The Birthday Boy!

Tim's birthday was lots of fun at school, and the German chocolate cake was indeed a huge hit.  A bunch of the gals want the recipe, which is always a good sign of appreciation.  We made sure all the secretaries, administrators, and the custodian each got a piece of birthday cake before the teachers devoured the rest.  I saved a few pieces for our adult English students that evening too.

These gals all sang "Happy Birthday" to Tim -- in English!!  :-)

We absolutely adore the Slovak tradition of bestowing good wishes
on the birthday celebrant.  Everyone gathered around Tim, and then
one by one, each shook his hand, holding onto it as they looked him
in the eyes and extended many kind words of blessings for the coming year.

Tim also received many gifts from colleagues throughout the day - boxes of teabags,
chocolates, cookies, a towel embroidered with EGJT (our school's initials), a lovely leather planner book for 2013, and even a bottle of wine.  And students were wishing him Happy Birthday all day long in the hallways and in classes.   He was overwhelmed!  

These are some of our wonderful colleagues, all with desks in our
teacher workroom/office.   Katarina, Janka, Danka, Edita, Alenka,
(who gave Tim the bicycle to use), and Dushon.  

Lute gave us a quick Skype call from school, and his class of Wapsie Valley students all said on camera, "Happy Birthday Mr. Olson!  Have a magical day in Slovakia!!"  Then several asked if we remembered teaching their parents, many years ago!  Beth Facetimed us for a while too, to wish her Daddy a Happy Birthday.  :-)   

After school, Patka (our deputy headmistress for the English Dept.)
and her daughter, Rivi, came over for Rivi's English lesson, and
they brought wonderful gifts too - an African violet, and homemade
 lokše!!  We sampled it the Slovak way, with melted butter and
sweetened poppy seeds that accompanied the "Slovak lefse"!!
(P.S. to Curran --- Did you notice your Slovak flag on the refrigerator door?)

Today we only had classes for the first 3 periods, because the whole school attended the monthly worship service starting at 11:00.  (Guess who got to teach all 3 periods - yes, me - while Tim only had 1 class - yes, Tim!)  

Tim at his desk today, wearing the new tie that the kids sent in his
birthday package.  He's drinking birthday tea out of the Wartburg
Castle mug we got him in Eisenach.   :-)

Volleyball was at 5:00 this afternoon, Tim is at basketball now, and I'm home from my grocery stop on the way back to the flat from the gym across town.   A load of laundry is going, and it's a quiet evening.   

Tomorrow's Birthday!

Monday after we got back from Žilina, Carol stopped by for a while after her return from Bratislava.  We also had to walk uptown to pick up a few groceries, so we didn't make it to choir that night for carol rehearsal.  We skyped a little, but went to bed early - a little tired after our full weekend, late nights, and travels!  We received two boxes this week, (Tim's birthday tomorrow), and two Thanksgiving cards.  We're thankful for each precious piece of mail!     :-)   (Also a couple of birthday cards that Tim doesn't know about yet!!)  

Tuesday it was fun being back at school seeing everyone again.  Two of our colleagues celebrated their name day over the weekend, so we wished Katarina and Katka a happy day belatedly.  (You've seen pics of both of them before!!)  Eva and Tana came for English lessons at 6:00, then Eva came with us again for volleyball at school.  Lots of fun!  

Today Carol came by school to say some last good-byes before she heads back to Wisconsin tomorrow.  We signed more papers up in the business office in between classes.  After school, we went to HyperNova looking for items necessary to make Tim's favorite German Chocolate cake.  First off, I needed a mixer to beat the batter, and my pantomiming did the trick at the appliance store.  (I actually like it better than the one back in Iowa!)   

Then we searched for the ingredients to make the cake - I had looked up the recipe online.  We reached "close enough" status for everything except pecans.  I couldn't imagine making that frosting with walnuts instead, but that looked like the only option.  As we were walking through the bakery section, I noticed sweet rolls that had pecans on them, so I thought we could ask the bakers if we could just buy a cup and a half of pecans.  But of course the baker putting breads out didn't speak English, so I asked a few random young people if they did -- nie, nie.  Then three H.S. age kids, not from our school, came by, and they spoke great English.  I explained the problem, and the gal said pecans are not common in grocery stores, but were available in the health food store not far away.  She had actually been in there this morning and had seen pecans!!  And I was pleased that I knew right where the store was thanks to her directions!  

So we hustled to the store, arriving by 5:10, but it closed at 5:00.  Well there was a lady inside, so I rapped on the window, and she came and unlocked the door.  I told her I only needed ONE thing (jeden - with a thumb up), and she let us in!!  :-)   She did have pecans, so we bought enough for the frosting.  YAY!!  So many nice, helpful people here!!!

I don't have the 3 nine-inch pans, so we did the math to find the total surface area, and used two rectangular pans with the same surface area.  The cake and frosting will be a little different in taste and texture, but it will be my best Slovak effort at German Chocolate birthday cake.  I'm sure the school staff will enjoy the big one, and we'll leave a small one here for the birthday celebration tomorrow night for the two of us.  :-)   

German Chocolate cake --- Slovak style!!  So Tim had lefse for
Thanksgiving, and will have his favorite birthday cake too.   :-)
Life is good.    

More Thankfulness!!

I didn't finish the entire THANKFUL post from last time.......

We were very thankful that we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our "Thanksgiving Weekend" in Bratislava.  While we were gathering for the Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, the choir director from the church had rehearsed us to join the choir for Sunday morning.  Tim and I were so thrilled (and thankful) to be singing with a church choir again!!  And of course worship in English with the international congregation there was wonderful (thankful for that too, for sure!)  To top it all off, Arden gave the sermon, and his messages are always such a blessing.  (Same pastor who preached Reformation Day in Wittenberg.)  

Eating lunch after church with some of the youngsters -- YAGM's
(Young Adults in Global Mission) in Hungary, Carol, and two of
the gals we trained with in August who are in Bratislava.

The view from Katie, Sue, and Alice's apartment, where we stayed.

We were thankful that we had booked a later train back to Liptovsky Mikuláš this time, so we were able to attend a concert of Renaissance music at the castle with Bill and Kathy Fredell and Carol Anderson.  

With Bill and Kathy (American teachers in Bratislava) at the castle

With Kathy and Carol - before the concert.

Tim heading up the beautiful staircase inside the castle.

We were early for the concert --- really comfy chairs in the performance hall!

This painting was from a church altar - 1700's - and was in the concert hall.

The performers assembling - dressed in Renaissance costumes.

The concert hall and the performers were quite impressive!  

One of the performers is a student of Kathy and Bill's - lovely gal!  

This is a photo from an earlier blog, but it shows the Bratislava Castle,
where the concert was.   Nice venue!!  :-)  (Hrad Bratislava)

And finally, we are VERY THANKFUL to announce that we finally have our Slovak identity cards / work visas in hand!!  Patka accompanied us on one more trip to Žilina on Monday, where we sailed through the pick-up-the-visas process at the immigration police.  YAY!!!  

On a side note, there was no school here on Monday because the teachers were on strike.  It was nice that we didn't have to do lesson plans for our trip to the immigration office this time.  In some schools, teachers are striking two or more days, and in some, all week.  We do sympathize with their plight, as teacher pay is ridiculously low here.  Of course we aren't allowed to be involved in anything political, so it's probably just as well we were out of town for the day.  

The main lobby of the train station in Žilina has stained glass windows
representing each geographical region in the area - this one is Liptov.
(As in our town!!)

This one is for Žilina.  We had always exited the train to the outside before,
so we had never been inside the main part of the station.  

The artwork was really pretty - these are just a few of the windows.
The were really huge too - high up.  This is Orava - where the really big
castle we visited is located.

The church on the square in Žilina.

We are also thankful that Slovakia celebrates CHRISTmas!
This sand sculpture is in a mall by the town center.  

Thankful!!

We are very thankful for so many things......

1.)   I think I figured out how to load more photos onto the blog!  :-)

This is at our favorite pizza restaurant.  They serve us a split pizza!   

The poinsettia that Zuzka and Timko brought!

The Christmas lights are up on the streetlights .
This angel is outside our flat!  :-)

2.)   We had a wonderful time at Stužkova for our V's class Friday night.......

Some of the boys greeted us ........ the one second from the right is Lubosh, one of my favorites.
He reminds me so much of Lute - size, haircut, body build, and smile.  I keep threatening
that he'll have to give me big "Lute" hugs so I don't feel so homesick!!  

The main purpose of the evening was to present the senior class with
their green ribbons, signifying the honor of being future graduates.  

The girls were all dressed in gorgeous gowns - like prom dresses.

Some of our colleagues at the Stužkova dinner - so fun!

Toasting the honorees receiving their green ribbons!  

The class teacher for the V's is on the left - (Nadia, then Laura and Carol)

At our first Stužkova!   We really enjoyed our evening!!  

Two of my favorite students!!  (They came around and
served us more beverages and made us feel so welcome!!)

There were many skits and musical performances included in the program.
The kids are incredibly talented!! 

The first dance was with the parents, and then the students
all came and chose a teacher to dance.  This is another of my favorite
girls, and she danced with Tim.  

There was a LOT of dancing all night!!  :-)  

With Katarina, a wonderful colleague whose desk is right next to
Tim's at school.  Such a sweetie!  

The V's class with all the teachers.

Dasha, Miro, Danka, and Katka - all looking fine!!  One of the
nicest things about the evening was relaxing with our fun colleagues!

We stayed until about a quarter to two - it started at 6:00 p.m.

 3.)  We were blessed by a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in Bratislava on Saturday with many Americans serving through Global Missions in Hungary and Slovakia..........

Tim was so excited - this is Slovak lokše, which is exactly like Norwegian lefse!
There were a lot of upper midwest Scandinavians at the meal who were really glad
that I found some for our Thanksgiving dinner! 

Table decorations were beautiful and festive!

The Bratislava American lectors did a terrific job on a
Thanksgiving rap --- so cute!!  :-)

We had real turkey!!  YUM!!  My Thanksgiving was made more special
when Arden allowed me to pick some white meat right off the bird as he
was carving it!  :-)   (Just like my brother does!)  Arden Haug is the head
of Global Missions in Europe and beyond - and he helped train us.  Ella is a
Hope College grad (2011), so we had fun meeting her! 

Rachel at the food table!  :-)  It was a wonderful spread!  

4.)  Our blessings in Bratislava continued on Sunday as we got to sing with the choir at the English service in the morning, then attended a concert at the Bratislava Castle.

OOOOOPS   ------ I just got another message saying I'm out of space for photos again.  SIGH!!  I'll try to solve it, but for now, this is a good start in getting caught up.   :-)   

Thanksgiving Eve

Yes, here we are on Thanksgiving Eve in Slovakia, which means.......nothing.   :-(   It feels strange to be setting the alarm for an early hour tomorrow morning for school instead of pie-baking!!  But I know Beth will do a magnificent job of continuing the pie-baking tradition for the family Thanksgiving dinner back in Ankeny tomorrow!!  :-)   

PIcking up from where we left off - Monday was a busy school day, including our Slovak lesson 5th hour.  It's nice the school allows one of the teachers to work with us once a week.  It's still slow going, but we are having more frequent "Aha moments" in Slovak now. Now that we are learning a little grammar, we can understand why our students make some of the mistakes they do.  

Monday afternoon we did a few errands after school, then went to church at 6:00 to join the Christmas carol group.  The rehearsal was held in the pastor's study, and 25-30 people were crammed in there, including 6 instrumentalists -- a 6-string and a 12-string acoustic guitar, an electric bass, (they were all adults), two violins, and an accordion (all H.S. age or so).   Most of the melodies were very catchy tunes which seemed very familiar to everyone else in the room, but our brains were hurting by the end, reading all the Slovak lyrics that were written at the bottom of the page, not up underneath the music notation on the score!  I was actually following the words along with my finger so I could keep my eyes on the music and words simultaneously!   It was a joyful, fun time.  Only one guy could speak English, but he helped a lot.  

Last night was an English lesson with one of my students, and she came with us to volleyball at school afterwards.  It was great, because we had an even 12 players with Eva too.  Then today after school, we had Carol, Zuzka, and Timko over for supper.  Carol brought some great baking items from the US - YAY - and some genuine sharp cheddar cheese from Wisconsin!!  :-)    I tried to include a photo of the beautiful poinsetta that Zuska and Timko brought, (also yummy Belgian chocolates and more apples from their garden!), but evidently this blog program has a limit to the number of photos that can be uploaded, and I'm at 100%.  Booo, hiss!!  

So, it's possible that I might have to start a new blog in order to continue posting photos.  I'll  check out options and will keep you posted!!  But for now, I apologize for no pictures.   

Ceremonial Service

This morning as we approached church, we could tell there was a bigger crowd than normal, and there was also also a big tour bus parked outside.  Tim has developed some theories on factors influencing the length of Sunday morning church services:

Theorem #1 = the more robed pastors who process into church, the longer the service
Theorem #2 = a charter bus outside of the church also results in a longer service
Theorem #3 = the more dignitaries seated in reserved pews, the longer the service

Today's service affirmed these concepts once again!   :-)   The service was only about an hour and 20 minutes, and to be honest it was quite interesting and enjoyable with great music.  

The charter bus was for a military band who played 6-8 selections
during the service -- they were superb musicians!  Dynamics,
articulation, sensitivity --- very well trained and rehearsed.

There was also an honor guard who processed in and remained at
attention with the Slovak national flag through the ceremonial parts
of the service.  (about the 1st 1/2 - up until the sermon)

We didn't find out until after the service what was going on.  Because we knew about yesterday's holiday commemorating the Velvet Revolution, we assumed incorrectly that's what it was about.  But our land-lady, her husband and his brother, and their daughter all sat directly behind us, so after church, Lenka explained to us.  This was an international day of remembrance honoring fallen public protectors such as police officers and fire fighters (maybe soldiers too??).  There were speeches, votive candles being lit, a lot of music by the band, and everything was very impressive and solemn.  Many police (different types), fire fighters, and other military? people were seated in front, all in uniforms.  

After the service, when we were being greeted by the 3 officiating pastors, (one was the chaplain at the military school nearby - he gave the sermon, and one was a military chaplain who has served in Afghanistan), one of our regular pastors had Lenka translate for us since we never can communicate.  He invited us to come Monday night to rehearse Christmas carols with the choir to prepare for holiday special music.  That should be an awesome experience!!  We wonder if they'll sing any carols familiar to us?!?!  The pastor and another lady who had been on the bus tour with us in September both told Lenka how happy people are that we are worshiping with them.  We are definitely feeling like we "belong" to this new church community despite the language barrier!  

All of these emergency vehicles were parked outside of the church after
 the service, they all had their lights flashing, and some had sirens on.
It was fun seeing parents taking their little kids to look inside!  

The pastors and the mayor with some of the uniformed police, fire fighters, etc.
in the square in front of the church.

Apple-oatmeal bars are in the oven for tomorrow's school treats, so the flat smells good.  No big Sunday plans, but Lenka said she may stop up to visit for a while.  (Her mom put one of the Scotcheroos I gave them into the freezer to save for Lenka, who lives in Prague and is just home for the weekend.  She said they really liked the bars!)  

So now I'd better grade some papers for school.  :-)  

A few random things.....

Friday at school, everyone was a little tired after the long meeting yesterday, but it was still a fun day.  Carol (our predecessor) came back from Wisconsin for the Octavas' (one class of seniors) Štuskava party that night.  Everyone was really excited about seeing her again.  A full day of classes went by in a blur -  we have such neat students and wonderful colleagues!!  :-)   

This huge flower "bloomed" inside the pitcher.
It's a kind of herbal jasmine tea. 

It came all shriveled inside a normal-sized foil teabag, and when
hot water was poured in the pitcher, it slowly blossomed!!  :-)
Beautiful!!   (Note the green leafy bottom, the pink flower, and then
the white flowers extending up the top!!)

We watched some awesome Iowa high school football this week.  It's amazing that we could watch online in real time - just like on TV!!  Congratulations to the Wapsie Valley of Fairbank Warriors, the Class A State Champions, AND to the Ankeny Hawks, the Class 4A State Champions!!  Each of those teams had special story-book endings to undefeated seasons.  Wapsie Valley of course is where Tim and I met in our very first teaching jobs, (and where Lute is teaching now, in his first H.S. math teaching job), and the two assistant coaches there have been close friends of ours since then.  They were groomsmen in our wedding!  And this was their last game as coaches after 81 combined years at WV.  How cool to go out with another state title!!  Of course, we both finished our public school careers teaching in Ankeny, so we were excited that both schools won in the finals.  And this is the last year that Ankeny will be unified in one high school, because the second H.S. will open this fall, so the kids will be split into two complete north/south feeder systems.  It's a Cinderella story to have the Hawks win one more state championship too!!  

This morning we were out on errands, and this bank of clouds
was spectacular in ways that don't show on this picture.
There were pastel colors shooting from the bright white edges.

On this one, the rays of sunlight were spectacular coming down onto the buildings.

This morning we slept in after our late-night football viewing this week.  After breakfast and a cup of hot chai tea latte, we headed out on some errands.  Many of the shops were closed do to a national holiday for the change from socialism to democracy.  We are very relieved because we FINALLY found a room in a pension for kids to stay over Christmas.  We had been checking places for a while, but all the hotels are closed on the 24th and 25th of December.  It will be so fun to have them here!!  :-)