matriculation

it's sunday morning here in kosice, and i've just finished a fresh fruit salad and a croissant. now i'm sitting enjoying my coffee, listening to some iron and wine. fresh food, quality coffee, quite mornings, good music... some things in life never get old.

this weekend has been good in so many ways. friday evening, our gymnazium had a program for all of the new students and new teachers at the school. they call the event something equivalent to "matriculation." the students in the year before their graduation (like our juniors) prepare the program. for the first two hours, we enjoyed a traditional folk dance, skits, singing, dances, lip-syncing. perhaps my favorite part was during a dance that once of my classes prepared. all of the girls from the class had choreographed a dance to a lot of different songs. suddenly, at the end of their dance, "bad romance" by lady gaga began to play. then, one of my male students, walked out as lady gaga! it was so perfect. he is a big fan of lady gaga, and he looked exactly like her. it was brilliant. generally, i was so impressed with the students. it seemed like they were fearless in whatever they did... for instance, the folk dancers had to wear traditional slovak clothes, dance a traditional dance to traditional music. i could imagine old people in the U.S. enthusiastically doing such a thing-- but NEVER teenaged boys and girls. they would be embarrassed and grumpy about it. however, the students who performed the folk dance had so much energy and enthusiasm. they looked so happy, and all of the other students also really enjoyed their dance. there wasn't any ridicule, laughing or awkwardness. the same attitude continued throughout the evening. after the program, there was a two hour dance for the students. it was great to watch the students completely relaxed, having fun, and enjoying each other's company. it didn't seem like any of the students felt awkward, afraid or embarrassed... SUCH a contrast to my memory of high school dances. even students who i perceive as a bit awkward were entirely comfortable, dancing their heart out and simply having fun. and what was most surprising, for me, was that the teachers were also dancing with the students! a lot of teachers were there to chaperone the event, but it didn't feel like a duty for them. they had wine for the teachers to drink, and rather than standing at the side watching the students, the teachers went down and danced with the students. and not just young teachers, but old teachers, middle-aged teachers, awkward teachers... everyone. and the students didn't feel like the teachers were intruding on their fun... they were welcomed as if they were one of their peers. it really was such a unique experience for me. i enjoyed it so much.

(this is quite stalkerish, but i found some photos from the event of facebook. wow, if my students are reading this, i'm sure they think i'm totally lame for stealing photos from someone's facebook. but i hope that you, dear MN readers, will enjoy the photos... even if i had be shameless, undignified, and prideless to get them. you can see the photos above.)

after the program, i went out with two of my colleagues. they are both french and teach in the french bilingual section in our school. we went to a bar and met some spanish teachers from the spanish-bilingual school in kosice. it was a really fun night. everyone was friendly and kind... we even saw some of our students out! one of the best parts about going out in kosice is how inexpensive everything is. a glass of wine is maybe a euro and a half, and beers are only one euro. food is equally as inexpensive.

saturday was also a really nice day. in the morning i met a woman, eva, for coffee and cake. i met this woman at our school, and she speaks really wonderful english, and she is so kind. the morning was delightful. then in the afternoon, i met my lady-gaga-fan student, also for coffee. and then, in the evening, i met my french and spanish friends for dinner at Med Medina, a really nice restaurant in kosice. (to give you an example of how inexpensive everything is, i had a main course dish and a glass of wine for only 6 euro). by the end of the day i felt quite pleased because i realized that i'm starting to create a life here. it is so nice to be building relationships, even if the process is going slowly.

today i don't have very much planned, except that i get to meet my friend, vesna, this evening. this week i will get to go to another hockey game, and then this weekend there is a holiday so i will be going to prague. the weekend after that, i will be going hiking in the high tatras with my new friends, and then the weekend after that i will be going to krakow. whew! it will be a busy few weeks... hopefully a good, busy few weeks.

acting nosy and stalkerish again, and i found this video of my students. just to give you an idea of the program, these are my male students from Septima, performing a dance to justin bieber. enjoy :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUHCBQgEsgo

that's all for now. please send me an email, message, phone call, etc. and let me know how you are doing. i miss the daily life of MN.

lovingly,

anna

hills, hockey and home (sick)

it seems like the past few days have been full of adventure. they have been fun and good, but they've also put me in a mood of loneliness.

on saturday, i went hiking with my colleague and her boyfriend. i met them around 11:00 and we took a bus to an area near to kosice. she had told me to plan for a 4-5 hour hike, so i had envisioned simply a day of walking in the forest. i knew i was mistaken as soon as she and her boyfriend pulled out their hiking poles. the beginning of the hike was slanted slightly uphill, but not at all strenuous. but suddenly, the incline became quite a bit steeper and i could feel the burn! and then when i thought i had already made a panting fool out of myself, i saw the final leg of the climb and wanted to say "really!? REALLY?!" it was so steep that we had to zig zag up it. i was panting and sweating like a kid a fat camp. i was so embarrassed because my colleague and her boyfriend hiked up as if there was hardly any strain. i wanted to say "i had mono! i've been lazy for the past 5 months! but really i'm usually quite healthy! and i'm not usually this fat!" but, of course, i was too tired to breathe... let alone speak. but once we finally made it to the top, i knew it was worth every gasp for air. it was a really beautiful scene. the air was crisp from the fall weather, and we could see a spread of fall colors on the trees below. situated between two hills was a small village which looked like everything a small slovakian "willage" should look like, i believe the name was Kojsov. it is home to a famous slovak director, juraj jakubisko. we sat, overlooking the mountains and breathing the crisp air. we had a small picnic and then headed on another trail that would lead us back to the beginning. this trail was quite easy... barely even a slope downward. we had a nice conversation about family, they told me stories about WWII, and we enjoyed starbursts sent to me by the lovely jean wilson. after we'd been walking for about five hours, we got lost. the trail was very poorly marked. we got to a meadow and suddenly had no idea where to go. there were about five different options, and it took us about 45 minutes to sort it out. thankfully, they had a map and a very good guidebook... and they are experienced hikers. i wasn't worried at all, but it certainly made things interesting. once we got back to where the bus had left us, we realized that the next bus didn't come for another hour. so we went into a small hotel nearby and had a few drinks, relaxed, and waited until the bus came. they told me that the bus didn't go back to kosice, but it went to another town. at this town, we would have to catch a train back to kosice. the catch was that we only had 7 minutes to buy our train tickets and to get on the train! we left the hotel and waited in the dark for the bus... which arrived about 6 minutes late. we took the bus for about 15 minutes, and when it arrived at the train station, we ran to the ticket booth, and we ran to the train. luckily, we made it! it was so much fun. when we finally arrived back in kosice, i realized how tired and sore i was. it was such a fun, adventurous, and pleasant day. certainly one of the best days i've had here.

on sunday, my friend vesna invited me over to her flat for lunch. her mother, ivana, is the director at our school... and also an amazing cook!! she made roast beef for lunch, and it tasted just like home. her whole family was so kind and warm toward me, i felt so welcome. her mother packed me some borscht, some apple bars, and even gave me some chocolate. it was such a wonderful afternoon. however, it made me feel entirely homesick. it was so familiar to be with a family, and it was so nice to feel included in something. when i came back to my flat i realized how cold and empty it felt, and all i wanted to do was cry. but i know that this is simply a temporary period in my life... i can deal.

monday was mostly average. but tuesday was interesting. after i was finished teaching, i went to talk with nelli for a little while. when i was in there, an older man came in a few times to ask her questions, take care of some business, etc. the final time he came in, he asked nelli if i would want to go to a hockey game on tuesday night. of course i said, sure! after i agreed to going, he told me that his cousin would be there... his cousin who was single and attractive. ughhhh. i'm so sick of people trying to set me up with slovak men! anyway, i'd already agreed to go, so i decided to be optimistic. i met them at the U.S. Steel Arena (the main arena in Kosice), and the first period was mostly horrible. but then we got to go into the box with some very important people... the General Manager of the team, as well as the vice president of U.S. Steel. It's like going to Target Field and watching the Twins in a box with the CEO of Target. there were other "VIP" people there, but i'm not sure exactly what all of their titles were. we were served wine, raspberry alcohol, strawberry alcohol, plum alcohol, hot dogs... it was overwhelming. but most interesting to me, however, was that i met a woman, eva, there who runs a private language school in kosice. she was so lovely to talk to. we had a nice time watching the game, talking about slovakia, talking about the hockey players... she was wonderful. afterward we went out to "Sport Cafe" for some wine, and then finally i came home. watching the game was a lot of fun for me because it reminded me so much of hockey games in minnesota but, of course, it also made me quite homesick.

i'm not sure what has gotten into me recently... but i just feel lonely and sad. of course i'm fine and generally happy, but i have moments where all i want is a hug or a comfortable conversation. it's a lot of work having conversations with people from other cultures. or maybe i'm simply making it more work than what it has to be... i'm not sure yet. in any case, i'm craving comfort... of which there is little while living abroad.

lovingly,

anna

another week down.

It has been, fortunately, yet another good week. Every time Saturday rolls around I look back at the week and it all seems like a blur. It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been here for a month and a half. Sometimes I really love my life here in Slovakia. It is slow, relaxed and relatively peaceful. I’ve met some truly wonderful people, I live in a beautiful flat (in a gorgeous city), and I teach eager and disciplined students. There really isn’t anything that I can complain about. I feel so fortunate to have this experience, and I’m sure I’ll spend the rest of my life re-living memories from this time.

This week, Nelli had to come to one of my lessons to evaluate my teaching. She said they do it with all teachers, but I was still nervous. I haven’t had any formal training in teaching, I’m not entirely certain how Slovak teachers teach and I simply didn’t know what she was expecting from me. So I went to my lesson a bit nervous, but tried to do everything as natural as possible. After school, I met Nelli to discuss my lesson. To my relief, she was overflowing with compliments. She told me my lessons were ideal, and that she was so surprised how experienced I seemed… even though it is only my first year teaching. Success! Hearing her affirmation gave me so much more confidence in my teaching, and gave me energy and motivation to do my job even better.

On Thursday night, I met some of my oldest students (students of 5FB, the French-Bilingual section) at an art event called Moon Ride. These students are about 19-20, and they seem so mature. I was so happy that they invited me to go out with them. The event included a dance-performance by a Polish group, and 4 concerts with bands from Poland, Czech, Hungary… and somewhere else. It was a lot of fun, and I really appreciated the time I was able to spend with these great students.

I hope that these next few weeks will also go by quickly. I have trips to Prague, Krakow and Vienna to look forward to… as well as Christmas in Turkey! Although I have these exciting trips planned and although I generally love my life in Slovakia, sometimes I simply feel blue. It is hard to think of my friends and family at home. I wish I could be there to simply spend time with the people that I miss the most, and I’m always afraid that I’m harming or stressing relationships that I care so deeply about. I wish that everyone I love were here with me. But I suppose the distance adds a sort of depth and richness to the experience… what would living in a foreign country be without a little bit of homesickness?

If you’ve got an extra couple-thousand dollars lying around, come visit me! I know all of you are itching to spend some serious cash. You can come to Kosice, I will provide everything you could possibly want or need, and you will provide me with a little friendly company. Deal?

Have a lovely weekend, and I hope to hear from you soon.

XO

anna

som cudzinec

hello!

life here in kosice seems to be settling into a normal pace. last week i had a week full of lessons, coffee dates, tesco runs and (thanks to a couple of sunny days) a few nice walks around the city. i love the way this city feels when the sun is out. as seen through the shades of my Romantic imagination, it feels like people on the street are dancing, little children are giggling, soft music is playing and birds are singing. the sun is a warm spot light on all of the action. it feels like the scene in Enchanted when everyone is dancing through Central Park. it is simply lovely and heart-warming... in every cheesy and nauseating way.

there weren't many events in my week worth speaking of. i started an "english club" with some of my students, i went shopping with some colleagues, and i finally started my slovak lessons. all good things, but nothing extraordinary.

on friday, i spent the afternoon with my friend vesna. it was fun to spend time with her because she is quite busy with university and i don't get to see her very often. afterwards, i met my friends stephanie and katrina at the bus station and train station (respectively). stephanie and katrina are two of my fulbright friends who are living in different parts of slovakia. they came to kosice for the weekend and it was SO MUCH FUN. on friday evening we went out for traditional slovak food, which was delicious. we also drank some burciak (sp?), which is a really early wine. it was amazing. then we came back to my flat and just spent time catching up. it was so relaxing to talk to people in a similar position as myself.

on saturday we had a really full day. we all woke up, oddly enough, at 6:00 a.m. i made coffee and we had a light breakfast over good conversation, and then we met one of my students, tinka (my colleagues daughter- she is SO sweet), who took us to the mall. we did a little shopping, came back for a rest, and then went out to a chocolate cafe and had amazing hot chocolate. if any of you come and visit you will be lucky enough to experience this treat. they serve delicious hot chocolate. and it is literally hot chocolate, none of this "cocoa" powder crap. i had a hot chocolate with walnut bits, and it was unbelievable. after successfully drinking our day's worth of calories, we went on a walk, did some more shopping in the center, and then came back to my flat to get ready for the evening. while at my flat, nelli called and said that tina was having a concert with ritmus, a famous rapper. fortunately, we were able to go! even more fortunately, we were put on the guest list. so we went out for a few drinks at jazz club and then nelli came to pick us up. it was such a fun evening. although the music wasn't what i'm typically accustomed to listening to, it was so fun and interesting to experience... and i really enjoyed the music. ritmus is a slovak rapper, and i certainly couldn't understand even one little bit of what he was saying. nelli's daughter tina is so beautiful and has such a wonderful voice, so she was easy and quite enjoyable to listen to. after the concert we were able to talk with her for a little bit, i felt so special :) the night was so good for me because i got to spend time with two great girls from fulbright who i simply love spending time with, and i also got to go to tina's concert with nelli-- which felt special.

also this weekend, i had two horrible horrible horrible experiences at tesco. ok, that was dramatic. but i still feel embarrassed thinking about them. first: on saturday evening (with stephanie and katrina) we went to tesco to get some food for breakfast. the tesco in kosice is four floors, and when going from one floor to the next you have to walk through security monitors (the things that beep if you walk out with something). well, i walked in just fine. however, each time i walked through after that the security things kept beeping! i think i had to walk through three before i finally left the store. it was mortifying. then, on sunday, i went to tesco to do some weekly shopping. i had just showered and left without any makeup, wearing house clothes. i thought it would be a short, discrete trip. before i got into tesco, i stopped at an ATM. i put the money in my pocket, but for whatever reason i put my wallet underneath my arm (as if i thought that was a safe place). i went through tesco, did my shopping, and went to the check out. once everything was being rung up, i started to search for my wallet. it was gone. fortunately, i knew i only had about 10 euro in my wallet and the rest of my money was in my pocket. i was a little panicked, and the cashier knew instantly... she tried to ask me something. i couldn't understand. then the people in line were looking at me and trying to re-explain what the cashier was saying-- in slovak. i said "i don't speak slovak," but they kept trying. i took out cash so she could see that i would pay, and she rung everything up. i paid, and then she made a phone call. i stood there feeling lost and helpless. all i wanted to do was walk back through the store and look for my wallet... i was sure i had simply dropped it somewhere. but when she hung up the phone, she said something to me and pointed upstairs. i took the hint and went upstairs, luckily there was a roma-looking person behind me who had taken an interest in my situation. he said "wallet" and pointed up, and he came up with me to what looked like a customer service desk. i stood there and an angry looking woman said something to me that i didn't understand. i looked at my new roma friend, and he tried to explain again in slovak. i was clueless, red, hot and entirely embarrassed. all i wanted to do was leave. then i saw an older woman with (what looked like) her daughter come up to the counter, and the woman said "po anglisky" (or something) to her daughter and pointed at me. she came up to me and said "do you need help?" and i said "YES!" and then the angry woman and the roma friend explained everything to her. she asked me "what happened?" i told her i lost my wallet. she asked, "what did it look like?" i said it was small and red. she said, "what was in it?" i said only about 10 euro. instantly the angry woman revealed my wallet. she had it at her counter but didn't want to give it to me unless i could prove that it was mine. it was all such a headache... and i feel like i made this huge stir at tesco when all i wanted to do was buy some toilet cleaner and chocolate. never again will i expect that i can go to tesco discretely... or really anywhere for that matter. ahhhh, the joys of being a foreigner.

and today was slow and sweet. nothing special. i had some lessons, met my "english club" and talked about childhood memories, came home and received a wonderful package from home, and then spent the evening deep cleaning my flat.

wishing you well,

anna

a week in the life

good morning!

this week has been, on the whole, rather uneventful but certainly not boring. on wednesday after my lessons, nelli and i went to the police station to turn in all of my documents so that i could get a long term visa. amassing all of these documents was a chore. before leaving, i had to have a physical to prove i was healthy. i was tested for hepatitis, aids and syphilis. the fulbright commission sent letters confirming that i was here, in fact, to teach. they also had to send official stamps (which were quite expensive). the embassy had to write a letter. the school i work at had to write a letter. my landlords had to write a letter. i had to fill out a four page application. the slovak government did a background check on me. and, worst of all, i had to have an FBI background check. this took AGES to receive... and was completely anti-climatic when it finally arrived. it was a simple sheet of paper which said "no criminal arrest record." the least they could have done was find some dirt in my past... once we had all of these documents, there was one last thing we needed: photos of me. both nelli and i forgot about it, but nelli had a brilliant idea to go to the mall's photo booth to take photos of myself. so we went to the mall and i awkwardly sat in a photo booth to get the photos... but at last we had everything. so we walked to the police, waited, and when we finally came in nelli began to explain that we had all of the documents, etc. etc. the policeman looked over them and then got to the FBI report. he started talking to nelli and nelli looked exasperated. when he was finally done talking, nelli explained to me that the FBI background check wasn't "official" enough. i had NO idea what she meant. i don't know how such a document could be more "official." it was mailed from the FBI, of course it is official... right? wrong. they need a stamp called an "apostil" on it. i still don't really understand what this is. nonetheless, we left the police unsuccessful. we have to mail the FBI report to the fulbright commission and they will take care of it (thank god!). i've had so many head aches with this one report! hopefully the process will go quickly, because if i don't have it in 60 days i will be seeing you back in the states.

wednesday evening, after the chaos of the afternoon, was really enjoyable. it was one of my friend's, vesna's, friend's namesday. namesday is sort of like a birthday... before the revolution, there was a register of names that parents could choose from. each name was associated with a day, so everyone born has a day associated with their name. does that make sense? we don't really have anything like it. anyway, vesna and i went over to her friend's flat to celebrate. there were five of us girls there, and it was so much fun. all of the girls are studying english in some variation, so they spoke english (very well) for me. it was so much fun to have a "girls night." the girls were all really nice, really fun and intelligent. we had pizza, wine and (of course) chocolate.

thursday was a horribly busy day for me. i came home, graded some papers, and went straight to bed. on friday i had a much easier day. two of my lessons with 5FB (the oldest class in the french-bilingual section) were cancelled because they were inviting teachers to their graduation. this sounds average, but trust me... it's not! first of all, they have their graduation party in november, months before they complete school. teachers who teach their lessons are invited, as well as the headmistress, deputies, etc. everyone told me "5FB will be inviting you on friday" and i had absolutely no idea what they meant. when it was time for me to go up to the lesson, i was met by two students from the class who were dressed very well. they were carrying champagne glasses and when we arrived to the room, there was a man video-taping everything and the whole class was singing, playing guitars, blowing kazoos... it was so much fun!! they gave me a very nice invitation, interviewed me on camera... i was completely overwhelmed.

saturday i went over to my colleague's flat for food, cake and coffee. i walked there with another teacher from my school, and it was such a nice afternoon. the food she'd prepared was absolutely delicious, and i got to meet her son, jakub. he was adorable. i was so sad, though, that i couldn't really communicate with him. but i suppose silly faces and tickling are universal :) generally it was just a nice afternoon, and i was so happy to be invited over.

today is the day of the Kosice Peace Marathon. http://www.kosicemarathon.com/en/index.php. i woke up this morning to catch the start of the race. it was a beautiful morning and i loved the energy of the crowd. i must admit, however, that it made me sorely miss having friends and family near. i felt so lonely because i had no one to share the experience with. plus, i wanted to sit at a cafe and watch the runners go by throughout the course of the marathon... but i had no one to sit with so i simply walked back to my flat. i just feel a bit sad that there are some things that i'd really like to enjoy, but can't enjoy alone. c'est la vie, it's just another part of this experience.

so i think that about covers the extent of my life up until today :) i hope you are all well. miss you, and love you.

anna