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!