A Christmas Talent Show

This last week we made a visit to the orphanage in Tisovec. 

This orphanage is primarily filled with children from Roma (gypsy) communities, which is especially sad because they will have a very difficult time being accepted here in Slovakia. The issues surrounding the Roma communities here in Slovakia is extremely complicated and sad, but it was nice to put all of that aside to hang out with these kids for an afternoon. 

We visited about 2 months ago to this orphanage to play games with all of the kids in English. 

They weren't especially interested in English-language games, but really wanted to show us their talents. 

So, for this special Christmastime visit we held a talent show! 

Watch the short video below:

Watch the video here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Teaching Thanksgiving

I must admit, I have not been keeping up with this blog as much as I would like (and yet much more than I realistically thought I would) I have just been so busy break dancing and what-not. 

I am only realizing now that after almost 3 months of teaching high school classes alone (for the first time in my life) I haven't shared anything about my experiences teaching English and American culture to Slovak students... Well, that's all going to change with this post!

Between my busy dancing schedule I attended a training session for Fulbright ETA's in Krakow, Poland. The trip to Krakow was incredible - It was a beautiful city with an old-fashioned and lovely town square (and you already know how important town squares are)!

Me enjoying the town square in Krakow

There was a GIANT head in the square (extra points for Krakow)!

At the training with my training Buddies - Anna from Kosice and James from Budapest, Hungary

The 2 1/2 day training was quite enlightening for me. Initially my fears was that I wouldn't learn anything new, or worse, I would find out that all my teaching methods were awful and the opposite of what a good ESL teacher would do! But neither of my fears materialized. I managed to learn some new techniques for classroom management, new activities to do with my rambunctious first years and where to go to find even more resources. I also learned that my intuitions about how to teach students wasn't so far off from what the experts said to do (whew!) About myself, I learned that even if I don't know what all the various teaching techniques are called, or even if I only took one course about education at Lewis and Clark, I can still be a good teacher. 

Perhaps, you shouldn't listen to me. Judge for yourselves! Last Wednesday I filmed one of my lessons. We were talking about Thanksgiving (perfect timing!) in my first year classes. 

(BTW, I teach: 2 first year English classes, 2 fifth year English conversation classes, and 2 fifth year writing classes)

So, here is a 13 minute video to illustrate how my 45 minute long lessons with fifteen students (age 14-16) tend to go.  I apologize for the choppy editing. I wanted to get this video up as soon as possible. I'm also sorry if there are really boring parts, but just think how my poor students feel :). 

video from my class

We spent three days talking about Thanksgiving, because I really like Thanksgiving! The next day we had a "feast" in class. Every student brought in a snack to share and I brought some pumpkin-spice cookies (the closest one can get to pumpkin pie in this country). My students really enjoyed the feast and Thanksgiving traditions in general (success!) For me, having the "feast" with my students and going around our desks, arranged in a circle, saying what they were thankful for made me feel like I was at home a little bit. 

It was the perfect way to celebrate Thanksgiving! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

So, from my students and me...

Dovidenia!

A photo from our Thanksgiving Feast!

A little cultural appreciation...

Here at EGT (Evangelical School in Tisovec) there is a wonderful tradition of initiating the first years.... 

and this includes first year teachers, like myself!

Another American Tia and I were asked to prepare some special for students during their immatriculation   event earlier this evening. Naturally I jumped at the chance to make fun of myself!

So, Tia ("DJ Zmrzlina") and I ("Zamok", which means lock in Slovak) prepared a dance number to a song from one of the oldest hip-hop groups in Slovakia - Rap Steady Crew. 

Check out the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ofeeoUKCM

Enjoy!

Think Global, Act Slovak

This weekend a couple students from our school participated in a Model United Nations conference in Bratislava. I was asked to come along as their faculty advisor (not so much because I know about Model United Nations or even my way around Bratislava, but more as an English helper). I, of course, jumped at the chance to travel again because, as Mae noticed, I go on quite the number of adventures here...

So I went to Bratislava!

The conference took place in the building of National Council of Slovak Republic – simply said, the Slovak parliament.

This conference was quite an international event with students from many countries present. All of the students formed delegations representative of countries in the United Nations and discussed problems such as Piracy in Somalia, Extremism, North Korea, the Advancement of Women and many more topical issues.

My girls were Turkey and they rocked it!

My girls, and the other faculty advisor at the opening ceremony

Well, perhaps I'm easily impressed, but it was wonderful to see so many young adults discussing such important topics in the world and coming to resolution about these problems. Sometimes, I am guilty (as many Americans are accused of being) of only knowing about issues that face America. These 14-18 year old students knew more about the problems of the world than I did. I truly felt, as I looked around the room, that these students could do something to help. That's one of the things I love most about teaching - seeing the passion and energy in younger students.

Then I remembered, I'm young too! And here I am, in another country, with the ability to make a difference. So, I feel not only impressed but inspired to do something great with my year in Slovakia. I'm not exactly sure what that will look like now, but for starters I'm going to try harder to actively learn Slovak language (which, I've recently learned is on a couple lists of the most difficult language to learn) and understand more about the culture through my independent research project (which I haven't even decided on yet)

I have some work to do, but I'm really excited!
Stay tuned...

I suppose this is dovidenia for a little while then...

The girls and I in front of the Bratislava Castle (I love how I'm the shortest!)

Those who do not remember the past...

Are condemned to climb up a terribly steep mountain!


About 2 weeks ago the other American teachers and I (sort of) decided to climb up to a lake situated in the High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. This is a very Slovak thing to do as Slovaks love hiking!
We prepared ourselves by purchasing the correct hiking pants (usually plaid with patches on the knees and back) and renting a room in a "chata"-or cottage- nearby.

We decided to hike to Popradske Pleso, to stay, and then we would hike (but really, it was climbing) up to the highest lake in Slovakia.

I was excited to take the trip, but also nervous, because I remembered once taking this awful hiking trip in Slovakia with a group of students.

I didn't remember much about the trip I took 5 years ago, except for the fact that I was PISSED! I had no idea how far the hike would be and I had to climb over steep and treacherous pathways covered with rocks just to get to some dumb spot I can't even remember anymore. I guess I've never been one for "spectacular views"

Oh, here's 18 year-old me at the start of the hike

At this point I was thoroughly pissed.

Well, had I remembered more about that awful trip 5 years ago, I might not have repeated it two weeks ago...

That's right, of all the mountains to hike in Slovakia I managed to hike up the same awful one TWICE!
I had no idea until we had already hiked about an hour and arrived at the chata! Even then, I wasn't so sure.

Realizing the mistake I made, I tried to escape!

So, once again I trekked up a mountain in order to get to a pleso...

Heidi (another American) and I crossing a small creek on our way up. Notice my amazing Slovak hiking pants

I was a little upset when I realized I was repeating something I didn't enjoy very much the first time, but then I thought about how lucky I was to get a second chance to take in the surroundings (which I obviously didn't appreciate the first time) I tried to let it sink in how surrounded by nature I was and how Slovak I felt (they really do love their hiking here!)


So, maybe forgetting our past doesn't condemn us, but rather, gives us a re-do.
This time I'd like to think I did it better in two ways:

• I quit early... 
• I drank alcohol both before and after the hike (because that's how the Slovaks do!)

Until next time...

Dovidenia!

Fulbrighters Unite!

One of the best parts of being a Fulbrighter in Slovakia is probably the other Fulbrighters scattered across the country. Many of  them are living in towns I haven't yet explored. And the others are living in towns around Slovakia that I already know and love!

Last month we had our first official Fulbright Conference for all the Fulbright Teaching Assistants in Slovakia. There are eight of us, all girls (YEAH! GIRL POWER! SPICE GIRLS) And it was wonderful to spend some time meeting with the other ladies talking about our background, our hopes, goals and expectations for Slovakia. Finally, it was wonderful to hear about all of their unique ideas and project goals while in Slovakia. ( I'll talk more about my side project another time.) It's nice to have these ladies to talk with. Annnnnnddddd... It's nice to have a small army of good ladies to hit up the clubs with! : )

Part of our group of Fulbright Teaching Assistants. We are all in the middle of admiring something very interesting and beautiful in Bratislava during our orientation. I'm in the yellow hat.

Mostly, it felt nice to chat with a bunch of gals who are in the same place I am, academically and culturally. Even though this is my second year in Slovakia, I feel as though much of what I am experiencing here is new! Perhaps it's because I'm at a different point in my life but, in many ways it, feels like there is different Slovakia, which I am now living in.

For instance, last time I was in Slovakia I visited a really great town, Kosice. Five years ago I visited Kosice to go to a friend's goodbye party (He was being kicked out the Rotary Exchange Program for partying too much, so perhaps it was less of a bon voyage party and more of a death-rattle). I sort of remember arriving in the train station and then heading straight to a series of dive-bars. We didn't sleep, but spent the entire night in a smoky bar drinking and cursing our Slovak lives. At some point early in the morning we emerged from the bar and walked right past the "largest gothic style cathedral in Central Europe" to climb onto a train and go home and sleep.

Here's a picture of that beautiful cathedral and me (actually headed towards it this time)

I can't help but to laugh when I compare the "cultural appreciation" of my last trip to visit a few friends in Kosice this last weekend. The three of us spend our mornings and afternoons trying traditional Slovak foods in various eateries, taking long walks around the town's square trying to soak up as much of the architecture, people, and crisp air as we could. We ducked into this one great chocolate cafe to talk about our experiences in Slovakia so far and compare teaching stories.

Me and my friend Anna headed out to start our Saturday!

Best hot chocolate I've ever had!

Now, I'm not going to lie, we also found our way to a bar or club each night we were in town! The height of my trip might have been when we got on the guest list to see a Slovak hip-hop concert!

Here I am, "enjoying" the music!

I'm not exactly sure why the difference is so huge in only 5 years... It feels more like 20 have passed!
Perhaps, I felt this worldly and culturally aware last time I was here. Perhaps, I lost my motivation to talk about life and what it all means by the time I got to Kosice, and I might loose it later this year again - I hope not. I think with the support of my Fulbrighter friends it will be difficult for me to loose focus of why I'm here.

I'm off to explore some more then - Dovidenia!

Sometimes the busses don't come in Slovakia...

In comparison to The United States, I thought the the public transportation is wonderful here! All cities, and even small towns like mine, have regular and (sort of ) reliable bus and train routes. You can go virtually anywhere by bus or train and for not much money or time.

A photo of the lovely bus station seen all over Slovakia. 

I seemed to have weekend that completely contradicted this, however.

Actually my lack of faith in the bus system began about two weeks ago when the other American teachers in my school and I were hanging out in Banska Bystrica and tried to get back home. Our bus just didn't show up... We managed to take the next bus connections, but I remember thinking how bizzare that was.

Then, early last week I was headed to Bratislava for a Fulbright conference, and on my way I made a little stop-over to Nitra to visit some old friends. I had looked up bus times earlier on the Slovak transportation website and found a bus that would leave from Nitra to Bratislava at 8:00p.m. When I arrived there was no 8:00p.m. bus. With the help of my Slovak friends we concluded that the website either incorrectly said a Saturday-only the bus would also go on Tuesday, or I read a train departing at 8:00 as a bus. oops!

Well, unfortunately the next bus wasn't coming until 9:30p.m. which would put me in Bratislava around 11:00p.m. I was really hoping my bus would arrive early, because the last city bus in Bratislava to my hotel was taking off at 10:55 (or so it said). The 9:30 bus arrived. There were 4 more seats on the bus (as it was going to Pilzen, Czech Republic) and I was the third person to get on the bus (I'm really good at weaving my little body onto busses and trains, thank you Russia!) I arrived in Bratislava on time and everything worked out! phew!

Me and my friend Sonka having fun in Nitra. I'm completely unaware that I'm missing my bus connection! 

Cut to a few days later when the other Americans and I decided to go to Poprov to buy some sweet plaid pants and hiking boots. We arrived just fine, but on our way back the bus we needed at 5:00p.m. simply did not come! It turns out the bus was having some technical problems and wasn't going to come. Our next bus connection was going to get us back to Tisovec around 5a.m. Luckily, one of the other English teachers from our school happened to live very close to Poprov. She invited us to stay the night with her in her village! YAY! She told us which bus to take. When we were buying our ticket we were informed the bus wouldn't go to the village we wanted, but would take us to another village on the way... I think all of us Americans thought to ourselves "whatever!" at that moment. While on the bus there was an adorable older lady who helped us get form our stop to the next bus traveling to the small town where our friend lived.

We ate a lot of pizza, drank a bit of alcohol and we stayed the night at our friend's house.

In the morning we tried to catch the earliest bus to get back to Tisovec. The bus was supposed to leave at 8:30 am. 8:35 passed. 8:40 passed. We all walked over to the big connection board across the street to double check the times when a giant bus went flying by the bus station! Well, it was a good excuse to go to the grocery store. I bought muffins, lots of muffins, and chocolate and any other junk food I found. We did make the next bus and got home safely around 1:00pm, which perhaps isn't that bad.

This weekend I'm traveling to visit my host parents in Liptovsky Mikulas. The bus system can't fail me again, can it?

Just call me Robin Hood...

Welcome back!


I would like to begin this blog post with some recent video footage of the other American teachers and myself hanging out in the surrounding area...

That's right, I'm pretty much Robin Hood!

Well, minus the whole, "Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor" thing... But I plan to start immediately!

How did I decide I was in fact Robin Hood, you ask? 

It all started the first week I was in Tisovec when I watched the latest Robin Hood (the one with Russel Crowe) in theaters (about 3 months after the release in America). 

A few days after that the other Americans and I went on a small hike to eat some traditional Slovak food. As we were walking through the country-side I thought to myself, "The towns of 12th century England sure do look a lot like present day Slovakia." 

I became increasingly sure as we approached the haunted forests (of Sherwood).

I looked down as we were trudging through the forests and realized... I have Robin Hood boots on!

Finally we arrived at a location called Zbojska (or Nottingham)

My Merry Men and I had a fine meal at the Nottingham castle prepared by a lovely maid 

Where we celebrated my birthday! (Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!)

And then we once again set off...

There were so many different ways to go, that I got a little confused....

But I decided that I would travel throughout all the forests, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor!

Well, after we make a hearty supply of mead!

So, from all of the Robin Hoods:

Dovidenia!

Tisovec

Hello There!

This is my first blog post (and let's hope not the last). 

Welcome.

The reason for this  blog is to document my year in Slovakia as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant. I'm very excited to see what this year will offer me in terms of understanding Slovak culture and gaining teaching experience. I hope I can share a little bit about the Slovak culture with you as I experience it. 

I suppose a tour around my new home, Tisovec, Slovakia, might be in order...

Oh look! There I am! And there's a map of Tisovec. Don't be fooled by how big the map looks.

This is the Lutheran Church.

Here's our town square, because every town should have one...

This is the school where I teach!

Here is the snazzy, brand new, community pool!

And this the "Culture House" where we watch movies that were released in American theaters about 3 months ago for only 2 euro!

This is the big grocery store in town and situated above it is the town department store. 

And the town post office... it takes about 3 weeks for items to come from the States, but I want care packages!

And finally, the town bar!

So, that's pretty much the town. It's very small, if you haven't guessed yet. 

Next up, a tour of my apartment! I live in the town hotel right above another town bar. It's nice having my own place, but not so nice being kept up until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights...

Yay! my shoes! In Slovakia you DO NOT wear your outdoor shoes inside! So this is where I keep my shoes, and then I wear slippers all day long! 

Here's my bathroom. It smells a little like the bathroom in the Hungry Tiger Too (for those who who have had the pleasure) 

Here's my kitchen, note the bright orange blinds. 

The other side of my kitchen, this is where I do all of my "gourmet" cooking. Through the doorway you can see into my bedroom/living room. It's illuminated by the bright orange blinds!

This is the bedroom half of my "room"

And the living room half!

This is the view from my bed/living room! It's quite beautiful! Tisovec is tucked away between beautiful hills.

But if you look close enough, you can see that the window frame is a little crooked... 

oh soviet style buildings...

Another photo of the view from my apartment. This looks into town where you can see the top of the Lutheran Church. 

And that, my friends, is the tour! I hope you enjoyed it. 

I'll try to post more frequently, so stay tuned!

Dovidenia!