Sto Lat and Sunshine

It was a quiet weekend at home.  Saturday was rainy and chilly, so we decided not to try a day trip anywhere, and instead hung around just chillin' - laundry, a little baking, cleaning, some games of Farkle (aka "Greed"), Yahtzee (on our home-made score sheets), and cribbage, skyping, and getting some needed rest and down time.  

Sunday during the church service, we saw our first baptism in the congregation.  

The father and godmother sing with our choir, so some of the members sang a couple of special numbers for the occasion.  (At left)  We didn't sing with them this time, because the songs were contemporary ones we had never heard, and they only had lyric sheets without the music for us to read.  

On the walk home from church we passed this little coffee shop / bar with sidewalk tables, complete with blankets to wrap up in against the chill!!  We've noticed that custom before, but never wanted to annoy people sitting in the chairs by taking photos!

Sunday afternoon was sunny and warmer, so we decided to get the bikes out, check the air in the tires, and go for a ride.  Well, we weren't entirely successful because one bike tipped over as the tire was being pumped up, so the little valve stem snapped off the tire.  Not good.  And not fixable, by us anyway.  So that was the end of our bike expedition for the day.  SIGH!      :-(      But Monday after school, I rode and Tim walked a bike down to our friend Jan's bike shop, and he got the inner tube replaced, so we were rolling again to go to choir practice.     :-)      Choir practice was fun, as we all shared refreshments left over from the baptism reception, brought to rehearsal by the baby's dad!  And then of course we had a great time at volleyball after that.  

Milka, one of our colleagues, just got back from a couple of weeks studying in Russia.  While she was gone, she celebrated her 50th birthday, so upon her return today, she brought in oodles of goodies for a big party during our 10-minute break.  Which turned into a 20-25 minute break.  What were the kids doing??  Who knows??   :-)   (Neither Tim nor I had a class the next hour, so we didn't worry about it.  Lots different than in Iowa!)
Miro presented Milka with an orchid that many of us chipped in to purchase for her.

Some of the staff listening as Miro presented our gift.  They sang a Russian birthday song, and then, much to my surprise, a song that I remembered from way back in 1976 when the Clarke-Loras Singers traveled to Poland!!  WOW!!  So I could even sing along!  (The Polish words were slightly different, but very close, and the tune was easy to remember!)  From Wikipedia:   "Sto lat" (One Hundred Years) is a traditional Polish song that is sung to express good wishes, good health and long life to a person - often sung at birthdays, name days and weddings.
If any of my C-L Singers friends are reading this, you'll definitely remember singing that song too!!   :-)

Nada, Danka, and Vierka dancing to some folk music on the CD player.   :-)

You go, girls!!   :-)   

This is the customary line of well-wishers, waiting to shake hands, double-cheek kiss, and greet the birthday girl (Milka is on the left.)  It's so fun to celebrate birthdays here!   :-)

The weather was awesome today - it had to be in the upper 70's!!  It was sunny and actually felt HOT at times out walking --- LOVE IT!!    :-)      Maybe we'll get that first nice bike ride in yet this weekend!   

I had my after-school class at the basic school today, so I asked for permission from the principal to take my kids outside on an English Nature Walk.   It was really fun.  First, I showed the kids some worksheets I had planned for the lesson, and told them if I heard any Slovak at all from them outside, we'd come back inside and do the worksheets instead!   LOL!!  It worked - I only heard English the whole time!   :-)  We just talked about anything and everything we saw or heard outside, so my happy little troupe enjoyed the warmth, birds chirping, and walking in the fresh air.  I figure it was good for their English conversation skills, AND for their teacher's attitude.  Everyone knows I love the sunshine!  

Signs of Spring in Slovakia!

This week has flown by with a full work week, some subbing, and the sun has made an appearance from time to time, warming the mountain air!!  More on spring's arrival later.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but our basic school (elementary), where we walk to the canteen (cafeteria) for lunch each day, is about 3 blocks away.  The school has been renting that building, but another building across the parking lot from the gymnasium (high school) is being renovated to be used next year instead.  We've been watching the work crews as they have re-roofed it, installed new windows, and added a front portico.  Well, today, teachers got a first peek inside on a tour given by the Headmistress!!  We were excited to see where we'll have lunch next year, and where I'm sure I'll be teaching some basic school classes, with a much shorter walking commute!!  :-)  

Teachers starting to gather outside the new basic school for our tour of the remodeling.  The Headmistress prefaced our tour with an admonition to 'use our imaginations' once we got inside, because there is still a lot to be completed.    :-)  

Our tour started in the basement, where the canteen and the library will be housed, along with custodial offices and storage areas.  It's great that the basement isn't really totally under ground, so there are windows letting in light.  

Then we headed up this beautiful staircase to the first floor, which already has some completed classrooms that were in use last year.  (Not this year though, as the building has had too much construction going on to house students.)  There will also be some administrative, secretarial, business and teacher offices on the first floor.  

This is the auditorium and stage on the second floor.  It should be really nice for Drama Club, and for many other school activities as well.  (The floor is slanted, so the seating will be on different levels.)  More classrooms will also be on this floor.  

And finally, we headed up to the third floor, under the eaves.  The plans did a good job of getting natural light into the interior parts of the building by making holes in walls to open things up.  There are also skylights in the roof over the attic-type top floor to let in light.  

The chapel and some classrooms will be on the 4th floor.  I love all the wooden beams, but it sounds like they'll all be covered - bummer!  I think there will be an art classroom up here too, to take advantage of the natural lighting.  

It's a huge building, and it should be really neat once it's done.  The end of June is the projected completion date, which seems a little optimistic after seeing how much is left to be finished, so we're hoping construction moves much more quickly in Slovakia than in the U.S.!!  They are supposed to clean the building and move everything over from the current basic school during July and August, to be ready for students to start the school year at the beginning of September.  It will be great having the two buildings so close together!!  

A sure sign that spring is coming ..... our favorite zmrzlina (aka ice cream / gelato) store has changed back.  By that I mean, there used to be little zmrzlina shops all over the main square and other areas of town last summer and fall.  Carol warned us that the shops would all disappear once it got cold out, as eating cold ice cream isn't healthy in the winter time.  Yep, that happened.  The ice cream shops all closed up or put in some other product behind the counter.  This nice shop-owner had a shaved pork shop during the winter.  We had gone here often for ice cream, but only once for sandwiches in the winter.  So, today on the way to volleyball we noticed it has changed back - we'll have to visit soon!!   :-). 

Another observation on our walk through the town square on our way to volleyball --- the first outdoor tables and umbrellas have returned!   Yes, indeed, spring must be on its way!!  In Iowa we wait for the robins to return, and here we see that zmrzlina and sidewalk cafe set-ups are good indicators of spring!!  

But of course the most wonderful signs of spring always poke their little heads up from beneath the soil and color our world with blossoms!!  

These bursts of color popped up in one of the city gardens near the town square.
So beautiful!!   I'm sure we'll be seeing many more blooming perennials soon, since the temperatures are up in the 50's now, with 60's forecast for next week.  I even saw one guy in shorts walking on the street yesterday ---- yes, spring is most definitely coming!!  :-)   We can't wait to experience this season here in the mountains!

Skiing at Jasná

One thing we did as soon as we returned from the High Tatras on Tuesday was to watch the YouTube version of the Cornerstone Church's Easter production.  That's Paul and Alana's church in Ames, and they put on amazing dramatizations that are always original material, based on Biblical teachings.  Paul and Alana were both part of one awesome Christmas production before they went to Taiwan, and Paul was in this one, so even though we missed it, we got to see it online!!  I'll include the link for anyone who is interested in watching "Three Days Later".  (It takes about 40 minutes, and it's just awesome.  Paul has his hair and beard dyed black, so we hardly recognized him -- he's the first character who appears on stage.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7LQiWf65-5E

Our short week at school was a busy one, with some extra subbing to do and planning some new materials for next week.  Wednesday night we went uptown on errands, then just hung around, did laundry, and recuperated from vacation - LOL!!  We did have an April Fool's joke from Mother Nature, getting about 6" of snow Tuesday overnight, then more on Wednesday.  But it warmed up and the snow is all melted now.  Thursday evening I made 6 loaves of banana bread from 'clearance' over-ripe bananas and took them to share at school.  Friday for volleyball there were more 'studs' there than usual, so I kept score two games and enjoyed watching the high level of play!!  Tim of course stayed for basketball and a names-day party for three of the guys afterwards.  Friday we also picked up a couple of extra copies of the local newspaper at a small newsstand kiosk.

Remember the earlier blog post about being interviewed by a journalist??  Well, the article she wrote came out this week.  I'll include the link to the online edition, but it's of course in Slovak, so those in America won't be able to read it.  Google Translate or Bing might be options, but they aren't very good at all.  But it might give a limited sense of what we really said I guess!   LOL!!  

http://liptov.sme.sk/c/6752034/pracu-na-slovensku-beru-americki-manzelia-ako-svoje-pozehnanie.html


We had been invited earlier this winter to go on a school ski trip, but when that didn't work out, our headmistress and the basic school headmistress cooked up another ski outing for today.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!  The Chaloupka family loaned us some spare ski pants, jackets, and ski gloves, and Saška Bobková picked us up in her 'ski van' (their car) at 9:00 this morning.  On the drive to Jasná (the famous ski resort here that draws tourists from all over central and eastern Europe) we heard that it was super crowded, and there were no parking spots to be found.  So Saška's husband and his co-worker at their ski-rental shop shoveled out part of a snowbank to make a space for her car right in front of the shop!!  What a great way to create a parking spot!     :-)  

Here's the whole group getting ready for our first ride up the ski lift!  (It was foggy, but then we weren't distracted from our lessons by beautiful scenery - HAHA!!)  

Our wonderful ski instructors did a great job teaching us how to negotiate on the slope.  We only did one 'blue' slope - the easiest, beginner level - but we definitely learned a lot and got much more comfortable thanks to excellent coaching from lifelong ski experts!  

Janka, Roman, and Saška, as well as young Roman (who took the picture) were incredibly patient with us all day!  We stopped for a break for some beverages after a while.  

With Roman, Saška and Janka outside the little restaurant where we stopped.  It was right on the slope, so easy to get to on skis.  

With Saška's husband and his business partner at the ski rental shop.  These guys were great - shoveling out the snowdrift for us to park - fitting us with ski equipment - such fun!  

Roman Jr. and Roman Sr. were Tim's private ski tutors and bodyguards all day, and Janka and Saška were mine!  We must be really 'special-needs students' to require 2-on-1 instruction!!    :-)    After we gained confidence, we encouraged them to go ski on some more difficult runs which they could enjoy more, but they insisted on staying with us.   

Roman is in my I.A5 class at school - a super young man!!  

With my bodyguards in blue!!  Such fun ladies to ski with!!  :-)  

Tim and Roman, ready to head to the parking lot after a fun day of skiing!

With Ad'a, one of my awesome IV.BP students at school, who is also a ski instructor at Jasná.  We had seen her a few times giving a lesson earlier, and afterwards she told Tim she was amazed at how fast he was going down the slopes!!    :-)    He was really hot-dogging it by the end!!   ;-)   Both of us really gained confidence thanks to our patient instructors.  We have definitely become big ski fans now!!   Such a FUN day!!!  

Hrebienok Hikes - Day 2

We got up on Tuesday and were delighted to see bright sunshine on the train ride up to Hrebienok this time!    :-)

This is the site of the big avalanche which blocked the trail on Monday.  It was all cleared off Tuesday morning and easier to negotiate, but the trail up and over the avalanche was now about 5 feet higher than the rest of the trail.  At least it was flat this time!!  

We tried a new trail hoping to see some views of the mountains!  

This was a typical pose, as Tim had a lot of  "WOW"  moments looking up at the peaks surrounding us!!  :-)

Yes, we're still on the right trail!!  Always checking!!

This little critter surprised us near the tiny little tourist hut.  It kept its distance but clearly was looking for hand-outs from the hikers!  

Such a beautiful red fox!  

The clouds were rolling by off and on, but we still had actual views of the valley on our Day #2 hiking.  And the byproduct of all the previous day's fog was even thicker hoarfrost decorating all the branches and limbs.  

On a new trail across the creek at the bottom of the valley.

Now we're climbing up the next mountain, across the valley - foggy again!

I always have to climb up somewhere high on our treks!!   :-)   It was nice that the sun came out again.  Earlier in the hike, we had walked along the lower part of the mountain behind me.  

This was our farthest destination - a chata where we had hot tea, juice and a snack.  On the right is a huge ice cascade, which was man-made for ice-climbing.  It reminded us of the rock-climbing walls in the U.S., with belay lines.  

One of the many hikers we exchanged photo-taking with, took this picture for us.  It was fun trying to communicate with our minimal Slovak and their minimal English!  :-)

Headed back to Hrebienok!

We really had some gorgeous views, and we appreciated them even more after all the fog the day before!!

This is the view back down the valley towards Poprad.

We loved seeing the mountain tops playing "peek-a-boo" through the clouds, and it reminded us of some of those surrealist paintings with clouds shrouding the scenery!  

Here's another picture - worth 1,000 words!   ;-)

All of a sudden, some thick fog rolled in again - crazy!  And then we spotted the top of this pack bobbing over the shrubs along the trail.  

Evidently, the supplies for the chata are hauled up on these gigantic back-packs!  We had  seen many pictures of these packs on the walls of the chata, but didn't realize that was the system for restocking the restaurant shelves!  It was tough enough for us just walking up the hills without carrying a huge, heavy pack!!  This guy was in great shape!

The building across the way is at the top of the funicular railway at Hrebienok, where we started our hike.  We went around the side of the mountain to the right, then down across the valley, then up the side of the second mountain.

The waters were crystal clear - you could see every stone on the creek bottom. 

Some of nature's snow sculpture.  

Looking upstream from the bridge back in the bottom of the valley.  

Another big waterfall, partially frozen over.  

And finally we reached the chata where we had lunch the previous day.    And this time we could actually enjoy the views across the valley, so we tried new things on the menu and stayed for lunch again!   

There was one more steep trail up to Hrebienok from the chata, nestled down against the hillside.

One more trip down to Stary Smokovec on the cog train after lunch.  

The windows on the ceiling and sides were great for seeing the scenery on the ride.

The clouds rolled in one more time, but we were grateful for the sunshine we did get to enjoy out on the trails!  

I'm not sure what this building is, but it was impressive out the train window.  

There are two cars on the rail line, one goes up and one down, and they meet in the middle to pass each other at this junction each trip.

Looking back at the Vysoké Tatry mountains, where we were hiking.  We enjoyed one last look out the train window on the way back to Liptovsky Mikuláš!

We ran into one of Tim's students for the train ride, so it was fun chatting on the trip back, which was only about an hour and a half.  Eva came for her lesson that evening too.  Then Wednesday we were back at school for a short week of teaching.    :-)