End of Year Gatherings

The day we got back from Croatia, we had a staff meeting at school in the afternoon, and then at 5:00 there was an end-of-the-year party in the yard behind the church hall.  

It was a barbeque, with grilled sausages (like kielbasa) and chicken.  And the pastors were pouring the spirits!    

Pastor Marian (behind), his son Jakub (our chief translator!), and Matuš

Some of the gals in the choir

In addition to the grilled meats, we had apricots, veggies, salad, and bread - yum!

One of Tim's buddies in the bass section

Edko (red shirt) also speaks English and helps out with translation at choir rehearsals!

With some of my choir ladies!                  

Our three pastors at church, all excellent singers in the choir too

Lenka, standing, is one of the church organists.

Pastor Kordošová and her sweet daughter who won a singing competition that I helped to judge.

Click here for a sample of the…….. Choir Party Folk Singing

Then on Wednesday evening, we were invited to a barbecue in the middle of a 2-day class trip to a cottage in a nearby mountain valley.  It was with Katarina Joy's class, and Janka Elizabeth was the other chaperone, so we had fun with our two Slovak daughters as well.  

The wonderful I.A5 class at their class trip in the cottage!  Notice our new apparel - to be explained later.

As usual, there was guitar playing and singing.  It's so neat that this is typical of almost all the gatherings we attend here in Slovakia!!     :-) 

Our students presented us with some very special personalized gifts.   This is my new apron, hand decorated by Simona, and signed by my half of the class.   I love it!!!   

And not to be outdone, Tim's half of the class had this necktie embroidered with "Som rád  že vás vidim", which is the phrase Tim uses at the beginning of every class period.
It means, "I am happy to see you."  What a sweet idea!!    :-)   

Thursday was our last day of school lunch, and so we took this picture of our fabulous cooks.  After visiting other schools for events like Speaker's Corner and English Olympics and eating lunches at the host schools, we can honestly say that our school lunches are super - especially compared to everywhere else!!   Plus, our cooks are always so friendly and nice, and lots of fun too!!   :-)

Later in the afternoon, there was a H.S. staff party.  It was fun to relax and enjoy being with our colleagues at the end of the school year for a while.                                                  

Here's the other end of the table!   :-)

We had a surprise visitor --- who Tim finally figured out was Nad'a, dressed as an old woman, after a little initial confusion!!

   

Nad'a showed me how children use poppy seed buds to make dolls to play with!!  

Thursday night was supposed to be our last volleyball, but we ended up just eating the treats that Eva and I brought along.  Erik presented us with certificates signed by the whole group saying "Best Foreign Players" ---- of course, we were the ONLY ones!!  

The best foreign players ---- yeah, baby!!    ;-)