Today marks my first full day in Tisovec. The apartment I will be living in is currently under renovation (good thing, from what I hear. One of the Americans who was also here last year said, “they were like from the 60’s—and not the American 60’s…”) so for the time being I am staying upstairs in one of the tiniest “hotel” rooms I have ever seen. I feel as though it is about the size of my dad’s closet with a bed, small nightstand, another little table with a TV on it, and a wardrobe all crammed in. I had to play Tetris with my suitcases to make everything fit and still have enough walking room to get around. The bathroom is equally small, thought the shower is pretty spacious and nice (when I shaved my legs, I had enough room for a full leg extension, and my foot was not even above my head. But I guess I’m pretty acclimated to small showers after four years of the “pods” in Saint Mary’s living quarters).
When my Slovak friends dropped me off we all thought this was it—that I would be living in the room all year. I was ready to roll with it, make it happen, ya know? I lived in a tent and slept on the ground all summer; small spaces ain’t no thang to me. But Miro and his father-in-law Imrich were positively outraged, “This is not apartment!” Miro sneered with disgust while an older, dignified Imrich shook his head as he silently looked around. They were already suspicious and leery of the town as-is, so in their protection mode they were ready to pack me up and take me back to Brehy, end of story.
School starts next week so the teachers are in the mist of all the behind-the-scenes prep work. Today is a big testing day for all the returning students, so I’ve been sitting in the teacher’s lounge for hours with no internet and nothing to do—I don’t even have my book with me. I’m still getting over jet-lagg so I’ve almost nodded off like a hundred times while trying to keep busy by reading some the guidebooks about Slovakia, Lutheran pamphlets and information, or any other English reading material this place is stocked with. It’s also freaking HOT up in herrr, and hot plus sleepy is perhaps the works possible combination. In fact, I think they just perpetuate each other—what came first, the hot or the sleepy?...
The teachers I’ve met so far are all totally awesome. They are mostly women, some are older but there a bunch of young ones who are pretty new to EGT or teaching in general, so I am glad to be working with people in a similar situation. I went to lunch with a few of them at one of the “local” spots where we order from a special menu and get discounted prices and stuff. Apparently the school cafeteria across the street is just bad for business. At the place we go to, you just sign yourself up a day in advance and eat the special meal—be it dumplings and stuffed cabbage (today) or rice and chicken (tomorrow).
I’m still not exactly positive what I am going to be doing—I’ll be assisting in English classes but I have no idea what that entails. Also, maybe they’re still hidden away but I haven’t really seen that many old folk hobbling around. I think it’ll take some time for me to send out the antennae and see what’s going on, and how I will tailor my plans for the writing I’m going to do here. It looks like I need to focus on teaching first and for-most, which is good because it gives me time to melt into the community a little more before I ask these people to bare their souls to me.
I can’t believe I’ve been rambling on this long and I have neglected to mention how BEAUTIFUL this place is!! The town is completely surrounded by mountains, which cater to the local four-wheeling (off-roading) scene, and this week the Slovak Nationals or something for paragliding are taking place from the surrounding hilltops. Yeah, this place has got it going on. The Muranska Plania narodni park (national park) is right next door, and apparently these hills are absolutely crawling with trails. From what I hear though they are also crawling with “medveds” (bears) and as I learned on my last foray in Slovakia, people think it is weird if you just take off on your lonesome to do activities. I need to scope more.
Monday, August 31, 2009
And She's Off... 8/26/09
I’m almost there! I was going to wait until I got to my new home in Tisovec to write my first update, but I’m sitting on a bus winding my way through Moravia, getting punched in the face by someone’s potent body odor, feeling crazy-inspired.
We just had to take a minor detour through this tiny little town and it was like a teaser for village life. People’s gardens are going nuts! Apple, plum, and pear trees are ubiquitous and drooping with heavy loads of fresh, ripe fruit. What I suppose are fruit pickers fashioned out of branches rest against the trees for reaching those evasive, higher-up fruits. Yeah, these people know what’s up... Sunflowers that are easily taller than me explode out of densely packed patches, and vegetable gardens overflow as well.
We rounded one corner and I’m pretty sure the scene I saw was staged—a beautiful blond little girl was diligently playing in the sandbox in her backyard while about twenty feet away her equally gorgeous mother looked on and smiled while she collected herbs in the mid-morning light. An old man in old-fashioned clothes rode some sort of tractor contraption down the street with a huge smile plastered across his face. Working men milled around in their blue and green overalls, shooting the shit as they went about their business.
Basically, I’m stoked. I got to Prague at midnight on the 23 and took a few days to recover and hang out with my host family. Some of you may know that for the last three or four months I’ve pretty much been hopping from one adventure to the next without a lot (or any for that matter…) of down time in between. That means I have not really had time to process anything. Getting ready to head over here didn’t feel particularly crazy, it was just the next step in my weekly planner. Seriously, on August 22 I had written, “Move to SK.” Ok, maybe it was followed by an exclamation mark or two…
On the final leg of my three flight journey though, I had my first “WHAT AM I DOING!!!” moment. Suddenly being surrounded by Czech people—with their initially colder disposition, propensity not to use deodorant or antiperspirants, and that whole other language thing prompted me to ask what I had gotten myself into—had my quixotic expectations of a year among “my people” really landed me in a nightmare? I completely botched my first opportunity to speak Czech (the flight attendant greeted me with “dobry vecer” (good evening) and instead of replying in Czech I said “hello” or something equally worthless like an asshole.), fumbled through an awkward conversation about beverages with the woman sharing a row with me, and could understand none of the flight attendant’s safety shpeal “*super nasally* Laaaadies and gaaaaantalman……” It’s gonna be a long year, I thought to myself.
But then my bags came out right away and my host father Tomas was waiting for me with the good ol’ family Volkswagen van. It still makes that squeaky sound when bouncing over the cobblestone, the house still smells the same, my bed (the one I slept in when I studied abroad…) feels like I never left it, and the bathtub with the sprayer nozzle but no shower curtain and a drying rack above is still just as awkward to use. It makes my heart happy. And of course my host mom Jana was all smiles and hugs when I saw her—“Oh COOOOL!!”
If I was able to build such attachment to Prague in only four months, I’m pretty confident I will develop equal or greater fondness levels for Tisovec considering I will be here a little over twice as long. So yay! I’ve also been cramming insane propaganda down both of my sisters’ throats about how, “change is uncomfortable at first… it’s good to feel a little scared/worried/confused…” How about I listen to my own advice for a while, eh?
We just had to take a minor detour through this tiny little town and it was like a teaser for village life. People’s gardens are going nuts! Apple, plum, and pear trees are ubiquitous and drooping with heavy loads of fresh, ripe fruit. What I suppose are fruit pickers fashioned out of branches rest against the trees for reaching those evasive, higher-up fruits. Yeah, these people know what’s up... Sunflowers that are easily taller than me explode out of densely packed patches, and vegetable gardens overflow as well.
We rounded one corner and I’m pretty sure the scene I saw was staged—a beautiful blond little girl was diligently playing in the sandbox in her backyard while about twenty feet away her equally gorgeous mother looked on and smiled while she collected herbs in the mid-morning light. An old man in old-fashioned clothes rode some sort of tractor contraption down the street with a huge smile plastered across his face. Working men milled around in their blue and green overalls, shooting the shit as they went about their business.
Basically, I’m stoked. I got to Prague at midnight on the 23 and took a few days to recover and hang out with my host family. Some of you may know that for the last three or four months I’ve pretty much been hopping from one adventure to the next without a lot (or any for that matter…) of down time in between. That means I have not really had time to process anything. Getting ready to head over here didn’t feel particularly crazy, it was just the next step in my weekly planner. Seriously, on August 22 I had written, “Move to SK.” Ok, maybe it was followed by an exclamation mark or two…
On the final leg of my three flight journey though, I had my first “WHAT AM I DOING!!!” moment. Suddenly being surrounded by Czech people—with their initially colder disposition, propensity not to use deodorant or antiperspirants, and that whole other language thing prompted me to ask what I had gotten myself into—had my quixotic expectations of a year among “my people” really landed me in a nightmare? I completely botched my first opportunity to speak Czech (the flight attendant greeted me with “dobry vecer” (good evening) and instead of replying in Czech I said “hello” or something equally worthless like an asshole.), fumbled through an awkward conversation about beverages with the woman sharing a row with me, and could understand none of the flight attendant’s safety shpeal “*super nasally* Laaaadies and gaaaaantalman……” It’s gonna be a long year, I thought to myself.
But then my bags came out right away and my host father Tomas was waiting for me with the good ol’ family Volkswagen van. It still makes that squeaky sound when bouncing over the cobblestone, the house still smells the same, my bed (the one I slept in when I studied abroad…) feels like I never left it, and the bathtub with the sprayer nozzle but no shower curtain and a drying rack above is still just as awkward to use. It makes my heart happy. And of course my host mom Jana was all smiles and hugs when I saw her—“Oh COOOOL!!”
If I was able to build such attachment to Prague in only four months, I’m pretty confident I will develop equal or greater fondness levels for Tisovec considering I will be here a little over twice as long. So yay! I’ve also been cramming insane propaganda down both of my sisters’ throats about how, “change is uncomfortable at first… it’s good to feel a little scared/worried/confused…” How about I listen to my own advice for a while, eh?
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