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!