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