Basic School Opening Ceremonies

I'm behind again - sorry to the faithful readers who've been checking and finding no new postings!!  But now, here we go.......

Last Monday, Sept. 30, was the official opening of our new elementary building.  Classes were cancelled for that school because of all the activities, but of course many students were involved and did attend the events.  The high school held classes as usual, but Tim and I prepared for subs all day since we were asked to attend the opening events.  (Actually Tim had to teach first hour, so he met me at the church after power-walking there!)  

The day began with a church service including an impressive array of pastors as well as the Bishop of the eastern district of Slovakia.  Our colleague and friend, Peter, translated for us.  There were many parents, students, all the teachers of course, and town dignitaries there as well.  

After the worship service, everyone walked back to the basic school for another program that began with a poem recitation by a student, about the wonderful concept of 'school'.   The bishop also formally blessed the building during the program on the school steps.  It's pretty amazing how God blessed EGJT through all the faithful workers who helped this building to be refurbished for our school!  

There were some classes of children who sang songs as part of the program too.  And of course there were speeches --- by the bishop, the headmistress, the mayor, and the school board president (or the equivalent).  

After the school-blessing program, there was an open house, so everyone went inside and toured the new facilities.  We hadn't seen much of the building yet, even though we've been eating lunch in the basement canteen (lunchroom) for a few weeks already.  It was fun to see all the new rooms, and the artwork of the school done by students was really neat!  

Then there was another program in the new auditorium.  This little guy is such a cutie, and we run into him in our apartment building sometimes.  He loves to practice English with us!  He was in a skit about how exciting the first day of school is!  

These two little sweetie-pies played a piano duet during the program.

The dancers were really good too - we were amazed at how well all the kids performed!

More singers, complete with choreography.  It was quite a program!

Then of course there were speeches and presentations of flowers.  This is our combined school headmistress, Janka, and the principal of the basic school, Saška, whose family we went hiking with the day before.  Janka was in charge of the building project, so her efforts were much appreciated!!  

After the program in the auditorium, there were refreshments for the honored guests - it was a gorgeous spread!  There were more speeches after everyone gathered, a prayer, and then formal toasting.  (Of course red and white wine, but also orange juice and water for all of us teachers on contract time and for drivers!) 

This amazing cake was made by some parents - it was covered in marzipan, with the school painted on the bottom, and the praying hands, heart and cross on the top.  Wow!

We left the reception fairly soon, because the teachers were supposed to attend another party later, at 4:00 p.m. - so after the toasting, a small taste of the refreshments, and a little visiting, we slipped out. 

So at 4:00 we went down to our school cafeteria, but it didn't look like the normal lunchtime scene, that's for sure!  Our table of delicious food was overflowing with goodies.  I'm always so impressed by how beautifully things are presented at Slovak parties.  So festive!!  

This won't come as a shock, I'm sure, but there were more speeches at this event, and Saška was given a huge bouquet of flowers for putting together the day's activities.  

When they finally cut the special marzipan cake, they also gave Saška this!!  It was perfect - we all wanted to 'give her a hand'!!  :-)  

It was a wonderful day, and we were glad we could be there for all the festivities after all the work that so many people have put into the reconstruction project and the day's events.    We had to hurry out of the party early because of church choir rehearsal, but we heard later that it went on for another couple of hours.  It probably ended just about the time we went over to the school gym for volleyball later!   HA!

The week at school flew by.  We both did some subbing, and I finally was able to get started figuring out the new computer grading system.  I was really excited that I actually found a way to enter our grades with each specific assignment and date listed, though in our training we had been told that wasn't possible.  I guess all those years of enduring frustrations with Infinite Campus finally paid off!!  ;-)  I will say that the option of choosing "English" made all the difference -- I never would have gotten it done in Slovak!!  

We had our first Thursday night volleyball - this is another different group of people - since the Friday night group from last year couldn't get the gym at the same time this year.  They are meeting at a different time and night, so Erik organized a new group instead.  It was lots of fun!  

This is one of my favorite classes - the V.BP's.  Richard was using the tiny stub of a pencil (on the left) in class, so I presented him with a brand new Iowa State Cyclone pencil to use instead.  Deb (Tim's sister) had given us a bag of special school supply items to use in Slovakia, so this was the first opportunity to put the pencils to good use. Her gift was much appreciated!!   :-)