Jesse in Europe

Siena

2009-01-21T18:39:00.002+01:00

Click the image below to see all of the photos and see them larger.

We had a lovely day trip to Siena when Andrew's mom came to visit us from Denmark. The weather was glorious for January. It was the first time I had been there without floods of tourists. We toured the My name is Duccio exhibition (something I have wanted to do!!!) We also climbed to the top of the facade (the exterior wall of the church extension that was never completed. The views were amazing. The majority of the photos I posted are from the view atop that wall.

The Duomo and around

2009-01-16T16:19:00.003+01:00

Click the photo below to see the above slide show larger.

Around the Duomo

Andrew's Christmas Gift

2009-01-11T17:29:00.003+01:00

This is a video of Andrew's gift. Click to play. (It is cut off on the sides...but it is a trip to Rome)

Buon Natale e Buono Anno!!!

2008-12-17T06:39:00.001+01:00

December in Italy

2008-12-07T13:33:00.003+01:00

The Christmas spirit has held up despite several days pouring rain and the cloudy skies. There are Christmas lights that drape overhead on many streets throughout Florence. See photos. There is also an Austrian Christmas market that graces Piazza Santa Croce. They sell typical German/Austrian foods and all sorts of goodies from Nutella crepes, hot wine, spice, artisan crafts and these star shaped paper lamps that I have been dying to buy.

We also had the opportunity to visit another winery. This one was the Marchesei di Frescobaldi. We won this winery trip because we were part of the largest group to participate in the Corri la Vita (run for life for breast cancer research.) Despite a brief bus accident between our bus and a colleague of mine and a short stint of hail...the day was lovely.

Venice Underwater

2008-11-19T12:30:00.006+01:00

Venice and water go together for good and bad. Here are some of our experiences with water in San Marco. Ramps and planks were laid out to lift the tourists and residents alike above the water and onward to their destinations. On a side note my voice is returning and I am slowly starting to feel human again after my bout of illness this past week.

Click on photos for a larger view.

Sarah and Mark Visit while I go to the Hospital!

2008-11-18T11:40:00.015+01:00

Sarah and Mark....(Sarah, my best friend for over 20 years now and Mark her husband and my friend since they got hitched a while back now in the British Virgin Islands...Our first out of USA trip together.) came to visit Andrew and I in Florence a little over a week ago. We began or journey through the Tuscan hill towns of Cortona and Perugia.

Cortona is a lovely Etruscan hill town under the Tuscan sun. We stayed at a cozy renovated convent, Casa Betania, with incredibly gracious hosts. The above photos are from the convent and it's mystical views. All was well until Sunday afternoon in Perugia. We all climbed into our small yellow Fiat rental

when I began to get the chills. Covered in everyone's coats and scarves I began to resemble..well... see the photo. I came down with a fever and flu like symptoms. I missed work on Monday and pushed through the remaining days of the week while Sarah and Mark visited many of our lovely Florentine sites. See their blog... Adventures with Sarah and Mark

On Thursday I began channeling Kathleen Turner and my voice continued to get deeper and huskier until my voice went completely away. Sarah and Mark's friends from the States

arrived and joined in on our travel adventures. We all already had tickets and hotel reservations to go to Venice for the weekend. This was not the weekend to be sick. I tried to take it easy and skip most of the sight seeing for the comforts of the hotel bed. (Thanks Sarah and Mark for getting our Hilton hotel room with your points!!!) I pushed myself through it using interpretative dance instead of words.

Finally Sunday morning we had to go to the hospital in Venice. The city hospital - Ospedale Civile di Venezia – is situated in a Castello between the embankment Fondamenta Nove and the square Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Now, I am enrolled in the Italian Health care program but I was a bit worried about how to deal with the paperwork. However, there was no need to worry. According to Italian legislature you must to be rendered emergency aid regardless of your having insurance policy on hand or not. In case of a illness, there’s no necessity in rushing to to find your insurance-papers. It is just enough to go to ER, pronto soccorso, and get all fixed up.

The Ospedale Civile di Venezia is in an old church...see photos.

Andrew came with me to the hospital while the others continued their sight seeing tour of Venezia. It was a trip walking through these old structures and than into a nice hospital inside the ornate church. The initial wait to see a doctor wasn't long but it did take a long time to get all my tests and the results. I did see 3 doctors. A radiologist, an ear nose throat doctor and a general medical doctor that was in charge of coordinating all of my results and write up my treatment. Very few people spoke English and I had to struggle to squeak out Italian through my whispery, raspy voice. It all worked out. I was given prescriptions and a written treatment that says that I should no speak much for 20 days! Oh and it was all FREE!!!!!! No copay, no notheing...FREEE!!!!!! Well, I will have to work on the no talking part once I get my voice back. That should be interesting and challenging...since I am a teacher and all.

This is an old photo that I found online of the hospital. Nella foto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, detto il Canaletto: La Chiesa dei SS.Giovanni e Paolo con la Scuola di S.Marco (particolare). 1725 Dresda, Gemaldegalerie.

I am now back in Florence resting my voice and body and following the doctors orders. I have missed a couple days of work but I have no voice...and hence no choice.

Sarah and Mark, Kim and Long are now off to the Florence airport onward and upward to Amsterdam. Wish we could have had some more time together...time not sick and time without me sounding like I just smoked a carton of cigarettes for breakfast. I miss them...Come back....

Oh well, at least they learned a bit more about Socialized Medicine during their visit. I will upload photos soon. I promise.

Recent trips

2008-10-26T12:26:00.006+01:00

IB TOk Field Trip to Munich. Dachau Concentration Camp, Third Reich Tour and Pinakothek der Moderne Art Museum. Wednesday through Sunday Morning. 32 Students! Click on the photo slide show to see the photos larger.
San Gimignano day trip! Click on the photo slide show to see the photos larger.

Video and Photos from Arezzo and San Gimignano.

Voting overseas

2008-10-13T11:12:00.001+02:00

Guess what I did today?

Vino!!!

2008-10-12T20:45:00.004+02:00

Our private wine tour!

60 minutes did a story on the winery. Watch below.

Full of Bologna

2008-10-05T11:54:00.002+02:00

The main square in Bologna. We went to a interior design trade show in the morning. Ate a lot of free food and than hit the town. It was a beautiful day and it was the Feast of Saint Peteronio. Unfortunately because of the feat all of the restaurants were closed. But there were plenty of churches to visit and covered, arcaded sidewalks to stroll along. Here is a video and I will post photos soon.

Corri La Vita

2008-09-30T19:40:00.002+02:00

This is the Run for life in Florence called "Corri la Vita." It is to help raise money for breast cancer research. We got a wonderful goodie bag filled with $150 sunglasses, roberto Cavali Scarf, Italian music and more! Plus we got a Ferragamo t-shirt. The walk/run was amazing. There were thousands participating and the whole city city shut down. We had the largest group at the walk with over 200 participants. We even got a trophy!

Published

2008-09-25T06:20:00.002+02:00

My paintings were published on the cover and inside "CALYX, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women" The journal is out...and here is how you can get it.
http://www.proaxis.com/~calyx/journal.html

My job

2008-09-14T20:09:00.004+02:00

Here are some views from my classroom and a couple photos of Andrew and I.

My classroom

Hiking and Rafting in Norcia, Umbria

2008-09-14T19:58:00.004+02:00

This is an orientation field trip with my students. Here are a few selected images from the trip. The rafting photos are of a break we took to splash around and drink from an ice cold spring in this gorge. The waterfall is the highest in Italy at 165 meters. The last image is a church in the center of Norcia, the town we stayed in.

Life in Florence

2008-08-25T12:00:00.003+02:00

Andrew and I have begun our new life in Florence. So far everything has been amazing and the food has been more than amazing. We are staying in a temporary, itty, bitty studio apartment until we secure suitable apartment (which we believe we have accomplished.) School starts the end of this week and I can't wait! As for now, I will wait sitting by the window listening to the bells of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Maria della Fiore ring for noon time. This is the view from our small Tuscan flat last night.

Closing out in Slovakia

2008-08-14T11:04:00.001+02:00

Well, I have officially completed my first year being an expat. My Fulbright grant has provided Andrew and I with this incredible opportunity to live on the cusp of 2 countries and see what if feel like to transplant your self into another world. (Andrew has more experience with this than I.) We have learned so much through this experience. The trials and tribulations have made us stronger people and were an easy trade off for all of our adventures. We have been able see so much of Europe, travel with friends and family and learn copious amounts of history while experiencing diverse cultures. I am grateful for the artistic opportunities that I was able to be part of in this country. They forged a bridge with the Slovak community and me. I am happy that I will leave my artwork in Slovakia to travel around the country and speak for my experiences and me after I have left. It was an astounding experience and I look forward to the upcoming adventures and challenges we will face in Italy.

Here are few extra videos....
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Recent paintings by me

2008-07-01T14:31:00.001+02:00

Starbucks: The Frappuccino Trip

2008-06-22T20:47:00.001+02:00

What would you do for a frappuccino?

East Side: Eastern Slovakia and Hungary

2008-06-17T18:14:00.001+02:00

Danube Bike Route: Bratislava to Vienna

2008-06-02T19:23:00.003+02:00

Here is a video of our past 2 bike rides on the Danube Bike Route. Both of them were from Bratislava into Austria. One was round trip to Hainburg and the other was to Vienna.

TV Centrum interview

2008-05-19T23:09:00.002+02:00

see the TV coverage of the Art show
http://www.televiziacentrum.sk/pages/relacie/noviny-archiv.php?date=20080516

Radio Interview: Reflections Art Show

2008-05-16T12:05:00.003+02:00

This is a radio interview I did along with images from the opening reception of Odrazy/Reflections.
Orginal Radio Broadcast: My interview is 3/4s the way through this MP3

Art Show Touring Slovakia!!!

2008-05-09T11:04:00.004+02:00

See the Artwork: http://bluelavaart.com/odrazy.html
Odrazy/Reflections: Statement by Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik
In the eight joint exhibit of new US-Slovak art sponsored by the US Embassy, "Reflections/Odrazy," we look into social issues and the urban landscape of today's Slovakia. Our guides are the talented students of Jozef Vydra Academy of Applied Arts and their American professor, Jessica Perry, who is in Slovakia for a one-year teacher exchange program sponsored by the Fulbright Commission. When Jessica looks at the playgrounds in Petrzalka or the Baroque churches that rise up unexpectedly as you travel in the Slovak countryside, she brings an appreciation for these everyday scenes that comes from both her heart and her head. She has brought the same high level of energy in her relationship with her students. Their exploration of what needs our attention -- discrimination, alcoholism, poverty -- impels us to be not only spectators, but activists in solving these urgent problems. I am proud that the Embassy can once again bring to the public the synergy between young American and Slovak artists and the stimulating results.
Príhovor veľvyslanca Vincenta Obsitnika: ôsma spoločná výstava, prezentujúca súčasné americké a slovenské umenie, ktorú zorganizovalo Veľvyslanectvo USA v Bratislave, hľadá odpovede na sociálne otázky a urbanizmus dnešného Slovenska. Našimi sprievodcami sú talentovaní študenti Školy úžitkového výtvarníctva Jozefa Vydru a ich americká profesorka Jessica Perry, ktorá je na Slovensku na ročnom výmennom programe sponzorovanom Fulbrightovou komisiou. Keď sa Jessica pozerá na ihriská v Petržalke, alebo na barokové kostoly, ktoré sa neočakávane objavujú pri cestovaní po slovenskej krajine, citom i rozumom vyjadruje obdiv týmto každodenným obrazom. Do svojich aktivít so študentami prináša rovnako veľké množstvo energie. Ich spoločné objavovanie toho, na čo je potrebné zamerať našu pozornosť – diskriminácia, alkoholizmus, chudoba – nás núti byť nielen pozorovateľmi, ale nás aj aktivizuje k riešeniu týchto naliehavých problémov. Som hrdý na to, že veľvyslanectvo opäť prináša verejnosti výsledky synergie spoločných aktivít mladých amerických a slovenských umelcov, ktoré sú naozaj stimulujúce.
About the Show: Jessica Perry: Kurátorka výstavy a umelkyňa/Curator and artist "Reflections/Odrazy" is an exhibition of American artist Jessica Perry’s Slovak photo collages and her students' artwork. This title refers to the many layers of reflection that occur during cross-cultural interactions. Jessica Perry has been in residence at Josef Vydra School of Applied Arts in Bratislava on a Fulbright Teacher exchange in Bratislava for one year, while her counterpart, Barbara Remiášová, teaches in New Jersey. Living and teaching in Bratislava, Jessica examined the culture and architecture through a series of photo collages, making connections between society, culture and environment. She is attracted to both the constructed and natural patterns that appear in the Slovak landscapes; her digital photographs of these landscapes combine reflected images to create relationships between patterns.
Jessica's students took on a challenge to reflect current social, political and cultural issues in their work. The students viewed and discussed a wide selection of artwork from abroad that comments on social issues, then investigated their own country. The students' work emerged from this research, with size and medium left to their choice. The collaboration between artist Igor Peter Meluzin, director of Josef Vydra School of Applied Arts, Dr. Dušan Lechner, deputy director of The University Library in Bratislava which hosts InfoUSA Bratislava, the art students and the Embassy made this show possible.
Reflections/Odrazy je výstava fotografických koláží americkej umelkyne Jessicy Perry z jej pôsobenia na Slovensku a umeleckých prác jej študentov. Názov výstavy odkazuje na reflexie o vzájomnom pôsobení kultúr. Jessica Perry v rámci ročného Fulbrightovho výmenného programu pre stredoškolských učiteľov pôsobí na Škole úžitkového výtvarníctva Jozefa Vydru, zatiaľ čo profesorka tejto školy Barbara Remiášová učí v New Jersey. Jessica, ktorá žije a učí v Bratislave, prostredníctvom sérií fotografických koláží skúma kultúru a architektúru, vytvára prepojenia medzi spoločnosťou, kultúrou a prostredím. Zaujímajú ju tak architektonické diela, ako aj prírodné útvary, ktoré nachádzame v zobrazení slovenskej krajiny. Jej digitálne fotografie krajiniek sú kombináciou zrkadlových obrazov, pričom medzi nimi vzniká vzťah.
Študenti Jessicy vo svojich dielach reagovali na výzvu poukázať na sociálne, politické a kultúrne otázky súčasnosti. Najprv si študenti prezreli širokú škálu zahraničných umeleckých diel, ktoré sa vyjadrujú k sociálnym otázkam, diskutovali o nich, a potom skúmali svoju krajinu. Študentské práce sú výsledkom tohto hľadania, pričom ich rozmer ako aj médium si mohli študenti slobodne zvoliť. Výstava sa koná vďaka spolupráci medzi akad. maliarom Igorom Petrom Meluzinom, riaditeľom Školy úžitkového výtvarníctva Jozefa Vydru, PhDr. Dušanom Lechnerom, zástupcom riaditeľa Univerzitnej knižnice, súčasťou ktorej je InfoUSA Bratislava, študentmi výtvarného umenia a Veľvyslanectvom USA v Bratislave.
Tento project sa uskutočnil vďaka podpore nasledujúcich inštitúcií/ This project has been realized through the support of the following organizations, Univerzitná knižnica v Bratislave, InfoUSA/University Library of Bratislava, InfoUSA
Veľvyslanectvo USA v Bratislave/Embassy of the USA in Bratislava, The Fulbright Commission,
Škola úžitkového výtvarníctva Jozefa Vydru v Bratislave/Jozef Vydra School of Applied Arts in Bratislava.

Current Venue: Atrium Univerzitnej knižnice, Ventúrska 11, Bratislava
Atrium of the University Library, Ventúrska 11, Bratislava (yellow building entrance.)

Dates: 13. máj – 3. jún/May 13 – June 3 2008
Reception: utorok, 13. máj 17:00 Tuesday, May 13, 5 pm

Other exhibition venues/ Ďalšie miesta, kde bude výstava realizovaná

Mestská knižnica v Bratislave/Bratislava City Library
InfoUSA, Štátna vedecká knižnica v Banskej Bystrici/ InfoUSA, State Scientific Library in Banska Bystrica
InfoUSA Košice, Štátna vedecká knižnica v Košiciach/InfoUSA Košice, State Scientific Library in Košice
Katolícka univerzita v Ružomberku/Catholic University in Ružomberok

So Many Presidents...so little time

2008-04-28T15:35:00.005+02:00

So, we walked out of our flat the other day to see our neighbors out in the front yard. That doesn't seem that unusual for most people but it is for us. Since we live next to the Presidential Palace...our neighbor is the President of Slovakia, Ivan Gašparovič. He had another President over his house that day too. It was the Slovenian President Danilo Turk. Naturally there had to be lots of flags and a band playing too. Of course we didn't get to shake hands with him like we did with Bill Clinton in Budapest but we did take some photos.

You can read about Presidential visit here.
The following day we were sitting in an outside cafe and the President walked right past us...without a big entourage or anything.

Family Visits

2008-04-28T15:03:00.004+02:00

We have been very fortunate to have family come and visit. Here are some photos from their trips.

We also went to the Bratislava Zoo. It was a beautiful spring day and we were upclose and personal with lots of the animals.

Easter in Vienna and Slovakia

2008-04-11T13:00:00.006+02:00

We decided to spend Easter on a day trip to Vienna. Although we find Slovak traditions interesting...we were a bit frightened by some of their Easter traditions. They involve dousing woman with water and whipping them with switches. It's an old tradition, that lasts till the present. Young men visit every house in the village where they have girls and they sprinkle and sometimes douse them with water. They even whip her on her legs with a whip made of willow rods, which looks like a plait of hair. Strangers on the street could do the same to you. So naturally, we left the country for the day.
A day spent at a palace:
It started as a rainy and overcast day but it evolved into a beautiful day for a tour of Vienna's finest palace and beautiful grounds, Schönbrunn Palace.

Svaty Jur?!

2008-04-11T12:40:00.005+02:00

We decided to take advantage of our surroundings. On a recent Saturday afternoon we hopped on the train to a near by town. The little town we visited is called Svaty Jur (Saint George) which is about 20 minutes outside of Bratislava. We heard this town is a great and undiscovered place to visit. The whole town is surrounded by the vineyards with ancient small stone walls, which give an individual picturesque look to this town but that is where the charm ended. It was pretty and it was incredible small. Unfortunately for us as it was a virtual ghost town on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There was not a single restaurant or food place open in the entire town. We walked the entire town a few times over and we were quite hungry. Finally waited out the last hour or so in the train station. I am sure there are more riches in this small town but we were unable to find them on our 3 hour self-guided tour. Here are some of the photos.

Afrika Afrika Show

2008-03-22T17:48:00.002+01:00

Andrew and I went to this Amazing show in Vienna called Afrika Afrika. It was a tribal cirque du soleil. We sat there with our mouths open watching dancers, acrobats, contortionists and woman spinning tables over there head with their feet! It was fabulous. If you get a chance search youtube for videos. Just search Afrika Afrika. You will be amazed, I promise!

Socrates Conference: Poland

2008-03-13T19:03:00.002+01:00

Banska Bystrica

2008-03-03T15:37:00.002+01:00

This past weekend was supposed to be a Slovak snow adventure in Banska Bystrica. Many Fulbrighters gathered to ski or snowboard at a ski resort near Mandy but unseasonably warm weather and massive down pours put a damper on our plans. Some brave souls got an hour or two of skiing in but the rest of us settled for a warm breakfast and hot chocolate in a Slovak Koliba. A Slovak Koliba is Shepherd's hut. It is typically a log cabin with a fireplace and serves a plethora of traditional Slovak foods. The rest of the weekend was filled with chatting, food, movies and Conrad’s apple pie. We spent some time wandering the streets of Banska Bystrica. This town dates back to 1255 and the Hungarian King Belo IV settled it.

It’s a mining town or at least it was one. German miners built a Romanesque one-nave Church of the Virgin Mary in the second half of the 13th century. Later the Slavs built onto it and the church became a fortress.
Slovak renaissance buildings frame the lovely main square. There were maintained very well and had a ton of restaurants and shops in them. We had a fabulous hot chocolate in one of them.
Another chapter of the history of this town was writen during the World War II. The town served as a centre of anti-fascist resistance and the Slovak National Uprising. A symbol of this event is a architecturally peculiar monumental building of the memorial of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP). It is a big concrete thing split in half and I believe it houses a museum to the SNP.
We had a lovely weekend filled with wonderful hospitality from our host. It felt good to sit back and relax with people that are having similar experiences as we are having here in Slovakia. It is always interesting to compare notes and learn from your colleagues (not to mention the opportunity to play highly competitive game of spoons.)

A visit from Thomas

2008-03-03T15:30:00.002+01:00

Thomas came to visit us 2 weeks ago and that was wonderful. Despite the cold weather, we had a nice visit in Bratislava and a day trip to Vienna. We even had the famous Sacher Torte in Vienna. The Original Sacher-Torte has been the most famous cake of the world since 1832 and the original recipe a well-kept secret of this hotel. Only the Original Sacher-Torte is produced according to this original recipe. Check out the photos…they will make you hungry! One the flip side of the high end torte...we tried some seriously synthetic Slovak bacon chips and sampled the many varieties of Slovak pivo.

Fulbright Mid Year Conference

2008-02-13T06:27:00.005+01:00

Our Fulbright Mid Year Conference took place last week in Velké Bílovice in the Czech Republic. Fulbrighters from both Slovakia and the Czech Republic gathered to share their experiences, projects and passions. It was an incredible time. The days were filled with presentations and lots of group meals. It was terrific to meet so many people in similar situations. I enjoyed exchanging stories of getting settled in another country. Our last afternoon was spent in the Knight's Templar winery in Cejkovice. (Yes, the Knight's Templar!) See the photos above. I loved all of the coins pressed into the winery walls. We also visited a small and proud local folklore museum in Velké Bílovice that housed traditional dresses and costumes. I fell in love with the painted mannequins. It was a very well put together 3 days. Thanks again Fulbright!

A rainy day in Venice

2008-02-12T11:01:00.000+01:00

Last weekend Andrew and I took an overnight bus down Venice for a one day trip to see Carnavale.

Stolen ART!

2008-02-11T18:42:00.000+01:00

Wow, I was in Zürich for a day and a half back in November. I went to the main art museum (Kunsthaus Zürich) and passed on the E.G.Buhrle collection due to time limitations. I thought I was see the work next time. I guess the next time I visit...there will be less art to see. " ZURICH, Switzerland - Three armed men in ski masks stole four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet worth $163.2 million from a Zurich museum in one of Europe's largest ever art heists, police said Monday.... Article continued on yahoo link below" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080211/ap_on_re_eu/switzerland_art_robbery

More Student Artwork

2008-02-04T07:12:00.000+01:00

Double click on the slide show to see the individual photos.

Mid Terms

2008-01-30T15:12:00.000+01:00

Well, we have just finished the mid term projects for the 3rd and 4th grades. (U.S. equivalent to 11th and 12th grade.) The students receive a project and spend the month of January realizing the project. The works are placed on display along with a folder that describes their process and sketches. The students present it to the faculty in the department and than the teachers come up with a grade and post it outside the door for all to see. I did not have much to do during this time. I was just supposed to monitor and help if the students needed me. I had assembled my final grades for my students. Several students tried to turn projects in at the last minute. Some things are very similar to the students in the States. All the grades are in now. The grading system is similar to the States except with numbers and no “+” or “-“. The system is 1=A, 2=B, 3=C and so on. I graded the students on individual projects and an overall grade on their cumulative work and work ethic. I didn’t have to enter the grades into a computer I just had to go into a small room and write the numbers sown next to the students name. It was simple and straightforward. There were some confusion with the grades later but I am not sure what they were all about. I just stood next to people talking about the issues and then they reassured me that I did nothing wrong and it was some technical problem. I picked up an idea of the issue from all the Slovak. It had to do with consolidating classes under a different name. I don’t know/Neviem (in Slovak.) I am slowly getting used to being confused. Over the past few weeks along with mid terms, we had new windows installed in the entire school. The chaos was controlled and the whole thing seemed to be a smooth process from my point of view. Now we are slowly getting back into our regular schedule. I will post photos of my students’ new work soon.

Skiing the Alps: Innsbruck, Austria

2008-01-29T18:49:00.000+01:00

A picture is worth a thousand words and the video is worth a million words.
Check it out.
Double Click on the slide show to see all of the photos in a photo album.

Winter in Paris

2008-01-18T19:51:00.000+01:00

We went to Paris on an amazing weekend trip. One night and plenty of much needed sunshine. It was my Christmas gift to Andrew. With skyeurope.com it is pretty darn cheap to fly. We loved this weekend away!

Partyslava: New Year's in Bratislava

2008-01-05T12:54:00.000+01:00

New Year's Eve, AKA Partyslava, AKA Silvester.

We were so happy to have Scobes and Tucky join us for this holiday and the freezing cold that came along with the holiday. Unfortunately the overcast, fog heavy sky never let the sun shine down on us. Despite the gray skies and the frigid temperatures, we managed to get a lot of sight seeing done and even a wonderful day trip to Vienna on New Year's Eve. Our New Year's day in Vienna included seeing the end of a 5k run, a few concerts, square dancing, a marching band from Colorado outside the Hoffburg, Ancient Roman Ruins, the opera house, parts of the service at St. Stephen's and at St. Nicholas, Starbucks, a great lunch at a place called the Nite Dive, Christmas Markets, the outside of several closed museums, Waltzing lesson outside while being videoed and shown on a large screen in the middle of the park and lots of fun with our friends.
New Year's Eve night was celebrated at our flat with a mix of yummy foods, Slovak TV (see photos) and we ventured back out into the cold at 11 pm. We headed to the Novy Most (UFO bridge) to see the big fireworks display. On our way we saw 2 large stages set up throughout town with music and lots of people. We still had the same looming gray skies which made the large fireworks display a huge flop. (see video) The cloud cover held on to the smoke from the fireworks and masked all the pretty explosions.

Christmas in Denmark

2008-01-05T12:52:00.000+01:00

Bratislava Christmas Market

2008-01-05T12:27:00.000+01:00

Well, the Bratislava Christmas Market is closed but it was an interesting place for us to go for the month leading up to Christmas. The booths were filled with local crafts, food, hot wine and honey liqueur drinks. Check out the video of some super sugary treats we bought.

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-22T06:21:00.001+01:00

Milano!

2007-12-17T16:05:00.000+01:00

Wow! We loved Milan. Milan gets a bad rap now and then. People say it is too industrial and hasn’t regained it’s former glory since WWII. Well, we were pleasantly surprised. Our weekend in Milano was more than we could have hoped for in such a short time. We stayed at a small and inexpensive hotel called Brasil. The hotel had a beautiful entry and marble stairs. The beauty ended there. The walls were paper-thin and the room lacked an in-room toilet. However, the paper-thin walls allowed us to here our Italian neighbors singing. It was outside of the city center but we enjoyed our long walks to and from the hotel. Overall, it was just fine for us. We arrived late on Friday and I was still feeling sick from a nasty ear infection and cold. We walked to the hotel and crashed on the spring-laden mattress. Saturday, we had a lovely breakfast on a park bench with our Italian delicacies from the supermarket. It was cold. Below freezing cold but that did not dampen out enjoyment. We spent the rest of the weekend looking at architecture, the Brera Academia, eating delightful food and strolling the streets of Milan.
The Brera was great! Lots of Bellini's and of course there was Andrea Mantegna's Dead Christ

My Students' Art

2007-12-12T15:34:00.001+01:00

Grade 2= US 10th Grade
Grade 3 = US 11th Grade
Grade 4= US 12th Grade

Adventures in Teaching

2007-12-12T10:42:00.000+01:00

Vienna Field Trip
Last week we had a wonderfully successful field trip to Vienna. Two bus loads of students and faculty attended a Symbolism exhibition and the Monet/Picasso Exhibition at the Albertina. It was a lovely day. It allowed me some time to get to know some of my colleagues and talk to some students more. After we returned to Bratislava, I attended an opening with some of my colleagues. It was a beautiful exhibition of paintings and mixed media works by my colleague’s former teacher.

Teaching

Today is one of those days, like most, where I am confused. I am confused today not because of language but because of schedule. I have been trained so well by the US educational system’s use of bells to indicate my time and location as well as that of my students. Can anyone say I am turning into Pavlov’s dog? Although Slovak culture typically does not have the ‘manana” syndrome, there is more fluidity to the bell schedules than I am not used to experiencing. I never know if my class will start on time or late or if late even really exists.
I was supposed to start teaching a new class. It is a conversational English class with about 20 students in the class. I am so excited! I think my English teacher in high school (Ms. Harbenson) would be shocked to hear I am teaching English! I am very excited about this class because I can speak English to these kids and the idea is, they will speak back to me. I will have (in person) conversation (as implied in the name of the class, conversational, English.) However there are scheduling issues with this class and I am not sure if it will ever get off the ground.
I have started teaching in the computer room. I get quite confused over that situation as well. We have made some necessary schedule adjustments to make it easier and so far so good. There have been complications loading Photoshop onto the computers. The other program that I can use on those machines is Corel Draw. The whole program is in Slovak. That is difficult for me since many of the technical terms are not those that I would typically encounter in my Slovak studies. If Photoshop ever gets loaded and it is in Slovak, I am sure I can figure it out easily because I spend most of my day with that program but Corel is a different story. In addition, I am used to the Mac version of Corel and they are on PC’s. Oh well, c’est la vive. I will try. Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means, I might have to wait forever. One of the greatest advantages anyone can have is the willingness to make a fool of themselves publicly and often. I just seem to be doing that a lot more than I expected. I will continue to try my hardest without driving myself crazy. The students are good kids and that makes it easier.

No Toilet Paper, No fun. This school seems to provide serious art education. The faculty is filled with dedicated, talented professionals. The students are focused and hardworking. Overall, it is a high functioning school. Therefore, I am caught by surprise at some things that are probably related to budgetary issues. The faculty room typically has a roll or two of toilet paper in the stalls but the student facilities don’t have any TP or paper towels. The students all pack travel size tissue packets.

Also, here is our neighbor, the Presidential Palace, all decked out for the holidays!

Ribbon Ceremony

2007-12-11T12:15:00.000+01:00

It was a wonderful night to celebrate the upcoming graduation of the 4th class.

The city of pointy spires: Prague

2007-12-05T09:53:00.000+01:00

Prague is wonderful!

Leaving early Saturday on the fast train takes us from Bratislava to Prague in three hours and 47 minutes. They used to be part of the same country and there is a sense of unity between the Czech and the Slovaks. After all they call there split-up, the Velvet Divorce. That just sounds smooth and painless. I was surprised by how much Czech I understand and could speak from my Slovak studies. The languages are similar but do vary in numerous ways. Fortunately, I was only noticing their similarities. My students have told me that the Slovaks are better at understanding Czech than vice versa. This is mainly due to the books and entertainment that are generated in Czech and consumed by both Czechs and Slovaks. So, Back to Prague: This glorious city is filled with pointed things everywhere. The pointy things are of course the Gothic inspired spires of the churches. The beautifully preserved old city and churches dominated the banks of the Vlata River. That is where we stayed, on the Vlata. Actually, we stayed in the river. We got a botel. Part boat, part hotel equals a cheap deal. At 28 euro, a night for a double including breakfast is a deal out in the countryside not to mention in the capital city of the Czech Republic. It was a modest style boat room with just enough space for us squeeze around the room. I would stay there again and again. The breakfast left something to be desired but it was free!

It seems that our stay at the Botel Rachek coincided with a Danish tour group. Andrew had fun listening in on there conversations and surprising them by asking to borrow a place setting in Danish. Prague is an international city at least because of the tourists that fill most of the nooks and crannies of this beautiful city. English is spoken in most places and the people are used to being around visitors and foreigners. Slovakia and Bratislava still seem a bit shocked when they encounter tourists or foreigners. The shopkeepers in the old city in Bratislava is used to them more than the rest of the city but there isn’t much of anything international in Bratislava. Even the Spanish restaurants sell Wiener schnitzel. Like Bratislava, Prague has its Christmas Market in full swing. Several squares and streets throughout the city are filled with little wooden structures dolling g out hot wine, pastries, longose (fried dough), honey, sausages, regional crafts and some souvenirs. The booths sparkle at night and Christmas trees fill the spaces as well. Some musical performance, fold transitional and such also take place at the markets. These performances are not always as interesting as the many people being tanked on hot wine. We saw far less intoxicated people in Prague than we typically see at the Christmas Market in Bratislava but there were certainly more tourists in Prague.

The Czech cuisine is similar to Slovakia with less of an Austrian influence. So, we did not feel obliged to fill all of our meals with the traditional fair. Instead, we indulged our inner desires to eat food similar to our restaurants back in the States. We had the most amazing sushi lunch in this place recommend to us by Sarah and Mark. It was called Lary Fary. We over ordered sushi and ate like royalty over a couple hour period. It was delightful. Lary Fary may be a sushi restaurant but it’s interior is also an Unseco Heritage site. Other epicurean delights were not as fancy as Lary Fary but they did treat our inner American dinning fantasies. We continued to indulge at TGIFridays (I hate going there in the states by it was nice to eat a familiar place after being away for nearly 4 months.) Moreover, they have monster size drinks: see photos. One of the best moments of the trip happened during our meal at Fridays. I spoke to our waiter in Czech/Slovak throughout the meal and he said my Czech was very good. I was beaming for several hours. (I may still be beaming.) I am sure it was mostly sweet talk for a bigger tip but it worked. We also got some Subway sandwiches for our return bus trip. Although Western culture has been introduced to Bratislava, the only Western restaurants in town are KFC, Pizza Hut and of course McDonalds. We did have a Czech meal and it was fantastic. I had Trout from the Vlata River. It was so fresh…well, it should be, the river was only two blocks away. Andrew had a tasty Salmon. Of course, we had some nutella crepes and some traditional Christmas dough thing called thrdlo or is it hrdlo (one of them is right and the other means throat in Slovak.)

Another highlight of the trip was a local art supply store we stumbled upon. Twenty minutes and empty wallet later I was fully stocked with oil paints (I have been missing oils so much!)

Prague is filled with churches and the St. Vitus church in the Castle Square was a Czech Notre Dame with an Alphons Mucha stain glass window that glowed. We climbed the 287 people filled, spiral stone steps to the top of the tower for an amazing view if it weren’t for all of the other people there enjoying the view as well. Sunday morning we had a lovely but confusing jaunt to the Alphons Mucha museum. It was well worth the confusion to see this small but tasteful collection of Mucha’s work and short video of his life and progression of his artwork.

Overall, we had a fabulously romantic time strolling the street of Prague. Since this was Andrew’s third time, there he made an excellent tour guide. I look forward to our next trip to this beautiful city.
Our Prague Weekend Trip movie:

English in Slovakia

2007-11-27T19:16:00.000+01:00

Well, I don't come in contact with that much written English over here. Even the frozen Pizza boxes are filled with instructions in a gazillion different languages (Except any of the languages Andrew and I speak or understand.) See the photos of the pizza box below.

Warning: These image contains some pretty harsh language. Click on the photo below to see a series of photos which are examples of the crude written English I run into on a daily basis.

English in Slovakia

Pizza in a hundred different languages. Click each image to see it larger.

šťastný Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T07:13:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving Day:
šťastný= Happy, if you haven't guessed already.So, I have made some small but very noticeable improvements in my Slovak learning. I understand. Rozumiem. At least I am understanding more and more conversation as I listen. I still have a lot of difficulty speaking. The grammar and the pronunciation leave me a bit tongue tied. However, I am very thankful this Thanksgiving that I can understand more today than I did last week. I am also thankful for Skype. It has been a great way for me to keep in touch with my family. Tonight Andrew and I will attend Thanksgiving dinner via skype and a web cam. Kiež ste šťastní na Thanksgiving!= May you be happy on Thanksgiving.

A few days later:
Today I woke up to what sounded like a horrific rainstorm with thunder and lightening. However, when I got out of bed I discovered it was a snowstorm complete with lightening and thunder. That was new and bizarre for me. Thanksgiving went off very well with webcam visits with my family in New York and California and a “pass-a-round” the phone conversation with my other family in Florida. We improvised with food. No whole Turkeys here so we made chicken. KFC mashed potatoes stood in for real homemade mashed potatoes due to lack of potatoes (or me finding the potatoes) in the store. The stuffing recipe I had was modified significantly because I couldn’t get most of the ingredients. . Seems my grocery store did not stock celery but I made it work and it was good. All, in all we talked to family, we ate a nice meal and we had leftovers! Isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about.

Snow in Bratislava

2007-11-17T09:32:00.000+01:00

So yesterday was a good snowstorm.

We had some snow last week but yesterday’s snowstorm laid several inches of bright white, icy snow on the ground. Andrew had a huge delay with the train getting to work. I hope that he will be able to work from home in the bad weather in the future. I made it to work fine. I take one bus and it picks me up just on the other side of the Presidential Palace (my neighbor.) The buses seemed to be running on time. Thankfully, they all seem to be heated very well despite the gapping areas near the seams that drip water on you. I arrived at my bus stop near school right on time. I climb a step path through a small wooded area to get to the school from my bus stop. It is a well-traveled path and was already cleared enough for safe travels. As I approached the path, I noticed the distinct smell of gasoline in the air. It lingered in the air and made me a bit curious about acid rain. By the time I reach the school, I forgot about the noxious air and headed up to my office, AKA, my cabinet. That is what they call it here, a cabinet. It is a full sized office/studio space but it is still called a cabinet. At least it is not called a cubby! Well Last week was a crazy week filled with lots of wonderful time spent in Vienna while Andrew worked late nights. This weekend will be a cozy one at home and the start of our Christmas shopping. So, did I mention that my last name, Perry, has a very interesting meaning in Slovak? Pronounced the same way but spelled with one “r”, it means lips. I am Ms. Lips. Not the best name for a teacher I suppose. Thankfully, most students refer to me a professorka, or teacher.

Here is a video (before the snow) of the changing of the Guard. My neighbors have guards....but I guess that isn't so strange when you consider that my neighbor is the President.

Swiss Miss

2007-11-10T13:27:00.000+01:00

Our little Movie

We just had our Fall Break, 3 days off and a weekend. This is a nice break to have since I don’t have Thanksgiving Break or Teacher’s Convention here. Of course Andrew and I traveled to a new country. This time is was Switzerland but before we could go we had to figure out how to get there. This can be an extensive project. We research online the travel by train possibilities, we translate all important information into Slovak and we go to the train station in Bratislava, feeling fully prepared to buy the tickets but after 30 minutes of confusion we leave empty handed. Andrew checks the information out at the Vienna main train station twice to clarify what we need but he can’t buy the tickets there. The train prices are so much more expensive in Vienna! We try this 2 more times in Bratislava until we finally leave the train station with all of our tickets (we hope) in hand. We left Wednesday night, Halloween, and took an overnight train to Zurich. We were happy to be only three people, Andrew, a stranger, and myself in our sleeping couchette that sleeps 6. We hunker down and wake up in Switzerland. The train arrived in Zurich along with the sun. We couldn’t check in to our hotel until 1pm so we were stuck with our baggage. Thankfully we pack light. We walked the city and saw some amazing views, tower with large clocks reminding you of the Swiss precision timing.
Our Photos
Our mini-Swiss vacation would all be in the German section of Switzerland and thankfully I travel with Andrew and his German Fluency makes my travels a lot easier. Naturally we had to find some place to hang out for a bit until the sights opened. Fortunately there was a STARBUCKS!!! It is a nice reminder of home. Andrew and I have the excuse that our first date was at a Starbucks so we were just being sentimental (not strongly addicted to overpriced coffee drinks.) If you thinks Starbucks is expensive in the states…hop into to any European Starbucks and you will feel like the States is a bargain. We spent most of the late morning at the art museum. I enjoyed it very much. Andrew and I wandering a medium sized but very nice collection of work while we let time slip by. We check into our cheap pension accommodations. It was a great location but the rest of the assets of this motel left a lot to be desired. Stained carpet, broken bed, showers on a different floor, a broken window…. but the view, oh the view was great. It was right on the water. We then headed off to Lucerne; a mere 45-minute train ride. Lucerne is so picturesque it hurts! The long length of the covered bridge that dominates lake Lucerne adds such beauty to the small but fairly cosmopolitan trading town. Unfortunately the overcast haze limited our view of the Alps. C’est la vive. (Or whatever the German equivalent of “that’s life” is) We were able to got directly to our hotel, or more appropriately, directly to jail. Our hotel was a prison up until 1998 and they converted it to a Lowengraben Prison hotel. It was really quite fun to sleep in a prison cell. Granted it was retro fitted so the door to the room wasn't just bars.... but there were still bars on the windows. The cell was quite small. It had a retrofitted bathroom in a box installed. We requested a double, which meant that they we didn’t get bunk beds. Nightlife in both Zurich and Lucerne is surprisingly LOUD. All of those pins tripe suites get awfully rowdy in the evening. Andrew and I went back to the hotel early both nights exhausted from our travels and we relaxed while watching Prison Break on our IPod. Pretty apropos considering our surroundings, in a prison. Our train ride back to Bratislava on Saturday night was a bit more crowed. Andrew and I had the two top bunks and there were a total of 4 people asleep below us. Tight quarters but we slept well. Now were are back home, back to work.
It has been a lot of work to go back to for Andrew. He had a last minute bid that required him to work until very late 3 nights in a row. The company put him up in a hotel in Vienna. I went in and spent the nights with him and my days discovering different parts of Vienna and reverse commuting to Bratislava. Now it is Saturday morning and Andrew left from Vienna to go to Sweden (via Denmark) on a weekend business trip. The poor guys is going to fall over from so much work and travel but at least he sees his family.This is a photo of Andrew and is Mom on a lovely Autumn day in Bratislava. We just went to the outdoor veggie/fruit/cheese market got all the bounty in the other photo.

My First Slovak Field Trip

2007-10-26T17:35:00.000+02:00

My grade 3 (American equivalent to high school Juniors) and I went to the Biennial of Illustrations in Bratislava. The procedures for field trips here differs a great deal from our American ways. There wasn't a single permission slip, 1 day notification given to the students, no nurse or doctor's clearance and no need to hire a school bus. (Some of these procedures may be taken care of through other paperwork that I am not privy to ...maybe they have a blanket permission slip?!?)

My 8 students and I hoped on the public transportation bus #83 from the school and went into the center of Bratislava. We walked from the bus stop to the Dom Kultúry (the House of Culture) at SNP Square in Bratislava that housed the exhibition, entered, enjoyed and then we all went home. Simple and as pleasurable as that! It was a great exhibition. Truly fabulous and varied illustrations from around the world for children's books. I was thrilled!
The Slovak Spectator: an English Language/Slovak Paper wrote this article about the Biennial and the Winner: http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok-29197.html

Planes, Trains and automobiles... & soup

2007-10-25T10:36:00.000+02:00

Well, more like buses, street cars and trams. I traded in my VW bug back home for a series of monstrous buses with accordions in the middle, electrified buses sparking away at a web of wires hovering about the city and a few streetcars that wind through the streets on tracks. I can safely get most places in this city on one of the above mentioned transportation devices. I have learned the schedules for my regular transport needs and have learned how to find out how to get most other places as well. (Thanks to this website: http://www.imhd.sk/ba/?lang=en) Bratislava’s public transportation system is quite good. It forms a nicely woven web throughout the city and it is typically on time. The busses are moderately clean. After all they are buses…. they won't be spotless. Bratislava doesn’t have a subway/metro and as of now, I think it would be unnecessary. With gas prices and car prices much higher than in the US, I am happy to give up my role as a driver for now. I haven’t driven a car in 2 ½ months! The last time I went without driving for 21/2 months was when I was 14. (Growing up in Fl. You got your permit at 15.) You do notice the weather a lot more when you are taking public transportation. Waiting for the bus in the rain is my least favorite activity.

This week I have spent innumerable hours studying Slovak to help break us free of the isolation of the language barrier. I understand that phrase “language barrier” so clearly now. And because of this barrier it seems as though we are going through out little world here in a fish bowl and I still feel like a tourist because of this fact.

Andrew's Mom has just arrived in Bratislava! We are so happy that she was able to come and stay with us. Last night we all had a wonderful bowl of garlic soup for our dinner. Soup is a wonderful epicurean delight in Slovakia. The Slovaks make great, cheap soup and put it in a hollowed out bread bowl. Truly wonderful. Plus they give you some gum to chew after you finish the soup! We look forward to spending the next few days showing Andrew's mom around Bratislava. Andrew has off tomorrow for an Austrian holiday so he will be able to take his mom through out town and check out St. Martin's cathedral.

Also, FYI, I need to keep up with my contacts being so far away. So:

Castle Tour Photos

2007-10-21T20:27:00.000+02:00

View the slide show above or click the photo below to see the individual photo album for Slovak Castle Tour!

Slovak Castle Tour '07

5 Castles-2 Days!

2007-10-16T12:20:00.000+02:00

5 Castles in 2 days. We did our tour of Slovakia this past weekend. Sarah, Mark, Andrew and I went on a whirlwind adventure. Last week was Bill Clinton, This week was the Slovak Castle Tour ’07. We rented a little Skoda Fabia and drove to Trenčin Castle on Friday night, saw great views, stayed in a Penzion (Similar to a cheap motel) that was in a high school. Woke up the next morning to have breakfast at the Tatra Hotel at Sisi’s Café and see Ancient roman ruins carved into the mountain next to the hotel. We hiked up the mountain/hill to the castle. It wasn’t open but we did a lot of investigating and it was really wonderful. We left Trencin and headed toward Beckov. A castle in Ruins similar to Devin but soooo much cooler. It stood on this rock that jetted out of the flat ground. The crumbling stones were fabulous. We studied the history related to the castle and the blood countess that had spent some time here when she wasn’t killing young girls at her other castle around the block. After hiking around there we hopped back into the car and went an hour and a half east toward Bonjice. We stopped at the foot of the castle to have a great lunch in a small Slovak eatery. I had the cabbage soup. This castle is a real Disneyesque style castle. There were 5 million wedding going on at one time at this castle! Bridges EVERYWEHRE. We had a lovely tour in Slovak and wished we could understand. The castle was well preserved from the early 1900’s so it lacked the renaissance/Indian Jones feel of the other castles. After some very goooood lattes we hopped back in the car for our longest leg of the trip, 3 hours and change to get ourselves to Spiš Hrad. The Unseco Heritage site (apparently The Last Legion was just filmed there, I haven’t seen it yet.) After a beautiful drive through the countryside we spot this sprawling castle in the mountains all light up. It was breath taking. We drove up the hill to take some photos but mystical gypsies that might have been lurking in the tall grasses nearby frightened us off. We than started our quest to find our penzion in the small town located near the Hrad (castle.) After a we drove up and down a mountain with hairpin turns and 18-wheeler trucks…we decided to turn around and go back up and over the same mountain. Due to a sever lack of signage we couldn’t find the town right away but thankfully we did. After many wrong turns in a small unlabeled town we found the small sign for our respite that night. We were hoping to get food in this town but no luck. Even if something was open…we were not leaving. We didn’t care for this town, which was rumored to be filled to the brim with Roma that have bad intentions. The penzion was locked and Andrew and Mark went into the smoky bar next door. With no language communication they managed to get our room/suite ready for us and moved us into our holding cell. The room was fine despite the poor heat and once we were all locked in and the car was safely parked in the entry hallway to the courtyard of the Penzion. We than went through our bags and found some single serving nutella packets, 4 unripe oranges and 4 rice cakes for our dinner! Mark and Andrew dared to enter the bar again and brought back 2 beers that tasted like tin cans (we didn’t drink them), a small bag of chips and pretzels. We would not starve that night. I talked in minimal Slovak to the woman at the penzion and regarding breakfast. We were so happy that breakfast would be available in the morning. At 7 we went down with our growling stomachs and each of us was served a3 homemade hot dogs. I tried. I took a bite but they were mushy. Andrew made a quick trip to the restroom to dispose of a reasonable amount of the dogs as not to insult our hospitable hot dog maker.
We left hungry and toured the Spiš castle by day light. It is a great castle with incredible views. It was yet another wonderful castle, different than the others that we were able to experience. We left Spiš and headed back home. It was a long way and we had a curfew. The rental car needed to be picked up by the rental company at our flat no later than 7:00 pm. Now it was nearly 11:00 and we were all the way across the country. We took a different route back home. We cruised next to Banska Bystricka and made a pit stop at the Castle in Nitra and the church inside the castle. Andrew and I went to this castle a couple weeks ago. As we approached the castle’s church the doors were closing but a monk said we could have 3 minutes. We ran in and after 2 minutes were were heading out the door. We didn’t want to insult the monk by taking any more time. Than the monk asked us where we were from and took us on a private tour through locked doors of the first Catholic Church in Slovakia. We even saw a Donatello. Who would have thought there would be a Donatello in Slovakia, nevertheless in Nitra! Fabulous weekend! Now Sarah and Mark and in Prague and Andrew and I are missing them already. Photos will be posted soon. I have some editing to do.

Foreign Police and UFO's

2007-10-16T12:05:00.000+02:00

Foreign Police
In order to stay in Slovakia I need a temporary residence permit and Fulbright was wonderful enough to prepare the proper documents for me to present to the Foreign Police. The foreign police station is only open 3 days a week and LONG lines form here. The type of lines you would imagine in communist Slovakia rather than its new democratic state. The station is situated in the least likely location in Bratislava. (In fact, it is the most difficult place to find in the world! They should have buried Jimmy Hoffa here…no one would have been able to find him.) It is in the heavily residential, concrete jungle of Petrzalka. Despite a lack of signage and similarities between hundreds of concrete buildings I found it. It is in a frightful location away from any road. I went at 6:30 am last week with all of my paperwork, the doors opened at 7:30, I grabbed a # for the queue and it was #55. Every sign in the station is in Slovak and it is all so very confusing. By 8:45 they were only on #12. I couldn’t possibly stay because I needed to go to work. So, I returned this morning with Andrew to protect/keep me company. We arrived at the dark Police station at 5:30 am and we were not the first ones in line but the length of the line was promising. Andrew stayed with me for an hour, freezing, until he had to catch his train to Vienna. When the doors opened at 7:30, I got ticket #9. What a relief and by 8:05 I was called in and they sorted my paperwork. Than I was told I had to buy stamps. Confused, 2 gentlemen at another counter translated for me. I had to leave the station, walk 2 blocks to a newspaper kiosk/stand and buy the stamps. The 2 gentlemen showed me the way. They were Iraqi students studying in Slovakia for their PHD’s. They left Iraq because of the war. I was so grateful and felt so sorry for them and their situation. We had a nice talk/apology in the bitter cold on our way to the Kiosk. They helped me get the stamps, we said our good-byes and I went back to the Police. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait on line again. However it was not enough stamps. I needed 3,000sk ($120) work of stamps and I only had 150sk ($6) worth of stamps. I left to get more stamps but the kiosk was closed. I walked to another but they didn’t have these magical stamps. Finally the original Kiosk reopened and I got the stamps after finding an ATM to be able to afford them. I returned to the police and I am registered!!!
UFO's
Now, I can tell you all of the good stuff. Sarah and Mark have just left for Prague. We had a great week with them here.. We climbed (via and elevator in one leg of the bridge) to the top of the Novy Most! Translated into English it is called the New Bridge; formerly Most SNP - Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising. This is a road bridge over the Danube.
According to wikipedia: It is the world's longest cable-stayed bridge in category with one pylon and with one cable-stayed plane. It is the only bridge in the world that is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. It is the 26th and the lowest member of World Federation of Great Towers ...I have no idea what that actually means. It is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge. Its steel construction is suspended from steel cables, connected on the Petržalka side to two pillars. It was built between 1967 and 1972 as the second bridge over the Danube in Bratislava. A significant section of the Old Town below Bratislava Castle, which included nearly all of the Jewish quarter, had to be demolished, just so the bridge improved access between Petržalka and the rest of the city. It also revealed parts of the historical city walls. Unfortunately this road runs within feet of the St. Martian Cathedral. This is an amazing church that hosted around 13 coronations!
We visited the special attraction on top...its flying saucer-shaped structure housing a restaurant, called "UFO". The restaurant and observation deck on top offers a good view over Bratislava. Nový Most has 4 upper lanes for cars, and lanes for bicycles and pedestrians beneath the roadway on both sides. Coming from the old city, we walked along the left side of the bridge, went up the elevator and had a great bathroom experience. Yes, you heard me correctly. This bridge has a restaurant/observation deck at the top. Great views…Fabulous time and on our way out we stopped to use the rest room. Well, the restroom was all glassed in and looked out over the whole city. You couldn’t be shy in there. Granted no one on the ground would ever be able to see you…but still…it is a little shocking. See the video. (Don’t worry; it is just of the bathroom and not of anyone using the bathroom!!)

Bill Clinton has soft hands

2007-10-10T16:46:00.000+02:00

Well, Things have been interesting lately! Sarah and Mark flew in from the States to Budapest. Sarah is my best friend since high school and Mark is her husband….both wonderful people and a lot of fun to hang out with when traveling….and no, I am not just writing this because they will be reading this blog… Andrew and I met them in Budapest the next day. We had a great 30 hours with them there. During that time we met BILL CLINTON Twice! It was amazing. Check out the videos and photos. Bill was there for a public speaking engagement and probably to hype his new book. The first time we met him, we were walking past the Four Seasons and we saw a very small group of people gathering and several security personal. We were tired from a long day of travel, walking the city and exploring the new culture so we decided to take a break and see what/who was arriving at the Four Seasons. The press photographers were of no assistances when we asked them who it was. They merely shrugged us off. A few short moments later, a caravan of SUV’s and flashing lights came up onto the sidewalk. We watched all the cars. I thought it was probably a Hungarian actor or singer but no….Off to the side of me I hear Mark yell, “Hey, it’s Bill.” The small crowd merged closer as Bill came over to greet us. Sarah and I were on a photographing mission from this point on. Mark broke the ice and asked Bill for a handshake and Andrew shook his hand too and told Bill that he went to class with his father and actually had a follow up question from the president. Mark’s first reaction was to tell strangers standing nearby how soft Bill’s hands were. We were thrilled about the whole experience! The next day we were finishing up our Highlights of Budapest tour, before our train back to Bratislava, in the Mathias Church up on the Buda side. We were on the second level of the church, still commenting on the wonderful experience from the day before. When I heat Andrew call out, “It’s Bill!” I naturally thought he was joking. But sure enough, Bill Clinton was at the head of the church getting a private tour. The intense shutter bugging continued. The President finished his tour and exited the church where I had the chance to shake his hand and Sarah made him smile when she called out, “Hillary, ’08.” Budapest in a nutshell: A couple nice meals. Picturesque city with a the impressive “Chain Bridge.” We had lots of walks up hills and lovely walks along the Danube. There was an incredible bronze installation along the Danube of the shoes of Jews that were murdered in the river by the Nazis. It was very moving. A lovely super old monastery/wine cellar evening, St. Stephens was impressive but we didn’t get to see the relic it houses (The fore arm of St. Stephen.) There is more English spoken in Budapest than Bratislava, lots of soft hand jokes. The labyrinth tour was sad, unimpressive, commercial and filled with rancid wine fountains. It was pricier than expected but not out of control and of course….getting to hangout with Sarah, Mark, Andrew and our new friend, Bill.
Click on the photo below to see photos from our trip and of BILL!

Budapest and Bill Clinton

Sarah and Mark are now staying with us in Bratislava. I have taken them on a tour of the old city (Stare Mesto), including the St.Martin church of the corination and it’s crypt, Tesco (supermarket/supercenter) and the concrete jungle of Petržalka. Of course we took them out from some of the famous hot chocolate. Today, while I am at work, they will be seeing Devin Castle. Tomorrow we go to Vienna and meet up with Andrew after he is done with work. On Friday night we will rent a car and start our Slovak Castle Tour. We hope to see Trenčin, Beckov, Bojnice and Spiš. We will see how it we manage.

Regarding School. There was a lovely ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the school. It was filled with alumni, press, students and more. It gave me a great opportunity to see the rest of the school. Chat with some of the English speaking faculty and smile politely to the non-English speaking faculty (while trying to put phrases together in my mind but having them not make it out of my mouth.) I took a lot of photos and some video clips and put them together in the video below.

Learning how to do my job and a visit to Nitra

2007-10-02T00:21:00.000+02:00

At school. Well, I have been pretty introspective lately. I have always felt very comfortable in front of a class and reasonable relaxed communicating with my colleagues in the states. I rarely felt lost. I hadn’t realized how many times I would feel helpless, out of the loop, awkward or down right confused in my new international role. Most of these experiences happen when I am in front teaching. Confusion. This is a state that I have never been comfortable with in my everyday life nevertheless my professional life. I have always tried to understand my surroundings, people’s expectations of me and my role to help elevate confusion. I refuse to live with confusion. It is too confusing to live with confusion.
Every so often something exchange with the students will ensue in my class that will permit me to feel like I am teaching. All of this goes up into a big puff of smoke when a nominal exchange is filled with confusion and misinterpretation. Overall, communication is taking place. I show PowerPoints and heaps of visuals to elucidate my projects; I pantomime every word, but I typically talk with my hands anyway. The students are mostly courteous and hard working. In the end they comprehend the goals and objectives of the lessons. They seem to be challenged and enjoy the projects. They help each other out to learn and translate my lectures. These are most certainly lectures rather than class discussions. The language barrier confines any extensive class discussion.
The overall lack of conversation seems to be the part of teaching I miss the most. I never recognized how much of my teaching is based on my interaction with the students. I always knew it was vital but I had no idea how difficult it is for me to teach without that bond. I am so eager to learn to do my job better but the progression is sluggish. It is difficult to not have the facility to ask questions and I have so many questions. Small questions that are not worth finding a translator but questions that would help ease some of my lessons and help me adapt to teaching in Slovakia.
I will continue to learn this language. I am making small headway everyday but I am far from formulating conversation. I try but with words like the word for 1/4th or quarter in Slovak is: štrvrt’. (Pronounced shtrrfrrteu) (The š=SH. The double r’s are my version of rolling r’s. The t’ with apostrophe is a soft t sound that I cannot master but I pronounce as teu.) There is some hidden syllable or something that I miss when I try to say that word. It is also similar to the fourth day of the week: štrvrtok. I am better at pronouncing that one but I still need some practice.
Our weekend travels: Friday I met Andrew in Vienna for a nice Viennese dinner. I love being able to meet up with him in another country for a meal. On Saturday, Andrew and I took the bus to Nitra. Nitra is a smaller city about an hour and 15-minute bus ride East of Bratislava. Claims to fame: The first Christian Church of the Slovak and Czech Republics if not all of Central and Eastern Europe was built there but now…it is no more. The original structure is gone or yet to be discovered. Nitra is certainly known for its churches. We saw a great church that was part of the castle on the hill. It is a great work out visiting castles. They always seem to have put these castles on the highest hilltop. Nitra is also known for its beer, Corgoň. I was happy we stumbled upon the architectural sculpture that is used in the beer’s logo. See Slide Show. It was a beautiful day with great weather. I hope the weather remains good for this upcoming weekend when we meet our friends Sarah and Mark in Budapešt.

It wasn't Andrew

2007-09-28T08:59:00.000+02:00

Local disturbance in Bratislava this week. Apparently 4 Danish men decided to bathe in their birthday suits in the main squares public fountain. It made even the news. (Link above) I promise Andrew wasn't one of those Danes. Fountain hopping seems to be a common problem in Bratislava. These problems are related to stag parties and our very own British Invasion. There seems to be mostly British Stag parties that take over the cities over the weekend. The Brits travel down here for a weekend of fun at barely any cost. The exchange between the pound and the Slovak Crown is very beneficial for the Brits.

My art in a show back in the States

2007-09-28T06:54:00.000+02:00

Photos! Photos! Photos!

2007-09-27T09:35:00.000+02:00

Hi, I have uploaded some highlights of our recent adventures. Click on each photo to see the photo gallery of that particular trip.
Our Trip to Brno

Brno, Czech Republic

Fulbright Orientation and Tour of Bratislava

Fulbright Orientation

Our Bike Ride along the Danube to Devin Castle

Bike Ride to Devin Castle

The good, the better and the ugly

2007-09-26T07:02:00.000+02:00

Fulbright Orientation in Brief: Learned lots of Slovak. Meet some really nice people that are part of this year’s grantees. Participated in several events that helped me understand Slovak culture better. I look forward to new friends and possible collaborations with other grantees.
Weekend Adventures
So, Andrew and I had a great weekend. Fairy tales are made up of weekends like this one. But don’t worry, where the happily ever after of the weekend ended, the reality of cross-cultural misunderstandings started again on Monday.

First I will start with beautiful weekend. Friday night finished our Fulbright orientation with an Opera. The opera house was so beautiful! Than Saturday morning we biked along the Danube to Devin Castle. It is about a 10-mile bike ride there. The weather was glorious, my back was feeling fine and words can’t explain the various beautiful and interesting sights we saw along the way. (see photos soon when I post them.) We sipped extra large and cheap beer along the intersection of the banks of the Rivers Danube and Moravia with a castle ruins shielding us from the sun. We stopped for lunch. We had a pizza of sorts. I think it had sheep cheese on it and a lot of it! Not very appetizing. We recovered from all the grease and hiked around the castle ruins for several hours and than headed back on bike. Later on that night we went out for a good dinner of Slovak soup (very tasty and very cheap.) While we were searching for a place to eat, we stumbled upon a full orchestra and choir in the center square. The sound was amazing!!

Sunday we went to the Czech Republic to the town of Brno. It was only an hour and a half train ride from here. Brno is the second largest city in Czech Republic and it is filled with glorious gothic churches. We saw the churches, a fascinating crypt, a castle/ fortress with jail up on a hill and enjoyed every inch of the city.

The cultural conflicts
So, that brings us to today. I don’t want to go into details but I just do not understand how lunch works at this school. I can’t seem to get the process of lunch correct. I was mortified. It was like the soup Nazi. No lunch for me. I won’t get home until 5:30 today and I haven’t eaten since 8 this morning and that was a small bowl of cereal. It is not the fault of anyone but myself and my lack of ability to understand the procedure. I will try again another day but I am most certainly keeping some spare food with me at all times…in case I screw it up again! So, here I am frustrated and faint from low blood sugar…but happy nonetheless.
Other News
Sarah and Mark arrive so soon! I can hardly wait for all of our adventures together and the opportunity to share my experiences with them.

By the way, I was quoted in the Slovak Spectator newspaper regarding “Imagine America,” the US Embassy Art show last week.

Slivovitza! and Bewerly Hillz 90210

2007-09-20T07:15:00.000+02:00

Past weekend: Andrew and I have spent this past weekend running errands and getting to know the city a little bit better. We were able to get a cell phone for me! I am so happy. This was a big hurdle for me to overcome. We had a lovely morning at the veggie market. This market is a good place for us to go to get healthy and inexpensive fruit and vegetables, Slovak cheeses and cheap Chinese clothes. Think China town with a nice veggie market in the middle of it and no Chinese food. Andrew works so much during the week that we really enjoy our weekends together. He has a very long commute. From start to end...it is 2 hours each way! He takes a bus to a train, to another train and than has to walk. Vienna is close to Bratislava but Vienna is a large city. I guess it is similar to commuting into uptown in NYC.

Slivovitza! It is a 49% alcohol drink that is very much part of the culture. I don’t know if I will ever be able to fully take part of that aspect of the culture. Andrew and I tried to adapt to the culture, including Slivovitza on Friday. On Friday the classes stopped at 12 because it was Peter, the principal's birthday and we were going to have a celebration at the school starting at 2. In the school cafeteria It very festive...There was a small band. (I found out later on that one of those guys used to sing for the National Opera but he didn't like the way things were done and he left to drive a bus instead.) So, the party had all the necessary parts of a party... Food,...slivovitza and wine. One of the teachers at the school also teaches dance, mainly Latin dancing. He brought his students, including is 2 teenage daughters to dance as a show for us. They were great. I left around 5:30 to go home and get Andrew. We returned around 7 pm and the party was still going. They started grilling food (Sausages and chicken) out back and lots of dancing inside. We tried to have conversations with my new colleagues. Everyone was very nice. Our conversations were VERY multicultural. We had to piece together different languages to say something very simple. Slovak, English, Hungarian, German and French all pieced together to find out simple facts about one another. It was very interesting.

Learing Slovak/Teaching English: I started teaching English and learning Slovak to this woman named Zuzana 2 times a week for a couple hours each visit. It is a good balance. She wants to learn how to speak English and I desperately need to speak Slovak.

Fulbright Orientation: This week we have our Fulbright Orientation. It is 3 days long. The participants will be Fulbrighters of all types, grad students, 2 US teachers (including me) and some visiting lectures. I am excited to see who they all are. The orientation will included some sight seeing and art opening, presentations from exchange and higher education programs as well as presentations from the US Embassy. It will also be filled with Slovak language learning and getting to know Slovakia/Bratislava better. I am looking getting more insight into my new culture over here.

I am learning a lot about myself as a person, as an American and as a teacher. Being removed from your culture and placed into another culture makes you very aware of your own behavior, actions and beliefs.

5 feet from the Prime Minister....and not arrested outside the Presidential Palace

2007-09-13T10:47:00.000+02:00

"Imagine America": Slovak, American Photos in 9/11 Exhibit at the US Embassy. I attended this art opening. I met the US Ambassador,Rodolphe M. Vallee (Left), stood 5 feet away from the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico (Right) as he gave a speech.
The opening was to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a collection of photos entitled "Imagine America: Photo Landscapes, Real and Imagined." The invited guests in attendance were there to begin dialogues about how America has been shaped by September 11, and how this altered America moves forward. There is the work of three Slovak artists - Ivan Čaniga, Róbert Kočan and Martin Kollár - and one American, Rick Dingus. They had a telecast to Texas with Rick Dingus and a group of his colleagues. I was lucky to attend this with Peter. It was a great opportunity to go to the US Embassy. It is in a beautiful section of the city in a square called: Hviezdoslavovo Square. (Say that 3 times fast.) The US Embassy is in a nice, historic building and (since the US government has been so kind as to include me in the Fulbright ) I will opt out of commenting on the LARGE fence that surrounds the entrance.

Earlier that day I was grateful that I wasn't arrested outside the Presidential Palace for disturbing the peace. It is a long story. In short: HUGE delivery truck of our stuff from Denmark. Can't fit down the street. Blocking traffic. Huge wooden crate stuck on truck, can't get it off. Useless moving man had no tools or anyway to get this monstrosity off the truck. I only have a screwdriver. It is raining. Bash the living $%^# out of the wooden crate until it finally opens. Move truck down the street (directly across from the main gate of the Pres. Palace)to stop angry people for yelling for blocking the street. Unload huge crate. Lug boxes down the street to out flat. Still Raining! The moving guy leaves me outside the Presidential Palace with huge 5'x5'x5' half bashed in wooden crate. I am stuck trying to break down this crate outside the Pres. Palace. Oh, plus there was something official going on and there were truck loads of military arriving at the Palace for some ceremony. Somehow I did it! I was nearly bed ridden for the past 2 days though because of my back. But I did it! And 2 hours after I did this...I was standing next to the Prime Minister.

The Hills are Alive

2007-09-11T09:28:00.002+02:00

St. Peter's Cemetary

Photo by Andrew

Ah, the hills are alive with the Sound of Music and Rain! We had a nice time in Salzburg despite all of the rain and there was a lot of rain. We took the train there. It was about 4 and half hours total. While approaching the Salzburg train station I eagerly looked out the window, hoping to get a glimpse of Julie Andrews twirling down the hills or at least a lonely goat herder (insert yodel here.) We experienced the Alps, the Mirabelli Gardens, the old city on the other side of the rough and turbulent river, the massive fortress up on a mountain that was only accessible by a train (Funicular_ see movie clip). We also saw the impressive Dom that was destroyed by a WWII bomb, Mozart’s birthplace, many shops and my favorite, St. Peter’s Cemetery and catacombs. Each plot was a carefully tended garden. It was fairy tale like with all the flowers, wrought iron signs and catacombs built into the mountain. (See photo above.)

Oh, I almost forgot. We were staying at the hotel with a Tupperware convention. It was so SCARY. They walked around with matching pink bags, cardboard cut outs of some Tupperware important guy and huge banners waving outside the convention center with Tupperware written in pink.

Panoramic Views of Salzburg from the Fortress.

Mozart's Birth place

Back to work now...with our adventurous weekend behind us.
Planning. I do a lot of planning. I have 5 different preps. Thankfully they give me time to prep. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my prep time. I can’t complain. I am fortunate that there is at least 1 student in each class that can understand English well enough to translate my plans. One on one work with a student and myself is more problematic. I feel a little lost after I introduce the project and the students begin working.

Today, September 11, 2007, I will be going to a photography exhibit at the American Embassy, “Imagine America.” Also, there is an opportunity for my students and I to have an exhibition at the American Embassy with a Slovak/US unifying theme. I am terribly excited about this opportunity. It is fitting that today would be my first trip to the US Embassy.

During the day today I will be at home waiting for shipments from Denmark and some dressers from Ikea. Let’s see how I can function with delivery people!

Ahh, the first day of school

2007-09-06T16:21:00.000+02:00

So, I began teaching at the School of Applied Arts (SUV). It is a very different school from Mendham HS. MHS is very much a typical American High School. The structure and foundation of my new Slovak school (SUV) is so very different than any American school I know. It is a school without all the typical high school subjects, lunch duty, study hall, sports, clubs. On any given day at MHS I would see at least several hundred students. At SUV I saw only 20 students throughout the day...including lunch and in the hallways. The class periods are structured differently too. I taught from 8am-3:55 pm yesterday and only had 2 classes and a 45 minute lunch. Ah, but I get to do all my school planning at home. That is a very nice perk. That is good because I have to reformulate everything I teach. (there isn't an LCD projector in sight...AHHH!) Well, it is amazing how much teaching is based on communication and how much communication is based in language. Interpretative dance will only take you so far through a lesson. This will be a whole new type of teaching for me. It is going to be challenging. Some students speak English but not all of them. I am staying surprising calm.
This quote says what I feel quite well.
"When I was thus suddenly cast on foreign land I found myself deprived of the use of speech and hearing; and during some weeks, incapable not only of enjoying the pleasures of conversation, but even asking or answering a question in the common intercourse of life...From a man I was again degraded to the dependence of a school boy...and helpless and awkward as I have ever been. " (Massingham and Massingham 1984, 15)

Oh, did I mention that the students stand when I enter the room. That's FUN!

Well, Andrew and I are going to Salzburg this weekend!

They don't wear athletic sneakers in Vienna

2007-09-01T18:38:00.000+02:00

So, on Tuesday I went to Vienna. The trains were very simple to navigate. I went to the Belvedere Museum and it was a great experience. The Belvedere has the largest collection in the world

of Gustav Klimt's paintings. They also have many paintings by Egon Schiele. (of course they do....... both Klimt and Schiele are both Austrian artists. ) I thought I would be really intrigued by well known painting "The Kiss" by Klimt.

However, I more impressed with "Judith" by Klimt which illustrates a seductive, ornamental and exotic Judith and the barely noticeable head of Holofernes tucked into the corner of the composition. (yet another J. slaying H.painting in my quest to see all major works about this subject.)So, I sat in the gardens of the Museum (see photos) and drew. It was such a wonderful time!

I also walked around the historical area of Vienna and WOW. Vienna is so beautiful.

Fortunately the way to the historical center is lined with prime shopping! I thought this trip to Vienna might provide a good chance for me to buy a pair of sneakers (I have been exercising in flip flops since I got here...very difficult.) I had been having some trouble finding sneakers in Bratislava. Well, finding sneakers that I liked, weren't over $200 and that were in stores that the sales people wanted to help me get my size. ( they don't sell half sizes here...very difficult for a shoeaholic like me. )

So the sneaker hunt began...and....ended without any sneakers. They don't sell athletic type sneakers in any of the stores I went into. They were all no support, dancer/J.Lo type gold lamae sneakers that would not bode well for kick boxing, jogging, biking, or any other exercise! A crushing experience. (I did find a pair of sneakers a couple days ago...and I am relieved.)

So along with peanut butter...send size 81/2 shoes!

School

Well, I have met some of my colleagues and they have been very nice. Some speak English but the majority so not. I could speak a little French with 2 of them (Thanks Tammy.) I will write more about my first experiences with school soon.

Right now, Andrew just arrived. He has a horrible cold and I want to make him some soup. YAY! Andrew is here.

And just a parting photo...This place is located next to one of the several high end McDonald's located in Bratislava.

No peanut butter but 2 Lakes

2007-08-27T09:13:00.000+02:00

It is difficult to have such a great adventure over here without Peanut Butter!

I have been to two lakes. Ivanka and Zlate Piesky. Swimming in these lakes was a pristine experience. The water was so clear and pure. It really shakes any presumptions I may still have about a former communist country. The lakes were pure, trash-free and divine. On the other hand...there were a lot of Speedos. But it could have been more shocking. I do know that there is a nudist lake in Bratislava. These were not nudist lakes but there were a couple naturalist bathers in attendance.

The most exciting part of the 2 lakes was a hyper active dog that fetched a tennis ball thrown into the lake at least 10,000 times. He was pure entertainment! see the video above

I have taken the public transportation several times now! There are 3 types of in town public transportation. The bus, the Trolley (bus that is electrified through wires crossing the streets...like a big protective spiderweb hovering over the city.) and the street car (What we would think of a a San Francisco street Trolley.) Now I want to figure out how to take the train to Vienna. There are so many interesting art museums that are calling me from across the Danube (Dunnaj in Slovak.)

I was able to finally purchase bed sheets correctly! I even went to a locksmith and had extra sets of keys made for the flat. When you are embedded in a culture that you can't communicate with things can be difficult and so it really is the small accomplishments in life that make you happy.

Everything is coming up Slovak

2007-08-22T13:37:00.000+02:00

So it has been a week and I have my flat, I have been to my new school once, gone shopping for food/necessities and I have traveled around Bratislava a bit. I went to see the view of Bratislava from the castle (Hrad) with Peter. It over looks the New Bridge (Novy Most).
We also went to the ruins of Devin Castle which had amazing views of Austria and of the Danube where it meets with the Moravian River.

There was a very interesting sculpture there that was done by a Slovak artist to commemorate the many people who were killed trying to cross the Danube at this location during the Soviet occupation. The sculpture is interesting because it is poured concrete, reminiscent of the other side of the river, rank after rank of anonymous, ugly concrete panel block housing – of the Petrzalka suburb – that stretches endlessly into the distance (You can see the buildings of Petrazalka lurking behind the space ship Novy Most bridge above.) The sculpture has simulated bullet holes and looks over the intersection of the Danube and Moravian rivers.

Also, some eccentric guy built a light house-ish thing near the castle. Light houses in (Europe....central Europe...hmmmm)

We also went to the Farmer’s market. I learned how to make my way through the crowds and the system for purchasing produce, cheese (syr) and sausage. I have been really working on learning Slovak foods because it is a necessity. EVERYTHING IS SLOVAK. I know I am in Slovakia and that shouldn’t be surprising but I am amazed in the quantity of Slovak products in the supermarket and stores. If there is a second language on the package it is Czech, a third would be Polish, a fourth German, fifth would be Croatian perhaps. My limited knowledge of French, Italian and Spanish are no help. So, shopping takes some time. The other day I went to the Tesco (Wal-Mart sized superstore) to buy sheets. After much deliberation I came home with what I thought was the perfect purchase of cotton sheets but to my surprise I opened up the package to find a duvet cover. I will figure out how to buy sheets! I promise. It is a greater challenge than you think.
Starbucks
Now for all of you worried about me surviving without Starbucks….Don’t worry. (the first thing I saw when I got off the plane in Vienna was a Starbucks. I immediately went over to it and ordered. I am fluent in the international language of Starbucks; “Venti Chai.”) There are no Starbucks in Bratislava but there are 3 coffee shops around the corner. All of them with I went to one of them today. I went to the counter ordered an ice coffee. I sat down at the table in the café and they brought me a tall iced espresso with milk, whipped cream and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. It was divine. Not what I was expecting but divine! I can’t wait to try the other coffee places.

Good news: I figured out how the washing machine works.

Your moment of zen: Right now Elmo is on my TV speaking Slovak. I figured Sesame Street might be a good way to practice Slovak.

2007-08-16T21:52:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! Now, I am alive and well in Bratislava. I am writing to you from the our new flat! Here is a video of the flat....
The location is very good. I am close to the major transportation and it is a nice area of town!

The flights went very well and I am a bit tired but so far so good. Peter, the principal, has been helping me get situated here. He picked me up from the airport and has taken me around every day to do all those necessary tasks you need to do when you move to another country. Plus has has bought me several typical Slovak lunches. One of them was"bryndzove halusky" ("bryndzové halušky"), small dumplings made of potato dough with sheep cheese and topped with scrambled bacon. Not exactly diet food. It was surprisingly good.

I have not managed to get a cell phone but hopefully I will get one soon. There is a lot of paperwork that has to be furnished (Police report registration, lease on apartment, passport.)

So, my experiences so far: My ability to speak Slovak is...ummm...not good! Most people don't speak English and 1/2 of my students will not speak English. Construction and maintenance workers wear Dickies with built in cloth suspenders. It is very clean, it is a beautiful city. There are amazing views of the windmills in Austria (The look like tall wire men marching in the fading atmosphere), there is an Armani store in downtown, there is free wireless internet in the town squares. There is only 1 English channel in my cable package and it is CNN (MTV doesn't count as a channel.) The city has gone through extensive restoration since the Soviet occupation.

I am very calm, despite everything but I wish I could share this with everyone at home.

Everyone at Mendham. Barbara arrived a couple weeks ago in the Us. Some of you met her at the Frog. She is very nice! The school she taught in (where I will be) is a fantastic school. Please help her adjust to the many new tasks that she will be confronted with at the school (Rotating schedule, school duties, larger class sizes.) Oh, and her English is very good. I think she will be a great asset to the school.

Andrew will be arriving in a couple weeks!!

I miss you all very much and I will write more soon.

2007-07-10T10:59:00.000+02:00

Video from Euro trip 2007

Also here are my photos
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=suemtzo.h55bm5w&x=0&y=x4lx8i

I am typing in Chinese, in Italy. I am in an internet cafe and the computer is stuck on Chinese Characters and I cant change it...so, forgive me if this reads a bit wierd. Anyway. The transition between Florence and Venice was horrible. There were so many problems. Here is a brief glance at what went wrong. Vomit in the florence hallway (Vomit seems to be a reoccurring theme for this trip) a lost passport, me being voted to stay behind to deal with the passport at the police and Consulate without anyone asking me if that was ok with me, all of the trouble making kids from all the groups being put on my train car on the way to Venice, one of those students trying to bite me, a very last minute hotel change that left MAJOR confusion upon arriving in Venice, me having to collect money for damages caused from the aforementioned vomit and a few other things. Needless to say I surrvived the chaos and the past day or so things have been a bunch better. I have just ran into my 3rd former student that is currently studing art in Italy. Crazy, isn't it? 2 of them were in seperate art programs in Florence and one is in Venice. And I will be getting a home cooked meal tonight from my former Venice Student and his girlfriend. I am very happy about that. We leave tomorrow.....We take a boat to a bus to a plane to london gatwick to a bus to London Heathrow to a plane to Newark to a bus to Mendham High School to home and to bed. I can't wait. There have been a lot of very good moments to this trip but it is always difficult managing this many kids and all of the travel. I miss you all. Please forgive my typos...
ciao

2007-07-04T13:32:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone.
Last night we had our Tuscan Feast at the sheep farm. It was the best one we had of all the years.....but there was one major problem - The student that threw up on one of our chaperones on the bus ride back home. But before than...everything was great. Today we had a disaterous trip to the beach. We arrived at Vad beach and saw the busses leave. 70 kids, 5 chaperones and gail force winds. The water was too rough and the life guards told the kids that they were not allowed to go in to the water. Plus it was cold. The buses left at 10 and we finally got them back by 12 and managed to geteveryone back on the busses.....we were originally supposed to leave around 3 pm. Right now I have sand covering every inch of me. I did take vdeo of the disaster.
Oh well, I am going to take a rest this afternoon and practice some Slovak in my hotel room.
Internet is very expensive in Volterra so I should go now.

2007-07-03T17:12:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone,
All is well, we made it to Volterra. I had to switch hotels to the San Lino on Via San Lino but that is the only problem. We had a day trip to Siena today and it was the day after the Palio horse race. Tomorrow we are going to the Vada beach. It should be beautiful there. And don't worry...of course I am taking a ton of photos. Tonight we have our Tuscan feast at the sheep farm. That is always a good night!
Ok, there is a line fore the internet cafe computers so I best go. All is well and I miss everyone.

The photo is of volterra (found on the internet)
çaio

2007-07-01T16:33:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone. The internet place is close to our hotel so I can write another post. This morning we took the kids to the Colleseum and the Forum on Palentine Hill (the whole socrates thing....and ancient Europe) It was great. But what was even better was I had the afternoon off. Rob decided to take care of the kids this afternoon for their trip to Ostia Antica so I coiuld go to Museums and churches. I saw the Barberini collection and an acient roman art museum. I tried so hard to get to 2 churches I have been trying to go to for the past 4 years. One of them has always been closed and I have nevewr been able to find the second one. This year I found both of them but both were closed. However...the start of the day at the barberini collection was teriffic. I saw a Carravagio painting that I have been wanting to see forever. I have been studing Judith salaying holoferens themse in painting for a few years...and the Caravaggio painting I saw today is one of the main ones!!! I know it is a bit gruesome but it is painted sooo well and looks incredible in person. There was also an Artemesia Gentileschi painting that I didnt know it would be at that museum.

2007-06-30T09:22:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone. we are going to the Vatican in a few minutes. I love when we get to see the Sistine Chapel Cieling!!! We are about 5 or 6 days into this year's Euro Trip. We started out in Paris. Surprisingly my French understanding was much better than I expected. I did very well with reading French and aome people actually understood me when I spoke French. This years group of students (the ones under my specific group) are not the best group. With the exception of 1 student...I haven't taught these kids before. I am just learning about them and their names. They are unimpressed with most things they see. Some even asked why they should go inside Notre Dame. It has been painful. Hopwever, now that we are in Rome and all 3 groups are here I am running into MY former students and they are good kids with a genunine interest in seeing the sights!

The ovwernight train from Paris to Rome would have been fine but 1 student lost her groups train tickets in a matter of 3 minutes. This caused mass negotians between tour guides, bus drivers, me (speakin en français) bothe French and Italian conductors... To make a long story short...we all made it to Rome and I am surprised we actually did make it and I had some time on the train to study Slovak. 18 year olds behind me. But I can't complain too much...like I said ....I am going to the Sistine Chapel this morning!
Anyway...I miss you guys and I will try an post something every couple of days.
Forgive my typos...I should start to get used to these European keyboards.

çaio, çaio
Jesse

2007-01-05T21:30:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone.
Happy New Year!!
Andrew and I just returned from our trip to Sweden and Denmark. This is a link to a bunch of photos. http://www.bluelavaart.com/denmark-sweden/index.htm
They are in a bit of a random order. You can click the play button on the lower right to view it as a slide show. The silly pictures in the begining are from New Year's Eve in Copenhagen. Most of the building photos are from Copenhagen as well. We went to a couple castles. Most of the red houses and landscape shots are from Sweden.
The image above is a panaramic shot of Philip, Karen and Iben's house in Sweden (where we spent Christmas.)

Love,
Jesse

2006-07-05T19:06:00.000+02:00

Hi,
Well, I have 2 more days. I spent today in Toledo and tomorrow I will finish up the art museums in Madrid. Tonight we have a Mesones Tour. It will be a late night. It is pretty much a tapas tour around the city. They have a law in spain that they can't serve alcohol without serving food...so they serve Tapas...finger food. There will be lots of Sangria and Tapas tonigh. Our kids have been amazing. It is always difficult to take care of this many kids on such a long tour but they are doing very well. Looking forward to getting home (and doing some laundry!!!!) I will be home Friday night.

2006-07-03T15:33:00.000+02:00

Hey,
I am in Madrid safe and sound. Everything has been going smoothly. I have a bit of a sun burn on my back to compound my back problems a bit but I don't want you to worry. I am taking care of myself. I dont have mych time left on this computer so I have to make it fast. Tomorrow we go to the Prado Museum....I am so excited. The next day we have free and I might take a day trip to Toledo with Tucky. Should be fun. Anyway...So far Madrid is nice...Very different from the canals of Venice. It looks like a combination of NYC, Boston and London. It is a bit hard converting back to Spanish from Italian. Well, I have to go catch a bus for our orientation tour.
Adios.

2006-06-30T17:20:00.000+02:00

Hi,
I got my massage!!!!! finally in Venice.

2006-06-29T18:27:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone. I had to find my way to the Internet cafe again today because there were a ton of changes at the last minute with my schedule. I will not be staying in the Abbazzia hotel in Venice. I will be in the Bella Arti (the same hotel I typically stay in) Anyway, I had to contact the old hotel because I had asked to see if they can get me a massage. Also, We are leaving earlier than expected from Florence....a 1/2 day earlier...I am sad. I would rather stay in Florence than go to Venice...but that is the nature of group travel. I had a great day today. I spent the entire day starring at beautiful paintings. Now, I just finished a tiramssu galato cone...to help keep me from melting away in this heat. These internet cafes really need a/c too! Well, I am off to reseach massage places. Hope all is good in the states.

2006-06-28T14:55:00.000+02:00

Hi.
this will be a quick post because I am in Florence and there is no time to stay on a computer when you are in such an amazing city. today we went to the Accademia to see the David by Michelangelo and to the Medici Chepel and yesterday we toured many churces...Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, Santa maria della fiore. Tommorow is the Bargello and the Uffizzi. I had some problems with my back here. The gave me a crappy bed and i am working very hard to get a new bed put in to my hotel room. I couldn't get that massage in Volterra because they were all booked. I had to use every bit of itlain I kne to try an make the appointment. No worries. i got some homepathic medice that will hopefully help. gotta got ..caio

2006-06-26T10:44:00.000+02:00

Prodcurre un'ernia. Dichetti prodotti un'ernia nel mio collo pìu basso. This is what I would like to tell the person who is supposed to give me my massage. However, I don't know if they are open. We tried calling se veral times this morning and there wass no answer. It is a bit of a walk outside the city wasll to go to this place and I want to make sure that I can get the massage if I walk all that distance. I am currently at the internet place (obiously) trying to get info on the place and see if there is any other places that have massage. So far...no luck. Oh well. Thisngs are going well here...Everyone is pretty rxcited about the World Cup. It is an exeprience to see. The Tuscan Feast went well...Fun was had by all. Well, I am off to try and fix my back. I hope everyone is doing well.
ciao ciao!

2006-06-25T16:11:00.000+02:00

So, I am actually posting twice in one day. Today was terrific. There wasn't too much walking so that was good for my back. We spent the day in San gimignano in Tuscany. It is a short (45 min) really hot bus ride from Volterra. It is a beautiful city...(see photo) I wish I could upload some pics that I have taken on this trip but it really isn't possible with these computers. There was a medieval festival today in this town. It was really interesting and fun. Tonight we have our Tuscan feast at the sheep farm. That should be fun. Tomorrwo will be a light day and I am looking forward to going to get a massage. I hope I can get an appointment and find my way to this place. Anyway, I miss everyone and wish you all could be here with me enjoying these sights. The view from Volterra of the fildes and vineyards of Tuscany is truly amazing. Volterra is pretty high up in the hills and it makes for some fantastic views that photos can never capture. Well, I should go and rest my back before our Tuscan feast.
ciao ciao mi fanmillia

2006-06-25T09:38:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone! I don't have much time here...I will have to be quick. I am in Volterra and it is a beautiful as always. We spent yesterday in Siena and that is always a treat. Siena has to be one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. Today we will be leaving for a short bus trip to San Gimignano. Oh, by the way...that problem child we had on the trip....He was sent home. He broke so many rules in such a short time...we had no choice but to send him home. He is the first ever to be sent home. Let's just say when he got into a fight with a transvestite and then the hotel clerk had to chase him around the block at 3 am...we realized there was nothing this kid wouldn't do...and he could eventually hurt himself or someone else. I am holding up..I have some open time tomorrow in Volterra and I am trying to schedule a massage. gotta run.

2006-06-23T08:39:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! Well, the first 2 days have been really busy!!! This is the first time I could get to the internet. The weather is not too muggy. It is certainly not as hot as last year. It is still in the high 80s or 90s though. The first day we toured a bunch of different churches. Santa Maria Maggorie, Santa Prassade and a couple others. I got to see the ecstasy of St. Theresa by Bernini for the first time. That was amazing. Yesterday we went to the Vatican, St. Peters, The Pantheon, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the Forum and outside the coliseum. It was a long day. Most of the kids are angels. We have had a few problems but I wont go into detail about them on this blog. I am dong my best to take care of my back. I am rest ing all the churches and stretching whenever possible. I smell of Bengay and icy hot patches but that is ok. Hopefully my fellow travelers don't get sick of the smell. Today we are going to Ostia Antica and then we will see some more churches, (Laterno, San Clemente, Saint Peter in Vincolli) Please forgive my spelling of all of these sites. I am in a bit of a rush typing. I am taking a ton of photos...as always! Tomorrow we leave for a day in Siena and we will spend the next few nights in Volterra. That is an Etruscan City in Tuscany! I hope all is good with everyone at home! Ciao, Jesse

2006-06-16T15:41:00.000+02:00

Here is my schedule:
Depart on Tuesday from JFK
Arrive on Wednesday in Roma
On Saturday I will be touring Tuscany. Our home base will be Volterra and we will be taking day trips to Siena, San Gimignano and spending an afternoon in Monteriggioni.
So, after one full week in Italy I will get to go to my favorite place....Florence. Tuesday afternoon we will arrive in Florence and we will stay until Friday afternoon!!!
Friday afternoon will be traveling to Venice.
Early Monday morning we will depart for Madrid.
We will be back state side on Friday the 7th.

Here is a list of our hotels:
Gioberti: Roma
San Lino: Volterra
Corona: Florence
Abbazia: Venice
Mayorazgo: Madrid

2006-06-15T23:14:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! I leave for the Europe trip in a few days. I will use this website to let everyone know where I am and that I am still alive.

Hopefully I will look happier in the photos I take this year. This is a photo from my Europe trip last year. It was taken in the Forum in Rome on a very hot day!!!