Christmas is Coming….

The last week of school before Christmas is always a fun one.  Monday started out with the school "English Olympics" competition, which Tim and I helped with the oral role-play portions.  It's an intense but fun day!  

Wednesday after school, the I.A5 class invited us to their parent Christmas party.  Katarina Joy is their class teacher, so she welcomed everyone to the festivities.  

Then the class sang a Christmas song - some nice voices!!  There was a violin solo too.  

They brought lots of sweets and goodies for everyone to enjoy after the entertainment.  

This view of sunrise was really pretty out our bedroom window.  :-)  

Wednesday evening, Janka and her son Roman took us out to dinner for a relaxed holiday  celebration.  Roman did a nice job of translating!   

On Thursday, our V.AP class all came down the hall singing carols, to present us with a big box of Slovak Christmas cookies, all made by their moms and grandmas for our family.  Just like last year!  What a wonderful and thoughtful group!   :-) 

Friday was a short day of classes with only 1st hour being a normal lesson.  2nd hour was shortened, and the students met with their Class Teachers before walking into the town center for our monthly church service.  We were busy trying to get everything finished (we had several things to do for seniors applying to universities), and were running late, so Pat'ka gave us a ride to the church.  After that, Zuzka walked back with us until we split off and went to our flat to change clothes, finish packing, and head for the train station.  It was fun seeing so many students and colleagues at the station before we left!!  

Here we are at the Berlin Airport after the first of three flights on Saturday.  

We finally made it to Chicago, and for a while we were afraid we'd be spending the night there, since our flight kept getting delayed and there was bad weather rolling in soon!  

The flight attendant on the plane to Des Moines thought I was wearing her Santa hat!  Then she found hers (the same one) so we could take a picture together!   :-)  

Our welcoming committee at the D.M. airport!!  Grammy, Papa, Beth, Lute, and Jon!!  And they even made a bilingual sign for us this time!!   THANKS!!!     :-)

The best early Christmas present ever was discovered on Sunday morning ---- freshly cleared sidewalks AND driveway!!  One of our neighbors had blown out the 4-6" of new snow that fell overnight, before we awoke from our jet-lagged sleep.   What a fantastic surprise, as we expected to do this chore ourselves before church in the morning!!  

Advent Celebrations

This week has been a blur, so the recap will be mostly in pictures.  Let's just say we've been so busy that on more than one occasion, we've had a new experience of 'eating on the run'.  Back in the U.S.A., that used to mean packing sandwiches to eat in the car on the way to some event.  Now, we pack a lunch to eat on the way to an event --- while walking!! 
We have really enjoyed the pre-Christmas festivities and want to share our Slovak advent season with you!

On Tuesday we had the Day of Open Doors --- basically an Open House at our schools for prospective students and their parents.  Tim and I just had regular classes (or double size classes in some cases) with many visitors in and out.  It was a busy and active day!  

Some perničky, which are very traditional Slovak Christmas treats.  (Like honey-gingerbread cookies.)  Most are from one of Tim's basketball friends whose wife made them for us.  And the candle I bought from our students on the Open House Day.  A group  of our kids volunteers with special needs students in another school, and they help make items to sell as a fund-raiser.  

Thursday after classes, we had the school kapustnica party in the cafeteria.  The soup was amazingly good - traditional Christmas sauerkraut soup - YUM!!  

A surprise this year was a full meal AFTER the kapustnica -- a duck dinner with red cabbage, lokše (just like Norwegian lefse), and knedla (basically slices of soft white bread) - all traditional foods.  Tim loves duck, and I've never been a big fan, but this was absolutely delicious!  It was followed by a delicious chocolate cake too.   :-)  

There's always a gift exchange after the kapustnica dinner.  Eric and our new cook carried the basket around, and they tried to get out of the picture with Janka Chaloupkova.  All the gifts had to begin with the letter "F" this year.  In English or in Slovak, depending!!  HAHA!!  

More gift distribution.  Tim received a bar of "FA" brand soap.  And I received a foto frame and some florescent 'fixka' (highlighters).  We brought a frame and a flashlight as gifts!  

Marian and Livka came to pick up Janka after the kapustnica party!  It's always a treat to see them!  

Friday night was another kapustnica party - this time with the church choir and others from church.  Here's the stirrer of the kettle of sauerkraut soup, but Pastor Marian made the kapustnica, which has to cook all day.  There's a wood-burner underneath the kettle.   

First we attended a 5:00 Advent communion service (remember, communion never occurs during our regular Sunday morning worship time, so it's a separate service.)  Then afterwards everyone walked about a block to a church hall which was all set up for the meal.  Iveta and Edko are on the left - they work with the youth group and play Monday night volleyball.  Ján is on the right - he switches off with Zuzka as our sermon translator.  

Friday night we had thick fog, but Saturday morning was sunny, and it was a winter wonderland outside our window.  The trees were all coated in frost and sparkling in the sunshine.  This is a good view out our bedroom window at the Low Tatras to the southwest, behind our newly reconstructed elementary school.  

More frost-covered trees out the bedroom window.  This is the auto škola (driving school) practice lot.  Our walk to school goes around the lot, then over to our school at the far left.  

Saturday morning, Tim headed over to school for the monthly basketball tournament.  While he was gone, I was baking.  Then in the afternoon, we took a bus to Podbreziny where we spent some time over tea and cookies, talking to the teacher Tim has been filling in for on the Math in English classes.  Lucia and her husband Juraj are expecting their first child in June, and we even got to see a videotape of the baby!  

Saturday and Sunday I spent a LOT of time baking and decorating cookies, dipping chocolates, and cleaning up between batches!  Tim was awesome help every step of the way - he'd do dishes, read the Des Moines Register to me, and he does a great job of tossing the candy centers into the chocolate for me to dip out!!  It's definitely a team effort to prepare all our Christmas goodies.   :-)

Tonight was a big concert at our church.  We got there a half hour early, and the place was already packed.  The sanctuary has quite a bit of obstructed-view seating, and that's where we ended up, with no view of the stage in the balcony.  So I at least got a picture of the crowd ahead of time!  

The singer was Lucie Bilá, a famous Czech performer who has won many awards and is now one of the judges on the Czech version of an 'American Idol' type show.   This is all we could see of the stage --- the entrance door and back-up vocalists in the back corner! 

Standing on the pew, with the camera overhead, I got a few pics!  Her last name means 'white' in Czech, so evidently she always dresses in her signature white costumes.  

It really was a fabulous show, she has a beautiful voice, and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  There was a lot of holiday music, some show tunes, some sacred Christmas music, and some classic pop titles as well.  Sometimes I was wracking my brain to come up with the English lyrics as she sang everything in Czech!  There were three encores, and the crowd absolutely loved her.  

Here's a link to a video, so you can hear Lucie Bilá too!     :-)

Lucie Bilá Link - Click here!

St. Mikuláš Day

So the Christmas baking has started.  Thursday and Friday we brought treats to several of our classes, and the kids were really appreciative.  The list of classes is long, so it may take a while to finish!!  We also brought treats to our colleagues a couple of times during the past week - almond poppy seed loaf as well as a few Rice Krispie treats and Scotcheroos which were extras from the student batches.  

Friday, Dec. 6 was Sväty Mikuláš Day (St. Nickolas!), so the jolly saint visited all the classrooms at school, accompanied by an angel and a devil.  These are some of our favorite V class students ready to go in one of the elementary school classrooms.

Each class prepares a song or individual student recitations in order to receive their sweets from St. Mikuláš, so it reminded us a little of "trick-or-treat" traditions!  

Evidently, the Devil tries to keep the children from getting sweets, and the Angel advocates for them with St. Nick!  

The little ones were all ready for the visitors!  

On Saturday, Matt (another American Lector) came from Martin on the train to join us for the Liptovsky Mikuláš Christmas Market in the town center.   It was cold, windy, and snowy, but we still had a lot of fun trying tastes of some of the Slovak specialties like medovina (warm honey wine), trdelnik (a pastry-type cinnamon flavored cylinder), and some grilled cheese with cranberries - yum!  We also heard parts of two concerts on the outdoor stage, and one featured our colleague Peter on drums.  

After being outside at the market, we came back to our cozy flat to warm up with some hot spiced apple/cranberry tea.  We also enjoyed eating some "spa wafers" which we bought at the market.  When we were in Pieštany, the spa town, over fall break with Matt. We didn't know about the wafers, but people have told us they are very good, and everyone has them after spa treatments.  So we gave them a try!   :-)  

Sunset over the mountains out our kitchen window, now that we have snow cover again.  Winter is much more enjoyable when you don't have to shovel sidewalks, snowblow driveways, or scrape windshields!  O.K., so we do have to walk everywhere we go, but when we get bundled up appropriately, it's not so bad!   :-)  

 Sunday morning at church we heard a neat sermon, with Ján translating.  The main idea was told in a parable - about how water used to be so incredibly valued in olden days, before it was piped into houses.  When water had to be carried from a stream or a well in buckets, every single drop was precious and used wisely.  But now, when we just have to turn on a faucet and let it run, we take water for granted.  The parable was about faith and the church.  When people had to walk miles to get to worship, or during times when there was not freedom to worship, the blessing of being able to worship was perhaps more appreciated than it is now.  And our relationship to Jesus should be as refreshing and joyous as it was to the first Christians, and not taken for granted!  After church, we went out for tea/coffee with Ján and had a nice visit about his upcoming trip to Africa, where he will take classes for three months.  

Sunday afternoon, Pat'ka and Rivi came over for tea and snacks.  But first we decorated cookies that they surprised us with!  We had such fun being creative with the icing tubes. Pat'ka also brought some home-made pumpkin lokše, which is delicious with molasses as a variation of Norwegian lefse!  

Just like snowflakes ---- no two cookies are alike!! 

Tim wore his birthday present from his sister Deb --- so appropriate!!      :-)  

Monday was a little warmer, so all the snow started turning to slush, which we had to walk through.  Which is when Tim discovered that the boots he used last winter are NOT water-proof!  So on the way to church choir rehearsal, we did a little shopping, and hopefully Tim's new boots will keep his feet dry!!  But of course today it got a lot colder again, so all the messy slush from yesterday has turned to bumpy, rutted, uneven ice over all the walking surfaces.  We have to tread carefully, but at least our feet stay drier that way!   HA!

Today after school we were invited over to our neighbors' flat for tea and cakes.  We had a baby gift to give their new little Alicia, and of course something for big sister Betka as well!  Of course we also brought a plate of cookies.  They lived in Ireland for a few years, so their English is excellent, and we had a wonderful time visiting!  (Josef took the photo, and the one I took with him in it was blurry - bummer.)   

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but we will be going home to Iowa for Christmas this year.  December is flying by, and we're looking forward to seeing family and friends in Iowa!    

Birthday and Thanksgiving!!

Tim's November 29th birthday was celebrated in grand style here at school last Friday!!  

This bulletin board greeted us as we came to school early Friday morning.  It was put up secretly after we left the building Thursday, we suspect by Pat'ka and Katka, the English department heads across the hall from us.  So, everyone in the school found out about Tim's birthday, even if they hadn't already known!  

The birthday cake - homemade German Chocolate - came out really well this year.  I used Gold Medal flour that Tim's mom had sent last year, which I had saved for this occasion, so that probably helped make it taste more like at home.  I only had a large rectangular pan, so I cut that in half and made two layers, which worked out just fine.  
We shared it with all the staff, and everyone enjoyed it!  

There was a small celebration in Tim's office with the headmistress, pastor, and some of the English staff, and later more colleagues joined the party during our long break.  
(One of the breaks between classes every day is 15 minutes long, so people can eat breakfast.  Or in some cases, have a birthday party!!)  

Miro and Tim both wore gray V-neck sweaters on Tim's birthday!  (Janka, in the background, is deputy headmistress, and she sings in my church choir - beautiful voice!)

Tim's half of the II.A5 class came to sing him "Happy Birthday", and they gave him a box of delicious Slovak chocolates covered in sticky notes with nice things written on them!  

Other classes came all together to wish Tim a happy birthday too, if they didn't have him for class that day.  And the ones who did have class on Friday all gave him chocolates and sang of course. There was pretty much a steady stream of colleagues and students coming by his office all day long also, wishing him well and bestowing gifts.  A couple of packages and cards had arrived earlier from the U.S., so I saved those for him to open on Thursday night, closer to his birthday.  It was really a special day for the Birthday Boy!!    :-)  

After school, we got home in time to change clothes and make sure we hadn't forgotten to pack anything for our trip to Bratislava.  The train left about 3:15, so we had to leave school much earlier than normal for us!  We had a relaxing ride - it's so enjoyable getting to sit back and watch the scenery go by on a train.  No driving, no traffic, no worries!  When we got to our hotel, they were having computer problems, so we couldn't check in.  They offered a free coffee (we had hot tea) at their restaurant, and we took that opportunity to hook into their wireless and facetime with all our kids while they were eating lunch together at The Café in Ames on Black Friday!!  It was awesome that they could wish their Dad a Happy Birthday in person via technology.  

Many of the American lectors gathered Friday evening at the flat of two of the Bratislava teachers - Kyle and Ånna.  It was great getting together and seeing everyone!  

Kyle and Ånna (he's the intern pastor/religion teacher in Bratislava, and his wife teaches there too) hosted, and the others are teaching in Cieszyn (Poland), Tisovec (Slovakia), and Bratislava.  It was a fun reunion!!  

On Saturday morning, Tim and I, plus two other gals, arrived early at the Bratislava Lyceum (the Lutheran high school) to help peel potatoes, as requested by the headmistress.  Well, the cook, bless her heart, had already peeled them all by herself!  So, we phoned the others and told them not to come help set up, since the four of us had plenty of time to do it.  

We had fun arranging all the eating and serving areas, then setting the tables.  I had dried and pressed some colorful leaves that I'd collected back when they fell from the trees, so those were part of the decorations.  

Each place setting had little decorations on the plates - Shirley brought the turkeys and mints - and my mom sent the candy pumpkins and mini-Reece's cups.  Mom sent a big box filled with Thanksgiving items - napkins, candies, decorations, table runners, etc. which really made the tables look festive!  Thanks, Grammy!!   :-)  

Ivana, the church choir director, had requested that we have a choir rehearsal prior to the dinner, so everyone else arrived in time for that.  She's an awesome musician - a native Slovak who is a St. Olaf grad!!  It was fun again this year singing with the group under her direction, to prepare for Sunday's service.  

Here's the dessert end of the table - YUM!!  And the decorations for this table were all straight from West Des Moines, Iowa!!  

Loading up the plates with turkey and all the trimmings.  We were especially grateful to the school cook who prepared the turkey, stuffing, and potatoes; all the teachers brought the rest, pot-luck style.  There was a wonderful variety of delicious foods, and there were plenty of leftovers despite having about 35 people sharing in our American Thanksgiving meal here in Bratislava!  

There was even some entertainment after dinner, including "pin the beard on the turkey", involving a moving turkey.  The songs were great too, and there was a sing-a-long for a while before we played a loud and rollicking, wild and crazy game of "The IT Game" - a Bratislava Thanksgiving tradition.  Let's just say it's an awesome game for a big crowd, like 20-30 people, so if you want details, I can send you the rules!  

If you've ever been away from home, family, and country for a major holiday, you will understand how important and meaningful it was for all of us to gather together to celebrate our Thanksgiving with familiar foods shared by fellow Americans.  It was also great to renew acquaintances and share experiences, especially for the 'rookie' group who all went through orientation together just a few short months ago.    

After we all pitched in to clean up after the dinner, everyone headed to wherever we were staying for an hour or so to relax a bit, then we met at the Christmas market in the old part of Bratislava.  We walked around, enjoyed the atmosphere, then finally decided to go back to Kyle and Ånna's flat again, since everyone was just standing around in the cold talking anyway.  It was fun spending more time with this awesome group of Americans!  

Sunday morning we all met early for church for another choir rehearsal, since we were singing an anthem, plus responsorial psalm, etc.  The service was so uplifting and inspiring, as a beginning to the Advent season when we focus on the gift of Jesus our Savior.  After church, there is always a fellowship hour next door at a coffee shop, so we got to do a little more visiting before beginning our good-bye's.  Seven of us went out for a short lunch before we had to head to the train station.  As it turned out, the two gals returning to Poland and Matt in Martin were all on our train, and we were lucky enough to all be in one compartment for the first hour and a half or so of the ride.  All in all, it was a weekend we had looked forward to with great anticipation, and our expectations were all met or exceeded!   It is a relief to have all the planning and organizing for the meal behind us too.

Monday afternoon we were still at school at sunset, sad to say, but the view from Tim's office window was spectacular.  Unfortunately, the photo can't capture the beauty of the brightly glowing sky over the distant Low Tatras.  

Tuesday, Tim's birthday was extended, as a wonderful and thoughtful birthday letter from Beth was delivered to the school.  Then after school, we did some tidying up (as they say around here) in our flat, and I put up our Christmas decorations!  

We bought the nativity last year at a Christmas market, and Pat'ka's mother made the advent wreath for Tim's birthday gift.  The other decorations were gifts last year.  

The table-top Christmas tree looks very festive!  

And today an American Christmas card arrived in the mail here at our flat!  
Thank you, Mr. Garner!!  

Wednesday nights are generally our free nights, and today after school I started right in on baking some goodies!  Last year I brought two different kinds of cookies to every class we taught, so I'm planning on doing the same thing this year.  It may not be before Christmas for every class, but eventually our students will all be treated to some American goodies, starting tomorrow!!