting bored, so I just kept speeding up the treadmill until it looked like I could finish the 5 k in less than 40 min, so I pushed really hard for that goal (*note that I don't set goals until I see that I'm about to reach them*) and met it with a time of 39:52. Felt so good!
Then, I ate some muesli and hung out with Katka on the back porch...
then I took a shower...
then I did some vacuuming and emptied some rubbish bins...
then I went with Zuzka to take Hajdy to the vet for another operation. This problem with her eye is not so simple to solve. This was her second operation, and she still needs eye drops every few hours. :(  The operation was going to take about two and a half hours, so Zuzka and I went to the zoo to pass the time. I thought I was pretty neutral about zoos, but actually, I LOVED it! I wish I had brought my camera so I could share the experience with you all. Well, compared to some zoos (like the Wild Animal park in San Diego), the areas for the animals to live in at the Bratislava zoo were quite small, but I'm not so sensitive about how people treat animals, so it didn't bother me. We saw baby cougars, and a lion couple taking a nap in the sun, and huge pieces of raw meat in the tiger cage. They had all sorts of different monkeys that would reach their long arms out of the cage to grab the grass and popcorn outside. I thought my favorite was the zebras, but then we saw a rhinosauras and I was smitten! I just love its leathery, gray skin, and the way it pushes its big lips around on the dirt when it's eating. Later we saw a black pygmy hippo, and some baby goats practicing ramming their heads together, and some hyenas, and lemurs, and a type of deer with the tiniest feet I've ever seen!  And we sat and enjoyed the weather for awhile, and drank some Kofola (a special Slovak soft drink) and ate some ice cream. It was perfect :)
When we were home just in time for me to quickly change my clothes and run off to do Zumba with Katka. It wasn't a problem that the instructions were all in Slovak; I was only as bad at it as usual. It was loads of fun, but the music (mostly Latin dance songs in Spanish- the same songs they use in Zumba classes at the Y in Flagstaff) made me a little bit homesick for the Southwest. I never thought I would experience a wave of homesickness for the Southwest without a craving for Mexican food!
Finally, after getting home again and eating dinner, I got to talk on Skype with a friend in Flagstaff for 2 hours (a much needed catch-up time)! A perfect finish to a lovely day :)


 Today I went to some meetings at work and enjoyed seeing the different personalities of my new coworkers. In some ways their sense of humor is so much like my ol' Domers, except these people mostly have accents from around the UK, which almost makes all their jokes funnier.


Tonight I'm going to sample some sips of wine at the famous wine festival in Pežinok with Katka and some other Slovak girls!

14 September 2011: Visit to the Foreign Police again...and again...

Miška and I went back to the foreign police today to finally turn in the last set of documents for my work and residence permits.  We caught the 06:40 bus, with hopes of being some of the first in line, but alas, when the numbers were given, we got 62.  Well, when I think back on it, it wasn't such an unpleasant wait.  Miška told me all about the process of making wine, which her family does, and she's going to take pictures when she goes home this weekend so that I can post them here for all of you to see :D And we had time to take a stroll to the nearest grocery store, where Miška showed me how to recognize nasty carcinogens on the packaged product ingredient list. 


Once our number was finally called, we went to the window with the least friendly/sociable officer in the whole office (probably).  She didn't greet us, but to her credit, she did accept a majority of my documents.  The one thing she had a problem with was my FBI background check. We had it translated into Slovak, but the translation was attached to a photocopy of the original document, and she needed some proof (ie notarization) that the copy was a true reproduction of the original. We let her look at the original to see for herself that it was legitimate, but that wasn't good enough; she sent us off to the notár and said we didn't have to take a number if we brought it back today.  A little bit frustrating, but I guess we should be glad that we were allowed to cut the line.

So we went to the notár and paid only 1.60eur for her to look at it closely, ask Miška a few questions about it, and put the right stamps in the right places.  Unfortunately, Miška wasn't able to go with me back to the foreign police, so I had an extra little adventure going without her.  Actually, I wasn't too worried; it was Miška who was scared for me to face the officer alone and with so little language skill. ;)  But, like the good guide that she is, she wrote out some useful phrases for me to use and we came up with a game plan in case I had any trouble.  The plan was, I would say something like,  "Ja si bola, nepotrebujem čislo...doložiť iba prosím." (Eng: I was here, I don't need a number... add it please.)  And once she takes it, I was supposed to ask, "Kedy možem prísť vyzdvíhnúť? Napísať, prosím." (Eng: When can I come pick it up? Write it down, please.)  If there were problems, I was supposed to call Miška immediately. 

Ok, I got it!  I felt ready for the adventure! I got on the bus and diligently practiced the most difficult word (vyzdvíhnúť <--- notice that there are only 3 vowels) and tried to recall any other important Slovak words I've picked up since being here.  I got off at the right bus stop and tried hard to remember the way we took to get to the office (kind of a diagonal path, cutting across parking lots and some little areas of grass and trees). I got a little bit lost and walked past the building, but now I'm glad that I did, because on my way to get back on the right path, I encountered a middle-aged gentleman who asked me, in Slovak, about where the Albert grocery store is. I only recognized one word, "Albert," but how many things could he logically be asking me about the Albert there on the sidewalk? A ton of different words from different languages came to my mind as I thought of how to tell him that the Albert was "just over there," but it actually just came out as, "Uuuhhh, nehovorím po slovenski, maar, uhhh..." and pointing towards the Albert that could just barely be seen in the distance through some buildings. That actually got the point across! As much as I LOVE language, sometimes the lack of it brings me the same fuzzy feeling.
Once in the foreign police, I had no trouble going to the unfriendly officer's desk and giving her my notarized paper,  all the while stumbling over my script. The more friendly officer next to her had a free moment and was able to answer all my questions in  English. Whew! I need [to have a Slovak speaker] call in 2-3 weeks to check on the status of my permits before I make another trip back to pick them up. 


In other news... I've been going to the public Slovak course and learning a lot! The teacher only speaks Slovak, so it's really a stretch to understand him sometimes; but I would teach English to a class of multilingual beginners in the same way, so that makes the frustration more bearable.  I attended the class last night, and he had me read aloud. My very first time reading aloud in Slovak and I didn't even know what he was asking me to do at first. I felt like I was in high school again; feeling worried about if I was saying anything right and what the other students would think about my accent.  It was sickening, but almost refreshing in a way (what? I guess I'm rarely nervous anymore..), and a good reminder before beginning my first week of teaching on this coming Monday.   We also learned all the present simple verb conjugations (there are different ones depending on the last vowel in the infinitive, kinda like how there are -ir, -er, and -ar verbs in Spanish). Actually, I don't think the verbs are going to be so difficult. I think, so far, the most difficult part is that the words don't have Germanic or Latin roots, and therefore no connection to my understanding of the meaning of each word.