Kosice Adventure

This past weekend, I traveled with some of my friends to Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia. When I asked my students what they thought of Kosice, they said it was much better than Bratislava - they thought it was more "cultural." I told them that I had heard there was a four story Tesco (Tesco is similar to Wal-Mart) and that I was pretty excited about that!

Rachel, Eric and I left T-town at 7:20am, and arrived in Bratislava some time before ten. We were met at the bus station by an American ELCA teacher-missionary who was stationed in Kosice and shortly after we met up with my friends and fellow teacher-missionaries from Poland.

Our first stop was the Kosice Zoo. This zoo is certainly not world famous - it didn't even have giraffes! Rachel joked that if the lions that we saw really wanted to get out - they could easily bust through the fence. As you can imagine, the zoo was a little sketch. Neverthless, we had a fabulous time at the zoo because of the people we were with.

(I took a picture of this porcupine because earlier last week when a student was describing his neighorbor's appearance to the class said, "He has porcupine hair." The class laughed - we knew exactly what he meant, but he did not use good English.)

Across the parking lot from the zoo is a single Slovak roller coaster that my friend Colleen just had to ride. I was a little nervous about the ride because if it was anything like the zoo, we might not make it off the coaster alive. Still, I told Colleen I was in. When I saw the roller coaster, I'm not sure if I felt better or not. It certainly was nothing that would make safety regulations in America. The ride was a bobsled shoot - and it reminded me of the luge in the Olympics. You sit on a plastic seat with no back and no seat belt, and the only thing you hold onto is the brake. Then you travel up the side of mountain and at the top, you bobsled downwards. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't scream the whole time. I'm also not going to lie and say I didn't do it again!!! We rode the coaster a second time and had more fun than the first. Don't tell mom but I never used my brake. It was fabulous! Here's a picture of me bobsledding.

After the coaster ride, we had a picnic lunch which our friend Dee (a teacher in Kosice) had put together. It was an All-American meal: we had sandwiches, mustard, mayaonaisee, nectarines, and homemade cookies with American chocolate chips. Life was good.

Then Eric, Colleen and I played on the playground while the rest of our group traveled in a car to downtown Kosice. Then, our driver came back to pick us up. He took us to a world-famous Roma ghetto called Lunix IX --- this experience deserves it's own blog entry, so stay-tuned and I will share with you my thoughts and pictures from Lunix.

On Saturday we had the opprotunity to walk around downtown Kosice.

This is my friend, Colleen, in front of the Old Communist Bar. On the door it still says, "Tomorrow, we will give all patrons half off." The operative word here is "tomorrow." As the Slovak with us said, "It was always tomorrow."

We walked through St. Elizabeth's Cathedral.

We also saw the musical fountain and bell tree. In one of the parks, there is a fountain whose water pressure changes as the tempo of the music that is being played changes. There is also a bell tree that rings at the top of every hour.

There is an underground wall museum that we were able to visit. This museum dispalyed pieces of the walls of Old Kosice from hundreds of years earlier.

After a full day of sightseeing, playing with friends, and enjoying good food, Eric, Rachel and I headed back home to T-town.

A Joke on the Teacher

My students in Tisovec have come to expect Ms. Large to be a little bit different than their other teachers. I have very high expectations, but I love to be silly with the kids. Most of the time, I tell my students that they are “sassy,” or “out of control” whenever they answer a question correctly, get a good grade or correct each other’s English. They know that these adjectives are high praise. Last week, I taught the kids “fiesty” because two of my students got into a heated, academic debate about a story in the Old Testament. Most of the time, my fiesty students are quite impressive.

Today, I walked into my second class before the bell rang. Immediately, I noticed that the entire class was already in the classroom. They were also snickering. I took note of this but ignored them and continued over to the window to open it for ventilation. Only a minute passed but by this time, my students were giggling. I smiled at them and wrinkled my nose, “Alright. What’s so funny?” I asked. This question got chortles of laughter. I made a face at them and asked them if they had lost their minds. Then I turned around. On the white board one of the kids had written: “Are all the southern belles as fiesty as Miss Large?” I burst out laughing, and told them I was impressed that they knew the phrase “southern belle.” Then, I said, “I am SO erasing this. You guys are out of control.” Sadly, which ever sassy student had written this comment on the board did not use a whiteboard marker. Instead, he or she used a regular marker. The comment did not wipe off no matter how hard I tried to erase it. Seeing this, my students collapsed into hysteria. See, I told you I had sassy students!

By the end of the day most of the school had heard what my second year students did. I have been called a “fiesty southern belle” all day.

To Cieszyn and Back Again

This past weekend I traveled to Cieszyn, Poland to visit with Colleen and Sarah, two American teachers I met at orientation about a month ago. It was my first solo trip in Europe, and I have to admit that I was a little nervous. Transportation in Central Europe is not always easy. We don’t have the Eurail, and the transportation system can be nebulous at times. My trip to Cieszyn was complicated – it involved one bus ride, three train connections, and the crossing of two international borders. I am proud to say that I totally rocked the travel - I made every connection with no problems! (Thank goodness.)

When I got the train station, Sarah and Colleen were there to pick me up. Together, we walked back to their apartment. We spent the evening cooking and talking. We made Levoce, a traditional Polish stew with vegetables and sausage. After dinner, we had Zubrowka, a Polish vodka, for desert. (The Poles love their “wodka.” They refer to it as “precious little water.”) Zubrowka is by far the most famous brand of vodka in Poland. Each bottle of this stuff comes with a blade of grass from the bison reserves in the eastern part of the country. Apparently, the bison “flavor” (ahem… poop on) the grass, and then the grass flavors the vodka. We mixed the vodka with apple juice and had a cocktail that the Poles call “szarlotka.” It was fabulous. The next morning, we woke up and walked around Old Town Cieszyn.

We stopped by an outdoor market.

Most of the stores and markets in Cieszyn sold sunflower seeds -by the sunflower.

What I most impressed with in Cieszyn was a program that the city has adopted that is translated "Cieszyn Walks." As you walk throughout Cieszyn, you will notice different symbols on the walls and signs of the city. Each symbol serves as a trail marker that leads you on a walk to important and beautiful places in Old Town. Sarah and Colleen had done most of the downtown walks, but they had not yet done the longest walk: The Panorama. This walk takes you through downtown and into the countryside. As it's name suggests, the Panorama Walk has several stunning panoramic views. The directions for this walk (which are translated for us into English online) are hilarious. They say things like: "Walk up the big hill. When you get to the brown of the hill, you will see a big black stone on the left. Turn here," and "On your right, you will pass two splendid oaks." My favorite was, "When you get to the bridge, keep left towards the fence. Then, cut diagonally across the field towards electricity." It is probably not surprising that we got lost. Our 8km walk turned out to be much longer - it took us almost four hours to do! We walked through Old Town, a street market, corn fields, a dairy farm, small Polish neighborhoods and plenty of fields. Some of the pictures from our walk are below.

After lunch of pierogies (another traditional Polish meal --- they are similar to stuffed raviolis), we headed back into Old Town for the annual Cieszyn festival. We saw Polish folk singing and a lot of artwork on display in the Cieszyn museum. Colleen and Sarah also took me to the tower of what once was Cieszyn castle.

We also saw the Cieszyn Rotunda of St. Nicholas and St. Wenceslas. It was built in the second half of the 11th century and is the oldest church in Poland. Interestingly enough, the church is still used today for concerts because the acoustics are so good.

On Sunday morning, we attended 9:00 worship at the Lutheran Church of Jesus. This church was absolutely gorgeous. It was built between 1709 and 1722 and is the oldest Protestant church in Cieszyn.

This is the back of the church. You can see the organ and the two tiers of balconies.

This is the altar.

After church, we went back into Old Town to view the craft stands at the Cieszyn festival. Colleen (who also wants to be a pastor) and I bought two beautiful hand-carved crosses for the equivalent of a few dollars.

Before long, it was time for me to head to the train station to go home. Thankfully, this trip only required one train ride and one bus ride. The girls walked me to the station and we said goodbye. I hopped on the train and settled in for a couple of hours of grading papers.

About two hours into the train ride, I heard a loud crash and our train came to a sudden stop. Immediately, I looked around at the people who were sitting near me. They looked confused. After a few minutes, an annoucement was made in both Czech and Slovak. I, of course, don't speak either. I gestured to the Slovak girl sitting across from me. "Co? (What?)" I asked. She pulled out a piece of paper and drew a picture of our train and a car. She then drew a huge crash. At first, I didn't think I understood what she was trying to tell me. We didn't feel so much as a jolt on the train. I didn't understand how it could have crashed. A few minutes later, another announcement was made. Again, I asked, "Co?" And the girl said, "Tri," and she held up three fingers. "Tot," she said as she slowly drew her hand across her neck. "Dead?" I asked. "Jeden, dva, tri. Tot? (One, two, three. Dead?)" "Ano (yes)," she answered. Then she drew a clock on the piece of paper and gestured that we would need to wait an hour. "Jeden hoden? (One hour)" I asked. "Ano," she replied.

After about an hour and a half minutes, a third announcement was made. As the conductor was speaking over the loudspeaker, people began rushing around. They picked their stuff up and started running off the train. I looked at the girl across from me and she was already shoving her books in her bag. I bent down to grab my duffel bag, and by the time I stood back up, my new Slovak friend was grabbing my hand and pulling me off the train. I had no idea why we were running, but I figured we needed to hurry. We sprinted across the tracks and through the train station. It turns out, the train company had sent a bus to take us the last leg of our trip. Unfortunately, they only sent one bus for about 250 people. Miracle of all miracles, the Slovak girl and I were able to squeeze on the bus. It was packed. We stood in the aisle for the duration of the bus ride.

The whole time we were on the bus I kept wondering how I was going to get back to Tisovec. You see, the bus we were on was going to drop us off at a larger town called Banska Bystrica. Then, I would need to take the bus back to Tisovec. Because Tisovec is a small town, there is a limited number of buses that run the Tisovec route. I had already missed the bus I was planning to take because we spent so much time sitting on the train tracks. I must have looked worried, because after about thirty minutes, my Slovak friend calls out to the rest of the bus in Slovak, "Does anyone here speak English?" The bus got quiet. Then she must have said something like, "This girl only speaks English and she doesn't know what's going on. Can anyone help her?" Before long, I had people passing me food. Someone patted my shoulder, and someone else even passed up his water bottle. The whole bus adopted me as their American.

"Bus to Tisovec please?" I asked in Slovak. Someone called the bus station hotline and reported back that the next bus to Tisovec would leave at 1am. I know at that point that I looked devastated. "Jeden? (One?)" I asked, "Aye-yi-yi!" The whole bus laughed. "Nie, nie," I cried. "Som uticelka. Mam skola zaytra." (No, no! I am a teacher. I have school tomorrow.) The bus full of people must have felt very sorry for me because they all started calling a couple of different bus stations. After about twenty minutes, they were able to find a bus route slightly out of the way - but one that would get me home by 10!

To sum up a long story, I made it home safely thanks to the love and hospitality of a bus full of Slovak people. It was a sweet ending to both a long and sad day and a wonderful weekend.

Operation Tardy Wall Paper

This week I have had a minor problem with tardy students. None of my students have been outrageously tardy - but some of them have a habit of walking in just after the bell has rung. Usually, these students are full of apologies, "Sorry, Ms. Teacher," they say. For the first two or three classes, I didn't think anything of it. I simply told them to take a seat and begin their warm-ups. Yet, as time passed, I began to see a trend. A small group of students were always a little late. I have decided that they either chronic problem OR they do not understand how the bells work - they must think that the bell means it's time to start walking to class. Either way, I've decided to help them. They need to come to class on time.

This is the plan I developed this week.  If you are late to my class you have an additional assignment - you must either write sentences ("I will not be late to class" twenty times) or, if you are 4th or 5th year students, you must write a paragraph explaining why you were late.

I have shared with my classes that I will be putting these sentences and paragraphs to good use. I'm going to hang their papers on my kitchen wall and use them for wall paper. Therefore, if you come late to class, you will help decorate my apartment. The students thought this was hilarious.  Until they owed me wallpaper.  

  
Whenever a student is tardy to my class, I usually call out his or her name as they walk in. "Janka," I say, "You are late to my class. You must have lost your mind! You can't come late to my class. You owe me wall paper." The next class, when Janka turns in her sentences or paragraph explanation, I usually smile at her and say, “Thanks for the wall paper, but do not come late to my class again.”

Two of the fifth year students arrived late to one of my classes – so, of course, they owed me wall paper. I laughed out loud when I finally got around to reading their paragraphs. These two students have a strong sense of drama. For your reading pleasure, I thought I would share with you what they wrote.  (Please note: These paragraphs are written as I received them – grammar mistakes and all. The Slovak language does not have articles – “a,” “an,” or “the,” so the students struggle with these in English.)

This is from Dusan –
“Why I was late:
Yesterday I came to class a little bit later. I would try to explain why I did it. First I was in buffet. Then when I bought smoething to eat, I went to first floor. There I sat and was talking to Domca. I didn’t looked on time it was. That was the fault. And then it happened. The bell starts ringing. In second, we were on our feet and started running up stairs. We knew that we are going to be late. I was really sorry about that. It was the first and last time it happens.”

Then, this paragraph is from Domca, Dusan’s friend who also came late to class that day –

“Yes, I was late yesterday. But, why? I was sitting on the bench and I was talking with Dusan. I told Dusan, “It is going to ring.” But he was still sitting. Suddenly, the bell rang. I was in shock and I was running to the class. But you were already there. Next time I won’t be late again.”

I get such a kick out my students!

So far, I think Operation Tardy Wall Paper is working – on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I assigned a LOT of wall paper, but I did not have to assign any at all on Thursday or Friday. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Driving Someone Else's Car

I once heard someone say that living in a new country and getting used to a new culture is like driving someone else's car. You see, you know how to drive because you’ve been doing it for years. Yet, when you drive someone else’s car, you can’t be on autopilot. You are conscious of things like how big your new vehicle is, where the gear shift is, and which switch turns on the windshield wipers. When you live overseas, you have to work harder and be more conscious of even the smallest things. From correctly picking the gender-appropriate bathroom and navigating a school copier (with buttons and directions in Slovak), to taking big risks at the grocery store (is this meat what I think it is?), my brain is constantly acting and reacting.



I have to admit, the Slovak language can, at times, put my brain on overload. I have never seen so many consonants strung together in a word! Thankfully, my students get a kick out of helping me with the language. They tell me that I try hard, but I "just don't have the skills." : )



Whenever I am out to eat, I have a policy that I eat Slovak food (even Slovak pizza!). I try to order a different entre every time I go out. I have to tell you, I have eaten the most bizarre mthings. At one meal, I ate noodles with poppy seeds and jam on top. At one of my last meals out, I had grilled chicken with strawberry yogurt on top. I have to tell you, sometimes I wonder if the cooks are kidding! I have images of them sitting in the kitchen snickering to one another, "Let's try this and see if those silly Americans will eat it!"



Amidst all of this, I am enjoying living in Slovakia. It is truly like driving someone else's car --- nothing is quite as it seems, and even simple things can take a lot of concentration. Still, I see life in Slovakia as a challenge, and I do like a good challenge.


Because I have been so busy, I have plowed straight through any culture shock or fatigue I have experienced. There is so much to do for classes, that it seems I have had no time for feeling homesick. For this reason, I have been in Slovakia for a month, but I didn't realize that I was a little homesick until Sunday.


On Sunday, my friends and I were in Bratislava, and we got to go to an English speaking church in the city. I was pretty stoked on Saturday night to get to worship God in English. I joked with Heidi that God likes it best when I speak to Him in English. When we got to the church, I sat in the pews of the one of the prettiest little chapels I had ever seen. Arden Haug, the ELCA Pastor and Regional Representative of Europe (my ELCA boss) and interim pastor of this small congregation, led the liturgy in English. I cannot tell you nice it was to sing "Lift High the Cross." By the time Arden began his sermon by saying, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ," I was tearing up. In fact, I tear up a little now as I write this.

I can count the number of times in my twenty-two years that I have missed worship on two hands. On most Sundays, I end up attending two to three worship services and spending ten or more hours at church. Worship on Sundays is an important part of my life. By far, it has been both a blessing and a challenge to worship at a Slovak church. First, it is neat to experience worship in another language. Because they are Lutheran, I can follow most of what is going on in the Slovak liturgy even though I do not understand it. I am even learning the Lord's Prayer in Slovak. Still, worshipping in Slovak is a challenge as well. It can be a little frustrating not to understand what is being said - especially to sit patiently while the pastor gives a ten to fifteen minute sermon in another language. It is also difficult not to receive communion each week. In Slovakia, communion is offered rarely - in fact, we have not yet had communion at our Slovak church.


For all of these reasons and more, it was wonderful to be at worship in Bratislava on Sunday. I know that I am fed and nourished by God, who speaks and understands all languages, no matter which church I attend; however, this past Sunday it was especially filling and comforting to worship at the "Little Church" in Bratislava. There is nothing quite like a piece of home.

To you, my friends in America who worship each Sunday at their home congregation, I say this: do not take it for granted. It is a privilege and a gift of grace to be surrounded by people who love you, who can call you by name and who speak the same language that you do.
To myself I say: It is a privelege to be surrounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ in Slovakia. It is a gift of grace that we can worship God together in different languages in peace and without fear. Thanks be to the God who unites us no matter where we live and no matter what language we speak.

I am remembering all of you in my prayers each morning. Thank you to everyone in America who is praying for me.

To Blava, to Blava I Went

This past weekend, the American teachers in Tisovec decided to travel to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. By European standards Bratislava (or Blava, for short) is not a big city, but for those of us in Tisovec where the population is less than 5,000 people, Bratislava is a happening place.

There is a contingent of six American teachers in Bratislava. They are serving at a bilingual Lutheran high school called the Lyceum (pronounced: leets-eum). These American teachers are all in their twenties or early thirties --- except for an older couple from Kentucky. The Schmidts are grandparents who have just recently retired, and they are serving for a year as teachers in Slovakia. How cool is that?

Bratislava is about an hour train or bus ride from Vienna. It is at the far western point of Slovakia. To get to Kosice, Slovakia's second largest city, is about a four and a half hour train ride. Tisovec is in the middle of Slovakia. Sadly, to get from Tisovec to Bratislava is a SIX hour bus or train ride. Tisovec is a small town and there are no direct connections ANYWHERE from Tisovec. Lucky for us, Fridays are always half days at school. The last class of the day ends at 11:20, so we usually have enough time to catch the noon bus whenever we want to go anywhere. Last Friday that is just what we did!

By noon on Friday, we were lining up at the bus stop with some of our students who were also heading home for the weekend. (Remember that my school is a week-long boarding school. All of our students go home each weekend --- this is why Friday is always a half day.) The noon buses are always super crowded. It was a looong bus ride to Blava. We were not on an air conditioned bus, and the road was windy most of the way.

When we got to Bratislava, we took a city bus from the bus station and went to one of the teachers' flats. We went out for pizza (pizza is BIG in Slovakia) and drinks and then headed home to hang out.

On Saturday, we traveled to Raca - a small town just outside of Bratislava - for a "New Wine" Festival. You see, Slovaks are good drinkers. In fact, Slovaks are VERY good drinkers. In Tisovec, it is not uncommon to walk past the nursing home on my street and see the residents taking SHOTS of Slivovica at three in the afternoon. (Slivovica is often called fire water. It is very strong alochol.) Needless to say, a lot of people were at the New Wine Festival. The new wine is called burcak in Slovak. It has not been aged for long. It's typically sweet and very potent. We spent the day walking around the festival and sipping from red and white burcak and eating good Slovak food.

It is Slovak tradition to toast before you drink anything - a shot, a beer, a glass of wine etc. You toast before each round of drinks. Here's how it works: everyone in the group raises his or her glass and says "na zdravie." This means "to your health" and it sounds kind of like you're saying "nice driveway." You are supposed to make eye contact and say na zdravie to everyone you are sharing a drink with. A couple of weeks ago, I was a little uncomfortable with this ritual. It felt weird to make eye contact with everyone around the circle. Now, I like it. It's fun to connect in that way with people around you. Like good Slovaks, we toasted "na zdravie" before each glass of new wine. We had a great time! At the end of the day, a Slovak told us that you never toast "na zdravie" before good wine because the wine is not done yet. Who knew?

These are my new friends:

From left to right --- Mark (Tisovec), Heidi (Tisovec), Me, Stephanie (Liptovsky Mikulas),

Eric (Tisovec), Maika (Bratislava), Carsten (Bratislava), and Becky (Tisovec) and

Jon (Bratislava --- he's the one taking the picture)

This is Heidi and I on the city bus:

Ms. Hartwig and Ms. Large Go to School!

Monday was our first day of classes. My new name is "Ms. Large." My students (of all ages!) find my last name hilarious. One student raised his hand asked, "Ms. Large? Like Ms. Large as in small?" "No," I answered seriuosly, "Ms. Large as in 'BIG.'" The class died laughing.

So far, classes have been very busy. The woman who is in charge of the schedule had to go to the hospital for surgery this week, and so our schedule has been crazy to say the least. This week, I have had 90 extra students to teach. I do not know which ones will be mine this semester and which ones I will have next semester - so I teach them all. Needless to say, my classes are packed.

It is Slovak tradition for students to stand whenever their teacher enters the room. Teachers come to class as the bell rings. When I walk into class, my students stand. I say "Hello," and I invite them to bow their heads while I pray the prayer of St. Thomas before reading and study. Then, I tell the class they may be seated. This classroom ritual felt a bit odd to me at first. It is certainly more formal than anything I am used to in the States; however, I have found over the last week that this structured beginning helps to define "class" and "learning" time.

I am gaining a reputation as a very tough teacher. On the first day I have a particular class, I introduce the syllabus by saying, "In this class, you will do a lot of reading and a lot of writing about (the given subject). This class will not be easy. It will be difficult, and you will need to work hard - but you will all do well." Then, as I explain that they will have homework in English every night, I watch their eyes get big. As I tell them they will have a quiz or written assignment in English every class, I watch their eyes pop out of their heads. At this point, I usually say, "To be a good reader in English, you must do a lot of reading in English. To be a good writer in English, you must do a lot of writing in English." Judging by my students face, I don't think that they appreciate this logic.

On Monday, I taught all of the second years in Old Testament. I was impressed with their English, but I was not impressed with their classroom manners. One group was particularly chatty. I stopped talking not once but TWICE in class until they were quiet. Each time I sternly reminded them of the classroom rules to listen and be respectful. By the third time, I was pretty frustrated with this group. So, I asked them if they knew what the word "respectful" meant. They said they did, and I told them that their actions did not demonstrate this knowledge. I invited them to look up "respectful" in the dictionary and read the definition to me. Then, I asked them if they knew the word "obnoxious." They did not. So, I invited them to look that word up in the dictionary and read it aloud. I told them that today their actions were "obnoxious." Because of that, they must copy the definition of "obnoxious" ten times. I told them that during our next class I expected them to be respectful. To help them remember what this words means, I told them that they must copy the definition of "respectful" ten times. They were not happy with me at all, but would you believe that the next time I had these kids for class, their behavior was excellent?

Last week, I was warned by the other teachers that the students hate their religion classes. Some of the students dislike these classes because they don't like the religion teachers, and some of them hate religion classes because they do not believe in God or consider themselves Christian. Most of my students do not attend church, and some are very adamantly atheist. These students don't understand why they must have classes in religion - and they don't consider these classes relevant to their lives. For this reason, I had the following discussion during the second day of all of my religion classes (Old Testament, Life and Teachings of Jesus, and Reformation History).

I asked my students the following questions:

1. What comes word to your mind when you hear the word "religion?"

Usually, they said things like: "God," "Jesus," "hope," "boring church," "love," "peace," "no belief," etc.

2. Is religion a good thing? Why or why not?

At this question, some students articulated that religion was a good thing because it gives hope and peace, most religions teach love, etc. Other students said that religion may be a good thing but that people use it for bad. They cited instances in which people hurt others in the name of religion.

3. If the three world religions (Islam, Christianity & Judaism) teach love, why do you think so many wars have occurred in the name of God?

The students really got into this question. They said that different people have different opinions and beliefs and no one will every really agree. They also said that people are convinced that their beliefs are right and everyone else is wrong.

2. Who practices religion? Why?

After defining the collocation "practice religion," I invited these students to raise their hands. They shared that they worship, believe, etc. because their parents do, or because God has called them, etc.

3. Who does not practice religion? Why?

Again, I invited these students to raise their hands. These students share that they do not go to church, believe, etc. because they have never seen a miracle or evidence of God. One student said God was created by people to make them feel better about themselves. Other students said they were too lazy to believe in God.

After the students shared, I thanked them for their contributions to the class discussion. I told them that in this class, there are some students who believe in God and there are some students who do not believe in God. I told them that I grew up as a Christian and that I studied religion at the university. I have my own thoughts and beliefs about religion and God. Then, I told them that they are fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years old. They have their own thoughts about religion. That is fine and good. I re-iterated the fact that I am not here to preach to them or to make them believe one thing or another. I will respect their beliefs and they will respect my beliefs and each other's beliefs. I told them that there would be no "wars" in our classroom. I said that different students will have different beliefs and opinions and everyone may think that he or she is right - but in this classroom, we will all listen to one another. Then I told them, "Despite all of our differences, we will still be learning about the Old Testament, Life and Teachings of Jesus or Reformation History." Surprisingly, my students responded very well to this discussion - there was a lot of head-nodding. Later, many students wrote about this class in their journals, and they seemed very open and willing to listen to each other and to learn the material. (Thank God!)

Muran Castle

On Saturday morning Heidi, Eric, Becky, Mark and I decided to wake up early and catch a bus to Muran so that we could hike to Muran castle. Supposedly, the Muran castle was the scene of a lot of medieval drama. Stories about Muran are quite scandalous.

The sky was overcast by the time we reached the trail head. Before long it was raining. Thankfully the tree cover kept us fairly dry. Our hike to the castle was only forty-five minutes – but it was forty-five minutes of strenuous uphill action.  

The castle was well worth the walk. It was BEAUTIFUL. Here’s the view of the guard tower that serves as the entrance to the castle grounds.  

These are my friends Heidi and Becky standing in the windows of the tower.

This is the view from Mt Ciganka. There is an old folk tale in which the captain of the Muran castle falls in love with a gypsy girl named Ciganka. The two lovers get married. As time passed, the captain spent more and more of his time away as a soldier in battle. His lovely young bride was not faithful to him. One day, the captain came home from war and found that his wife was being untrue to him. So, he threw her off the cliff, and now the cliff is forever more known as Mt. Ciganka.  Here are the viewsfrom the cliff.  

This is me, Heidi and Eric standing in what used to be the castle chapel.

This is a picture taken from the bottom of the mountain. The Muran castle was built on those rocks.  

Next weekend three of the American teachers and I will be going to Bratislava to hang out with the teachers there.

Work hard. Play hard.

The sun here rises very early. Our bedroom windows face the east, and by 5:30am our room is lit up with morning sun. I find myself waking up around 5:45 even though teacher work days don’t start until 9:00. For this reason by 9 at night, I am usually pretty tired. Heidi calls 9pm “missionary midnight” because, in places without electricity, missionaries get up with the sun and go to bed not long after the sun sets. Staying awake until 9pm most likely means that a missionary has been burning candles for quite a while. Heidi and I have both adopted “missionary midnight” (or perhaps an hour later) as our standard bedtime.  

We have also adopted the Philmont motto “Work hard. Play hard.” As brand-new teachers, we are working very hard! Between learning about the school and its policies, writing year plans for our classes, and going to court every few days for visa paperwork, we are exhausted in the evenings. However, I would have to say that for as hard as we work --- we play just as hard!

On Saturday, four other American teachers (Heidi, Mark, Eric, Whitney) and I met at 8:45 to hike Mt Hradova. Mt Hradova is quite literally our backyard --- and I figured Saturday was as a good a day as any for hiking – aka what I am going to call “yardwork.”

Mt Hradova is one of the smaller mountains by Slovakia standards. Here’s the view of Tisovec from about a third of the way up the mountain.

These are my friends Heidi, Eric and Mark.

We saw the remains of the Tisovec Castle. Sadly, this is all that’s left.

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we had to scramble across the boulder-lined ridge. We were literally crawling across a series of rocks with nothing on either side but a long way down. It wasn’t a technical climb – but I was still nervous. This is the view from the top of Mt Hradova. I am surprised by how green Slovakia is.  

Our hike down Hradova was STRAIGHT down at points along the trail. We handled this by slowing down and droping it a gear – meaning we hunkered down and squatted while walking. We looked pretty silly, and the next day we were all reminded of the fact that we had quadricep muscles.  I'm looking forward to hiking more this weekend.