Slovakia Service Stories: Liptosky Mikulas at Last!

Friday morning began bright and early at one last breakfast with the other new teachers and Arden and Claudia (in charge of our training all week.) We helped everyone move their things downstairs and said our goodbyes as each group departed, some to the train station and some to their new places in Bratislava. We were the last ones to leave around 9:00, in the same vehicle with two gals headed to Tisovec (one new and one returning teacher), which is in the same general part of the country as Liptovsky Mikulas. The "van" transporting us turned out to be similar in size to a Ford Focus wagon, hence the baggage limit. We were "cozy", with the driver and 4 passengers, but we had lively conversation!! We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant in a tiny town, and had a Slovak dish with potato noodles and melted goat cheese or sauerkraut - both were very yummy! We dropped off Courtney and Katherine, and we were charmed by the views of Tisovec that looked like something straight from a movie about 17th or 18th century Europe! Tim, Daniel (the driver who was the Slovakian bishop's translator), and I proceeded on through the mountains and finally reached our city around 4:00. The mountain views were amazing all the way, going from the Low Tatras to the High Tatras. Many of the roads were winding S-curves (which on Slovak signs look like "N"-curves!)

We had to take this picture to re-enact our first personal contact upon our arrival in Vienna. Katie from Ohio was holding up the ELCA sign for us to see at the airport, and her smile welcomed us immediately!! She was the first one to leave Friday morning, and we can't wait to hear all about her excellent teaching in Bratislava!

Lunch on the way to the mountain towns! We said farewell to Courtney and Katherine in Tisovec, and we know they'll have an awesome year teaching there too!!

The Deputy Headmistress met us at our apartment, took us in to meet the land-lady, and then we all went up to the apartment on the 5th floor. (Those of you who have been to Europe know that the ground floor doesn't have a number -- floor 1 is what we would call floor 2, etc. -- so we are really on the 6th floor off the ground!) Thankfully, there is an elevator!! YAY!! It's actually a "lift" which is very old-fashioned, like out of the 40's or something, and it only fits 3 people. But it saves lots of stairs, that's for sure! Our apartment building is one of 4 similar flats in a row, with green space, trees, and flowers in between each. They are all very brightly colored -- ours is a two-toned lime green!! LOL!! Our flat is nice - old but nicely maintained - with some interesting features and conveniences. I'll have to do a blog post later on the flat itself. :-)

Tim in front our our flat!! Hello neon Lime Green!!

We then walked with Patchka (I don't know the spelling, but it's short for Patricia) the 2 blocks to our school, which we can see from our bedroom window. She gave us a tour of the building with a lot of explanation of how things will be. We sat in her office a while and looked through some materials she had prepared for us, and had a great conversation about what we can expect at school. More on that in another post as well!!

After saying dovidenia (good-bye) and returning to our apartment, Tim and I headed to find a grocery store with directions from Patchka. It was a HyperNova - a lot like a Wal-Mart or Target, but not quite so big. We were able to pick up many basic supplies like items for breakfast, toilet paper and paper towels, laundry detergent, etc. We remembered to bring our re-usable shopping bags, since they aren't provided here. We walked back with the groceries, then went out again to find a restaurant for supper and explore the central part of town. It has become apparent that there is far less English spoken here than in Bratislava, but we managed by pointing, sign language, and the little Slovak we know. After supper, we had a lovely walk through the old city center which has an old church and other buildings, as well as many very modern fountains and sculptures in the square. It's a very touristy area with lots of shops, cafe's, ice cream stores, and restaurants. So that was the end of our first day in Liptovsky Mikulas!!