and the wise will shine like the stars

Neodporúčam

2011-03-22T16:04:00.003+01:00

V novej sekcii môjho blogu vám budem neodporúčať miesta a produkty.
Prvým takýmto miestom je "najväčší antikvariát na Slovensku" Europik v Leopoldove. Privítanie a správanie pána majiteľa nebolo najvhodnejšie, neocenili sme ani jeho nevhodné vtipy a hlavne, z množstva kníh, cez ktoré sme brodili by si vybral snáď len milovník marxistickej a leninistickej literatúry alebo Angeliky.
Myslím, že už tam nepôjdem a ani tam nikoho nezoberiem.

Ževraj len tak z brucha (by Lenka)

2011-01-24T09:27:00.000+01:00

Pekné, že? (by Ninka)

2011-01-23T22:24:00.005+01:00

A gift

2010-12-29T12:27:00.002+01:00

... probably one of the best gifts ever. Created by Kris and Oksana.

The best family portrait ever!

2010-12-20T18:58:00.001+01:00

2010-05-05T13:07:00.005+02:00

I was 17 when I was making decisions about what college I wanted to go to. I applied to Trnavská Univerzita where I wanted to study psychology. A few days after I took the test I found out they didn't accept me. I cannot even tell you how thankful I am for that these days. Every time I have to study psychology I go crazy. It's interesting for about 30 minutes and then I get bored with it. It is interesting to read about Piaget's and Vygotsky's cognitive development theory but it stops being interesting when I have to memorize 35 pages of text about all this. Anyway, just saying I don't enjoy psychology anymore so much. I'm glad English and philosophy are my majors and that I study something I can actually do something with in this country.

I must confess

2010-01-24T14:55:00.004+01:00

Sushi is addicting. Not only sushi but the whole atmosphere of Wasabi Sushi Bar here in Trnava. The place is usually not crowded, the food is ready pretty fast. If you ever decide to go to Wasabi I highly recommend their broccoli soup with smoked salmon, parmesan cheese and croutons. Doesn't sound too Asian to me but it is the most delicious soup I have ever had. I like to get a few pieces of maki after the soup. Maki is also very taste at this place. I urge you, friends, to go there as often as your wallet allows so we keep Wasabi alive.

I really want a print of this

2010-01-16T14:27:00.003+01:00

Gustav Klimt, The Tree of Life

I personally believe..

2010-01-06T19:50:00.008+01:00

..that Gilmore Girls and coffee go together like meat loaf and mashed potatoes. It's the perfect match for life.

2009-09-11T01:48:00.004+02:00

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” - Samuel Johnson

Fun/Interesting Fact (The Effect of Osmosis on Your Skin)

2009-08-12T01:16:00.004+02:00

You know how your hands and feet get all wrinkled after a long, soaking shower or the swimming pool? Here's why:

"Your body contains water, of course, but it also contains solutes, so the water in your body is less concentrated than the water of your shower or the pool-(pure freshwater has the highest concentration of water possible). Water diffuses from a region of high concentration - that is your shower or pool - to a region of lower concentration, such as your body. The "shriveled" look of your fingers and toes actually results from being waterlogged. The extra water entering the outer layers of your skin causes them to swell in some places but not others, causing wrinkles."

(from Human Biology, Concepts and Current Issues, Michael D. Johnson)

From today's reading:

2009-08-10T02:52:00.002+02:00

"But without the painstaking work of establishing a changed worldview, people's commitment to Christianity will be only as deep as their commitment to any other helpful "product"."

"To become a Christian is not to get help for your agenda, but to take on a whole new agenda - the will of God"

(Preaching Morality in an Amoral Age, Tim Keller)

Bodies

2009-08-10T01:52:00.003+02:00

I have the opportunity to go see Bodies: The Exhibition while I'm in Atlanta. You know I am fascinated by the way God created the human body and I've always wanted to look "inside". The Bodies exhibition would be a good opportunity for me to see parts of the body that I will never be able to see up close. They will be real body parts too. And that makes me wonder if it's really the best way for me to learn. I understand that there have been a lot of discussions about where the bodies really come from and how come these are for the most part healthy bodies. Some say they are prosecuted and executed Christians or prisoners. Why are all of them Chinese? Does anyone really know where these bodies come from? Is there something morally wrong with this whole exhibition?

2009-08-09T00:50:00.003+02:00

I bought this book today. I've always thought the human body was just amazing. I've always wanted to learn more about it... not to mention that I've always wanted to be a doctor. I'll let you know what I've learned.

My Responsibility

2009-07-06T23:30:00.008+02:00

"No great improvement in the lot of mankind is possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought." -John Stewart Mill

I must agree with Jerram Barrs when he writes in The Christian and Society about the dullness, apathy and self-fulfilment of our society and their impact on all parts of life. He notes that "we [Christians] have a tremendous responsibility before God to provide that challenge in the modes of thought of our culture- to be a challenge, to be a light and to provide an alternative". He is right. God calls us to be different. God calls us to bring flavor to this dull world and be the salt of the world.

"We are entering an era where a great dullness, so deep that no one can fathom it, is going to descend on us like a cloud." -Manning Clark

There were two different Christian's responsibilities in society that Barrs lists that stood out to me. The first one being - prayer for those in authority. I thought, of course we pray for the leaders of Slovakia. Almost every Sunday we pray that the leaders of the ruling parties, our prime minister and president would make wise decisions and lead our country the right way. But not very often do we pray that the Holy Spirit would powerfully work in their lives convicting them of their need of Jesus Christ as their Savior. It seems like we are too pessimistic to pray for their salvation. We see them as too wicked to be able to recognize that the "bad things" they do are an offense to the Holy God. The one who put them in their position in the first place. It is easier for each one of us to make bitter sarcastic comments about our leaders than to pray for them faithfully and ask the Lord to change their modes of thought. I personally gave up on some of our leaders a long time ago. I hope there are people out there who didn't.

Second - we must be prepared to honor and obey governments. I started watching the news more lately and I'm trying to keep myself better informed about things going on in Slovakia and everywhere else in the world. A lot of what the media chooses to communicate to us is political. Everybody is paying close attention to president Obama's every little step. Everybody talks about the injustice in Iran. We (Slovaks) discuss the corruption, lobbyism, extreme nationalism of some. I must confess that I am not ready to honor men like Mr. Slota, Fico or Harabin who seem to be breaking all possible rules and yet stay unpunished.

All that said, I am a Christian and I am part of the society and it is my responsibility to pray for my leaders and to be prepared to honor and obey them. Everytime I watch the news these days my anger reminds me of how poorly I am doing. I am not taking my responsibilities seriously enough to make me act differently. And I think this is not just my personal problem. It is a problem of many Christians who just like me don't realize the seriousness of God's calling for our lives to be different.

Civil wars in Africa

2009-07-04T00:15:00.004+02:00

(click on picture for an interesting article)

I would like to read and learn more about civil wars in Africa. Does anyone know about any good books out there that deal with this topic and would be worth reading?

Just wondering...

2009-06-29T16:59:00.008+02:00

Micheal Jackson died. (I honestly think they faked it and he's now enjoying life on a private island. But that's just my theory... or actually I bet there are more people who think this.) All we heard about him in the last few years was how terribly he looked and that his face was falling apart, how he was planning a come-back and then canceled most of his concerts, how he made his poor kids wear those obnoxious masks and how he held his baby hanging off a balcony... not to mention the accusations of so many kids who are now grown up and suddenly remember the not-so-fun-times with the King of Pop.

So I'm just wondering why is everybody acting like he was their favorite singer and like he was the most wonderful man alive. I honestly don't think he was and it's sad that he died but I think people are taking it too far.

Please don't give me more attention when I die than you gave me when I was alive.

Y'all should come visit me...

2009-05-23T20:44:00.005+02:00

...because Austin is a great place and often when I go places and do things I wish more of my friends could enjoy it with me.(*we went to the Zilker park this morning and rented canoes)

The flight over here was very long and uneventful. I'm thankful I didn't have to travel alone and that everything went so well. Even the part I was most concerned about, going through immigration, went very well. I did have a huge grin on my face when I was officially let in the US.

I've been getting to know my wonderful host family, the Rogans, this week, hang out with the Lundgaards and Greers, went to the office and tried to learn as much as possible about Austin. I had the privilege to drink wonderful coffee from the best baristas in the area. I got acquainted with the local squirels, turtles and deer.

I haven't done much work this week. I met a few wonderful people from the office though and I can't wait to start working with them and the youth. The priority this week was to get over jetlag and try to learn how to get around. I'm very thankful I have a car. I'll post pictures of it later... I think you'll laugh!

(If you have any questions about specific things here feel free to ask)

One week left

2009-05-10T17:37:00.005+02:00

One week before I leave for the US I sit in my room and think about shopping, checking my visa for the 765th time, looking at the letters from All Saints, trying to figure out what I'm forgetting, planning the last Intro ever, starting to say good-byes... It's a weird feeling. The same as it was last year. I can't wait for the moment when I get through the immigration office, they stamp my passport and tell me I'm free to stay in the US.

Only a month away

2009-04-17T11:02:00.005+02:00

I can't believe that I'll be in Austin, TX in a month!
I'll be serving at All Saints(click) for 3 months and then I'll make my way over to the Atlanta area.
Can't wait to be there!

2009-04-16T10:27:00.003+02:00

I almost forgot what a great show Alias is! I'm glad The boys, Kris and I get to watch it together.

2009-01-08T20:59:00.003+01:00

I am SO glad that this show is coming back! Can't wait to see what Stefan and Juraj prepared for us. I know what I'm watching at 9:45pm tonight.

My new guitar

2008-12-26T15:22:00.004+01:00

Christmas time, Movie time

2008-12-26T13:41:00.005+01:00

I have more time to watch movies than ever during Christmas break. Being a teacher at a private language school makes my holiday time nice and long. I rented a few from iTunes and got one from babka. Let me share a bit about them.

Dot the iYoung lovers in London are wrapped up in a love triangle that is not exactly what it seems. You think you know what's it about but then you find out you were totally wrong. You think you may know how it's going to end but in fact you have no idea. I liked this one a lot. Gael Garcia Bernal plays one of the main characters. He's oh so cute!

Get SmartThis was a major disappointment for me. Wasn't this movie supposed to be funny?!

Horem Pádem"A comedy that will make you cry and a drama that will make you laugh." None of that happened for me. I'm not exactly sure what the comic part of the movie was supposed to be. Most of it was rather boring but the last 25 minutes of the movie made it not a total waste of time.

I partied with my family

2008-12-21T20:39:00.004+01:00

I went to my brother's prom kinda thingy with my mom on Friday. Our dad wasn't back from France yet and so I got to go instead of him. I was remembering my Stuzkova. I heard a lady, one of the kids' mother say that when she had this thing they weren't allowed to have any alcohol. They had to sneak in some wine if they wanted to drink during the thing and most of them drank before anyone else got there. It was NOT allowed to have alcohol at Stuzkova. Mine wasn't as strict but we probably had more rules than students from other high schools have. We were allowed to have alcohol but it was still pretty formal and the program that we prepared to entertain the parents and teachers was funny but not inappropriate. My brother's Stuzkova was off the chain in some aspects. The kids could drink and they did, they were gone to get "fresh air" most of the time and part of the program was very inappopriate. It was hillarious but lets just say that Slovak TV would not show that skit before 10pm. Other than that everyone seemed to be having a blast and I'm glad I got to go. I got to buy new clothes at H&M and we won a set of CocaCola clothes in the raffle. Bummer daddy couldn't be there...

I wonder who comes up with these rules

2008-12-09T15:57:00.003+01:00

(This is the actual building of the Samsung factory where I teach English on Mondays)

I only have two more weeks of teaching at Samsung left this semester. I generally enjoy teaching a LOT but teaching at Samsung is very different. The classes are a terrible mix of people on different levels of English, the classroom gets hot in about 5 minutes and there are no windows to let in some fresh air, the door has to be closed because there are people working right outside our classroom. Now that I complained about it not being so cool I'd like to tell you a little about the process of getting in and out of the factory.

First of all, who knew that last week they'd decide to close the road that we always took?! We had to take the other road that we knew about. It's a dirt road. It was raining that day. I now believe that driving on mud is as uncool as drinving on snow/ice. But the time we got to the factory the car was real muddy. At least we weren't the only ones that were forced to drive on that "road". The parking lot was full of cars covered in mud.

I have a funny storie from last night though. To get inside the factory you need to go through security and you need a card that opens the door for you. If you have a computer with you you have to give them all information possible about it and only then you're allowed in. I was on my way out and I went through the metal detector, then I had to open my bag, a lady looked at it and I started walking towards where I return the card. The lady stopped me and said: "The jacket!" I looked at her and siad: "Um... what?" She said: "Unzip your jacket." So I did and she seemed happy and so I was free to go. I had no idea why she did that. My ride back to Trnava was late and so I stood close to the security zone and watched the guards and the people getting out of work. I saw about 120 people walk out that door being asked to unzip their jacket and every one of them made some kind of a comment like: "What are they thinking that I'm stealing and LCD panel and hiding it under my jacker? Retarted idiots, nothing that we make will fit inside our pockets. Stupid Koreans. I'm skinny, did they really need to check me too?" The best one though was: "I'm wondering how many people they pay to come up with these stupid rules!" I think I laughed out loud when I heard that one.

Any nonsense rules that you had to/have to deal with?

Documentaries I recommend (part 1)

2008-12-03T14:33:00.005+01:00

Jesus Camp - makes you wonder about some evanjelical ChristiansThe Magdalene Sisters - intereting way to correct "sinful" behaviorExpelled: No intelligence allowed - Scientists get fired because of their "different" opinions

I recomend that you watch these when you have time. I found them pretty interesting.
And here's one of my favorite parts of Expelled

2008-11-23T14:35:00.000+01:00

How different...

2008-11-21T23:17:00.002+01:00

...would my life be if I had a job that I didn't like. It's Friday night, after 11pm and I am exhausted. When I was in the US last summer we called this state of body and mind spent. I am spent. I started working at about 2pm and stopped just a while ago. (Some people started even earlier than I did and finished later, that's how hard core we are sometimes...) I helped in the kitchen most of the time peeling, cutting, cooking, heating up and serving all sorts of good stuff. What's the worst about Fridays is that when we think it's all over and we're getting really tired and ready to go home... it's time for some major cleaning. I strongly dislike Friday night cleaning after an event at the Building. There are always people running into each other, fighting over the one good vacuum cleaner, people trying to get the kids to go home so that we can get the place ready for church... It's crazy and I don't enjoy it. Now despite this major misery I'm ready to do it all over again next week. I'm ready because I like my job a lot and I'm willing to do stuff that takes long and is hard because I know there's more to it than what I can see.
Anyhoo... I hope you like your jobs people because if not I can see how your lives might be miserable. PEACE OUT!

Because Miška said I should...

2008-11-08T21:04:00.003+01:00

... I am going to write something. It's not like I didn't want to write, I just can't find the right words lately. And the longer I sit here the more I feel like I shouldn't have started this post.

I'm just going to share one picture of Kris with y'all because I like it.

we are Your Choice!

2008-10-26T12:49:00.003+01:00

I went to a little team building event on Thursday with my language school colleagues. We went to Galaxy Bowling. About 12 people showed up and I only knew a few of them but by the end of the night I was acquaintened with all of them. I was fun and the dark beer was really good.P.S: the name of our language school is Your Choice!

2008-10-23T22:52:00.003+02:00

Some of you might know that I'm doing an experiment (because I love those so much) this week. I am not drinking coffee. I love coffee. I love how it tastes, I love how it looks (I'm especially fond of roasted beans), I love how it smells, I love how it feels when I hold it in a pretty mug in my hand. I had my last coffee on Sunday afternoon and since then I'm trying to keep my body off caffeine. No coffee and no Coke. Pretty much all I want to say here is that today is the first headache free day and that makes me feel a lot better about this experiment and I actually think I can really go without coffee for another 2 and a half days.
If you're asking why I'm doing this I can only give two reasons. Last week when I drank coffee I got really sick a couple times. It just made my stomach hurt like crazy. And reason number two - I hate addictions. Even if it's just a coffee addiction... I wanted to see how bad it really was with me.

a few pictures from our visit to Levice

2008-10-22T18:25:00.007+02:00

FYI

2008-10-20T23:05:00.002+02:00

Some pictures from the previous post have been taken down because... well I have a good reason. Also this week is a NO COFFEE for Petra week. Wish me luck.
Teaching is going well. I get to teach at the Samsung factory once a week.
Building work is also going well. I enjoy it very much... minus the mice.
Peace!

on a mission

2008-10-15T12:26:00.006+02:00

Meet Noemi Žitňanská

2008-10-11T21:18:00.003+02:00

Our friend Maťka gave birth to a beautiful girl this morning. Meet Noemi (50cm, 3550g)! Congratulations Jano and Maťa(&Davidko)!

Nevermind...

2008-10-08T14:44:00.003+02:00

... I was forced to change my mind about my new phone. Bummer that Orange didn't seem to have anything attractive to offer this time. But thank the LORD for at least one helpful person at the store. Here's the new baby -

The phone I'm getting

2008-10-07T16:58:00.005+02:00

I'd really like to go buy this right now and play tennis for a few hours

2008-10-04T19:51:00.005+02:00

Movie Night

2008-09-26T23:19:00.007+02:00

I didn't have to work tonight and so I had an opportunity to be at home alone and watch movies. I can't believe I actually watched two movies. I'm the kind of person who's not able to sit through a movie without doing somethingelse too. Maybe thats part of the reason why I don't like going to the movies. Anyways. I watched two movies tonight. Both very interesting. One very different from the other. First I watched American History X. A story of a former skin head who tried his best to protect his younger brother. It was too late. This movie definitelly showed how much we influence one another. What a sad ending does this movie have...

Later, I decided to watch Želary. Great story of a nurse who's forced to leave her life and start a new one with a random person who later becomes her lover but unfortunatelly dies helping others to survive. Yet another sad ending.

Jarmok Shopping

2008-09-13T16:40:00.003+02:00

we got these beautiful oil lamps today

DesignMyRoom

2008-09-13T15:37:00.001+02:00

If you like design and have some free time go design a room or two. It's fun but it can be time consuming. click here DesingMyRoom and enjoy!

Prep for class

2008-09-05T15:20:00.002+02:00

I think all teachers should be served good coffee before they start teaching. It calms nerves and gives some extra energy.

Good one

2008-09-04T22:05:00.003+02:00

Janka and I watched Crash tonight. I thought it was a very good movie. By the end of the movie I was talking to myself about how I could see what was coming and let out a couple sighs... I don't remember the last time a movie did this to me. I recomend this one.

saw and liked

2008-09-02T21:34:00.003+02:00

let me tell you a secret

2008-09-01T10:32:00.005+02:00

Y'all already know that my birthday was a blast. Really. No jokes. There's one more story that I would like to share with you all. I stole a lime on my birthday! **Teehee** I was fixin' the fish right? I used some lime and lemon juice and I don't even know when or how or why we realized there was a lime tree between "our" house and the neighbours' house. Unfortunatelly the tree didn't belong to the house where we stayed (as far as we know). The tree was real nice. Had tons and tons of limes on it. The house next door looked empty, the tree looked like its branches needed to get lighter or they'd break. So I decided to help the tree and my meal and went ahead and borrowed one lime. Wish I had the whole process on a video. I think you'd laugh. At least we have a picture. Faked a smile!

today is a day off, rest and try this

2008-09-01T09:47:00.002+02:00

Hello all! We have national hollidays going on both in Slovakia and the US. If you have some free time and feel like thinking go try to play this fun game. It's harder than it seems. Just click HERE and play. I did very poorly...
P.S - Let me know how you did.

shortly on something I've been thinking about

2008-08-23T16:07:00.006+02:00

In the book that I'm reading now it said: "Part of being a friend involves refusing to give up on other people". I like that the author doesn't say that part od being a friend involves trying to be nice when it's not convenient or trying to get over other people's crap as we often like to say... She uses the word refuse and I pretty much love that idea. I don't want to be a person who just kind of gets over stuff and doesn't care. I want to be a friend who refuses to give up on her friends... and I want the reason for it to be Love.

The Flight

2008-08-23T01:37:00.004+02:00

Many people keep asking me about my flight back home and I keep telling the same story. Not that I don't like telling people... But why not write about it too? It's 3am and I totally can't sleep so seriously, why not? My check in person, a nice man, asked me where I was flying. I told him Vienna, and he looked at my name, pronounced it with American accent and said: "That sounds more Czech than Austrian." I told him it was Slovak and that Slovakia was where I was going. Well, he went ahead and told me about how they... whoever they were, just got back from Czech republic where they helped with English as a second language camps. He said they were only about 10 minutes from the Czech-Slovak border. Then he also told me that they went to see this beautiful castle. Guess which one? Yep, Trencin. So I told him that that's close to where we had our camps. Then he looked at my home town and said he knew that was the town with the big walls around it. I was quite surprised to hear this random man talk about Trnava.

Parting with my best friend is still not something I enjoy...

The flight to Chicago was very unevenfull. It's like someone knows that I sat by the window just two rows behind the left wing the first time I flew and so now I get the same seat all the time. But it was nice. Drinks were served with ice, I flew with United.

After landing in Chicago I had a little bit of time to get to my international flight terminal. I personally believe that the Chicago airport is more confusing that it should be. After finding my way to the train I took it to my terminal, went throught security and thought I had enough time to eat. So I looked around and really the only thing that looked ok and the line wasn't super long was McDonalds. I went there and thought to myself: "What a way to end my stay in the US". I got myself a meal and ate it quickly, looked at my watch and saw that my flight was already boarding. I thought I knew where to go but then they made me go through security AGAIN. I told the man he just checked my passport and so he just smiled and asked how my food was. At this point not only was I kind of late but I realized that my gate, M 21, was the last one, totally at the end of the long hall. By the time I got there noone was around, some bored workers were standing around chatting and only one man paid attention to me and asked if I was going to Vienna, I said yes, he smiled and said I was a little late. Oh well! I made it. I was the last one to get on board and I ended up having two seats to myself. How nice!

Again, the flight was ok, my TV didn't work so I ended up reading quite a bit and I even slept for a little while. European morning came faster than I expected. The sunrise was amazing! Now here comes the exciting part of the flight. I sat close to the tail, right? All of a sudden I see a girl leaving the back restroom area crying, her brother following her, then some people talking and then I see the male flight attendants leading a hand cuffed guy to the back row. They talked to him, then he stood up and the attandants wouldn't let him go. He started speaking loudly which caught most people's attention. I bet most of them had no idea something was going on before then. Here's a quote: "My name is XYZ, I am NOT a terrorist, remember my name, I am a son of JKL." I think a few people freak out at this point. We saw the captain go to the back and then back to the front and then in a little while it was decided tha we needed to land and make sure the threat was gone. As we were landing the suspicious man thought he was going to try a little something on people who were guarding him and tried to stand up and do who knows what but before he knew he had 4 men jump on him and let him know he wasn't the boss. We emergency landed in Amsterdam. The police took the guy, we re-fueled and took off. I don't think I've ever seen so many people excited about airplane breakfast. It was already after 9am CET and everybody, including me was starving at this poing. Vanilla yoghurt never tasted so good before! We landed in Vienna about 2 hours later than scheduled but happy to be done with flying for some time. I felt sorry for all the Russians who missed their connection flights.

Had to wait for my bags for quite a while. It looked like they didn't make it. But then they came and I was happy.

P.S: Drinks were served without ice. They just did it the European way.

my special day

2008-08-23T00:35:00.008+02:00

Happy birthday to me!

I had a wonderful birthday this year. As it was planned ahead I spent it in the US. When I first came in May I had no idea what I'd be doing on August 18th but I kind of thought of what I'd enjoy and haven't done for a long time. I haven't been to the beach for SO long. And I love the beach. I really think that people who don't like being at the beach have a sad life. (JK!) And so this year for my birthday I ended up at St. Simons Island. You all hopefully know that I do not enjoy the typical birthday stuff like surprise parties, cakes and candles and singing the song... Well none of that happened for me this year so I was quite sattisfied.

Grits and eggs for breakfast, beach till about 3pm, "home" for shower and nap, shopping for fish and making dinner, fun company... that all made my day wonderful.

Really the only thing that happened and shouldn't have was that my camera hit the ground for the first time in history. I was going to open the car door and I did something and my camera went flying (I mean flying like birds with wings and all that...) from its case onto the concrete ground next to our car. I think I had a major freak out. In fact I was so freaked out that I left my flip flops outside the car and found out about it when it was time to put them on and get out of the car. That is how I lost my flip flops. Still laugh at myself for that one.

The next day on our way "home" to Marietta we stopped in Savannah. What a nice place!

Oh and I thought of another thing that freaked Heidi and I out. On our way back, not far from Atlanta I believe it was, as we were in the car I looked to my right and saw a big oversize load semi-truck or whatever it was, it was quite a large vehicle. All of a sudden we hear something like and explosion and something kind of hit our car and then and I thought a car hit us... I look in the mirrow and I see that a tire totally exploded on that huge thing and so at that point he was trying to stop the truck but was in the middle lane and this other car totally needed to get outta its way. It was kind of scary and I was definitelly thankful that we ended up ok.

I don't think I want to end this post with that story. So here's one other thing. I didn't get to eat my birthday dessert on the actuall day for different reasons. But the next day I got it all... minus the peanut butter cookie. I had a lot of Ben and Jerry's Peach Cobbler icecream (the best ever I believe) and had chocolate pudding with Piskoty which I absolutelly love!

Literally SWEET birthday!

one last post from the US

2008-08-20T02:46:00.002+02:00

Hello everybody!
My time in the US is officially over. I spent my last couple days at St. Simons Island. Being at the beach after a long time was wonderful. Being with a great friend again was wonderful. Eating fish that I personally fixed was also very enjoyable. Packing was not so much fun. I have to go, I'm tired. Talk to all of you later from SK!
Peace!

you may not know it but you love it

2008-08-13T16:39:00.004+02:00

When I was in Chattanooga this weekend Bo, Brynne and I watched Stranger than fiction. It was interesting and cute enough to keep me awake even though I was tired. I liked the part where she offeres him cookies and he says he doesn't like them but then he takes a bite and tadaaaa - he does like them. (By the way I have a feeling that's exactly how I am with cookies. I always say I don't like them and look at me... I'm becoming a lover of peanut butter cookies.) This really wasn't meant to be about cookies. What I was going to say is that I love tennis. But often I don't realize how much I love it till I play it. I played only a few times this summer and I enjoyed it greatly. Sometimes I feel like I still belong on the court. Maybe I'm just making it up... But it sure feels good to hit the ball real hard and make it go where you want it to go and serve real hard and think about how the heck does Serena Williams make her serves so fast... It's wonderful! I love tennis. I think I should play more often.

my time is almost over

2008-08-12T22:43:00.002+02:00

Today felt almost like September at home. It wasn't hot, it was kinda windy and now it's raining. Feels like I should start getting ready for Jarmok. One thing that I missed this summer was being able to wear jeans and sweatshirts or long sleeve shirts. Not that I would be able to wear them much at home but I have a feeling I'd be able to do it a little more. I went on a hike this morning and enjoyed it. Had a nice view of Atlanta from the top of the "mountain".

I haven't written much at all in the past couple of weeks. It's not because I have nothing to say. It's because I have too much to say and I'm trying to process everything that went on this summer. I started my "vacation" time on Saturday and spent the weekend in Chattanooga with Bo and Brynne and I had some nice time with the Lesondaks. I'm in Marietta now and will be spending my last days here. I'm trying not to think about packing and the long flight home (especially the part where there's nothing under us but the ocean), I'm trying to figure out how the heck am I going to find a teaching job one week before school starts, I'm wondering if God wants me in Trnava or if He has some other awesome plan for me. I'm thinking... Asking God if my desires are part of the puzzle that reads: HIS WILL. But get this - all of this going on and at the same time I'm able to sit on the bed and listen to the rain and be at peace.

For great is YOUR love, reaching to the heavens; YOUR faithfulness reaches to the skies.

It's coming...

2008-08-09T04:18:00.002+02:00

I'm going to say something about (im)patience pretty soon... Don't have the time and mood right now. Just remember that Fruit of the Spirit is NOT banana! It's PATIENCE, ok?

Talk to y'all later. Probably after I get back from Chattanooga.

Peace!

yes, I did

2008-08-04T03:21:00.003+02:00

I made cookies this afternoon. Is that weird or what? I think it is, but I wanted to make the students happy tonight. I'm not a cookie lover but I know they are. I didn't take a picture. They looked like regular chocolate chip cookies. I promise my next post is NOT going to be about cookies. Peace!

So what?!

2008-08-02T03:03:00.004+02:00

Ok, so what if I had a cookie with milk tonight? I know I don't drink milk. It was soy milk. Fake milk, ok? Truth be told, I still felt weird drinking the while liquid because it looked like real milk and just the thought of drinking real milk makes me a little sick to my stomach. The cookie on the other hand was very good. And so what if I don't really eat cookies? If you ask me what is one thing that I've learned about myself while being in America? the answer will be: "I learned that I really like peanut butter cookies!" Just kidding. That wouldn't be my answer... well maybe if I knew you understand my jokes. Not only I had the delicious dessert... Bob made steak! I think we should maybe eat a little bit more steak at home. But then poor cows... Nevermind. Eat less steak, save a cow!

From Greenville, MS

2008-07-13T17:36:00.002+02:00

Dear all!

I'm sitting in a pastro's office at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Greenville, MS. Sunday school is about to finish and so I have about 3 minutes to write a little something. I guess some of you are wondering how I'm doing. I'm doing very well I think. I'm enjoying construction and VBS a lot. The team that was here last week left yesterday early morning and a new team came in the afternoon. We'll again be doing construction and VBS this week. It's hot in Mississippi but it's not as miserable as they said it would be. I mean, you do get sticky and sweaty and nasty but who cares? Everybody's like that. Anyways. There's TOO much I want to tell you and NO time. Would you please pray that God would continue to work in the teenage boys and girls that I work with here in Glen Allan, for wisdom as we choose what to talk about and for safety for the team on construction sites and during VBS.

I think we should totally schedule a conference call sometime next week!

Peace!

Talk to my hand, my ear is listening to God

2008-07-04T04:09:00.004+02:00

I recomend to everyone that they get out of their comfort zone and go be a confused "foreigner" somewhere, with their heart ready to be changed. It's amazing how loud God's voice gets sometimes.

Fun at the lake

2008-07-04T03:51:00.005+02:00

Just thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the lake, me and my company. The lake is a pretty cool place and me and my company are pretty cool people.

Cornerstone Youth, Wednesdays

2008-07-04T02:44:00.002+02:00

Long awaited post is here for y'all.

I had the privillege to be at two Wednesday youth meetings so far. What usually happens is that people come in and hang out for quite a while. Then we start the actual meeting with a few praise songs. I must say I was impressed with the band that played my first Wendesday. Mary, the bass player on the left is exceptional! Dee went to her the day she was playing and said: "Mary, I didn't know you played the bass." Mary humbly replied: "Yeah, I taught myself yeserday." The group started studying the God's covenants. Noah (no, not "our" Noha) does a good job teaching. Last week was pretty cool as well. I got to play! YES! Jess, Mary and I woke up bright and early, went to church and practised. Loved it! Then in the afternoon before the meeting started we practised again a little bit. Mary played the piano this time, Jess and I both played guitars. I thought the Lord made our instruments and voices sound pretty good that night.

So that's one part of what I do at CMPC. I like it a whole lot. Being with the students, knowing their names and getting to know them better is great.

KPM Cafe Team

2008-06-25T22:57:00.001+02:00

Look at us! Found this online today.

a great one

2008-06-24T01:49:00.006+02:00

I forgot to tell you guys about a "great" conversation I had. The other day we went to Good News at Noon to help serve food to the homeless and get packages ready for them and I ended up in this room boxing frozen chicken and moving bags of bread from one pile to another. There was a lady there who was doing the same thing and so we started talking and she asked if I was there with one of the churches. And I said yes and then she asked a couple of questions and I didn't have answers so I just mentioned, as an excuse, that I was from Slovakia. Here's how it went:

Lady with super white teeth and a too much tan - "_____________??" (random question)

Me - "I'm not sure... I'm actually not from here. I'm from Slovakia so I don't know the answer."

Lady with super white teeth and a too much tan - "Oh honey! That's so nice! You drove all the way from Slovakia to do this?!" (lady looked really impressed with me)

Me - "No, I actually flew. It's kinda far." (not sure how to respond, right?)

Lady with super white teeth and a too much tan - "Um... ____________." (changed the topic)

By the way if you ever feel the need to think about the word privilege go to a place like a homeless shelter. It'll sure teach you a lot.

Not a big Fan of these but it's kinda cool to have one

2008-06-18T21:13:00.005+02:00

Anyone a little jealous? :)

Different Can Be Good

2008-06-18T15:35:00.004+02:00

You all know that I pretty much can't sit still for too long. And I mentioned to a couple of people already that it's weird for me to just go to church on Sundays and not do anything. No music leading, no Sunday School translating, no communion preparing... I just go, put my nametag on (HAHA, jokes on me! go ahead. picture coming), sit, sing, listen, pray, have coffee, go to Sunday School and go home. Going to a Camp and not being in charge felt pretty weird. For the past few years I've always been in charge of something. I had a pretty good idea about what was going on and I was usually even able to help other people who didn't know what was going on. Being here I haven't really been able to be myself... you know what I mean? Please, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining. What I'm trying to say is that different can be really good sometimes. So many times when I came to church at 8:55am on Sunday at home I wished I could just go and sit there and worship... I got tired of always doing something. Here comes the point of this post - being here and going to CMPC is like a reward for me. Seems like God gave me what I really wanted for so long. I go to church on Sunday with a clear mind, free from thoughts and stress (which I often bring on myself when it doesn't need to be there) about things that "need to be done". And at the same time I feel like I'm still doing things. I work with the youth (loving it so far!). Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer will be like.

Mission Camp 2008

2008-06-15T23:05:00.010+02:00

I didn't know I was going to be camping the first days I was here. But honestly I didn't really mind even though I'm not an outdoor kinda person. I though, ok, let's see how I handle this. And I think it was maybe good that I could be with this small group of people "in the woods" for a few days.

The first night (Sunday) was miserably hot and I felt nasty sweaty from the very first moment. I realized that was probably the way I was going to feel most of the time so I made a mental decision not to care too much. And I didn't. Because if I did I'd pretty much go crazy. First challange came right after we got to our camp site - go build your tent and do it quickly! I don't really know much about building tents so I was very very gratefull for Travis and Joe and Ryan who knew what to do. We, females, helped as much as we could. And I tell you that even though we didn't finish first it was probably the best built tent out of the four that we had. Now that I think about it I don't think I have a picture of it. Bummer... Treat of the day- Papa John's Pizza for dinner. Pizza here is definitelly different then in SK. But like good different. Similar to what I remember from our family vacations in Italy. The night was sleepless. Guess who's tent got up firts in the morning and went to the bathroom? Yeah, mine. All of us walked up the hill to the pool house. Girls will be girls. The day started off with nice breakfast, making lunch (sandwiches) and leaving right away. Noone knew what time it was or where we were going. In case you wee wondering... it was always Camp Time at camp. Ask what time it is at any time and it's always camp time. Sweet rule! The day was spent at Lapdog on Ropes. We did low ropes in the morning and high ropes in the afternoon. I noticed something that I thought was different about the group of students that I was with compared to our students in Slovakia. I can talk to you about that some other time. And I loved it how so many of them pushed their limits. One person that impressed me in particular was Lauren. First she's not even gonna go any higher then where the ladder ends, I go take a couple pictures and come back and she's in a rope 30 feet above my head! I was proud of her. Oh I forgot to mention that the Word of the Day for Sunday and Monday was Privilege. Only a few people got the privilege of a shower.

Tuesday was an interesting day. Not knowing what we were doing we left the camp site and our first stop was the church. The girls went to the kitchen and baked cookies, muffins and brownies for the church staff. Some of us wrote Thank You notes. We wanted to appreciate the staff and all they do in the church for the Lord and the people. The guys went to the attic and tried to clean up. Poor guys! After this we went to Good News at Noon, a homeless shelter where we served food to the people who live there and to the ones who come just for the food. Made us think more about our privileges and how little we appreciate the things we have. Afternoon was pretty much free but we did this one cool activity... I'm not going to call it a game because it was way cooler than game. So this activity is something we're going to do sometime in Trnava. I played tennis with John that afternoon. Loved it! But didn't necessarily like the reason why we stopped. Being used to playing on clay courts I was gonna slide toward the ball and guess what? You can't really slide on a concrete court. So my right foot stayed glued to the ground and my body kept moving and that did NO good. I start falling and hear something crack in my ankle. NOT COOL, I thought and immediatelly started praying that it doesn't swell up and that it's not broken. John got me a bucket full of ice and water and made sure I was doing ok. It hurt like crazy. Pain is not my friend! I was sure it wasn't broken after about 30 minutes. It got swollen a little but not like it would if it were broken and I could definitelly move it and all that. I was very happy.

Wednesday we woke up earlier than the days before. But of course it was Camp Time so noone knew or had anything against it. Most of us had an idea about where we were going. Got on the vans and drove a couple hours. I woke up in North Carolina. I thought that was kinda cool. We went rafting. The place where we went was beautiful. The water was freezing cold - good for my ankle. I had 5 students with me on a raft and an instructor. Cool guy, I think his name was William. You'd think that rafting for the first time would be exciting enough by itself. We got some extra excitement. A storm! Thunder, lightening and heavy rain! When we were about half way done with rafting I realized what an idiot with a good heart I was. I lent my other shorts to Julia because she didn't want to go rafting in jean shorts. Guess what that meant? Yes, sitting in the van for three hours in soaking wet shorts. You might me thinking: Bless her heart... Yeah, that's what I thought. The night was exciting as well! Another storm... All I was really concerned about was how poorly our tent was built. I will be thankfull to Travis and Daniel to the end of my life for helping me fix the tent and thus preventing the rain from getting inside. I'm also thankfull to the Lord that he heard my prayer and didn't let it rain on us as hard as we were expecting and I'm also thinking it's a miracle that I slept through the whole night without waking up.

There's a lot of other things I could talk about but I think I'm going to stop right here. Let me just add that I love the students that I got to hang out with and can't wait to meet more students this Wednesday. I didn't mind camping. I think I could do it again. Maybe when it's not so hot though.

...

2008-06-14T00:25:00.002+02:00

I know y'all are eagerly waiting to hear about my camping experience. I'll write about it soon. In case you were wondering I'm doing ok. Kind of tired but ok. Went to La Parilla last night and had some good Mexican. More later. Peace!

you should see this...

2008-06-08T20:28:00.004+02:00

got these usefull things today, very sexy colors too

you see my name? yeah, I'm in there

first Sunday at CMPC

2008-06-08T17:26:00.004+02:00

Dear all,

I just want to report shortly on how life is here at my new church and home for the summer. I live with the Bishops. Ujo Bob is on a missions trip in Peru and so it's just me and teta Chris in the house. They live in a nice neighbourhood, have a cute house and they're nice people. Well, I haven't met ujo yet but people say he's pretty cool so I believe them. I met about million new people and I'm slowly trying to remember names and put those names together with faces. Let me tell you - it's hard! But I'll work on that. It's been miserably hot the past few days. But everyone said that that's how it's going to be the whole summer so I'm not that surprised. We're starting the Missions Camp tonight at 6:30. I'm excited. I don't even remember the last time I went camping. Ok, I do. But it was a long time ago. Please, pray that I'll get to know the students better and that I can start growing good friendships with them. Also pray that I don't forget to be open and let them get to know me. I have a tendency to be a little closed to new people, not sure if you noticed... (joke). That's all for now.

Oh one more thing. I now officially know all Miriam's siblings. Jason and his wife are cool and they have very cute kids.

Let me know how you're doing and what's going on in our Trnava and in you life, please. Peace!

everyone and their mother knows me at CMPC!

2008-06-07T03:59:00.002+02:00

I'll be doing missions camp starting on Sunday, I'll be camping out with a bunch of kids for a week and I'll be going to Mississippi for 2 weeks in July.

A special entry for Mir, our Bosska

2008-06-04T23:51:00.004+02:00

Dear Mir,
this is what Bo and Brynne got me the other day.

For those of you who don't understand - Don't worry! It's an inside joke.

Green is in

2008-06-04T23:38:00.005+02:00

Some of you might have noticed that I use the word "poo" a little more than ever before. I don't really have a reason for that. It's just a funny word that I like to use when something unfortunate happens. Well, Eli kinda noticed and got me a little gift. It's crazy what people make these days! This, my dear friends is a journal, 100% recycled and odorless paper product made from elephant poo!

For more information click here http://www.poopoopaper.com/

Svätá and Nonos getting to know each other

2008-06-04T22:50:00.006+02:00

Nonos, Marin's dog-friend and Svätá, my cow-friend during their first conversation. Getting to know each other.

Getting comfortable with each other.

And the story continues

Aren't they cute?! By the way this is how Mishka and I have fun... Well, I guess it was just me entertaining Mishka. But she encouraged and appreciated this kinda fun. Laukova just gave us a couple dirty looks. She thinks she's too cool! jk...

These wonderful friends of ours Nonos the Dog and Milkos the Cow are from a family called Deglingos (click the word). Crazy cute toys for kids and big kids.

First time... maybe last

2008-05-31T19:55:00.003+02:00

Aaron Lesondak gave me a ride up the mountain on his cool bike just a second ago. It was fun. We didn't get to go very fast because there were many slow cars on the road. I thought of my cousin the whole time. Some of you know that he got hit by a car on his bike and broke both of his hands and had to have the crushed bones sucked outta him. I just don't understand what's so exciting about going super fast and risking your life like that. Really... Imagine how much it hurts when you fall off of a chair when you're trying to reach something in the kitchen. Now imagine driving like 110 mph and something happening, your body hitting the ground and that kinda crap. Aaah! I'm going to kick my cousin's cute butt if he buys another bike!

pictures uploaded

2008-05-31T01:44:00.001+02:00

click here http://picasaweb.google.sk/petrastar1001/USA1

just so you know...

2008-05-29T20:07:00.002+02:00

... we'll be singing at church this Sunday. Ak lud mojho mena sa pokori is the song we chose. Mary already knows it and I guess we're going to teach it to the other singers as well. I think we'll also do all the other songs with the band. Not sure about that though.

My wisdom teeth are acting all weird and I'm in pain at times. Having to go to a dentist in the States is the last thing I want to do. Not that I don't trust them or anything like that... It could just happen to be VERY expensive and as you all well know I am not being paid while I'm here (3 months).

Dedko (grandpa) had a tumor in his throat. He'll go to the hospital in Bratislava soon and they'll try to get rid of it. They say it's not that serious... but I say, come on, it's a tumor. It is serious. I'm sad I can't be there with my family right now.

Day whatever the number is...

2008-05-28T23:02:00.002+02:00

Bo and Brynne took me to a minor league baseball game. I loved it. I like baseball a lot. It definitelly has the ability to get very boring but this game was good. Even thought the Chattanooga Lookouts lost.

Woodlawn Outreach

2008-05-27T03:45:00.007+02:00

packing setting up getting to knowservingloving

it's great to be able to buy this anytime I want

2008-05-26T02:15:00.006+02:00

the best gum ever

breakfast

Peach cobbler (my favorite dessert) flavored Ice cream

Day 9

2008-05-25T19:43:00.000+02:00

Thinking a lot about my girls, especially those who are taking maturita this week.

Day 7 and 8

2008-05-24T18:33:00.013+02:00

We worked on Ain't no rock in the morning and it brought back memories of Christian Camp '07. And it especially made me think of Ninka Svinka because I know she likes that song quite a bit. We had a great helper, guitar player - Anthony - who so willingly played a couple songs with us over and over.

Petra experienced her first Drive in last night! How exciting. Two movies for 5$. Awesome deal. Please, people save your time and money and don't watch Indiana Jones. That movie is a bad joke. The alien heads, not a very good Russian accent by Kate Blanchett and other pretty ridiculous stuff just made me laugh and wonder if anyone really liked it for real. Thank you, Majka (Marry) for the special sound effects, the movie would have killed me if it weren't for you. Iron man was hot. Loved the red-gold combo. But oh my gosh it got so cold and wet that I thought I was gonna freeze! Ah, what a great experience! I got home super late (3am) and got up early... but still later than I was supposed to (7:30am). Now we get to day 8. Observed the band practise and then actually practised with the choir. I'd definitelly be joining the choir if I lived here and went to NCF. Loved it! Love Michelle!

Bo and Brynne took me shopping this afternoon. Went to Target nad Old Navy. Got a pair of shorts and then they took me to a nice restaurant. Had my first American restaurant experience. Woohoo! The waitress wouldn't shut up. Not a big shocker. We all know that that's the way they are in the US. She was nice though. Very helpful. We've been here for 8 days and today was the first time I drank regular Coke. It was pretty sweet. Like literally sweet. Not sweet like awesome, ya know? Speaking of drinks - I thought Dr. Pepper here and back home tasted the same but it doesn't. It's sweeter here. Shocker! NOT!

Happy Sunday you all! Tell me what the sermon back home was about and who did chvaly and all that kinda stuff, k? Dakujem!

Day 6

2008-05-23T01:58:00.004+02:00

I wish I had better writing skills. I wish I could give you a better and more exciting picture of everything that's going on. But I guess that's not happening so you'll just have to deal with whatever I give.

This was another pretty good day here in Chatty. The weather was great. We met with Mr. Ward and Michelle again. We got to see how they record demos and Ika and Matka actually participated. It's great to see Mr. Wards at work. He's so excited about his job and he does everything with such a great joy. I totally lack that sometimes... most of the time I guess.

People came over to Bo and Brynne's for dinner. I'm so excited about real food (=chicken and rice) we get to eat tonight! We had sandwiches for lunch. Warm lunches are definitelly something that our team misses.

I can't write anymore. I'm feeling weird.

Day 5, Officially over jetlag

2008-05-22T12:46:00.004+02:00

I normally wake up at 6:30... haha that sounds like I've lived here and had this schedule forever... anyways. I set the alarm on my phone set on 6:30am yesterday. I don't quite remember when I went to bed but I do remember a knock on my door in the morning. It was Brynne asking if I was up. I said no and asked what time it was. 7:40! We leave the house at 8:15. Oops! So I determined that I was officially over jetlag. I actually slept longer than I was supposed to. Oh by the way I didn't wake up on time because my phone died at night at the alarm never went off.

Our music team spent the morning with Michelle and Mr. Ward learning more about how the music department, worship team and choir work at NCF. Looked at some of the technical equipment and got to play a song on a really bad sounding guitar with nylon strings. Yesterday was a short day. We were done by noon. They fed us hot dogs for lunch again... Finally got to use my Starbucks card (thanks Eli and Marinka) in the afternoon. Seems like Iced Mocha will be the drink of the summer. Love it! Brynne and I met Laurel at Covenant College and I got a nice little tour of the campus. Looks great up there and the view from some of the rooms is wonderful. It's the kind of view that inspires you to write a book. I finally are some regular meat and rice for dinner and that definitelly made me happy. Ended the day downtown Chattanooga with Abby catching up on life.

I like being here. I like Chattanooga. I think I could live here.

Day 4, Praise God

2008-05-21T05:07:00.006+02:00

Praise God with me! I felt physically ok today. I prayed and prayed that my stomach would stop hurting and that my eyes would stop feeling extremelly tired. I know y'all prayed as well. And God heard us and made me feel better. Also I slept for about 7 hours last night which is a lot more than the nights before and so I was able to enjoy my day and focus on what was going on. I started the day off with a bowl of cereal and tasted American milk for the first time. I guess it doesn't matter where the milk comes from I just don't like it. We started at 9am this morning with a session for all interns lead by pastor Nabors. I bet we all agree that the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ and what he did for us, should be in the centre of our ministry. We know it's important yet we forget about it so often and focus on other things when we try to reach people. As we spoke about what the Gospel was pastor Nabors stressed one thing - Gospel is not only about how you get saved but also about how you live your everyday life by faith.

Our first meeting with the music department people - James Ward and Michelle Higgins - started at 11. They explained to us how they plan a Sunday service and what songs they were going to do this next Sunday and why.

We got to sit in a Staff Meeting. Nice experience. Afternoon was spent with pastor Nabors and the other interns. We spoke about Ideology and about how important it is to be familiar with the culture you work in. My mind went wild when we spoke about this. Thinking about Americans in Slovakia and all of us together reaching the kids and me being in the US this summer ministering to people from a completelly different culture. That's some crazy stuff! I can't wait to start working at CMPC.

Last but not least - we went to the Closet later in the afternoon and I definitelly got some clothes!

How are you all doing?

Day 3

2008-05-20T02:43:00.003+02:00

It feels like we've been here much longer than 3 days. I've had a lot of nice new experiences today. But first of all let me tell you briefly about what went on. The morning was spent at Bryan college. The team got to meet Dennis Miller and got a lecture on Worldview from Dr. Andrews. Bummer we didn't have time to go deeper on that topic. From there we went to NCF for lunch and some intern training session. We met with pastor Randy Nabors and also met James Pickett. Both very nice men. Watched a couple videos about different ministries at NCF. Hang out at the Lesondaks' for almost 2 hours and went to the pastor's house for bbq. Met Mary who still remembers her Slovak phrases and pronounces them perfectly (Pozri moja! Som tucna, drzim dietu!).

Here are the new things - saw my first American squirrel. It was cute! A man thought I was American, told me I had no accent and that it tricked him :) Ate American pizza. There are a couple more things that could be mentioned but I need to go to sleep. I'm still not over jatlag and my body is definitelly freaking out. It hurts! I'm very tired. Peace!

Day 2

2008-05-19T05:59:00.003+02:00

First American church experiences were good. NCF was what they say it is. Seeing Midway was great even thought it wasn't what it normally is (supposedly). Meeting people who came for camps in their American world is weird. Saying bye to Laura made me sad.

Day 0 and 1

2008-05-17T16:28:00.007+02:00

Everyone knows by now that we all got here safely. The flight to Chicago was really long - 9 and a half hours - and the landing wasn't too much fun. They gave us pretty good food and we had to ask for ice if we wanted it in our drink. Going throught immigration and customs was ok. Not at all as scary as people say it is. The flight to Atlanta was nice. It was short compared to the first one and when having a drink one was automatically given a cup full of ice. I mean full and without asking for it. Landing in Atlanta was good and having friends I missed a bit welcome us felt wonderful. We got all out bags and had to get mentally ready for sitting down for another some time. The strangest place I met a person I haven't seen for about 2 years was somewhere on the highway from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Bo made a few phonecalls and then I just rolled down my window and was able to wave at Noah and Lindsay. Hugging Noah in at a gas station somewhere north west of Atlanta was quite unexpected I must say. Got to Chattanooga kind of late and went to John's house where everyone else was waiting for their luggage. Took Jano, Mata and David up on the mountain where they are staying with profesor Cliff Foreman from Covenanat. Got to Bo's cute house and met Brynne. Talked to people a little and went to bed at 1. Guess when I was up? That's right, 5:45 and I couldn't go back to sleep. Then around 7 I heard the sweet voice of my BFF, Marinka so I finally got up from my bed and went to say Dobre rano. Laura G came over at 10 or so - woohoo. Eli came a little after her. Lunch at the park with everyone was great. We walked to the other side of the river and sat by the museum for a little while. A woman looked at me funny when I spoke to David in Slovak. Supper at Gerald and Karen's was nice. Got to meet Miriam's cute nephew Roger. Sleep last night wasn't too much fun I must say. I woke up at 3:50 this morning and never really went back to sleep. So here I am hyper and hungry.

So far all ok. Let me know if you have any questions about stuff I didn't mention. Will update soon again.

Hot or Not? I say hot. What do you say?

2008-05-14T17:58:00.000+02:00

Beauty

2008-05-14T13:18:00.003+02:00

What a sad week this is

2008-05-14T13:12:00.002+02:00

Dear friends and family,

our dear fish - B - was found dead in his aquarium. Building staff is being interrogated but someone in the office overheard an agent saying that B might have killed himself as a result of depression and pressure of the secret he was hiding inside for a couple days. Did B really kill A?

P.S: Anyone willing to buy C and D?

ladies in yellow

2008-05-12T13:11:00.002+02:00

R.I.P.

2008-05-12T10:33:00.002+02:00

Our dear fish - A - was found dead in his aquarium this morning. The cause of his death has not been revealed by the ones in charge yet. B is being interrogated as I write to you.

Surprise?

2008-05-09T21:51:00.005+02:00

A couple weeks ago the heater by Miriam's desk in our Building office started leaking. It got pretty bad. We moved all her stuff to another desk and put a nice blue bucket under the heater to catch the water. Then one day we realized that it was too small and we were going to be gone for a longer time. We looked and looked and we found a bigger container that we used instead of the wonderful blue bucket. Someone (DAN!) had a wonderful idea. Let's buy fish and make it into an aquarium!!! And sure enough, this afternoon, I went ahead, got some nice red stones, golden fish and prepared a surprise for Miriam... A couple hours she noticed what we did. Loved it... I hope.Meet A and B. The Fish.

Craving something Slovak? Let us know, we'll bring it for you!

2008-05-07T18:01:00.002+02:00

Hello y'all!

We asked and received. I am writing to you with great news - we all got our visa today. Praise God! The ladies at the embassy were very nice and spoke perfect Slovak. The interviews were short, they only asked us a few easy questions.

Thank you very much for your prayers. We ask you to continue praying for our health - Roman is currently in the hospital where the doctors are running tests and trying to find the right treatment for his health problems. Mata and the baby seem to be doing fine so far.

Grateful to our Lord, Petra

2008-05-06T20:41:00.004+02:00

Just wanted to share with you all that if I get visa tomorrow I'll be gone for about 3 months or so. I've never been out of Slovakia for that long. How nice... or not. We'll see. Not that I'm freaking out about it. I'm not. I'm just wondering what will it feel like. I'll make sure to let you know. I think it's going to be fun. I wonder if I'll have a culture shock. Can anything really shock me after a couple years of working with Americans and living with an American family? People say that the size of everything is going to be overwhelming. Can't wait to see and taste that :) Loudness is another thing that people mention. Oh my, I'll totally blog about things that shock me... if I get the visa tomorrow of course. Hey, how about y'all suggest things that might be shoking and I'll make sure to pay attention to them? OK, deal!

Just thought I'd remind you...

2008-05-02T20:47:00.003+02:00

... that if we get the visa on Wednesday we'll be flying to the US in exactly two weeks. Quite unbelievable.

Did you know...

2008-04-28T21:53:00.003+02:00

.. that Gucci actually makes nice looking women's sneakers?

I want these!

Funny and educational

2008-04-22T19:30:00.000+02:00

!

2008-04-22T12:03:00.002+02:00

After the Ecumenical Youth Meeting that we had at church on Saturday night Marek offered to take out the trash. We were the last people to leave, it was dark and somewhat cold. If you felt sorry for Marek I hope it's gone. If not then I'm pretty sure I can make it go away. Here's what happened - we walked out and and the boys (Marek, Palo and Juraj Klementovic) being in a good mood acted like 5 year olds. Marek decided it would be fun to hit them with a bag full of trash. And don't you think it's fun to hit people riding bikes with full trash bags?! Marek hit Palo while he was on his bike. Not only the bag broke and the trash went all over the place but Palo fell off the bike. Do you still feel sorry for Marek? His face in that picture is not supposed to communicate - Oh, what a pitty, I'm going to help them clean up. It's supposed to yell - What an idiot I am! (Please don't take these comments too seriously.. I'm not trying to offend anyone.)

?

2008-04-20T08:29:00.003+02:00

Would anyone like to take a wild guess about what happened? I'll give you some good chocolate if you get the answer right. Peace!

Petra is tired and has a headache

2008-04-20T08:21:00.000+02:00

...anyone interested in joining my misery?