Cabins in the Forest

The last post was only five days ago, but we've packed a lot into a short time since then!  Picking up from where we left off last Thursday evening, Tim was gone to parts unknown during his English lesson time with Marian.  Well, they went to visit Marian's father in a cabin he is building on the outskirts of a village, then they went to a reservoir high up on a mountain to see some spectacular views.  It was a beautiful evening, and Tim said it was awesome to see the surrounding area from that vantage point.

The workers on the reconstruction of the basic school are definitely starting to make progress at a faster pace now.  The scaffolding is coming down from the front, and they are starting on the back side.  Most of the skylights are in the roof now too.  

We are really excited about the weather forecast --- a week of sunshine and warm temperatures --- YAY!!   We have lots of outdoor plans, so we are thankful that summer seems to have arrived!    :-) 

Friday afternoon, Tim played in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at school.  I went to watch for a little while, and he was shooting "lights-out"!  :-)  Then, while he was still playing, I went to a piano recital at the gallery near our church.  Eva (my student) had told me her son Ondrej would be playing, so I wanted to hear him.  (He's the one who sang for mass so beautifully at Easter time.)  He plays piano really well too, so I enjoyed his performance as well as the other pianists, accordion player, soprano, and classical guitarist on the program.  

Next, Eric picked us up to join one of our classes on their school trip for an evening barbeque at a chata (or cabin - you guessed it - in the woods).  Eric had Riško and Miška with him, since his wife Janka was playing volleyball with our regular group.  

Our I.A5 fire-starters in action.  This is really an awesome class - fun kids!!  We were honored to be invited to their party during their class trip.  

They had a huge amount of food, including MANY packages of yummy fat sausages!!  

Sausages and bacon hunks being roasted over the fire on sticks with the ends whittled into points by the guys.  BTW, the sausages were delicious!!!   :-)

Eric, with the kids, joining in the sausage roasting.  The students loved playing with the little ones at the party!  

Katarina, Vierka, and Janka were some of the other teachers at the barbeque.  Roman, in the back, was helping chop roasting sticks!

After everyone was stuffed with sausages, bread, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, green tea, chips, and cookies, the party moved inside for entertainment.  Luckily, Tim and I had just finished up with the "Entertainment" unit in the English language book for the I.A5's, and their most recent assignment had been to perform skits or other entertainment for the class.  Since we each have half the class in our respective sections, they performed several of the skits for the group, so there was much laughter!!  

During the party, we kept getting phone calls from the basketball guys who were also having their annual season-ending gulaš (goulash) party the same evening, asking when we were coming.  So we left early to have Eric take us to the next event.  :-)  

This party was held in the back yard garden of one of the players.  It was such a lovely garden, and a wonderful setting for a gathering!  

What we didn't realize was that the "party" had started at 9:00 a.m. when they started to cook the gulaš out in the back yard.  It is traditionally cooked all day on an open fire outside, usually by men.  We weren't really hungry, but we had to try the gulaš, and it was really delicious!!  

This is the host of the party, who was also celebrating his birthday.   We stayed for about an hour and a half, then Eric took us home, since there was another basketball tournament on Saturday morning with a different group of players, to be held at school.

Saturday I got up really early to walk to church and catch a charter bus to a big synod event where the 300-voice choir would be singing.  (Tim was playing in the B-ball tourney and took a regular bus on his own later to the synod event.)  The only English speakers on the bus were two younger students at our school.  We arrived in Vychodná about 45 minutes before the opening worship service, so I walked about 4 blocks to Katarina's house to drop off my back-pack and say good morning. 

On the way back up the hill to the amphitheater, I was wondering if I'd be staying all day, if there would be food vendors, etc., so when I saw a tiny potraviny (grocery store) in the basement of a house, I decided to pick up some snacks just in case.   For 0.83 EU, I got an orange, a bag of peanuts, and a cookie-bar..... all together about $1.  I ended up not needing any of it, but what a deal!    :-)  

I heard a group rehearsing on the smaller stage, so decided to check it out.  Lo and behold, the guitar player and drummer are guys who play volleyball with us on Monday nights, and this is our church's praise band who played for the Easter youth service we attended.  They really sounded good, and they were doing some contemporary songs I recognized from the U.S., but in Slovak.  

When I was heading into the main stage area, I ran into Katarina's aunt, mother, and grandmother as they were coming in.  Her grandmother is dressed in the traditional clothing for this region of Slovakia.  

The opening of the worship service was this group of singers from Vychodná, including all three in the previous picture, singing a hymn from the worship book we use each Sunday.

Next was a congregational hymn and the processional entrance of all the clergy.  (Since I was singing in the 300-voice choir later, I obviously couldn't get a picture, but our group stood on the ramp at the back-center of the stage area.)  Also.... about this time, I noticed that a LOT of people in the congregation of 1,200 were wearing white shirts and black pants.  Like roughly 300 or so of them.  Hmmmm.  It didn't take a genius to deduce that we "missed the memo" on the mass choir attire!!  I was wearing a cream color t-shirt and olive hiking-style capris, so it wasn't too horrible, but I felt a little dumb being the ONLY one not in the "uniform"!!  Oh well - at least the American was obvious!  

After the opening worship service, there were various seminar break-out sessions, all in Slovak, so I went back to Katarina's house with the ladies.  Her mom made delicious stuffed peppers for lunch, so I needn't have worried about getting snacks!  (But at the time I wasn't sure if I'd be staying all day at the church event.)  I walked back up this street during the day to attend a concert and the closing service.  Tim arrived in time to go to the closing, and it was great because some of his students took part in the service, and of course he joined me in the mass choir as well.  (I did text him before he came so that he was in appropriate white/black attire!!)  

This Slovak shepherd's woodwind instrument, the fujara, was played at the beginning of the closing service.  It has a very haunting, eastern tonality that is quite beautiful.  

Another view of the shepherd and his fujara.  We had a super translator for this service - the son of the female pastor who was presiding.  He recently graduated from a college in Nebraska, and his English is terrific.  

One of our school's students, reading a poem about families during the service.    The theme for the event was Christian families, and it was neat to see many people in attendance, of all ages, and with many kids having fun and fellowship.  The very last thing was the second mass choir number, and then Tim and I walked back to Katarina's again. 

The next part of our weekend was going to spend the rest of the afternoon at a cabin in the forest.  Katarina and Pat'ka planned all the details of an overnight stay with a view of the Tatras, and we were all looking forward to a relaxing get-away surrounded by nature!!  :-)  

Here we are arriving at the cabin with our "chauffeur", Katarina's dad, Juraj.  It's a darling cabin, bigger inside than it looks from the outside, and in a picturesque setting with a mountain creek running by.  

And this is the view from the mountain meadow in front of the cabin --- the most famous peak in Slovakia --- Kriván.  (It's on the back of coins.)  

We started out with huge slices of juicy watermelon, and then we grilled yummy sausages for the second night in a row.  Awesome!!  

Tim started in on his watermelon on the front porch.

After supper, we walked down the road to the salaš (sheep farm) where the Vychodná village sheep graze during the summer under the watchful eyes of five full-time shepherds who milk them twice a day and make cheese.  Rivi and Katarina, on the way up to the salaš.  

One of the shepherds brought us a cup of žinčica, a kind of sheep milk that drains off the cheese as it is being formed.  Žinčica is traditionally served in these wooden cups with carved handles.  It was much tastier than the previous type we had tried!!  :-)   We also got to try slices of fresh sheep cheese - Yum!!   

Our tour of the salaš included the cheese-making building.  The cheeses hang in cheesecloth bags over this trough which collects the milk drippings to be made into žinčica.  

Another of the shepherds, with the day's cheeses.  

This is the room where the cheese can be smoked, using a wood fire.  

The shepherds evidently cut a LOT of wood too, for the winter months, and for fires to smoke the cheese.  The shepherds' living quarters are in the background.  

The shepherds took us up to a natural spring above the salaš, which is the source of their fresh water.  It was really neat to actually see the water bubbling up from underground!!  The water was very cold, crystal clear, and very refreshing to drink! 

On the walk back from the saláš - what a gorgeous backdrop!!  

The moon above the pastel sunset clouds!  

This wild rose was illuminated by some of the last rays of sunshine filtering through the trees.  So beautiful!  

The cabin is fabulous in every way, but it's out in the middle of nowhere, it has no running water (the jug was filled from the pump just outside any time we needed more water), we used an outhouse and washed our hands in the stream, the stove had a propane tank, and the only lights were a few small ones hooked up to a car battery.  So Katarina used this head-lamp when she washed the dishes after dark!!     :-)

Pat'ka made pancakes for breakfast, and we filled them with homemade strawberry jam that Katarina's mom sent along.  YUM!!!  

On Father's Day morning, Tim enjoyed some time on the swing behind the cabin.  

Talking about our kids back home in the U.S.A. and enjoying our "Slovak daughter!"

Playing games outside before lunch.  Which was lovingly cooked by Katarina's mother and delivered by her father and brother.  We were not expecting a big Sunday dinner, way out there in the forest, but they brought out soup, schnitzels, potatoes, pickles, and much more, for our midday meal!!  It didn't feel much like "camping in the wilderness" with a full catered meal served to us!!  HA!!  

On our way to go mushroom hunting after lunch.  (aka Sunday dinner!)  

The mountain wildflowers were so beautiful on our walk!!  

It was so relaxing and refreshing to be out walking on hillsides below the mountains!  

More wildflowers in the meadows. 

One last view of the creek running along the edge of the cabin yard.  

Kriván again, as seen on the drive back from the cabin.  Pat'ka drove us back to our flat in the early evening so we could make Father's Day skype and Facetime calls.    :-)   (Father's Day is a relatively new holiday here in Slovakia, and it's not really emphasized much.)

Here are Tim's two gold medals from the two weekend basketball tournaments he played in.  The right one is a Slovak candy bar made into a medal, and the left one is for the 4-on-4 tournament on Saturday.  He is also getting the award for the best free-throw percentage for the tourney.     :-)

Monday we had our last Slovak lesson with Dominik for the school year, then went to our last church choir practice, and then to probably our last volleyball night.  We've talked several times lately about how glad we are that we know we are coming back next year, so we don't have to say good-byes at the end of this school year.    :-)  

Today after school, my two adult English students cooked up an alternative to our regular lesson.  Tana and her husband have a ski rental business in the winter, and in the summer they run all sorts of tourist activities such as whitewater rafting.  So we were invited to have a relaxing and fun afternoon at their archery range and playing adventure golf (aka mini-golf).   Tim and I biked over to Eva's flat, then the three of us rode to the kayak racing area.  

Tim shooting, and Tana demonstrating incorrect technique to Eva.  

Tandem shooting by the Americans!    LOL!  

It was really fun to learn how to handle a bow and arrow correctly, even though we were such novices! 

Part of the business is a small buffet, so Tana brought beverages out to all of us after the archery portion of our "adventure".  

Because we've heard that golf is super expensive in Slovakia and we don't even have our clubs along, we figured we'd never get to play here.  So it was especially fun getting to putt around the adventure golf course!  And the scenery was awesome too!!    :-)

Juraj, Tana's son, takes English lessons from Tim, so he joined us for the round of golf.  

The whole group after 18 holes -- Tim, Michelle, Eva, Tana, Jáno, and Juraj.  Afterwards we went up by the buffet for more cold drinks and conversation around a picnic table.  We had such a nice time with these good friends!!