dear friends and family,
life is crazy here in slovakia. i'm not sure where to even begin. i must say that i'm on a bit of a sugar high, so this entry might be a little scattered...
so after i returned from prague, i taught for a few days. on thursday evening, i went to one of my classes (5FB's) stuzkova. stuzkova is a big ceremony that classes have for their graduation. a lot of my students called it prom, which i suppose it is somewhat similar to. the students invited all of their teachers as well as their parents. it started with all of the students very ceremoniously walking in, wearing their beautiful dresses, suits, etc. everyone looked gorgeous. a few words were said, then the students were pinned with their green ribbons (traditional for stuzkova), then the students had a dance with the teachers, then with their parents, and then we had a very formal meal. after the meal there was a bit of a program, and then a lot of dancing. around midnight the students all drank wine from the same jar, and at the end the class teacher broke the jar... leaving pieces for the students to take home as souvenirs. and then there was more dancing, and more dancing, and more dancing. and of course, like every slovak event, more drinking, and more drinking, and more drinking. it was a great night. the next morning, after the students had been out partying all night, they came to school and brought bottles of wine and cake for the teachers to enjoy in the teacher's lounge. they were even drinking in their classroom... which i don't think is allowed, but they were doing it anyway (and no one told them not to). in short, it was a crazy night... followed by a crazy day.
then on friday, i left for the high tatras with patrick, a french teacher from the bilingual section. we drove in his car to poprad to meet a friend of his (a french lecturer at a university), thomas. on the way, we were pulled over by the police. it was a bit of a fiasco... there had been an accident and apparently we didn't respect the road signs to stop. the cop wanted us to pay him 60 euro. instead of paying, we waited about 20 minutes and told him we didn't have the money, and eventually he let us go. it is a shame, really, that cops can do that in slovakia. he simply wanted cash. he wouldn't give us a ticket, he only took patrick's license and threatened to keep it until we payed him 60 euro. once he discovered we didn't have it, he had no choice but to let us go... such a strange system.
finally we arrived in poprad and met thomas. we had a relatively quiet night, and woke up early on saturday to go hiking in the high tatras. we had to drive about twenty minutes to get to the mountains. when we were there, we met two of thomas' students. they were really nice and joined us for about the first hour of our hike. after this hour, we ate a quick lunch and then parted ways. thomas, patrick and i then took about a four hour hike. the first hour was straight uphill. it was a bit of a challenge, but i managed quite well. i was surprised. i was so nervous for this hike because i'd heard the high tatras were difficult, and i haven't really worked out for a few months. but, fortunately, i was wearing hiking boots. i felt like the boots were magic! they made the hike so much easier. after we'd reached the top, we headed down for about three hours. the high tatras were so nice because there are some beautiful, amazingly clear lakes. the hike was difficult, but rewarding. at the end, we had to take a bus back to where we'd begun, and then we were able to drive home. although it was only 5:00 p.m., it was already dark! then after some hot showers, we went out for a few quiet beers. the perfect end to a perfect day.
on sunday we drove to a national park called "Slovak Paradise." although it's a funny name, the hike was so much fun. on the way up we encountered a lot of waterfalls, caves, rivers... we had to climb up ladders, go across makeshift bridges... i felt like i was in some sort of outdoor-adventure park for adults. it was great. the walk down was less adventurous, but a good walk nonetheless. even though i'd managed to maintain my balance along slippery ladders, logs and rocks on the way up, somehow i tripped on the flattest ground on our way down. i've got a pretty good cut on my hand to prove it.
i'm sorry i can't really recount the hikes in full detail. but i suppose the important things to note are 1. they were BEAUTIFUL. 2. i didn't die. 3. it was one of the best weekends i've spent in slovakia thus far.
it's amazing that it is already the 9th of november. where is time going? i wish things would slow down a little bit... these next few weeks are crazy, and i'm nervous that this year is going by too quickly.
missing all of you,
anna
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