Where in the world is Meghan Large?

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea where I was. It took me a full minute... was in Slovakia? Charlotte? Cary? Ohio? Asheville? And then, I remembered, "Oh yeah, I live in Peru now."

The city in which I am staying is Arequipa, in southern Peru. You can see it on this map.



Arequipa has about a million inhabitants - so it is the size of Charlotte. In fact, Charlotte and Arequipa are sister cities. Who knew?

In Arequipa, I live with a host family - a host mother (Mama Charito), and two host sisters (Pia who lives with us and another sister I haven't met yet because she studies at university in Lima, the captial of Peru). My host sister, Pia, is the same age as my own sister, Lauren. Pia speaks wonderful English - but after today, she and I are only going to talk to Spanish. My host mother speaks no English, and our conversations at the breakfast table are fabulous.

My work is in Alto Cayma, which is a suburb of sorts of Arequipa. I have just begun to get to know the people and the settlements of Alto Cayma. I am hoping to sit down this week and share with you pictures and descriptions of my first impression of this place. Stay tuned for much, much more.

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."

In three days, I am hopping on another plane and travelling across the world - again. This time, however, I will be heading southward instead of eastward. This is particularly exciting for me because it means that I am in the same time zone as my friends and family. Life --- particularly skype calls home ---- just got that much easier!

In the last three weeks, I have felt like I have been going round and round in a revolving door. I have visited New York City; Toledo, Ohio; and Cary, Taylorsville, Hickory and Asheville, NC. I have preached at two different churches, and I have had more lunch and dinner dates than I have ever had in my life. I have so enjoyed my time at home. It has been a blessing to see the faces of family and friends that I have missed over the last year. Time with you all is good for my soul : ). These last few weeks have been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade a second of them.

I am going to continue blogging about my adventures in Peru. The blog rules are still the same: what you read here is for your eyes only. Whatever you do, Shh! Don't tell mom.

Time to Get Goin'

I have two days until I am stateside and five days until I am home. My travel plans are as follows:

I leave for Bratislava on Saturday afternoon and arrive in the evening. I wake up with Heidi and Eric on Sunday morning and together we catch a bus from Bratislava to the Vienna airport. The three of us are on three different flights but we all leave between ten and eleven o’clock. My personal flight has me going further east to Warsaw before I finally head west. I arrive in NYC at 4pm on the 4th of July. I’m going to spend three days with Meredith, one of my best friends in the whole world. Then, finally, I fly from NYC to CLT on Wednesday, July 7th. I touchdown at 3pm and will be home by 4. I can’t wait to see you guys. Thank you so much for all the ways you have loved and cared for and supported me while I have been so far away. Your prayers and thoughts have meant the world to me.

Beginnings and Completions

The school year at EGT begins and ends with a church service. I remember the worship service at the beginning of the year. Everyone was in formal dress and met in front of Tisovec church. Students and parents were everywhere. I walked through this sea of faces, not recognizing one of them, and made my way down the aisle of this huge, cold church to sit in the designated “teacher” pew. I sat through a church service in a language that was as foreign to me as gibberish. And I was welcomed as a teacher-missionary into this school community with no idea of what the year would hold.

Our closing worship was on Wednesday. Again, everyone was in formal and met in front of Tisovec church. Students were everywhere, but this time as I walked through the crowd, I realized that I knew every student’s face. Not only could I call them by name, but I could ask them questions about the things that were going on in their lives and the things they had planned for summer holiday. I talked with so many students that it took me a while to find my way to the font set of pews. Just as in August, I sat through a church service in a language that I still don’t know. Yet as I was sitting, I watched my students and I was struck by the way these worship services bookend my school year and time in Slovakia. It seemed that nothing had really changed, and yet so much had. I have grown in confidence and in experience. And I have formed relationships with my neighbors and friends in Slovakia. While this year has certainly not been a walk in the park, I am thankful for both our first worship – where I knew nothing and no one , our last worship – where I realized that I had a place in this Tisovec community, and most of all, I am thankful for all the time in between.

Hel'pa Folklore Festival

Last weekend, the American teachers went on our last trip together. We went to a traditional Slovak folklore festival in Hel’pa, a small town about two hours away from Tisovec. During the summer, it is customary for each village and town to have their “Days.” Tisovec has a weekend of “Tisovec Days,” and Hel’pa had its weekend of “Hel’pa Days.” On these weekends, the whole town comes out to perform traditional Slovak dances, buy and sell traditional Slovak products such as medovina (honey wine), wooden kitchenware, leather merchandise, kroj (traditional Slovak dress), and much more. The best parts of the larger festivals are when the towns host folklore dancing. Hel’pa has one of the largest festivals in Slovakia --- they have even built an outdoor ampitheater out of wood to host hours and hours of Slovak dancing.

We arrived in Hel’pa early Saturday morning and did some shopping. I bought a set of six wooden spoons – something I have been wanting to do all year. (Wooden spoon are the best thing to use when eating Slovak gulas… and I keep telling my mother that I want to build a fire pit in our backyard so that we can make true Slovak gulas in pot. Watch out mom, because now I have the proper cutlery for our gulas adventure!) At about mid-morning, we met one of our first year students and followed her back to her house. Viktoria had been kinda enough to offer us her backyard so that we could set up a tent and camp there during the festival. When we got to Viktoria’s house, we were surprised to find her entire family there – mom, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma. They were in the midst of making gulas for the group. So, while the gulas was cooking, we hung out with her family.

We were completely shocked when her uncle brought a “surprise” as an appetizer. This is what Tomas purchased for the group’s enjoyment:



Yes, we ate it.

After gulas, we all went to the ampitheater to watch folklore dancing. Here are some of the groups we saw.
The clothes that they wear are their particular town’s style of kroj. Typically Slovaks will still wear kroj to special occasions such as weddings or confirmations.





Hel’pa was a wonderful way to celebrate my last full weekend in Slovakia. I have enjoyed getting to know this rich culture and history, and I believe there is a lot that I will take home with me.

The Home Stretch

Friday was our last day of regular classes. School does not officially end until the 30th; however, the students participate in alternative education workshops from now until then. The American teachers are beginning to pack and clean out their offices. Things are definitely winding down in T-town.

Last week we had our last Friday Night Lights Bible Study of the year. The girls watched the finale of season one, and our discussion was about thanksfulness. We made them American cookies and bagels to eat, and they brought us Slovak cake. We had a wonderful time closing out the year with such a fun and faithful group of students.

There is one story from that night that I probably shouldn't share because both parties involved in the story will be mortified. In keeping with my blog policy of full-disclosure, I'm going to tell it to you anyways.

As the girls were leaving, we spent about ten minutes giving hugs and saying goodbye after our closing prayer. Two of the girls came up to me and asked if they should say a special thank you to Eric (Mr. Richter) because he was the one who started the Bible Study. I said that, of course, they could thank him. So the two girls (somewhat) discreetly, walked around our living room planning a dog-pile/bear-hug with Mr. Richter. Heidi (Ms. Hartwig) laughed as she heard them planning this and jokingly said, "Kiss him too, while you're at it girls." A minute later, one of the girls counted to three and everyone rushed Mr. Richter. Then one of our girls, who didn't realize Ms. Hartwig had been kidding, leaned in and gave him a smacking kiss right on the cheek. Everyone watched as Mr. Richter and our student turned fire engine red and stared at each other in shock. We could not contain our laughter.
What a way to end the year : )

In other news, Becky, Eric and I had our mentor meeting with our 1B1 class. It's hard to believe these high school freshmen will be second years next year. I think even they are a little sad to drop the "1" from their class name and become 2B1s.

We invited all the kids over to Eric's house for ice cream (Zmrzlina - in Slovak). The kids had a wonderful time taking group pictures and talking about their summer holidays. I am going to miss them terribly, and I am so happy that I have friends who will be coming back to teach next year and watch out for my kids.

This is our last 1B1 photo:

I sLOVEnia!

When I first told my Taylorsville family that I was going to be spending a year teaching in Slovakia, Eric (the dad), asked me in his strong southern voice, "Now, why would you want to go to Slovenia?" I laughed at him and told him that I wasn't going to SLOVENIA. I was going to SLOVAKIA. For the next few months until I left, Eric continued to ask me every time he saw me why I wanted to go to Slovenia. No matter how many times I corrected him, the question remained the same.

Guess what, Eric? After this weekend, I can tell you why everyone should want to make a trip to Slovenia : )

On Friday, we left Tisovec for our last big trip of the year. After school, we hopped on a bus to Bratislava and then rented a car to ROAD TRIP the rest of the way.
Our route led us through most of Austria before we crossed the border into Slovenia.

We arrived at Lake Bohinj some time in the middle of the night on Firday. On Saturday, we woke up early and drove a couple of towns over to Bled. Lake Bled is one of the most famous and picturesque sites in Slovenia. This area is well-known in Central Europe for hiking, biking, and rowing. The lake is surrounded by the Julian Alps --- which are so high there was still snow on them in the middle of June!

We had a picnic brunch and dangled our feet in the lake water. Lake Bled is home to many birds. This is the swan who thought he could snag part of my sandwich.



After brunch, we spent the morning walking around Lake Bled. The weather was picture perfect.

This is the church in the center of the lake.



In this picture, you can see one of the peaks of the Julian Alps behind the church.



This is the castle that guards the lake.



In the afternoon, we hiked through Vintgar Gorge. The hike was beautiful --- the path was actually a series of raised bridges that wove back and forth over a river.



Because of the mineral deposits and high sulfur content in the sediment, much of the rivers and lakes in Slovenia have a goregous bluish-green tint.



Check out that white water!



This is the waterfall (or SLAP as it's called in Slovenian) at the end of the hike.



Later that evening, we walked around Lake Bohinj.



The next morning, we woke up early enough to catch the tail end of the sunrise on the lake and then we made the short drive to Italy so that we could have gelatto for breakfast.

This is the view from above the Italian coastal city Trieste.



And this is a typical narrow Italian street. I love the stucco. And I love gelatto.



From Trieste, we meandered our way back through Slovenia and into Austria until finally we were back in the SK.

Slovenia was on my radar until Eric West mentioned it (repeatedly) before I left for Europe. And to be honest, I jumped at the chance to go to Slovenia simply so I could tell him all about why someone would want to go there. And I am so glad that I went. Slovenia has one of the prettiest countrysides in Europe. I am ready for Eric to ask how my time in Slovenia was : ).