Welcome to the Newbies

Sunday we woke up to a bit of a surprise --- no hot water!!  Our shower is the type that's a hand-held attached to the wall, so I took it off and washed my hair in cold.  Brrrrr!  We heated up water on the stove to use for sponge baths, then hurried off to church.  On the way out of our front lobby, a guy we've never seen before and wearing a tool belt, was coming in, so we figured the whole building is without hot water.  (We don't have a separate hot water heater in our flat.)  

It was a beautiful morning, and not cold at all outside.  After church we chatted a while with Zuzka, a colleague from school, then walked home.  Still no hot water!  We listened to our sermon online, which actually talked about Martin Luther, Wartburg Castle, and Reformation Day (Cool!!), while drinking hot chai tea lattes again.  :-)   After lunch, we studied our Slovak lessons for a while, using an online program as well as material from our teacher.  

Then at 3:00, we walked to the town center to meet with Marian (Tim's adult businessman English student) and his wife, Susan, for a "coffee" date.  They asked if we had time for them to take us elsewhere, and of course we agreed, so they drove us to a nearby village called Liptovsky Jan.  It's in a beautiful valley in the Low Tatras, fairly near Poludnica, which we climbed in October.  It is quite a tourist destination with hotels and cabins because of the hiking, skiing, caves, and mineral hot springs there.  We walked to the springs - it was amazing to see the pool of water bubbling because of the carbonation.  It looked like a hot cauldron boiling, but it's not nearly that hot - just warm really - but the water is supposed to have many health benefits when you soak in it or drink it.  Another nearby location had a fountain where people were filling up water bottles, and it tastes just 
like the bubbly mineral water served bottled in all the restaurants.  

Tim, Susan, and Marian in Liptovsky Jan

The view of the Tatras on our walk

Gorgeous!!

The pool where people bathe in the spring water.
See it bubbling up??  It's very clean in this pool.

This is the fountain in another location, where you
can drink or bottle the spring water for free.  

The sign by the fountain describing the mineral content
and characteristics of the water here.  

We walked back to the village and relaxed in a beautiful coffee house / chalet for some hot tea and conversation.  They are a delightful couple, and it was a really fun time!

When we got back, we had sandwiches for supper, did some skyping, and graded papers from school.  I have always had sympathy for English teachers back home because of all the reading of assignments, and now I'm doubly convinced that's a tough gig!!  But it's fun and interesting to read our Slovak students' perspectives on life and various topics.  

This morning we woke up to ---- no hot water again.  Boooo!!  I did look up how to say, "Is there water in your flat?" in Slovak, so we could ask neighbors if we saw anyone.  But after school today, the hot water was back on again, much to our relief.  

School was fine - Mondays and Fridays are our busiest days.  After school was a special school function to welcome all the newbies to the school this year, including all the first year students in the building as well as the new teachers.  We were told that we would have a part in the program, but everything was pretty secretive.  As it turned out, it was kind of like "initiation" with all sorts of funny pranks on the younger students.  It was pretty messy in some cases, but thankfully, our part was tame.  We were taken into a room and provided with Slovak traditional folk costumes, as well as the lyrics to a Slovak folk song.  The IV's students (like our junior class) were in charge of the whole event, and a couple of them helped us learn the song.  They were surprised that we weren't horrible at the pronunciation.  LOL!!  There is only one other new teacher at our school this year, so she got to sing along with us, which helped a lot.  She didn't have to wear a costume though!  

The new students were all "decorated" when they came in.
These guys are some of my students!!

These are some of the IV's who were all dressed as Police and
planned, organized,  and ran the entire event.  

Our faces were decorated too!  This is Katka, the head of
our English Department.  

L to R - Our Headmistress, Jana, two colleagues, Danka and Janka,
and Rivi (Pat'ka's daughter)  

These are three of my awesome students!  

Each of the new students was introduced, then had a
"mug shot" taken.  :-)  

The gym was all decorated for the event.  (This is also where
we play volleyball on Tuesday nights.)

Janka - such a sweetie!  She's the one who took us to our
medical exams in Martin in September.  

Heading back into the gym after our costume change!

This was really a funny prank - the blindfolded student stood on a plank, which was lifted up by
some of the older boys.  (only a couple of inches up.)  The girl in front held the student's hands to steady him.  

Then she crouched gradually lower and lower, making the student feel like he was
being raised up really high, even though the plank was never more than a couple
of inches off the ground.  Then finally, they made him jump off.  Of course he thought
he was really high, but it was just a small jump.  LOL!!!

And here we are, singing the Slovak folk song.   :-)

So what do you think of the costumes??   :-)

I especially like Tim's hat and the red bow in my hair.    HA!

Tonight I made Tim his request - goulash - almost like his mom's.  For dessert we had 1/2 of our "sweet lunch" from today's school lunch.  It's always delicious, but too much, so we bring the rest home.  Then I made a couple pans of apple bars with the latest gift bag of apples from a colleague at school.  The flat smells really yummy.  I tried a new recipe online - hope it's good!  I'm pretty sure the teachers at school will be happy to taste-test the results tomorrow.   :-)