winter is upon us

it seems that in a matter of twenty-four hours, kosice has turned it's beautiful autumnal back on us, leaving us in the dismal, gray and cold beginnings of winter. the sun has already become a faded memory, and the darkness is becoming heavier and heavier, earlier and earlier, each day.

minnesota is home to some of the cruelest winters, but for some reason the winter in slovakia hits me harder. sunday was a blissful day. the weather was the definition of perfection, and i felt so sweet and light and happy. monday was a bit of a hard day at school, but i managed to hold on to my lightness. by tuesday, however, the clouds had come and winter had poked his ugly head into our lives. this week has been full of efforts to push him away, most of which have been futile. even physically i'm more tired and my body feels on the constant verge of sickness.

enough gloom. i said, enough! because despite all of this, i still have one good story to tell.

last night i felt sick. laying on my bed, hoping to vomit for some relief (sorry to be graphic). i decided that i should do something good, to reintroduce a bit of happiness into my current state of mind. naturally, i called valerie. we decided to meet for a drink (of tea, in my case). when she arrived, she came with her friend! he's french, and his name is patrick (but we call him Fabio, lest there be any confusion). he's great, and he came early this weekend to surprise val. it was a great surprise for me as well. since the restaurant we wanted to go to was full, we went to a different one--- one that i'd never been to. it was underground, and when we walked in we saw that friday was "disco night." without much pause, we went in. we sat down next to the empty dance floor, and there wasn't any music or anything playing. we ordered our food. while we waited, fabio gave me a gift that he brought from paris. it was a set of extra-classy saki glasses that, when filled with liquid, show less-than-kosher images of less-than-proper women (i hope you feel the humor). when we were eating, the lights suddenly turned off in favor of disco-lights. the fog machine went to work and we were suddenly eating our meal in the middle of the dance floor to the soundtrack of ABBA in the background. val and fabio have a great sense of humor, so we spent the rest of the meal laughing and dancing, and watching the people around us dance. the crowd was mostly middle-aged, and my favorite couple was one guy in white with a true mullet, serious moves and an unrelenting pursuit of a woman in black (who also had a mullet). he finally won her over, and they danced with locked lips for almost ten minutes. not really kissing, just locking lips. i searched for someone who i could use to compete with them, but i only found an old, leprechaun-esque man with moves which left me wondering if he had turrets or muscle spasms. i wasn't keen on trying.

after pop, lock and droppin' it, we moved to a different bar for a drink. i had a juice and went home early, but at least i had a small smile on my face.

this weekend i'm making the move to valerie's flat. if you think of me, say a little prayer and wish upon a lucky star.