2 Week Update

Well any minute now the rest of the team will arrive at our apartment door in preparation for one of the many bible studies/group meetings we have during the week. This one is on Thursday morning at 9 and Miriam has been up since 7 making some wonderfully smelling coffee cake. For the past 2 weeks since I've been here it has basically consisted of me getting used to things with very little work, so I'm a little spoiled I think!

To give you an idea of my schedule (and this will probably change), we have Mondays off but that night we have a women's bible study/dinner/prayer/singing time usually at our house. Tuesdays there's usually quite a bit going on like English classes and I think Senior High activities. Wednesday there's English classes, team "business" meetings, and that evening a few of us usually get together for a bite to eat and read some scriptures. Thursdays we meet from 9-11 for prayer time and after that other things at the Building happen, though it seems to be a relaxed day. Fridays are usually pretty busy as we get ready for big activities. Since I've been here we've prepared for the Intro and also a Thanksgiving meal- so Fridays are fun. Saturdays are our other day off. Sundays we go to church that starts at 10, we have some kind of lunch at home (hopefully sleep) and then meet at the Lundgaard's for a more in depth bible study. So that's my week in a nutshell. You can tell that the week is saturated with studying the word, praying, singing, and fellowship. I'm sure it'll change a bit over time, especially when I start really getting into my behind-the-scenes work here, but that will basically be the general schedule.
Did I tell you already about Thanksgiving? I don't remember if I did. Because we have different groups of kids, we split our holiday parties up in many weeks. So Thanksgiving started last week and will end sometime next week. Last week I cooked for what was supposed to be like 25-30, but ended up to be more like 15. It's definitely a different culinary world to a) go to the grocery store (potraviny) to get your supplies b) on a very tight budget, c) in a small kitchen with 4 burners and one stove. Most of you are thinking "I do that every day!" but see, I'm used to a large commercial kitchen with gadgets and storage rooms and walk-in refrigerators full of food, so cooking for 30 in that kitchen is a piece of cake, whereas this takes much more planning and "strategy". :) So we have another meal tomorrow and I'm cooking the mashed potatoes, carrots, the dessert, and if I can find more sweet potatoes (rare) then maybe my sweet potato casserole again.

Last weekend we went to Ikea and the mall in Bratislava. I had been wanting to go here a while so I can buy stuff to get me feeling settled--and feeling like it was MY space, not temporarily sleeping in someone else's. So I bought a lamp that I've been waiting years to buy, a comforter and pillow, a laundry hamper, some great white square plates and bowls, and a new cooking knife as well. It's definitely done a good job in allowing me to feel more at home.
It's been getting a lot colder over the past 2 weeks since I arrived, which I'm actually kinda thankful for (or at least will be until January when I'll probably be sick of the cold!). I'm thankful for it because when it's cold enough for jackets but not enough for scarves/gloves, etc. is because when you get inside a store or apartment you're so sweaty and hot from walking all over the place. So when it gets really cold you don't sweat as much and don't have to strip all your outerwear all the time.

Today we walked across the big pretty square in what I call "downtown" for lunch. We saw this massive Christmas tree in the middle of it. And I'm not talking about one you'd find in even the biggest of American houses- I'm talking about a TREE like at least 25 ft. high! We walked towards it all in smiles because of the smell. I picked off a tiny piece of a needle and smelled it fervently! It smelled so much like Christmas and for a minute or two, us Americans were gitty about the holiday coming up.
I'll also be starting my design work very soon, which is exciting. We've been thinking about the website and other design projects for a really long time, so I'm stoked to go ahead and get started on things. Oh and P.S.: I now love Coke Blak! (coffee and coke) It's amaaaazing.

Prayer Requests for Me:

1) I am so thankful that I have not become too terribly ill since I've been here, minus some discomfort the first few days- a big surprise! Please continue to pray for my stable physical, mental and spiritual health.

2) Please pray for me (and the team) as I (we) continue to slave over learning Slovak. I'm sure I've said this before, but it is a very complicated language. I am hoping that I won't get burned out on learning it!

3) I will be starting my behind-the-scenes design work next week. Please pray for guidance with this as I work on designing the website, brochures and other needs.

Prayer Requests for the Team:

1) We're in a huge transitional time right now. Miriam, the ministry coordinator here, is going back to the States for 4 months on leave. That means everything she handles on a day to day basis will now be handed down to everyone else. If you knew how much she does, you'd know that this is a big deal! Especially because almost everyone here is either brand new or hasn't been here longer than 2 years. So pray that we'd not only have guidance about how to lead when she's gone, but also that she can leave with total peace about leaving.

2) All of the other interns (Ryan, Anya, and Gina) are also leaving for the Holidays--though Anya will be back in January for a while and Gina will be back after New Years I believe. We're also welcoming back the Lesondaks in December (the family that started this ministry who have been in the states for a year and a half), and also a new family who has one child and will be here in January I think. We're also anticipating the return of Janna Scheflen who will be here for 2 years. So as you can see, lots of people coming and going over the next 2 months, so please pray for safety, for smooth transitions, and that the Lord would provide guidance to those who are considering coming back.

3) Please pray for direction for The Building. We are making very important decisions about our goals and missions, if we should keep raising money for a possible new Building in Trnava, whether we should move to another city as well, and many more long term goals. These are complicated decisions and need guidance from the Lord.

4) Pray for a continuation of peace within the team members here, especially in the next few months in our big transition period.

Acclimation

Well I'm getting started on the second week of living here and I thought I'd share some new random things. First, let me praise the Lord in this smooth transition I've had over the past 7 days. (In fact it's almost to the minute that I arrived a week ago!). Physically, I'm very thankful that my jet lag and sickness only lasted about 5 days. I'm finally waking up at a normal hour, though I still haven't gone a whole night without waking up early. I'm such a light sleeper that a car starting or cat meowing 7 stories down can wake me up!

Mentally/Emotionally things are going well. I don't believe the reality of me being here has actually hit me yet! So for now I'll bask in the naivety of this honeymoon stage :) I was thinking the other day that I spent so long preparing my mind for living here that this transition of living in this country has been really smooth so far. I, for the most part, had a good idea of what I was getting myself into so it wasn't such a shock.
There are still some lingering things that I'm really not used to yet- some good, some bad. It's still a shock that it's completely dark outside by 5 pm, and starts to get dark by 4:30 or so. That is so strange! In January I hear it gets dark by 4, and starts to get dark before 3:30! It really messes with my internal clock.I'm not used to walking everywhere I need to go. I like this though- I enjoy it now. However, I like it more when I can walk by myself at my own pace. People here walk sooo fast so my short little legs are struggling to keep up. It hasn't been too cold yet, which I'm actually kinda thankful for, in regards to my transition. The problem though, is that because I'm walking (and sometimes fast) I get hot by the time I get to my destination- and the buildings are so well warmed that I end up sweating much of the time (something I didn't expect). So there's a lot of putting on coats and hats and gloves and then taking them all off, etc.
I walked around Trnava with my trusty mini camera the other day to take pictures and figure out my way around. I love the size of the city- not so big it's impossible to find your way around, not so small that I feel claustrophobic. I was about to take a picture of a sign near a pedestrian area and this man came up to me and motioned his hand towards the nearby benches and said, "Sandwiches? Sandwiches?" and I said "Nehovorim po Slovensky" (I don't speak Slovak) and he kept asking me so I just left. I really haven't had too many awkward stranger encounters so far, which has been nice! (Had a lot of those in Ethiopia...)

This is my new Slovak teacher/old friend Miska. This was the friend I visited up in Ohio when my car broke down, yay! We had our first lesson yesterday and it went well. We'll start out with 3 lessons a week, then eventually taper down to 2, then 1. I'm glad that I tried to learn some SK words when I was home. It hasn't helped my conjugations at all, but has helped in other ways.

Anyhow, that's about all I can think of that's worth talking about at the moment. Feel free to leave comments on this blog with questions too! Let me know if you DON'T have Facebook and still want to see my photos. That's where I'm posting them.

Trnava, Slovakia... Travel and First Impressions

For the next ~year you will hear many random ramblings and observations from me. Right now I'm a tad bit overwhelmed and sick feeling (as one would be if they were moving to a foreign country). I'll just write my observations and happenings from the past 48 hours...sorry for the length... but expect me to be longwinded for a while :) Also, I've been too nasty feeling to take pictures so this will all be words.

I flew United Airlines for 2 legs of the trip, which caused me to roll my eyes before even arriving the airport because in my opinion United is a totally incompetent airline. I arrived with my luggage, expecting there to be some sort of problem with my luggage weight. To my amazement, my weight was dead on which was a huge relief. Except, as they were entering in my information the woman behind the counter asked for my visa. I told them I'll get my visa when I get to my destination. They said I was wrong and they wouldn't let me get on the plane without a visa or unless I had a return ticket in 90 days or less. Eventually we found out that we just had to book the ticket back but we could cancel it once I got to SK with no charges. I knew that was stupid but I did it anyway. An HOUR later I got my boarding pass.

The first leg to Washington was alright- nothing special. Once I got off the plane I took my sleep aids in anticipation of sleeping all the way to Munich for 8 hours. Little did I know that for the next 8 hours I would be drowsily dropping in my seat, unable to fall asleep. At this point I was so concerned with making my flights and getting sleep that I was not at all preparing myself for what I was actually doing. The sun was rising and shining bright over the land. The orange sunlight illuminated the fog and the orange rooftops that I found so familiar yet so foreign. It wasn't till I saw the orange rooftops till I realized the weight of what I was doing!

One flight later I found myself in the Bratislava airport. It was surprisingly small and cute- one large room with one baggage claim and a set of bathrooms. Within 3 or 4 minutes both of my bags and my guitar came rolling along the belt. I smiled as I thanked God for proving my very necessary luggage. I could see the legs of my welcome party of two outside, but once you went out the doors you couldn't come back in. So amazingly enough I figured out how to carry 2 50 lb. bags, one guitar, a 30 lb. backpack and a 20 lb. carrying case by myself. Stumbling out of the double doors I met my welcomed my friends and was happy for a safe arrival.

Dan and Petra then took my luggage, hopped in Dan's van, gave me my schedule for the rest of the week, and drove to McDonalds. Mind you, this is one of the most elegant McDonalds I've ever seen. By this time I had been feeling terrible since about 2 pm the day before. So I ate little and didn't finish the weird Diet Coke. By the way, it's like 9 pm the day after I've arrived and I've been feeling bad since then. My stomach has been up and down- my appetite has been weird and I've been just... off.

So for the past day and a half I've mainly just been trying to get settled, went shopping a little, went to the Building, went out to eat with folks and I've been trying to rest too. OH and tonight we went to go to see 007 at the theatre too. I've also walked quite a bit, which is exactly what I've expected. It's weird to come out of a restaurant and just start walking. Usually I stuff myself silly and then sit in a car and feel terrible- so it's kinda nice to walk.

One of the things I'm really thankful for actually are a few things that rarely happen here- things that I believe is helping me adjust quicker. It's unseasonably warm, which is something I don't necessarily love, but I think if I came and it was snowy and rainy and nasty it would be harder to adjust. We're also going to hear Dan (an American) preach this Sunday, which is rare- so the first Sunday to hear the sermon in English will be really nice.

I'm so thankful that people don't share here. In Africa, everyone knows you're a foreigner and they stare at you so rudely. Here, I don't stick out too much and people don't make me feel uncomfortable- that is a really nice transition too.

Okay okay, so random observations...

- Europeans drink lots of water with gas. Yeah that's what it's called- like carbonated water. I must be an American cause I don't like it... YET. So when you order it you've gotta ask for water with no gas- voda ne..something.

- Slovaks are super fashionable! Seriously, I'm like way behind the times compared to many of the people I've seen in the past day. Speaking of which, probably 90% of the people I've passed so far have been under 25 or so. Remember that stat I talked about during my presentation about about 2/3 of the people in Trnava were under 20? Yeah, I totally believe that now. Sometimes I've felt like I was on a college campus!

- I'm on the 7th floor of this apartment building. We've gotta ride an elevator to the top that's built for 2 people, or 4 if you stuff yourselves in. There aren't automatic doors on it either. Instead you open a regular sized door, then push open 2 little doors. I'll have to take a picture.

- We had a team meeting yesteday morning for like 3 hours, but it was nice. We sang hymns and prayed for most of the time. My roommate (literally) Anya and I tried to make cinnamon buns but they didn't turn out so well.

- Just about everyone on the team reminds me of someone back home. Dan reminds me of my friend Joe. Ryan reminds me of my step-bro John. It's crazy...

- They weren't lying when they said everything is more expensive here. I went shopping for shampoo and random stuff today- not enough to even fill a shopping basket and it cost me about 60 EU, which is about $90.

- There is so much more English around town than I expected. On buildings, in the malls, on things you buy at the store... it's weird to see it, but I think it'll actually be really refreshing once I need to experience something familiar.

- Beer is cheaper than water. Yesterday I got a tiny bottled water for like $1.75 in the restaurant (because they don't do free tap water), and then I noticed beer was 17 SKK, so about 70 cents.

- Speaking of free, not everything is free of charge here like you'd expect after living in the States. Shopping carts, use of the bathrooms, ketchup in the restaurant, and water are just a few things that you have to pay extra for usually.

-Did I already say this? People not only walk wherever they go, but my local friends walk pretty fast too. It's totally normal for them, but more of a workout for us Americans! I like it, but it also makes me feel even worse when I feel sick already!

Well there's a lot more but I'll stop for your sakes! I hope you'll join me over the next year as I attempt to recreate what I experience here.