SNOW DAY - Slovak Style!! :-)

Well, it happened......a Slovak Snow Day!!  Which is actually quite remarkable.  In talking to our  "V" students today, (fifth-years, the seniors), they have never, ever had a snow day during their entire school career.  Teachers have told us many time that they NEVER cancel school here because of snow.  Never!!  But today was a first!!  We told them it's because of us --- it was a good old "Iowa Snow Day" here in Liptovsky Mikuláš!!   :-) 

We looked out the window in the morning from the 5th floor, as usual, and we both commented that it looked like we got more snow than usual overnight.  When we walked out on ground level on the way to school, we realized it was a LOT more than usual - about 16" of new snow!!  It was interesting making our way through narrow little tramped-down pathways between snowbanks on the way to school.  And the snow kept coming down most of the morning too!! 

The snow fell straight down, with no wind, which is NOT like a typical Iowa snow day, but it was really beautiful.  And it was perfect "snowball" snow too - light but packable.   ;-)   

We were really happy that, for the first time in our lives, we did NOT have to shovel or blow snow at all on a snow day!!  

We also did NOT have to drive in the snow!!    :-)   There were definitely some tales of harrowing drives to school being told in the teacher workroom this morning!!  We were thankful to only have to walk to school on such a morning.    

It was amazing how deep the snow was piled on all the tree branches - I couldn't really capture it on film.  

Well, I started out at the Basic School again this morning, and Tim headed to the H.S.  Tim said they had a meeting before school concerning the snow issue, but no decision was to be made until after seeing how many students made it to school.  Evidently lots of H.S. students didn't come because so many come by train and bus from villages and towns quite far away, so the decision was made to send the kids home after 3rd hour (10:25).  

Meanwhile, I was oblivious to all this over at the Basic School, believing what we'd been told about never having snow days.  HA!  My first class was Civics with middle-school aged kids, but the teacher wasn't there.  So I had about 15-20 minutes of material, but ended up being there alone for the whole class period - fun!!  Actually, it went well, as I told the kids the second half of the class would be an English lesson.  :-)  (After 33 years in the classroom, even in Slovakia I can "wing it" if needed!)  Among other things, I used the opportunity to have each kid repeat: "Vierka lives in a very nice village."  (Instead of "Vierka liwes in a wary nice willage!!")

Second hour I taught a history lesson on the Holocaust to the oldest kids at the school (like 8th graders), and it really went well.  I had the whole period, and the teacher was in the room too.  The kids were just super - actively engaged, asking good questions, and really interested.  So fun!  They would be good candidates for our H.S. next year.

Well, since I had a 3rd hour class back at the H.S., I really hustled out of there afterwards, and got back just in time to hear raucous cheering in the hallways, when it was announced that the kids would be sent home.  So, yeah, then we had to teach a class when the kids knew this was it --- the first snow day in history would start after that class.  AND classes are cancelled for tomorrow too!!  Crazy!  (Not for the Basic School though, because those kids are mostly local.)  The best thing is, the days do NOT have to be made up at the end of the school year.  We definitely like that huge difference from back in Iowa!!   :-) 

Teachers mostly left right after lunch, but Tim and I stayed until close to 4:00.  It was actually great for us to get some extra plan time to catch up on grading papers and getting organized for upcoming lesson plans.  And tomorrow, teachers at the H.S. will work 8:00-noon, so we'll get our sub plans done for next week too.  :-)  

The snow was really deep around the school as we headed for home, but things had been plowed out pretty well in most places by late afternoon.

We walked to the grocery store after school and made a couple of other stops.  We really enjoyed walking in the beautiful snow!  Tonight my two ladies came for lessons.  We are having more and more fun together all the time, and sometimes I think they actually get more out of our "conversation" and chatting than from the book-work we do!  We laugh a lot and are sharing many stories about our families and kids.  :-)  

Tim and I are enjoying a cup of hot chai tea latte (thanks to tea bags sent from Iowa) on this snowy evening, warm and cozy in the flat.  We received two Valentine's Day cards in the mail today - one at school and one here at the flat.  :-)  Such a nice surprise!  And the early-out today and snow day tomorrow are nice surprises too!!