Thankful List:: October 2012... a little bit late...

• Managed my first solo trip to the Slovak doctor,
• None of my students are ill this week,
• Hungarian bread on sale for 50 cents a loaf,
• Erik's left over chicken soup,
• The friendly chat with the pharmacist (in Slovak),
• The books Autumn lent me,
• Time to read the books Autumn lent me,
• My nose isn't stuffy,
• Erik's allergies are gone,
• Only a little bit of coughing last night,
• We already have probiotics in our fridge,
• I missed being at work while I was away,
• My first paycheck from one company and my last paycheck from another company,
• A couple more ticket restaurants,
• Good lunches 90% of the time,
• Bus drivers who know how to bypass a bit of traffic,
• A pretty view of the Danube during my commute to work,
• All the sunny days and not-rainy days.
• Huge patches of green grass that I never noticed before,
• Lots and lots of trees in this city,
• Everything changing color,
• All the ways Erik and I have been able to easily adjust to each other,
• The knife promotion at TESCO,
• A solution for our microwave problem,
• Erik's tips and pay bonuses,
• Erik's cleanly habits,
• Laundry soap on sale,
• Parents who don't tolerate bad behavior,
• The beautiful red sunset on a Friday evening,
• Getting to stand at the bus stop so often and for so long..maybe someday I'll learn to be patient,
• Indian summers,
• Friends,
• Good hair days,
• The silver sliver of the moon,
• Getting to ride over the Danube twice every day,
• When I get a seat on the bus,
• Being a native speaker,
• The lake near our flat,
• The low cost of living,
• Frozen pizzas on sale,
• Freezer space (to store frozen pizzas),
• Sale on Nivea lotion,
• Living so close to a bus stop,
• Erik and I always get to go home to the same place,
• Not being tied to my phone,

I know, it's pathetic that I wrote this in October, lost it, and haven't written a single thankful list since then. The winter actually hasn't been that bad, and there've been more than just a few things to be thankful for.

Here are the highlights:

  In November I switched from teaching kindergarten aftercare to teaching some 2nd and 3rd grade classes. That was good because I could get off work a little bit earlier to come home and spend more time with Erik, and it came with a teeny bit more money too. One of my students brought me chocolate on my first day, which was a definite bright spot for me.
Also in November, one call from the foreign police added an interesting twist to the following months, even until now. Apparently I was living and working illegally because I lost my work permit when I changed jobs.. the fact that I'm married to a Slovak doesn't change too much, except that I'm allowed to apply for permanent residency, which is what we're doing now. Long, long, story, but the good part is that we had to take some urgent trips out of the country! We went to Belgrade, Serbia first. Turns out that the reason we went was kind of null in the end, but it was still kinda fun. I liked it anyway (Erik didn't like it that much). We stayed at a nice hostel, and got to do a lot of walking, and we were almost (but not actually) ripped off by a taxi driver. The disappointing thing about Belgrade was that people were smoking everywhere, especially in the buildings, and it was chilly outside so we often had to choose between protecting our lungs or being warm and comfortable. We asked someone why everyone smokes so much..he said, "We are proud that this is a free country and we have the right to smoke anywhere!" That's one way to look at it, I guess...

Back to the thankful things...

• We ate good cake for breakfast,
• We found a nice restaurant that sold us take-away food so we wouldn't have to eat in their smoky building,
• Some signs were in cyrillic, which was fun and exotic for me,
• The nice hostel,
• No problems during the air travel,
• I think former Yugolsavia is interesting, so I was happy to see some of it!

December was pretty much normal, except for the holidays that everyone loves... We spent Christmas in Hungary, and ate cold orange soup with whipped cream! Nothing's quite like Christmas at "home" with the traditions you've grown up with your whole life, and I was a little sad to be spending my second one in a row away from my family in Arizona. But at the same time, I'm thankful that Erik's family lives relatively nearby and they welcome us with open arms.  We enjoyed letting them beat us at Monopoly, playing other games (which we sometimes won) and eating lots of food.

January and February have been pretty cold and gray, with lots of snow. I'm not allowed to work because of the unresolved immigration stuff, but it looks like we're almost to the end of the drama with the application process for permanent residency.  I've enjoyed having time off to relax and practice house-wifery, but I think I'm going to be glad to go back to work again.

The Thankful highlights:

• We got to go on a quick trip to London... drank Starbucks, went shopping, met Erik's friends, visited his old church, ate Indian food, bought books in English, and re-entered Slovakia as a tourist,
• Rachel came to visit!
• We've been building new and stronger friendships with others in Bratislava,
• I've discovered hundreds of uses for vinegar by reading about them on the internet,
• Erik is done with his driver's ed course, and takes the exam tomorrow! (I've gained respect for European drivers- all their signs and intersections and laws make the American driving credentials sound like the Lego Land driving school)
• The days are getting longer and we've even seen the sun a couple times this week!
• Despite having to cancel Slovak lessons while I'm out of work, I've had plenty of opportunities to speak Slovak, or at least smile and nod when people speak to me :)

Check back later because I might add pictures to this post...

Thankful List :: May 2012

• Our wedding announcements were printed for free
• We found a flat to live in after the wedding
• Grill party at the Higgins
• Lessons to substitute (= more money)
• Paja helping me with online banking
• The smell of rain
• The clean air after the rain
• The satisfaction of a clean house
• Erik and I navigated our first furniture decision without an argument
•  Erik's Nike shoes for €26.30 :)
• Nice compliments from a satisfied student
• My "long" Slovak conversation at the vegetable stand
• Seeing circus animals from the bus
• We have enough znamky for 2 pots now (actually, since then we've been given enough for 4 pots!)
• Made it through Monday
• A nice weekend
• Good food at Dobry Trh
• Allowed to leave Dobry Trh when the rain started
• Coffee time with Erik on Sunday afternoon
• Managed to navigate the VistaPrint website and order wedding announcements (on sale!)
• Maria can drive us to Lučenec next weekend
• I coaxed the toilet into flushing
• My mom (yes, MY mom) is turning into such an optimist!
• čsob internet banking is working again
• The roses are blooming
• The Slovak book for €1
• All the nice new friends from Vienna
• Maria and her driving skills (without Maggy's help) 
• We didn't get too lost
• Jim's mom driving us to the bus station
• Good English breakfast Saturday morning
• Low café prices in Lučenec
• Lovely morning date with Erik
• Slovakia beat Czech Republic and Canada at hockey 
• People still came to our evening program in Cinobana, even though there was an important hockey game going on
• Erik got to play football with some kids (+ William)
•  Meeting nice friends in Cinobana
• We found Cinobana
• Music was good at the evening program and on Sunday morning
• Erik getting to translate my testimony at the evening program
• Erik's testimony po Anglicky on Sunday morning
• Fast, safe trip back to Bratislava on Sunday
• Received our rental contracts in the mail
• Nice dinner and conversation with Heather and William 
• Thursday always comes
• My wedding band is almost finished
• I got some of the things I need from the fabric store with only using Slovak (and some pantomiming) 
• Skyping with Laura

Frozen anti-Diarrhea medicine

You know how sometimes the back of the refrigerator gets too cold and ice builds up and sticks things to the inner walls? It's not a common problem, I suppose, if you keep an eye on what's in there. But sometimes that one bottle of something that you don't use very often gets forgotten and constantly pushed against the back wall.  That's what happened in my refrigerator over the last few months (since the antibiotic overdose incident in February). I had noticed that it was getting a bit icy back there a few weeks ago, but I honestly didn't know what to do with the anti-diarrhea medicine that was clinging to the back wall: Do I throw it out? Give it to a friend? Save it for later? Can that stuff go bad??

Yesterday, as I was waiting for my dinner to cook, I realized that the bottle of elixir, still in the box, was not only stuck to the wall, but actually it was beginning to take up too much space because of all the ice that was growing around it. By the look of it, I thought the stuff had frozen and broken the bottle, which was a really interesting scenario in my imagination, so I immediately took a spoon to chip it off. It came off with little difficulty- probably the hardest part was suppressing my giggles so I wouldn't disturb my housemate who was watching an important hockey game in the attached living room. The lower of the two pictures is what I removed from the fridge. The upper picture is from after I thawed it enough to tear off the wet box and find that the bottle hadn't shattered and the liquid inside was still liquid (the above picture).  A bit disappointing...


And something completely unrelated:
I saw a tiger, a zebra, 2 llamas, 2 little ponies, a camel with 2 bumps, and a man poking at a lion with a stick (all completely REAL and ALIVE), as I rode the bus to the grocery store this morning! It was all part of the traveling circus that's in Bratislava now. Something that might cause public outcry in some American cities: The only thing that kept these animals separated from the onlooking families were the two layers of temporary fencing! (That is, as far as I could see from the bus window.)  I really don't like circuses (for reasons that I won't list here, but if you know me well then you can probably correctly guess that my opinion has almost nothing to do with animals being kept in small cages), but there is something really cool having my morning thoughts interrupted by seeing big animals on the side of the road :)  Sorry I don't have pictures!

Thankful List :: April 2012

Another sparse (and this time belated) thankful list. It's not that nothing good happened this month, it's just that I didn't take the time to write something down every day. škoda :/

• No April Fools jokes
• Nice weather
• Everything is blooming
• New lessons on my schedule
• Lots of long weekends
• Sale on duck meat
• Duck sandwiches
• Cranberry sauce
• Trip to Vienna
• Special train tickets that took us to Vienna and allowed us to ride all the Vienna public transport for free
• Cream for profiteroles
• Left over cream for scones
• Some time to spend with Sara before she left
• Healthy lemonade
• My first foreign OBGYN appointment wasn't scary, and the doctor spoke great English
• The zoo! (Free entry on the free city day)
• Skyping with Hannah
• Skyping with Laura
• Skyping with my parents
• Laura finished her thesis and passed everything with flying colors
• 100 days till the wedding (now fewer!)
•  Delicious crepes from Chez Amelie
• Gabko's birthday and good food,
• A savings account (and Paja setting it up for me in the most hassle-free way possible)
• Translation of my birth certificate: Done!
• Stano playing at City Light 
• Erik won the Rocky Steps competition (I'm happy for him, even though I lost)
• Wedding invitations designed and ready to be printed
• Lots of fun new games for teaching kids
• Workshop with Bea and Ed
• So many (undeserved) znamky from Tesco!!
• Green pears
• Little or no allergies
• Erik's getting a tan
• Summer clothes on clearance

Thankful List :: March 2012

• It's finally March,
• Some signs of Spring are beginning to appear
• Spending time with Erik,
• A fairly successful trip to the embassy,
• Another useful Slovak lesson,
• Thursday evenings,
• Friday afternoons,
• Good food at the Awesomeness report,
• The little bits of real chocolate in the chocolate Dobre Rano bars,
• More hours at work than last month,
• We finally have Leah's affidavit for marriage,
• The affidavit for marriage is apostilled,
• The wedding menu is sorted,
• International Women's Day,
• Meatball sales during the week at Ikea (and other pleasurable time spent there),
• Nicer weather to spend time at the park,
• The trip to Koliba,
• The trip to Slavin,
• Package from home 
• The postcard from June in the package from home,
• Lots of wedding ideas (and a listening ear) from Heather,
• Premarital counseling begins,
• I bought more credit for my phone and only used Slovak,
• The air smells nice and springy,
• Waffles (and Erik quickly learning how to work the industrial waffle maker while under pressure at 5am)
• Nutella, maple syrup, etc.,
• American Peanut Butter from Gabe,
• No illness in the (future)Racz(ova) family this month,
• Heather's birthday,
• Heather's birthday tirimasu,
• Mascarpone on sale,
• The lady who renewed my bus pass spoke English,
• I found my keys (and didn't have to describe them in Slovak),
• Gabe taking our engagement pics,
• Erik made really yummy food,
• Spring onions on sale,
• Finally some good feedback on my lessons <whew>,
• My oldest brother was born 27 years ago,
• I didn't have any nightmares about my demo lesson,
• Positive feedback about the demo lesson,
• The transportation benefit from work,
•  Erik has a new bed,
• My birth certificate made it to the US and is apostilled now,
• Erik's new shirts,
• My 2 euro shorts,
• All-you-can-eat accidental Indian dinner,
• The first Magnum ice cream bars of the year,
• Dinner with Zuzka and Slavo, and the Slovak lesson from their kids,
• Erik is allergic to cats ;)

Just another day in Bratislava...

Dnes je voľby!!!

Ok, so it's not just another day in Bratislava (and all around Slovakia), today there is an election! The campaigning has been going on since maybe December? But it wasn't until February that I realized that the [somewhat boring-looking] posters around the city are political advertisements. I can't say much about the event besides that...I've heard that there's one very popular party that nobody likes much anyway, and people seem generally pessimistic about the situation. One advantage of having these posters up for so long: I've managed to read one of the slogans (thanks to Erik one time telling me that "viac" means "more," and Simona's skvele Slovak lesson handouts that included the word "práce" in several useful different forms..it has to do with "work" and "jobs") The slogan is: pre viac práce na Slovensku.  Can you make a good translation guess for yourself?  Now I just wonder if people who happen to hear me faintly whispering the slogan every time I see a SDKU poster think that I really believe in this political party's promises.   I was also able to read a word scratched into the forehead of a candidate on another poster the other day, but I didn't dare whisper it to myself, and I won't write it here either as it is much too vulgar.

Changing the subject now... I was ill a few weeks ago, and got to have my first "I need to see a doctor in a different culture" experience. The way it works here is that if you need to skip work because you're ill then you have to take a slip from your employer and get it stamped when you visit the doctor. Even if you know how to self medicate, or you're sure that all you need is to lie in bed and drink tea for a day, you still have to visit the doctor to get the slip stamped, otherwise you have to take a "holiday day" from work. These "doctor days" are good for one day, but if you're really sick then the doctor will write you a note to stay home for whatever amount of time he deems sufficient to help you recover, and then you have to return to his office at the end of that time to get cleared to return to work. The insurance office gets a copy of this note (that includes your home address) and they are allowed to come check in on you to make sure that you're actually home resting and not taking a skiing vacation. Very fascinating!

Finding a doctor is another thing... I don't know how other people go about it, especially other foreigners..probably there are forums online for this stuff. Erik (my dear, helpful, and kind Erik) asked his doctor if she is willing to have me as her patient; they CAN say "no," but this lady, bless her, she said "yes" and that's how I got a doctor here. (Oh, you can also find private doctors here, but you have to pay them from your own pocket. I didn't pay anything directly to see this "state doctor" here- the insurance and such is just automatically taken out of my wages.)

Back to the original story.. So I was sick with a fever and couldn't go to work. Luckily it was Erik's day off, so we met in the city center and made our way together to the remote district of Bratislava (called Rača) where the doctor's office is. Keep in mind that Erik and I mostly only have public transportation available to us (besides when kind friends give us rides, which happens actually quite often, and we're very thankful for them :) ) But this sick day, we used public transportation. I felt like such a champ, a feverish American toughing it out on the elektricka! (Elektricka = the slow, flimsy, trains that go through the city) As we walked from the elektricka stop to the doctor's office, Erik tried to prepare me for the experience; warning me that his doctor maybe isn't the best doctor in the world (or in the city for that matter)..but you know, doctor's aren't paid so well here so you can understand if they're burnt out... Just as we were agreeing that we prefer the system with these adequate health care services and the peace of mind that it's free and available to everyone than a system that leaves people dying without a chance to have any health care, we approached the doctor's office. When I first saw the small, white building, complete with graffiti and bars over the windows, I thought it was a juvenile detention center and Erik was just making a little joke. No, it wasn't a joke; it was the thunder of reality crashing over my bleeding, left-leaning heart! Well, this is what I wanted, so I've resolved to stay optimistic, and just learn to adjust...
Once inside, we saw that our doctor was on holiday, so she left a note referring us to her colleague down the corridor. The catch was that her colleague only had afternoon hours that day, but we were there at 09:30. So we sat in the waiting room and discussed all our options of what to do, and eventually decided that it's best to wait it out and see the doctor at 12:30. But the waiting room wasn't so comfortable, so we walked to a nearby restaurant and ordered two cups of tea and sat by the warmest radiator for an hour or so. Finally, when the doctor arrived, we were the first to see him. (He also could've refused to treat me, as I'm foreign and not his patient, but I'm so grateful that he was willing!) Erik told him my symptoms, and I sat down and opened my mouth for him to look inside. It kind of bothered me that he didn't use a flashlight before saying the inside of my mouth was škaredy (which I know to mean "ugly").  He and his assistant sentenced me to 5 days resting at home and 2000mg per day of amoxicillin (plus probiotics and multivitamins). I wasn't thrilled, but I have to say they were very kind to look on an online dictionary for the word "Inflamed" to describe the stuff in the back of my throat to me.

Fast forward 5 days: I felt better, but my body wasn't coping very well with the huge dosage of antibiotics. I developed a rash (which I thought was spider bites- I searched all over my room for the culprit) and had diarrhea. We went back to the doctor the following Monday so I could be cleared to work (plus Erik was sick by then), and, naturally, I had to use the WC twice when we were there. To describe the "restroom facilities" at the doctor's office, I think there's no better word than primitive.  There was no toilet paper (Erik anticipated this and sent me with tissues), no soap, or paper towels/hand dryer, and (most amusing) it appeared as though someone had purposely removed the part of the faucet that would allow you to turn on the hot water!

If you're wondering, I do still like living here :)

This afternoon Erik and I are going to visit an indoor open market, purely for the cultural experience. I hope to post pictures soon...

Thankful List :: February 2012

Sushi making

• Recycled paper to write lists on,
• People who work in shops who can speak English,
• The tip from the meteorologist about what weather website to use (www.shmu.sk),
• The bus driver who waited for me while I ran to catch the bus, 
• None of my nightmares about my Demo Lesson came true,
• Having a Konverzacia course on my schedule,
• Erik and I share the same sense of humour,
• The hot water is working again,
• All the good things going on (and coming up) at Class,
• The protests in the city so far haven't been violent (or at least I haven't had to witness any violence nearby),
• The beautiful new Class Culture Book,
• Mom and Dad have their flights to Vienna,
• Erik's tiramisu,
• Dinner with the Melos and the Počajs,
• Getting to hear Paja and Ilga's stories,
• The Melos driving us home,
• Leftovers,
• Meeting a goldsmith who wants to do our rings,
• The bus driver who waited for us as we ran farther and faster than the last time a bus driver had to wait for us,
• The English/Slovak labels on everything (všetko) in the kitchen,
• Meeting another American girl,
• McCafé,
• Erik's new razor (and his willingness to use it),
• Leftovers (I guess I'm double thankful for these),
• Lucia's "Alzheimer Prevention Course" on Monday and Wednesday afternoons,
• The school laptop has been working,
• Pete and Edina lending me keys to work when I locked myself out,
• Coffee time with Sara and being able to share some knowledge about the city,
• Heather's home!!
• Running into Sue in the city,
• Sushi and spending time with people,
• The relaxing evening with the Melos,
• Erik's amazing cooking,
• Niki driving us across town,
• Alberto driving us home (x2),
• My tastebuds,
• Payday,
• Meeting with Lucka and Marcin,
• .50€ sale at the Second Hand store (and actually finding good stuff),
• Health insurance,
• Plastic toilet seats aren't so cold,
• Lots and lots of time to rest,
• Erik bringing me bread and jam,
• Erik translating for me at the doctor,
• DIY wedding websites with detailed how-to information,
• Grace being willing to design complicated announcements/invitations,
• The antidiarrheal medicine doesn't taste so bad,
• The doctor letting me quit the antibiotics early,
• The rash from the antibiotics is going away without treatment,
• Coffee with Katie,
• The little sesame seeds on the pretzel sticks,
• Erik's cooking makes even antidiarrheal diets bearable,
• Laura has her flight booked!!
• Erik is already feeling better,
• Skvela lesson with Simona,
• Slovak lesson resources from Simona,
• Libuš lending me a huge Obrazovný Slovník,
•  Late Valentine's Day dinner of delicious Indian food,
• The DVDs from Paja worked on my laptop,
• Erik's camera is working again,
• The thing in the dishwasher that makes it smell like lemon (and not old food),
• The nice weather over the weekend and time to walk and talk with Erik, 
• Americky Tyžd'en at Lidl,
• Beef and chili potato chips,
• A no show lesson,
• The gift of bread from someone else's student,
• My most ornery students were enthusiastic to sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and were even quiet as they listened to their classmates sing,
• "Warm" spring wind,