Fourth Sunday of Advent

We have been attending the Bratislava International Church in the downtown area. This church is partly supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and is English speaking. People who are part of the church are from all over the world, including refugees from several other countries.

Today our kids were up front for the lighting of the 4th candle of Advent - the photo is a little blurry, but it is really sweet just the same!

Christmas Traditions - Carp & Potato Salad

On Christmas day in Slovakia a traditional meal will include carp and potato salad. Just last week we noticed portable fish ponds showing up outside the grocery stores. Inside were live carp. Next to that were a couple of guys with fishing nets, some bags and a scale. So that is how you get your fish for Christmas meal. We noticed the fish were being scooped up by the net, put into the bag alive, weighed and paid for. I don't care what happened after that. I always thought carp were bottom feeders, the kind that no one ever kept if they were caught. I have little doubt that the spices used to cook this fish must make it tasty. We probably will not have a chance to try it. I guess it could go with potato salad, right?


Here are the kids watching the carp swim around before they become a traditional Slovak Christmas dinner.

Slovak Christmas Traditions - St. Mikulas (St. Nicholas)

Being in another culture for their celebration of Christmas is, indeed, a unique experience. While we miss our own traditions with our families in Michigan, we will enjoy some new traditions while in Slovakia.

On the night of December 5 all the children clean their winter boots. After they are cleaned, they put them in the windowsill. Now, if they have been good and/or their boots are clean enough, they will wake up in the morning with a bag of candy, fruit and nuts inside their boots! If they aren't, there are many other things for the naughty kids with dirty boots (coal, rocks, little nasty devil shaped chocolates).

The stores were loaded up with chocolate Santas, chocolate Saints that I didn't recognize and chocolate devils. Tons and tons of chocolates and candy!! The night of Dec. 5, on my daily Tesco run, I thought for sure it must be Christmas eve early- the crowds were heavy. I have never seen such giant bags of peanuts in bulk and crates of oranges and tangerines. But it was St. Mikulas eve - a huge holiday tradition here that brings warm memories for most.

The night of December 5 we made sure J & A washed their boots and put them in the windowsill. Sure enough, the next morning they had their bag of treats! School on December 6 had some special treats for the kids and appearance by St. Mikulas (St. Nick).

Anya's boots.....

Choirboy Justin

There he is, Choirboy Justin. The boy on the end. I didn't get a photo of the entire choir unfortunately, but they number about 90. This was the annual Christmas, or Vianocne, concert for the "Bratislavsky Chlapcensky Zbor" (Bratislava Boys' Choir). A guest boys' choir from Poland also sang. They numbered only about 25, but were awfully cute and it was fascinating to see them. The two choirs sang together at the end.

Justin sang for a portion of the concert - he is with the smaller children who don't have the endurance or performance skills of the older, more experienced choir members. He sang several traditional Slovak Christmas carols as well as Silent Night, or Ticha Noc, Svata Noc in Slovak. One song was in Latin. I had heard all the songs around the house, of course, but nothing could prepare me for the beautiful sound once inside the church with all the boys singing together.



I had been hoping the concert would be in an old cathedral, but it was in a modern Catholic church - perhaps built in the last 20 years. The acoustics were great, which is the most important thing. The church was really cold, so all the boys kept their coats on until performance time. The oddest thing was this church had a bronze crucifix mounted on a cross painted yellow. I kept looking at it and wondered just what they were thinking.......

The choir just released a Christmas DVD that is wonderful. Justin was not a member yet, so he is not on the recording, but it has many scenes from Bratislava and Slovakia. If you are interested, I can mail a copy to you. I would guess with postage, $22 would cover the cost. Let me know if anyone wants to buy one, even though the Christmas season is coming to a close.

I will attempt to place two video clips from our digital camera below - it can give you a little idea of their sound. The first clip is of their warm-up exercises. The second is the concert. Justin is the boy on your left on the end. The conductor, Magdalena Rovnakova, has great stage presence but we know she must be stern at times to keep the choir in line and performing as well as they do!

Christmas Market

The Annual Christmas Market is a highlight for the City of Bratislava. We have been wandering around the market and it is festive and delightful. The market is in the historic old downtown and is made up of wooden booths set up in the main pedestrian squares. All booths are required to have a Christmas theme and be native to Slovakia.

Lots of crafts and food dominate the market. A stage features many school groups singing and other people performing. Hot wine is also a draw - red, white, or the Christmas punch. The market is picturesque and really quaint. It has the look of Christmas without being gaudy. Here are just a few photos so you get an idea of this most extraordinary celebration.

No tights and a tic

Oh what a day! I finally got my introduction to the inside of a Slovak Health Clinic. Justin has had a terribly painful earache for three days. My call on Thursday morning to request an appointment resulted in an appointment for Friday morning. The doctors were completely booked for Thursday. I thought we could wait 24 hours if we needed to. The 24 hours was tough - We finished the only bottle of Wal-Mart brand Motrin on hand and alternated with the Wal-Mart brand of Tylenol. I began feeling horrible for the situation we were in, but tried to focus on getting through the next day.

Preparing for the morning, I got out my map and located the clinic in the downtown area. Not a bad location, as it was just one bus ride for Justin and I and a short walk. Not ideal, but we are adjusting to this new lifestyle where we don't hop in the car and drive to find a nice parking lot outside a lovely building wherein is located our very friendly, available and able pediatrician with whom I am able to communicate.

My poor son somehow made the short walk from the bus stop to the building and we went to the receptionist. I began to have a bad feeling about this when we went to the reception area. The woman who had scheduled my appointment gave me a doctor who sees adults, not a pediatrician. I was sure I had said my son was sick on the phone...... I tried to get transferred by phone to pediatrics, but they didn't answer. I was now downtown with my sick son and NO appointment.

The tension of having a sick child overseas and the feeling of helplessness began to overwhelm me. We walked into the pediatric clinic and I began my efforts to explain my situation. Now, I don't want to slam the Slovaks, BUT there is a cold, icy exterior that many hold (until you get to know them). So the receptionist is an icy, cold Slovak. Although she spoke English, she doesn't seem to get the explanation of my situation, but sighs and tells me both doctors are completely full and I must have an appointment. My frustration and discouragement peaked and the floodgates opened and I began to cry. "My son has been in pain for three days and needs to see a doctor.....is there any other place I can go?" (no) "Is there an emergency room?" (no, we don't have emergency rooms). Next question from her: do you have insurance? "Yes, I have insurance." I hand over the card. I continue to shed tears and use the extra soft Puffs that my mom sent me. Next time you must have an appointment. (Yes, I tried to get one) The icy receptionist tells me to wait a minute. She disappears into a room and we sit down. I continue to dab my tears, which just won't stop. Something (or someone) must have touched the receptionist's heart because I don't even think I tried to pray. She reappears and rather quickly we are ushered into an examining room and meet a friendly woman, I guess she's a doctor. I wiped the remaining tears off my cheeks and sat down. She got a quick history and then checked Justin's throat, chest and ears. One ear is fine, the other is not, he has a red throat and a bit of congestion in his chest. He will need an antibiotic. (alrighty, let's get a prescription and get out of here).

Next, to my surprise, I was asked if I ever noticed the tic in Justin's face. No, I didn't. "The mothers never do. I noticed it right away". (Okaaaaaaay. How about that ear infection?) Next she pulled up the leg of Justin's pants and laughed when she saw his white socks. Normal white socks, right? He should be wearing tights. All children need tights under their pants to keep warm. We had a brief discussion about the fact that I was from Michigan, a very cold state in America, and, yes, it is colder than Bratislava. Much colder. I'm sure I got the bad mother award for the day. No wonder he is sick and in need of a doctor- these foreigners! I imagine her thoughts and the conversation when I leave.

Now I felt totally humiliated and completely pathetic. It's bad enough to be a foreigner and not understand their language, but I felt so judged for not embracing their cultural rules. I was told that I should really get help for Justin's tic while he is still small, before he grows and it is much more difficult. (Note: I regularly check the American Academy of Pediatrics website and they instruct just the opposite - ignore most of these "tics"......) But to explain anything like that is just out of the question, first due to the language difficulty and, 2nd I'm just there to get help for my kid's earache, for heaven's sake! We also dress our children much lighter than this culture. The school, in particular, is very warm. I cannot imagine having a layer of warm tights under the pants. I also know what it's like to travel on an overheated bus with layers of clothing! I would have a sweaty and carsick child. I would have appreciated a little understanding in my time of need.

Back to the earache. I am given instructions for an antibiotic and eardrops. Then I am given a cough syrup and two other over-the-counter medicines to get. It seemed J was getting a head to toe makeover for this and that. Finally we will get J on the road to recovery. All the instructions have made my head spin, but we make the trek to the Lekaren (pharmacy) to get the boatload of medicine before heading back to the bus stop. Somehow I still feel like crying, so I soak another Puffs while waiting for the pharmacist to get our stuff ready.

On our way back home, J is certain he cannot walk to the bus stop. More tears from me. He continues to plod along. We actually ran the last bit for the bus, as we didn't want to wait another 10 minutes. Once off the bus, we have a two-block walk to get to our building. I carried my little boy the last bit to get him home. He's 7 years old, but you other moms know just what you will do when the need is there.

Antibiotics, ear drops, ibuprofen. I'm skipping the cough syrup. I'm also skipping the other stuff that the pharmacist didn't put in the bag. Those were OTC anyway and I don't remember just what they were supposed to do. After checking the AAP website and the new warnings about children's cold medicine, I think we can leave that out of the equation for now. J is beginning to feel better. He had the best night's sleep out of the last four. That means I did too.

Today is his Bratislava Boys' Choir Christmas concert. We desperately want him to sing. But I have resigned myself to just watching if my boy doesn't feel up to singing. I am tired of crying anyway and the sight of him in the choir will cause me to weep again. (Not that there's anything wrong with that).

Funny, funny little girl

Anya, age 4 1/2. Lots of questions, lots of energy, lots of opinions. Her interests include styling her hair, painting her nails and looking at herself in the mirror. Every day she chooses her own fashion look before getting dressed for school. Her classmates speak Slovak, she is even picking some words up along the way. Her favorite activities include ballet dancing, swinging and playing at the playground. She is an avid painter of all types, watercolor and tempera paint and occasionally she dabbles in finger paint as well. We think her rainbow, shown below shows much promise!