 Ahoj, Slovakia is beautiful, loving, amazing and everything
in between. Though I must admit getting here was probably the biggest hassle in
my life, it is in every way shape and form worth every minute without sleep and
all of the stress.
Monday morning, we left my house around six thirty in the
morning, me my brother, Janessa and John had stayed up all night the night
before just to spend some extra time together and play halo before I leave,
and while this seemed a great idea at the time, I later regretted it. We get
to the airport and my cousin, granny and uncle joined us; thus the pictures
began. I walk up to the counter to check in and hand the lady behind counter
my passport, just to be told they have me on the system but not on the
flight, so I call Bill Learn who just happens to be amazing enough to be a
few airlines over. So he calls Al and it's just nerve-wracking standing
there. All I could say was granny stop taking pictures.
So my first journey of chilling in the cafeteria of the
Jacksonville airport began, we sat there for a few hours, me and John passed
out on the tables while everyone talked, eventually people started leaving
to go to work or something else, so it's me, my parents, John and Bill. We
eventually decided to head back home so we lugged my suitcases back to the
truck (which they do not have in Slovakia), but as soon as we are about to
pull out of the parking spot John says don't leave don't leave, Bill called,
and I have a flight at 11:30, and it was 10:15, so we book it to the counter
to have to wait fifteen minutes for everything to go through, so I say
goodbye and cry for the first and last time the whole trip when I hugged my
parents and John goodbye. Headed through security, where I find out my
moisturizer bottle is too big so they take that but she urges me to say my
toothpaste is medical and I am on my way...... or so I thought.
My flight to JFK was delayed about three or four times and
I finally left Jacksonville at four in the afternoon. Now in JFK there are
two United Airways terminals and I had forgotten to ask for the German
airline so a nice boy helped me take my luggage to the wrong terminal which
I didn't know until after he left so I had to drag my ridiculous bag to the
complete other side of the airport. This is when comfy shoes become uncomfy.
So I am about to the point when I say who needs clothes and am ready to just
leave my bag when I find the gate. I check in my carry on with my luggage,
forget that. and head of to my gate and call my parents and Al to let them
know it's all smooth. and it was.... for a little while.
Germany, luckily everything went smooth other than losing
my favorite lotion, and the ridiculous walk to my gate, seriously, invest in
airways. By the time I found my gate I was exhausted because I didn't sleep
on my flight, so I sat in a seat and I sat there for my entire almost seven
hour layover, slept on and off then finally was on my way to Prague.
Yay, Prague. I am four hours away from Slovakia. Not. I go
to the connecting flight desk to find out I am booked but my flight was not
purchased and I couldn't figure out the payphone so I was on my own, lost in
the airport. I finally found my way to a check in, a lady passed me off to a
man who was very helpful. I had to exchange my emergency fee and spare cash
for a plane ticket, but luckily it was still the same time.
Finally, I fly to Slovakia, it's 11:15 pm there, so it's
five pm Tuesday afternoon in Florida. I am wiped, I find my family right
away, they were standing right there, I recognized them from photos.
I've been here almost a week. I love everything about it.
I am slowly learning words, I have met all my host families. My younger
sister Kaja is amazing and goofy - she's great. My parents are great too. I feel right at home and comfortable with the entire family.
Last night I went to a pub with Kenzo, who was the old
exchange students best friend, and I met all of his friends. They're all
great people and I am really enjoying it here. At the pub I had my first
cold drink since I'd been here. I was very happy for this.
Things about Slovakia: all the water is sparkling, they
love it.
Kofola is Slovak Coke; they all love that too, so must
you, it's different at first but you learn to love it.
Their lunch is equal to our dinner. (Every time I finish a
bowl of soup and think I am done they bring out a whole plate of chicken and
rice so good but I am still getting use to eating so much.)
The people are very nice and insist you eat their cake;
this is fine if you like cake.
There's a lot of remodeling going on, this is good,
they're becoming modern and pulling out of the communism era. I am very
proud of this.
i must remind myself everyday not to think of something as
weird, but different. It's the only way to not alienate myself and to get
used to all of the different things.
I think I have given you enough for now, I attend language
camp next week and will meet all the other exchange students there and I should see Rudi the old inbound from Slovakia.
I left my camera cord at home, so when it comes in the
mail I will show you the beautiful scenery I get to see everyday (Roznava is
a plateau).
Do videnia,
Stephanie-Rose |
I will complete my first month in
Slovakia this Tuesday, it's
ridiculous to think how fast it went by. In the past weeks I have experienced
the following:
-almost getting eaten by a bear
-language camp (which comes with a
funny story of inbounds who don't listen)
-a traditional Slovak/Hungarian wedding
-my first week of school
-getting lost
-no longer getting lost
-and probably the
closest experience to hostel I will experience.
Slovaks love hiking, and my father is a forest engineer,
so he has a special key to drive us up a mountain to hike where we have to
be locked in with bears and deer and all sorts of creatures. I actually
loved the hike, even though I was half dying because I couldn't breathe
because the air was so thin, and then completely dying as somehow the whole
thing was up mountain, and me, Miss American From Florida, didn't exactly
know what uphill was. But nonetheless I refused to complain, and when they
asked if wanted to go back I would say no. After about two hours we stopped
and sat in a wooden hunters' hide-out thing and watched deer until it was
dark, then we got to walk back, uphill like I said, but at least this was a
road, but my host father thirty minutes into was confused as to where we
were and would stop every few minutes and look through his scope which was
useless because it was completely dark but I mean if it helps you see the
bear that you're hearing, go for it Števo. At this point I am like
uuuugggghhh and all I could say to my host father was, If I get eaten I am
not going to like you anymore. But we made it out alive and so I still love
my host father, who I have a good connection with and we joke around a lot,
which led to my first Slovak sentence that I said on my own: "spi štary
muž" ... or go to sleep, old man.
Language camp was very fun. I had two of the best
roommates ever, one was from Arizona but she joked she might as well been
Mexican because her family was, and the other was in fact Mexičanka.
Arrival was fun - we were escorted to our rooms by Rotex, I put my sheets on
my bed wrong, it was all dandy. The next day we had classes, we had eight
classes a day, forty five minutes each, ten minutes break between each, and
a twenty minute break after the third lesson, five before lunch, three
after. Now you only think it's hard to pay attention on a full stomach,
imagine getting hundreds of words a day with no review the next day. I think
there was a point in time where everyone was at tears sometime during one of
the lessons, mine was with a teacher who spoke no English, and she just read
names of family members off a very confusing chart, and asked me a question
and I answered it, but then she just stared at me.... okay? so I just nodded
and smiled and she started drilling me in Slovak and I had no idea. I looked
around for help and no one else knew. I was to the point of tears when she
finally asked a question I understood and moved on to the next person.
BUT for the funny part of the second day and first day of
classes: We were told the first evening that only four people are to be in
the lift at one time, which the lifts are extremely tiny, I couldn't imagine
wanting more then three people in comfortably, but nonetheless there were
snickers because earlier in the day they had SIX people in the elevator,
four being full grown boys, so the next day they saw no problem in having
five in there, and there wasn't, until the elevator went about two feet past
the first floor and they couldn't get out because the door only opened when
the lift was aligned with it, so they were stuck in the maybe three foot by
three foot elevator for three hours in the dark because the power went out,
and for the rest of the week we had to take the stairs, which sounds fine
unless your dorm is on the seventh floor.
WEDDINGS! Weddings are always fun and cheerful and I was
excited to see this side of the Slovak culture, so the day after I returned
from language camp exhausted, I went to a family member's wedding, not
knowing however, that it would go on until one in the morning, or that I
would be dancing and eating the entire time. But at least during the
ceremony I wasn't so lonely because my host sister doesn't understand
Hungarian either (=. So around eight o'clock I am pretty wiped, and I ask my
host mother how much longer and she says, ah we have until morning, uh oh.
Somehow I survived the dancing constantly to Hungarian music played on a
synthesizer and keyboard that after three songs I swore were the same thing
over and over, and the possibly six meals we were served in the evening. My
favorite part was the end, not just because it was over, but because in the
end the bride comes out in a red dress and everyone puts money in a bowl to
dance with her one last time, and then they all dog pile on her and try to
take her shoes and apron ... haha lucky she had straps around her ankles,
because the groom carried her off with her shoes dangling from her ankles,
but before she came out, her father came out in a skirt and a shirt with a
bra on and tiny little purse and danced with the groom. It was a horrible
yet hilarious sight. Another part I thought was cute, is that whenever
people tap their spoon on their plates, the bride and groom must kiss, until
they stop tapping, if they stop tapping.
SCHOOL The first day was ridiculously short. Let me start
off saying, I got out at nine thirty, my head teacher speaks Slovak and
French so my very few French skills have almost but not quite come in handy
... sorry Madame Brasil, one year didn't make me fluent. But when the head
teacher walks in everyone stands up. My head teacher is extremely long
winded. The classes are hard to explain. I only attended three days so far,
it started Tuesday and I missed Friday, which you will read about later. But
I enjoy the school even though my class is on the third floor. Slovakia and
their stairs, I swear...
Oh and off subject, I think me and my friend Nick from
Ohio decided that pretty much all your needs are in Slovakia, you just have
to go down an alley, up some stairs, go to the back, and you know there's a
bowling alley, very common here.
Back to school, I love it, and my classmates are very
helpful. I made good friends with a very nice and stylish girl named Anita,
who walked me home my first day, and taught me how to say hair straightener,
and is going to show me where the best tanning salons are. Which gets to my
next point, all the girls in my school look like they're straight out of the
OC, which is fine with me. It should be fun fitting in and spending bonding
time sun bathing in a completely landlocked country. All the people for the
most part are very nice.
NOW the second day, I didn't have anyone to walk me home
and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking but when I
realized where I was, I knew a way home from there. I just came to a cross
walk I didn't remember and that's when my confusion came, but luckily when I
turned around to start over, Anita came around the corner like the angel she
is and pointed me to the right direction, and now I would like to proudly
say I HAVE WALKED HOME, GONE TO TOWN, AND MADE IT BACK safely without
getting lost. The first time I made it home safely I was so excited I said
dobry den to the old slow lady I passed up the hill. Now you usually
don't greet people when you pass them from behind but sorry, I might stick
out, but her face was so sad and it lit right up when she turned around and
said dobry. Maybe Slovakia needs a little more southern hospitality.
Now comes my horror story, which really isn't too scary.
Thursday I realized my tailbone was a little sore, but I figured it was just
from the chairs and sitting down wrong. But the next day it hurt so bad to
walk, and I could feel a bump on the top of my butt, then it was bleeding,
so I googled it, and came up with me having a pilonidal cyst - try
explaining that to your host mother who speaks only Slovak. It took five
dictionaries to even find the word cyst, but when I tried to show her where
I saw blood she didn't see and couldn't find the bump. She said it was a
blister, put powder on it, and told me to lay in bed, not to go to school,
and she would bring me lunch around eleven, so I slept until lunch and when
she checked on it, she saw that it WAS bleeding and rushed me to the doctor,
who said it was a cyst and sent me to another doctor, who knew just enough
English to tell me drop my pants and lean on the table, which is just as
awkward as the turn your head to the left and cough, I can imagine, and he
said that I had inflammation and they had to drain it right away or it would
and he hand gestured spread because that was as far as his English went. So
I laid down on the table and still wasn't sure what was going on as he spoke
what I swear is gibberish to my mom and turned to me and said when I say now
you... and he bit down and I was like okay a numbing shot... hah.... he said
now I bit down, and he made the incision and started cleaning it. I am not
really sure if it was the pain, or the lack of better words, the feeling of
being scared shitless, being cut open in a foreign country, not knowing
what's going on and feeling alone, ... but I cried my eyes out like a baby.
But luckily I was not alone, and my amazing host mother stroked my hair and
told me I was doing good. He gauzed me and taped me and sent me on my way.
The coolest thing about it was it didn't cost me a penny,
but when I go back Monday I have to bring him a bottle of whiskey, though my
mother said I was the one who needed the whiskey!
Later on that evening, after I stopped crying from the
scariness and the shock and the flat out pain, I laughed it off, and
discovered that all I need is the words štara žena (old woman), and
pomaley (slow) to be funny. As I cracked my host mother up when she
asked me how I felt, and I said like an old woman and repeated slowly slowly
slowly as I sat myself down holding my butt, or when I got up saying the
same thing, or when I had to walk and she buzzed right by me, I would
comment how young she was.
Today I had to go back to the doctor, but a different one,
and this time it was a woman, so I mean it's only a smidgen less awkward
that all these people are staring at my bare butt, but her being my neighbor
put it right back in the same field, as she pretty much did the same thing I
went through yesterday, and the news is thus, I can't shower until tomorrow,
which is okay if you're a boy, not an OCD-on-hygiene girl. But I am fine and
should being feeling better and walking and sitting normally by Tuesday.
But I am sad because I missed the last weekend the pool is
open I think, and I couldn't go to Betliar and see the castle mansion I was
suppose to see this weekend, and now I am home alone because I can't go
hiking in a forest with my sister and father, and heaven knows I can not go
dancing at a wedding with my mother.
I love it more and more everyday, and a quick reference to
my last journal and some new things about Slovakia:
-i still don't like sparkling water
-they put ketchup on pasta and call it spaghetti (and I mean flat out put
the noodles on your plate and pull the ketchup out of the fridge)
-they eat dessert for dinner
-all moms are OCD about cleaning, mine is even more so
-they are very nice
-and my host father has a bad habit of, when drinking at family
get-togethers, trying to offer me to boys in his family
-they all try to set you up on dates as well
For now that's all.
čau
Stephanie-Rose |
Stephanie-Rose Martin