Ellen's Visit!

It's been a week since the last blog, so I'll try to catch up tonight.  Sorry for the delay!  Needless to say, life continues to be busy and fulfilling here in Slovakia.  

These are the beautiful flowers given to me by the students during the Maturita examinations, as a thank-you for being an interlocutor for the week.    :-)  

Saturday morning we slept in - it was delightful!!  Then in the afternoon, Tim played in a basketball game with the Friday night group, in connection with an anniversary celebration for the Liptovsky Mikuláš basketball league over the weekend.  

Saturday night we went to the basketball league anniversary celebration held at the House of Culture.  They honored teams, showed video clips, and gave awards to coaches.  We didn't understand a lot, but it was still fun!  

Sunday evening there was a mass choir rehearsal held at our church for a district synod event coming up in Vychodna.   298 Slovak singers and 2 Americans!!   ;-)

There was definitely a BIG sound from this group, and it was fascinating to observe the director's rehearsal techniques.  

Monday was back to normal at school after the topsy-turvy Maturita week.  We had our Slovak lesson after school, then church choir.  They decided that we'd sing a couple of numbers at church on Sunday, out of the blue!  So I guess my Slovak choir directing debut will be this week.  It should go well if they all show up!  Then we went to volleyball, which was fun. Tuesday we got things ready in the flat for our visitor set to arrive on Wednesday!!  :-)

I went just outside our block of flats and picked a bouquet of wildflowers growing in the un-mown lawn, to put in the spare bedroom.  

Wednesday after school, we met Ellen Milroy at the train station with a welcome sign!  She's a friend of Lute's from Hope College, and she just spent May term taking an art class in Vienna.  Way back last summer we had invited her to come and visit in Slovakia when she was traveling in Europe after her class finished.   

(It was a 2-sided sign!!)  It was so fun to see Ellen arrive in Liptovsky Mikuláš!!  Since she had been traveling a while already, the first thing we did was give Ellen a lesson in laundry our new way, using drying racks, so she'd have clean clothes to pack again. 

After taking a walking tour of Liptovsky Mikuláš, we had a glass of wine at a sidewalk café, then went to the Slovenská Restaurant for the Slovak national dish - bryndzová halušky.  We loved the orange tulip table decorations -- Go Hope!!    :-)

On Thursday, Ellen accompanied us to school, sat in on classes, met our wonderful colleagues, and even ate school lunch in the canteen at the basic school!  Everyone loved meeting her.   :-)  

After school on Thursday, Zuzka drove us to the wooden articular church in Sväty Kríz, which we saw last fall.  It is such an amazing structure and interesting part of Slovak Lutheran history, and we were happy to go back again to show it to Ellen.  

There was also a tour bus from Lichtenstein and a car from the Netherlands there - it is a very significant historical sight to see - and very beautiful too!  

"Peace be with you"
On the back side of the welcome sign at Sväty Kríz (Holy Cross) Church.  

We walked back through two villages to get to the bus stop along the highway and return to Liptovsky Mikuláš.  Tim had an English lesson with Marian, so Ellen and I took the bikes to the grocery store for a few items.  Later all three of us went to our new favorite pizza place, and then of course stopped for zmrzlina (ice cream) on the walk back home.  

Friday, Ellen visited more of our classes, then we went out for lunch with Katarina at a restaurant, just to show Ellen the difference in ambiance from the school canteen.   HA!  Then, the four of us took a bus to Vychodna.  We really wanted to show Ellen some of the "real" Slovakia by going to a small village, and Katarina insisted that she wanted to show us her village and some nearby sights as well!  

The High Tatras, as seen from the entrance to the Vašec Cave, the first stop on Katarina's planned tour!   The village of Vašec is very near to Vychodná.  

Near the entrance to the cave, with Katarina.  We had a darling young man as our tour guide in the cave, and he started out letting Katarina translate everything, but later he tried out his English and did a great job.  He was really funny!!  

This is a sculpture of a pre-historic cave bear.  They have found bones and other remains of these giant bears in this cave system.  

Heading farther into the cave!  It was a really neat tour, and we saw many stalactites and stalagmites as well as heard lots of interesting history.  

Our guide took this picture at the end.  Too bad we didn't get a picture of him in his New York Yankees baseball cap --- he had to rush off to catch his bus afterwards! 

Outside the cave, looking across Vašec at the Tatras.  

We walked by this big, beautiful house on the way back to meet Katarina's Dad, who had dropped us off for the cave tour.  

Our next stop was the folk festival site in Vychodná, where we will be going in July.  These wooden figures stand guard on the hillsides near the seating areas in the amphitheaters.  

We were amazed with how enormous the stage and audience areas were.  They say that thousands of people attend the folk festival every year

This is the "small" stage, where minor performances are given during the festival!  I may or may not have jumped up on the stage and sang a few lines from center stage.....  
"The hills are alive, with the sound of music..."      Who could resist?!?!?

Notice the statue of the couple in the background.     :-)

These little ones were all just having the best time on a back-street in Vychodná - laughing, giggling and playing!  

We were actually on our way to find the stork nest in Vychodná when we walked by Katarina's church and noticed two storks up on the very top of the steeple!!  

This just gives some perspective of the two storks on top of the cross, way up on top of the church steeple! 

What an amazing sight!!  

From this angle you can see that they are perched on the cross.  

Ellen, Katarina, and Tim on our walk through Vychodná.  In the background, up on the hill, you can see the site of the folk festival.  (The wooden tower.)

This is the empty stork nest, as seen through a fence.  Later, driving through town, we saw the storks back on their nest instead of on the steeple.  

Our next stop was a tour of the Halahijovi family property.  We went down to visit Katarina's grandmother at her house, saw the gardens, chickens and turkeys, and finally this room that I dubbed: Juraj's "man cave" (Slovak style!)  We had some Demänovka, which was a new experience for Ellen!  

Next we had a delicious dinner prepared by Katarina and her mom, Jana.  Katarina even baked a delicious cake for desert, using a recipe from Zuzana!  Everything was wonderful!  Much conversation in Slovak and English followed, and we missed the train home, so we had an extra hour and a half before the 9:00 bus left.  

Juraj took us to visit the national fish hatchery which is near the Vychodná train station (about 3 km away, down a very winding, narrow road through the forest below the village). We had a fascinating tour by the guy in charge of the facility.  These tanks held 60,000 trout fingerlings!  We also saw the "parent" fish in ponds outside - it was really cool!  

Katarina's Slovak and American fathers, Juraj and Tim, hanging out in the kitchen before we headed for the bus.  I can't believe we didn't get a picture of Jana too!!   :-(   They sent us home with a bag full of goodies - cherries, fresh eggs, cakes, and a box of Slovak chocolates for Ellen!  

What a wonderful afternoon and evening in Vychodná with Katarina and her lovely family!!  It gave Ellen an entirely different perspective from all the big cities and major attractions that are the normal highlights of a European tour.  We feel like the Slovakia she is experiencing is authentic and delightful - and it's representative of the Slovakia we have grown to know and love!!  And tomorrow, we are heading to the High Tatras for some mountain hiking on our own.  We are praying for sunny weather and beautiful views!