What a difference a year makes!!

Monday morning the alarm rang, we got ready to go, and we headed off on our short walk to school.  What a difference a year makes!!  This year it was just like any other year getting back to school and greeting all the other teachers.  We shared all about summer vacations, families, and all that has happened since we saw everyone.  The first teacher work day was fun AND productive too!  

First thing Monday morning when we got to our office area, we put up our gift from Curran and Julie.  Everyone smiles when they see Curran's joyful expression and his sweet note!
We miss you already, Curran!!

We don't really have a bulletin board anywhere near our desks, so we use our 'American Lector' cabinet to display our precious picture of Curran on the other side of the globe!!  

Since the school canteen (cafeteria) isn't operational yet, all the teachers can purchase meal vouchers for 1.10 Euros, and they're good for 3.00 Euros towards lunch in any restaurant.  The daily special lunches around town run from 3.00 to 5.00, and they are delicious full meals with soup and several choices of main courses, and some even include dessert.  So it's really fun getting to go out to lunch with our friends every day at such a reasonable cost!  :-)

Monday night we got the bikes out again and went to see Jan at the bike shop to pump up Tim's tires better.  Then we went riding around town for a while, but not very strenuously, since we both had a few muscles that were reminding us we hadn't ridden at all in 2 months prior to Sunday's long excursion uphill to Ploštin!!  LOL!!  It was starting to get pretty chilly, so we made a stop for groceries and headed back home to email our American teacher group and do some skyping.  

Tuesday we were busy again at school with preparations for the year.  After school, we came home and changed clothes for a car trip with Zuzana to a natural spring nearby.  Borová Sihot is almost to Liptovsky Hrádok.  I messed up and forgot the camera.  Bummer!!  We parked and walked to a pedestrian suspension bridge across the Vah River, then took trails parallel to the river until we reached the covered spring area where we filled up water bottles with lightly bubbly spring water - very crisp, cold, and clear!   After some more scenic hiking, we had some fresh peppermint tea at the hotel/restaurant there, and just enjoyed visiting with Zuzka.  It was such a nice and relaxing time!

Today was the big all-staff meeting to go over school policy, rules, etc. etc.  It lasted almost 2 hours, but fortunately for us, Tim and I each had our own personal translator to 'filter' out the parts of the meeting that didn't really apply to us.   :-)   Ad'a is a 'new/old' teacher returning from maternity leave and working part time this year.  She's absolutely delightful, and I really enjoy getting to know her!  On our way back to school after lunch today, I heard live music coming from the other end of the square, so we headed that way to see what was going on.  

This monument to fallen soldiers is at one end of the main square here in town.  There was a brass band playing (at right), and dignitaries, former service men, and possibly wives/families, who were all solemnly lined up to approach the monument, bow in reverence, and then move aside for the next in line.  We're pretty sure it's because of tomorrow's holiday in honor of the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans in WWII.

A few of those in line placed wreaths at the monument, and there were armed guards at attention on both sides the whole time.  

We stayed at school really late this afternoon - until about 4:30 - since there really is a LOT of work to get done.  Whew!!  Due to several changes in requirements and textbooks to be used, we have 9 new year-plans to complete.  They are similar to our good old Iowa 'curriculum maps', with multiple columns of information to fill out.  And every lesson of every month is supposed to be included.  Oh baby!!   And since I'm a little OCD about stuff like that, I'm taking last year's plans and not only changing all the info, but also making sure all the formatting, fonts, etc. are all consistent, so it's a big task.  It will be really helpful to have them done in the end though. And this year, we actually understand 'the big picture' as well as how we are going to carry out the plans!!  YAY!

It was rainy and cold after we got home, so we sort of hunkered down and relaxed this evening, read the Des Moines Register online, did emails, and even played a couple games of Yahtzee and Greed!!  It was nice to just lay low for once.  See, we are actually capable of doing that on occasion!!   ;-)  

Happy Thursday Holiday to our Slovak friends, and just plain old Happy Thursday to everyone else!!