Return to Slovakia for Year #2

It's been a wild and crazy couple of weeks, and here we are back in Slovakia again!  The last week in Iowa was so much fun, getting together with friends and family as much as humanly possible.  We spent precious time with many at home, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to catch up on news, laughs, memories, and hugs!!  :-)   Our month at home flew by, and all of a sudden last Wednesday we were packing our bags to leave again.  

Our last stop was across the street to say good-bye to our favorite neighbor, Curran!  He and his mom, Julie, made an awesome present for us, which we'll put up in our office at school.  (I'll post a picture of it when it's in place!)  

No matter where in the world we are, Curran is always our favorite neighbor!!  :-)  

We decided to re-enact the photo we took a year ago before we first flew to Slovakia!   ;-)      

Beth took us to the airport, but Grammy and Papa were there waiting to surprise us and see us off!!  Thanks for all the fun in Iowa!!  

Bye-Bye!!    

All of our flights went well - to Chicago, Dusseldorf, and finally Vienna.  We caught 3 busses en route to the Lutheran seminary in Bratislava, where the new American Global Missions workers were completing orientation and training for the Teaching in Central Europe program, just like we did last year.  We got to meet the 12 rookies over lunch, on a bus trip to the Bratislava Lyceum (H.S.), and during dinner.  We came back a few days early especially to meet them and to attend their commissioning service Thursday night.  Tim and I have been appointed as the new 'lead teachers' for the program this year, serving as facilitators for the group, so we wanted them to get to know us a little before they headed out to their locations.  It was also fun re-connecting with Arden, Claudia, Miriam, Bill & Cathy, Katie and the other teachers in Bratislava while we were there.  

Friday morning Arden drove us down to the train station, which was really nice!  From there it was an easy ride to Liptovsky Mikuláš on a VERY crowded train - good thing we had reserved seats because many people were standing the whole way!  

The first thing we noticed in our flat was the newly renovated shower area!!  WOW!!  It looks so beautiful!   The walls and floor are all tiled now, with new towel hooks too.  

We walked to the grocery store for a few necessities and defrosted the freezer, but otherwise it was nice to walk in and already feel settled in after unpacking suitcases.  Patka, Rivi and their new dog, Eddie (I'm sure they don't spell it the American way, but that's what it sounds like!) came to welcome us back, and they brought some delicious goulash, bread, and home-made cakes so we wouldn't have to cook right away.  How sweet of them!!  We then slept for 11 hours straight!!

Saturday was the birthday party for Michal, one of Tim's basketball buddies, so Stefan picked us up at noon and drove us to Liptovsky Trnovec.  

It was a goulash party, so it lasted all day, with the pot of guláš cooking over the open flames for hours.  This is Michal, the birthday boy, Tim, and Stefan, our chauffeur!  

Stefan insisted on taking a picture with me in it too, so Michal wielded a 'sword and shield' to protect us - LOL!!  

Basketball bro's enjoying sausage and bread before the guláš - Miro, Michal, Stefan, Tim, and Jan.

There was a lot of fun conversation and good food!  

Bicycling shirt from America for the birthday boy!  

Enjoying the garden party!!  

The party was still going on longer, but we went with Erik, Jana and their kids to see a firemen's competition being held nearby down by the Mara (lake).  I'm sure we could have been at the party late into the evening, but we needed another good night's sleep to get adjusted to the time change!   

There was a pump down by the shore, so the teams had to hook it up to draw water from the lake, then unroll hoses to get the water pumped uphill to the target.  

The teams were amazingly efficient.  There were about 6 or 8 sets of hoses to be hooked up, including this splitter half-way up the hill.  

Then at the top of the hill, there were two red canisters on pedestals which had to be knocked off using the water spray.  The times were all under one minute!!  Wow!!  

Our hosts for the event - Erik, Riško, Janka, and Miška - with the view of the lake behind!

This shows better how steep the hill was that they had to run up, then attach the hoses and knock off the canisters!  

After another good night's sleep Saturday, we got up early for our walk to church.  It was so nice seeing so many familiar faces and being welcomed back to Slovakia!   After church we walked through the square where there was the same antique car show as our first Sunday in town last year.   There were also posters for other cultural events during the month of August, and we noticed a children's folk festival in Ploštin for this afternoon.  So we got the bikes out, pumped up the tires a bit, and headed out for this nearby village, which we had ridden to once before.  

We got to town in time to see the tail end of the parade, like the one at the Vychodná in July, with all the participants marching in costume, and all the parade watchers following up the hill to the amphitheater.  

We followed this couple up the hill (very STEEP hill!), and it turns out they were the moderators of the event.   

This is the view from the top of our climb.  We assume this huge wood pile was set as a bonfire for later in the evening, but we didn't stay long enough to find out.  

The village of Ploštin below.

The natural amphitheater had rock wall behind it, covered in trees.  There was a stage set up as well as benches for the audience.  

What a gorgeous natural back-drop to the performers on stage!  

We stayed for 3 or 4 groups, but finally left after an hour and a half because it started to look like rain might roll in, and it was a long bike ride home!  Luckily, we stayed dry!  

Our last event of the weekend was an evening concert back on the square in Liptovsky Mikuláš.  Peter, our teaching colleague, was the drummer with this band playing all instrumental versions of 60's and 70's hits.  Peter did an awesome job!   :-)  

For anyone who has gotten this far in the blog, it's time for a little reflection.  We have been inclined to draw comparisons between our recent journey to Liptovsky Mikuláš and the same journey one year ago.  Our emotions were so much different this time.  Last year, we knew nothing about what we would experience, and everything was quite overwhelming each step of the way.  This time it was so easy arriving in Vienna and making our way to the seminary on our own, taking the train from Bratislava into familiar territory, and walking around town here again without confusion!  We have laughed a lot about all we didn't know a year ago --- for example:  the name for a grocery store is 'potraviny' --- we didn't even know where to buy food last August!!  :-)   

But more than that, we are experiencing a strange sense of coming 'home' here, just like when we arrived back in Iowa.  We have had so many excited greetings from friends here of "Vitajte!" (Welcome!), "Vitajte na Slovensko!" (Welcome to Slovakia!), and one..... "Welcome Home!" ....  yes, it does feel like 'home' here too.  We still miss our dear family and friends back in the U.S. very much, but we have a second home here in Slovakia with our new 'family' and friends.  Part of it is certainly that we returned to our cosy little flat, but it is a wonderful and very unexpected feeling to be back 'home' here.  We thank God for the blessings of such amazing and loving people in our lives - all over the world!    :-)