A fine spring morning

This fine spring morning got me out of the house earlier than usual with Anya in one hand and a box to mail in the other. Perfect weather, beautiful sunshine, lilacs in bloom and smelling sweet and no rush. That's the way I would like to have all my days begin!

I dropped Anya off in her classroom and made the two block walk to the "Posta". Many people are out this time of day, but I noticed a few in particular. One young woman had an ice cream cone in her hand at 8:15 a.m. The ice cream cone is a favorite treat once spring comes. The stands are on every street corner, both out here in the 'burbs and in the old town area. In Slovak, the word for ice cream is "Zmrzlina" (that's six consonants and two vowels). I don't think we can top that in the English language. I was briefly tempted to get my own cone, but opted for fresh baked rolls at Tesco. Next I watched a group of men opening beer bottles - again, 8:15 a.m. A bit further along on my walk I passed another group of men with vodka and other drinks getting started on their day. From my observations, alcohol abuse must be one of the significant social problems here in Slovakia. Even with a zero tolerance for drinking and driving, there are many who smell of alcohol on the bus and are drinking and are drunk on the streets. We have never been bothered by any of the drunks. They keep to themselves.

My visits to the post office here have been mostly successful. Last week I brought a box to mail and was told "velky". That means big. "Papier", she said next and spread some paper on top of my box. Ahhhhh.....the light bulb went off and I realized that if the box is a certain size it needs to be covered with paper. I left and thought about this requirement that the box be covered in paper. What's the point of that? How does covering it with paper make it smaller or weigh less? Not being in a position linguistically to ask why or make sure I understood the instruction, I took the box back home and dutifully covered it with some plain brown gift wrap and then lots of tape. I figured I'd give the "Posta" one more try before I opened the box and repackaged it in two smaller boxes. My second try proved successful. WOW - am I getting good at this or what?

Birds waking us up in the morning, the smell of fresh mown (or weed whacked) grass is in the air. Life is good........

A few more facts

Some things that I think are interesting here:

You can buy lottery tickets at the Post office.

Traffic lights are sequenced differently than anywhere I've been:
RED
YELLOW
GREEN
this looks the same, but the order is different. You get your yellow AFTER the red. It's like on your mark (red), get set (yellow), GO (green).

Pedestrians do not have the right of way - WATCH OUT - even in the crosswalks you must take care. Some folks will stop, others will not, some even seem to accelerate.

Slovakia is slated to change their currency to the Euro(€) in 2009. Until then the national currency is the Korun(crown).

Over one-half million cars were produced in Slovakia in 2007. There are three major manufacturing plants for automobiles: Citroen, Volkswagen, and Kia. We see many railcars carrying new autos.

Our garbage/trash dumpsters are in a locked cage. I understand this from the perspective of non-residents looking for a place to unload their trash, BUT you can actually get locked in. That's enough for a good nightmare for me: I walk to the cage, unlock the door, I drop in my trash and, oops, I drop my keys in also by accident. The cage door closes and locks behind me and I'm stuck inside with FIVE dumpsters. No way out except to retrieve my keys by getting inside the dumpster or go mad while I wait for help. Here's a photo of "the Cage".......

Bratislava International Church

Here's a link to our wonderful Bratislava International Church..... We love this little church and the congregation. If ever you find yourself touring Europe and are in Bratislava on a Sunday, this is the place for you! If you click on photos at the home page, you'll even see our kids.

http://www.bratislavainternationalchurch.org/

Baby steps, baby steps.

A favorite movie of mine, "What About Bob", makes me think of making progress by taking baby steps.....

In my struggle for making connection with some of the local people I see often (neighbors, store clerks) I think some progress has been made! I'm getting smiles from a few of the Tesco clerks! Several recognize me, because they don't tell me my grocery total anymore, they just point to the little screen. This is big. My unique identity is being affirmed!

A few people in the building are becoming friendly. There is a sweet lady with a little dog who we like. She smiles and is so sweet to the kids. We pet her dog and smile back. She talks to us, but I haven't any idea of what she is saying. I try to use my Slovak words, but I don't have too many descriptive phrases under my belt yet.

Lots of moms have seen me out on the playgrond, so I'm trying to make eye contact and greet them. One mother of twin baby boys made eye contact, so I was able to say "dobre den" (hello) as I passed her on the way to the bus and she responded.

These small things I have always taken for granted with people, BUT, to even make these simple connections with anyone here is progress. This is a very reserved culture. I know we can't converse, but my goal is to have some pleasant contact. If I can't help this process along, this is a most lonely culture to live in.

Estonian Girls' Choir

A free concert is always welcome to our family, but a world-class free concert? Better yet. A world-class free concert in a historic stone church? Perfect. Such as it was here in Bratislava last night. We made the trek to the old town Bratislava to hear a choir traveling from Estonia. The tour will take them through Slovakia, Austria and Switzerland for the next two weeks.The occasion is the 90th Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. They girls' were amazing. It was a feast for the ears to hear the beautiful voices of young women--no accompaniment--with the awesome acoustics of a domed cathedral.

The girls were dressed in ecru full-length gowns with ecru shawls draped across their shoulders. An appropriate dress for the mostly golden-haired fair-skinned young women. I couldn't help but think of angels once they began to sing. The first song was my favorite. The girls stood spaced throughout the cathedral and then sang the most beautiful song. "Awake, My Heart" is an Estonian folk hymn with a special arrangement for the Girls' Choir. It could not have been more heavenly. To have voices all around - TRUE stereo/surround sound - another "pinch me" moment.

Our little family lasted through the first half, it was a school night and the concert didn't start until 7:00 (19:00), but we were able to bring home with us a CD recording.

I have no photos - my camera is broken and I'm awaiting a borrowed camera's arrival. Hopefully my descriptions have given you a mental picture this time.

My littlest Slovak friends

This year I have been working at Galileo School with the kindergarten-preschool children in various capacities. During this time, I have gotten to know about 50 of these 3-7 year-olds and it has been great fun.

There are four who are fluent in English. From there it is a huge range of English language comprehension and speech. Some of the youngest kids haven't figured out that I still can't understand them when they speak Slovak to me. I'll listen to a whole paragraph of a story and tell them "nie Slovensky" - but they don't seem to mind a bit. All can speak the phrase "can I go to the toilet?" in English.

Each week I am with a group of little ones alone for a couple of hours - we manage to get by without speaking the same language. We play and color and I talk to them in English because many have receptive English even though they are not speaking yet.

The older children I've been working with are taught in English, so they are gaining more English language skills. I read books to them, ask them questions and try to get them use their English while they are with me. We have had fun recently acting out story books like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs".

I take my hat off to all my teacher friends for their profession of choice. Working with kids takes a great deal of patience and insight. I can see how it can be rewarding at the same time. When I walk into a classroom to take out the kids two at a time, I am greeted with "HALLO, MRS. CAROLEEEEN". And then "PLEEEEEZE, PLEEZE, take me"....... All my years working in an office never generated that kind of enthusiasm!

I've put up a slide show of some of the kids - you can see their sweet little faces bigger if you click on it and go to the Picasa web site.