Winter in Slovakia

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas vacation in the states, spending almost all our time with family.  Travel was somewhat frustrating with a one day delay traveling home and a five hour delay coming back, but what can you expect at Christmas?  It was fun to spend several days at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia with Kristen and Dave, Karin and Brian, and all the grandkids.  We were kept inside most of the time because of -22 degree wind-chill, but the family fellowship was especially warm.


We returned back to Bratislava on January 10 and jumped back into the regular schedule the next morning with a school-wide church service and shortened classes.  There were still three weeks of school left in the first semester, but in reality we had to get everything of any consequence completed during our first week back since we had to have all the grades determined by the middle of the next week.  Anything that we took grades on after that goes toward the Spring semesters grades.  We also had to contend with end-of-semester parent meetings and the ever popular "classification meeting" where a report is given be each class teacher (like an American homeroom teacher) regarding the statistics for her or his class.  These include the numbers of boys and girls, of missed classes, of students with high honors, of students to be given disciplinary warnings, as well as the number failing.  Of course all these are given in Slovak with asynchronous translation into English.


Our semester break consisted of the day off on Monday, February 1, so we took advantage of the long weekend by renting a car and traveling up to Dolny Kubin to visit Phil's relatives.  It was an easy three and a half hour trip that took us north from the plain of the Danube into the foothills of the Tatra Mountains. In the past we have stayed with Iveta and Leonard, since they have a small guest cottage (chata) behind their house and since Iveta is a teacher of English who helps us to communicate with others in the family.  Since the pipes had frozen in the chata we couldn't stay there, so we stayed instead with Iveta's parents, Jan and Maria, at their home in Dolny Kubin.  All of us tried to communicate with some modest success.  Sue has been taking Slovak lessons and Phil seems to be able to pick up some of the words easily enough.  Thanks especially to Maria's patience in speaking slowly and repeating, we were able to enjoy conversation.  One of the things that we discovered was that they had been married three weeks after us and that we were both celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversaries during the months of January and February.  Another topic of conversation was the very strange winter weather that we have all been experiencing.  Bratislava usual has a week or two of light snow during the winter, but this year, we've had snow on the ground for most of December and all of January along with colder temperatures than normal.  Dolny Kubin, on the other hand, is located in the mountains and usually experiences deep snows from November through March.  This year however, there was no snow until the weekend of our visit and the ski venues were lamenting the poor season that they were having.


We spent much time in Dolny Kubin outdoors and active.  On Saturday, Leonard had taken Ninka and Matko to a skiing competition some 50 km away, and they had left early in the morning.  We opted to go with Iveta to Kubinska Hola, a ski mountain about 7 km outside of Dolny Kubin.  This mountain had gentle ski runs, at least on the part we saw.  We took the lift up and hiked around in the snow while Iveta skied.  Then we all hiked to a chalet near the upper ski runs.  There we had some hot chocolate and enjoyed the ambience of this old resort.  We returned to the top of the ski lift and Sue and Phil rode down while Iveta skied down.


We returned to Jan and Maria's for lunch consisting of Kapusnitza (Sauerkraut soup) and Slovak Pierogi (ravioli stuffed with potato, onion, and cheese, boiled and served covered with cheese and bacon).  After lunch, we met Tanya, Iveta's younger sister and her children Kup'ko (age 2) and Sashka (age 6).  Tanya's husband, Dushan, works for the Mountain Ski patrol service and so is gone most weekends.  Tanya and Dushan's family live in an apartment that Jan added to the house several years ago.  He added a story to the house and finished it to be a very attractive two bedroom apartment.  We visited with them and, after the children warmed up to us, we enjoyed their antics - very reminiscent of our grandkids.


Leonard returned with the other kids in the late afternoon and we went to an indoor water park that had just opened in Dolny Kubin.  We were all admitted at half-price since Mat’ko produced his grade report with all marks of 1 (the equivalent of straight A’s).  This facility consists of two pools – one cold for lap swimming and the other warm for relaxation and play, two hot-tubs, several slides and lots of chairs around the pools.  The warm pool also has lots of features such as sprays, bubblers, and a large circulating ring in the center that carries you around a large circle.  Water Parks of this sort are very popular in Slovakia and range from the traditional thermal springs and pools to giant parks with multiple pools and play areas that are primarily used in the summer.  The one in Dolny Kubin was very nice and we look forward to visiting some others in the spring when family members are here visiting – bring your swim suits!


On Sunday, we worshiped with Iveta at the Lutheran Church in Dolny Kubin.  It turned out that this was a significant service since it commemorated the 80th anniversary of the death of Jurová Janoškovi, the first General Bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran Church of Slovakia) who was born in Dolny Kubin.  The preacher of the day was Bishop Miloš Klotik, current General Bishop of the Church and the person who had commissioned us at the beginning of our service in Slovakia.  After church, we went to the nearby ski hill in town to watch Leonard train Ninka and Mat’ko in preparation for their next skiing competitions then we returned to Jan and Maria’s home for lunch and a rest.  In the late afternoon we all went to the home of Maria’s brother Pavlo and his wife Milka.  Of course, there was more wonderful food and stimulating drink and we got more practice in trying to converse in Slovak. 


Click here for some video of our visit to Dolny Kubin.


We had hoped to travel to the High Tatras on Monday, but the weather was such that we wouldn’t have been able to see anything.  This is the fourth time we’ve been unsuccessful in seeing the mountains; perhaps when family visits in the Spring we’ll have better luck.  So we traveled home, stopping in Modra near Bratislava to buy some traditionally painted cups to add to our collection of souvenirs.  We then drove into Austria, just across the border, to shop at an outlet mall and to do some grocery shopping.  Even with outlet reductions, most of the clothes were ridiculously expensive, thanks in part to the Value Added Tax of 19%.  The groceries were close to the same price as in Slovakia, but there was a slightly better selection, although not large enough to warrant a special trip.


We’re into a pretty steady routine now.  In addition to regular teaching responsibilities, we’re active in the Bratislava International Church and in socializing with our colleagues from the school.  We eat together or go out almost weekly and are really enjoying their company.  Sue volunteers every Tuesday afternoon at a Roma (Gypsy) village outside of town.  This is a program run by the US Embassy – the goals aren’t absolutely clear, but it does give Americans an opportunity to try to help the Roma kids learn some English.  We regularly attend performances of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; there’ll be about ten over the next four months and look for other opportunities to enjoy the rich cultural life here.  We have enjoyed participating in a monthly Current Events Forum where local speakers (usually Slovaks) present their insights into the state of affairs here.  We’ve heard presentations on the Roma and problems educating their children, on the potential for more gas cuts as occurred last year when the Russians cut off the supply through the Ukraine, and on the role of women in Slovak politics and work life.


The last topic especially struck us as interesting, since it pointed to the changes that had occurred since the fall of Communism in 1989.  The speaker noted the weak role that women play in the nation’s politics in spite of the fact that women had played a strong role in the “Velvet Revolution” that led to the fall of Communism.  We are learning more about Slovak politics (there’s a Parliamentary election this Spring) as well as Slovak attitudes regarding the change from communism to capitalism and will share our thoughts on this in a later blog.