Class Trip to Auschwitz

Monday morning the alarm rang extra early, so it's a good thing that we had 'fallen back' from daylight savings time on Saturday night.  It was daylight by the time we headed for school at 6:15 to board the charter bus for a field trip to Poland.  The class teachers had invited us along to visit the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.  Two of my three classes on Mondays are with these classes, so I only had one set of sub plans to write.  Tim had told the kids that we would be having a 10-hour English conversation class on Monday!  

Our wonderful II.A5 and II.A4 classes on the bus.  

Our first view of the Auschwitz concentration camp.  There were already 20 army barracks in this location, so that's why this spot was chosen.  The Germans then cleared out the surrounding villages completely, to isolate the camp area, far away from any populated area, to preserve secrecy.  

The famous sign above the camp entrance:  Work makes (you) free.   The original sign was stolen a few years ago but then recovered, so this is a replica, and the original is now in a museum for safety.  

Walking through the gates into the camp is very foreboding.  The barbed wire fences were also electrified, well-lit, and of course under the watchful eye of armed guards.  No one really had any chance of escaping, but some still tried because of the certainty of death in one way or another.  However, those who were killed trying to escape also knew that their families and friends would be killed as a result, so that threat was a huge deterrent. 

The photo in front of this building shows the camp orchestra playing here as each new group of prisoners entered the gates.  This was to give the illusion that all was well and it really was just a 'work camp', as part of the overall plan to create compliant victims.  

We had a guide who spoke into a headset microphone, which transmitted into our headsets.  The guide spoke in Slovak, but Lucia, one of the teachers, translated for us.  We also changed channels and eavesdropped on a guide for an English-speaking group for part of the time.  The former barracks are now set up as museums.

Every single part of the whole Holocaust is horrifying, but one part that was very unsettling was the industrialization of the whole process, evident in the massive and systematic organizing of all the personal items taken from the victims.  

I remember this display from 1976 when I visited Auschwitz on a college choir tour to Poland with the Clarke-Loras Singers.  These thousands of shoes represent in such a poignant way the many, many human lives taken.

Inside some of the buildings we also saw the authentic living quarters for prisoners, jail cells, punishment areas, and walls covered with haunting photographs of individual prisoners with their names and dates of birth, entrance to the camp, and death.  There was generally not a long interval between the second and third dates.  

Eventually the camp was separated into men's and women's areas, also divided by electrified barbed wire fences.  

We got back on the bus to go just a few kilometers to the Birkenau concentration camp, which was built later expressly for mass extermination.  

Birkenau is literally in the middle of nowhere - intentionally very isolated so people wouldn't know about the dreadful actions taking place there.  

They even built a train track directly into Birkenau to make the transportation process more efficient.  There was an immediate selection process, and the vast majority were sent to one of the gas chambers - the young, the old, and the weak had no chance of survival at all, and the others subjected to hard labor were brutally treated and given only sub-survival nourishment, so they didn't survive very long either.  

600 people slept in a barracks like this, 8 men to a bed.  There were over 300 wooden buildings built at Birkenau, including the barracks and other buildings.  Most of the camp was burned and destroyed by the Nazis as the war was ending, to eliminate evidence of the Holocaust.  There are no mass graves in the area, since the corpses were all burned in the four giant crematoriums.  

After a couple hours on the bus heading back into Slovakia, we took a break from the trip in Námestovo, which is a beautiful resort town in the mountains near a big lake.  It reminded us a little of Okoboji!  Tim insisted on taking a picture of the girls -- the teachers chaperoning the trip -- Katka, Lucia, and Janka.  

They said this place is full of families in the summertime, swimming, playing, and enjoying the lakeside.  

We had hot tea and coffee overlooking the lake before getting back on the bus.  

"Dobrou chut'!" literally means "good taste", or "enjoy your meal", and we hear it before every single meal with any Slovak friends - at school, in homes, and from the waiter in a restaurant.  But it was so funny to see it on a Heinz label!!  LOL!! 

Some of our students relaxing by the lake just before heading back to the bus.  

This beautiful sunset over a local church was the perfect ending to our rest stop!  And it reminded us of God's incredible love for His people, after our day spent visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau.  

Choir Tour of Churches!

Sunday morning we met the choir at our church at 8:15 to rehearse in a large church hall.  (I never know where we will rehearse or why that spot, but it was the first time in this particular place!)  Then, everyone piled into cars to head to a small church in Ondrašová, on the western outskirts of Liptovsky Mikuláš, where we sang two songs for the service there.  

It was an anniversary of the church as well as the harvest celebration Sunday.    And it was neat that the altar painting was of Peter walking on the water to Jesus, then doubting, then reaching out to Jesus, because later we heard about that during our online sermon.  It's ALWAYS important to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and trust in Him!!  

After church, this tiny congregation provided us with an enormous spread of sandwiches, cakes, tea and juice.  The homemade goodies were delicious, and they sent home a box with an assortment of cakes for us to enjoy later!!  

Next we piled into the cars again and proceeded to the opposite end of town to an even tinier chapel in Okolične, which was packed for the service, just like the first church was.  

This church was also giving thanks for the fall harvest (we love the way the altars are decorated with flowers, grains, fruits and vegetables!)  This chapel had also been recently reconstructed, so they were giving thanks for that too, as we understood things.  

This chapel was too small for a church hall, but after singing at this service, we were treated to more hot tea, sandwiches, and cakes outside!  It was a beautiful morning for fellowship time with our choir members and their families!  

We always try to take advantage of warm temperatures and sunshine, so in the afternoon we rode our bikes to the bike trail along the Vah River.  The trail is really beautiful, but not very long, so at the end, we locked the bikes up to a tree and continued to walk along the rocky path that goes on farther after the paved trail ends.  The mountain scenery was really beautiful, as usual!

It's always so peaceful walking along the river, and there were still some remaining flashes of bright fall colors, though most of the leaves have dropped by now.  

On the way back, we noticed this BMX bike course on the other side of the path, with several bikers rolling up and down the hills.  

After we had watched for a while, we noticed these two guys carry their bikes up to this platform, so I tried to have the camera ready when they sped down the steep ramp.  

Sorry about the focus being bad, but at least you can tell how the bikers were jumping over hills after launching themselves down the ramp!  We had a fun time watching the bike acrobatics for while longer!   

Once we got on our bikes again on the way back, I noticed lots of daisies blooming all along the bike trail.  All this warm weather has fooled them into thinking it's spring, evidently!  The blossoms were such a pretty contrast with all the fallen leaves.  

I'm a couple days behind on posts, so I'll try to add another tomorrow.  It has been a busy week already, after just two weekdays!  

Still Learning about Slovakia!

On Tuesday afternoons at school this year (after 6th hour) there are no classes scheduled, and this free time is dedicated to our all-school church service once a month, staff Bible study one week, department meetings, and staff meetings.  It's kind of nice to have time when everybody can get together.  Well, this week was Bible study, but instead, there was a presentation by Ján, one of our translators at church, on his recent mission trip to Africa.   He gave a really meaningful witness about using your skills and talents to serve God wherever you are called to be, whether it's somewhere far-off and exotic, or right in your own school, town, or job!  

Wednesday was another new adventure.  Saška, the basic school principal, told us she'd pick us up after school to drive us to a spa fairly close to Liptovsky Mikuláš.  Slovakia is well known for its many natural hot-spring spas, and each spa is supposed to have therapeutic benefits for specific health issues.  I didn't take the camera because I wasn't sure what the set-up would be, if it would be too humid, or if there would be a secure place to keep it.  This spa has a warm outdoor pool with many water-jets, bubbles, etc., and then a connected hotter pool, also outdoors.  It was a beautiful late afternoon/evening, and the views of the surrounding forests and mountains were gorgeous!!  It was so amazing to relax in the pools, out in the open air.  The water temperature from the spring is so hot that they actually have to cool the waters to be used in the pools.  There was a special price-deal including the use of saunas, so we took advantage of that feature too.  Inside, there were 5 kinds of saunas/relaxation areas - the 3 saunas were Finnish (heat), Roman (steam), and menthol (also steam) - then there were some places to just recline and relax in the warmth of the sauna area - and there were 4 small foot-pools (my name for them anyway) with rounded stones on the bottom, 2 with hot water and 2 with cold water.  It was refreshing to step from one to another!  Afterwards we felt incredibly relaxed!!  What a fun 3 hours!!  

On Thursday after school I was teaching my Basic School class, so I missed it, but Tim went to this year's Imatrikulacia (I'm sure I spelled it wrong, so I'll change it later!)  It's the annual initiation-type event organized by the IV classes for the new classes, which we participated in last year, dressing up in Slovak costumes and singing a Slovak folk song for the crowd.  :-)  Well, Tim thought this year's event was awesome - they opened in prayer, then there was a solemn 'pinning' of each inductee by a sponsoring older student, which was really nice.  Then they did some fun stuff with the kids, like having them wear goggles with obstructed vision and walking through cones, etc.  Just being silly, to 'initiate' them.  I'm sorry I had to miss it! 

Friday there was a lot of excitement outside the school, including this scene.  One of the senior classes was working on a video to be shown at their stužkova, so they were filming some pretty crazy action.  I have to admit I let one of my classes all go peak out the windows for a few minutes to see it all.  :-)  Before Tim got there with the camera (unfortunately he had to hoof it back to our flat to fetch it), there had been a white horse, a sled being pulled by an old junker car, and some of the girls in the class all dressed up in high heels walking towards the school from afar.  We can't wait to see the finished video!!  

Today we slept in until the sun woke us up, and right after breakfast we got a call from Zuzka asking us to go for a hike with her and Timko.  We rode our bikes to their flat in Podbrezini after lunch.  From there Zuzka drove us up the Žiar valley so we could go for a walk on this beautiful, sunny afternoon.  

Part way up the valley, there's an old mine shaft that has been opened for tours in the past few years.  Near it we found this clever 'sculpture' featuring a face created from an uprooted tree stump.  

We checked out the mine, and the gate was locked, but some people eventually came out after their tour finished, so then we were able to get in and take a tour.  

(Our mine tour tickets!)  We had a wonderful tour guide who shared a lot of fascinating information.  He was part geologist, part philosopher, and part story-teller -- very entertaining.  He spoke a little English, but Zuzka translated most everything for us, thank goodness, or we would have missed out on the majority of his wisdom.

We each got to wear a head-lamp, which was great for viewing inside the dark cave.  At one point, the guide disappeared on us suddenly, and our group had to find our way back to where he was.  (It wasn't too difficult really - we just went back the way we came!) 

Our guide explained some of the legends about the dwarves (at right) who lived in the mines.   Basically, the dwarves rewarded and brought good luck to those who were hard-working, kind, and acted justly, but they punished and brought bad luck to those who were lazy, cruel, or hurt others.  He went on to say that in past centuries, people were Christians, and their values and morals permeated their legends, which served as a sort of moral compass for life that reinforced their beliefs.  It was far more philosophical commentary than we expected from our mine tour guide, and he was really awesome!  

A vein of granite in the mine.  This mine was mostly a source of iron pyrite, but many other minerals, and even gold in small amounts, can be found there.  

Please excuse the blurriness of this photo - I was balancing on this plank as I was taking the picture of Zuzka up ahead, and trying not to fall in the water below!   LOL!  It wasn't deep, but it would have been a cold plunge up to my ankle!  

There was no electricity in the mine, so these oil lamps were attached to the walls periodically, and they are fashioned after those used way back in Neolithic times, when they used animal fat as fuel.    

When our guide pointed out this little critter, we were sure it was fake, like all the dwarf statues positioned on our mine tour route.  He was explaining how these (newts or salamanders??) hibernate in caves and/or mines, when it started to move!  It was about 6-8" long, and the guide said it was a female who would hibernate and then lay eggs in the spring.  

Zuzka, Timko and Tim after our mine tour.  

We continued hiking up the valley along the mountain stream for a while, then finally turned back and headed down again.  It was such a warm, pleasant fall day - 70 degrees on our thermometer after we biked back to our flat.  We have been skyping with family ever since we returned!  

When we look back on weeks like this, we just continue to shake our heads in amazement at all the fascinating experiences we continue to have, many of them thanks to the kindness and hospitality of our dear Slovak friends.  We are still learning so much about this beautiful country, and we feel so blessed to be here!  

Sabbath Refreshment!

I forgot to mention this --- after the a cappella concert Friday night, we were talking to the members of the group with Ema, and some random Rotary member came up and gave us this Slovak folk music CD, we think just because he heard us speaking English, so he asked about us and found out we were guests from America.  Such kindness is amazing!  

We've learned how to pick up on 'hints' about things here in Slovakia by now.  As we walked towards the church this morning, we saw group of about 30 people lined up on the square, presumably some guest choir, AND five or six pastors heading out of the church office building across the square ready to process into church, all decked out in their lacy, ruffly cassocks over their black robes, so we knew right away this would be longer than normal church service with some special significance!!! 

It was a special day honoring two famous Slovaks who were born in this region.  Both were writers and poets, and one was also a politician and Lutheran pastor.  

This saxophonist is also from L.M., and he is a famous performer, now living in Paris and playing music for a living.  He played the prelude and postludes, as well as accompanied the organ on the hymns.  He was excellent!!  

The choir was from Brezno, and they did a nice job too.  There were also recitations of the two poets' works, by a renowned orator.  It's interesting to hear dramatic orations --- very much along the lines of the Hope College Nykerk competition orations.  

The service lasted about an hour and a half, and it was quite impressive.  Ján translated for us, which was especially helpful today, or we wouldn't have had any idea what all was going on!!  Another couple of church-related side notes --- The church altar has been removed for restoration, so behind the painting in this picture is basically the concrete base of the altar.  It will take several months for the process, so we're looking forward to seeing the results.  And secondly, last week during the announcements, it was mentioned that a few heaters have been added underneath some pews in the church, just in time for the weather to turn cold.  And guess where one of the heaters is located.......under the pew where we always sit.  We're wondering if it's a coincidence, or maybe pity upon these wimpy Americans who wore long underwear to church all last winter!!     ;-)

After church we invited Ján for coffee/tea and cake at a nearby coffee shop.  We enjoyed spending an hour visiting with him and getting to know him better.  Ján is coming to school on Tuesday to give his witness along with a presentation on his recent mission work in Africa, to the staff Bible study.  We are looking forward to it!  

I haven't included many "food" pictures lately, but this meal merited a mention.  (Nice alliteration, eh??)  We have such generous friends, and this meal is a great demonstration of that --- the deer meat, wild mountain cranberry topping, home-made strawberry jam on the toast, and the wine were all gifts from dear friends!!  And our Sunday dinner was delicious!!  

It was a warm and sunny fall afternoon, so we got the bikes out and headed up the Demänovská valley - which is the direction of the Jasná ski slopes, south of L.M.  

The entire ride was along this mountain stream rushing down to the Vah River.  

Like all our bike rides from Liptovsky Mikuláš into a mountain valley, it's uphill all the way.  We just keep pedaling as long as our legs can possibly manage it, then hope there is someplace to stop and get something to wet our whistle and rest a while.  

This ride had many spectacular views, and like our other valley rides, it was all downhill once we turned around!!  It's nice knowing you can ride until you can't pedal any more, then just coast the entire ride back home.  We love it!!  

This is the view of the ski slopes - we could see the ski lifts from here, but they didn't show up on the picture.  Just beyond this spot, there was road construction, with a chain-link fence right next to the road surface, so we didn't think it would be safe, and we turned around to return down the valley.  

All the pictures were on the way back down, since I never wanted to stop and lose my momentum on the way up.  I might never have gotten started again!!  LOL!!  

"Dovidenia" means 'good-bye' - this view shows the high Tatras in the distance.  

The High Tatras to the north beyond L.M.

Sigh!!  The views were so beautiful the whole afternoon!!  :-)   

This is looking at the Low Tatras to the south.  Also beautiful!  

This view of Kriván at dusk was a surprise - we didn't know there was such a good view of Slovakia's most famous mountain from so near us.   Usually we can only see the highest tip-top of the peak from school, since the hills around us obscure the view from down in the town.  

We were tired after our long bike ride, but it was a 'good tired' after enjoying the fresh mountain air and spectacular scenery all afternoon.  In the evening we did some skyping to wrap up our weekend.  Today went fine - 3 classes each at the basic school and the H.S. for me, and Tim had a full day too.  After school we did a little shopping before church choir rehearsal (over 30 there again tonight - I guess the English Christmas music didn't scare them off!), and then volleyball until 8:45 or so.  Tomorrow morning is our normal Tuesday staff devotions time, so we'll go extra early.  We may have missed out on an "Indian Summer", but we have really enjoyed our warmer, sunny fall days lately.   :-)