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........