Boots 'n' All

On Sunday afternoon, I left Charlotte, NC, with my ukulele, a carry-on bag, two suitcases, and a pair of winter boots on my feet. (There wasn't room for them in my luggage.) As one of the families at Advent wrote on my car, it was "Slovakia or BUST!" Boot 'n' All, I was on my way.

I arrived in Vienna on Monday at noon. I met two other missionary teachers at the airport there. Together, with a Slovak driver from the bishop's office, we headed to Bratislava. We are staying at the seminary for orientation until the end of the week.

I have already learned what I consider the four most important words in Slovak: dobre den (hello or good day), prosim (please), dakujem (thank you), and ice cream (zmrzlina). I heard a rumor that we will be heading into Old Town Bratislava for ice cream later in the week, so I've been practicing : ).

My first breakfast in Slovakia felt a little bit like dinner - or lunch at least. We were served heaping helpings of bread, ham, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and peppers. We buttered our bread and ate open sandwiches for breakfast. Go figure! I was okay with everything but the peppers. I'm not sure that I like peppers at any time of day let alone breakfast, but I thought I should have at least one so that I could cross "peppers for breakfast" off my Sovakia experience and list of things to try in life.

So far, the food here is very good. We eat soup at every meal except for breakfast, and I've never had so much and so many potatoes in my life. We also eat a lot of garlic and onions. I am convinced that Slovaks must have some killer toothpaste because I haven't met anyone with bad breath yet!

My roommate for orientation is Heidi. She and I will both be teaching in Tisovec. I'm thrilled to call her my new friend - I think we're going to have a ball together! I'll keep you posted on more adventures from my first week here, but until then, I'll send love to you from Slovakia.