folklórne slávnosti

Last weekend, there was a Folklore Festival in Myjava. We go every year, so this year was no exception, and it was special because it was the 50th anniversary. The weather wasn't very good though. We went to see an exhibition of paintings and wooden statues by local artists and then went to the amphitheater to see the dancing but it started raining so they cancelled part of the show. Some people weren't worried about the rain, there was enough food, beer and slivovica after all :) 

There's always a fair on Saturday morning, and a parade with all the dancers from all over the place in their traditional costumes, dancing and singing. We missed the parade but bought a few cute things at the fair. Fortunately, it didn't rain in the afternoon so we went to see the show. First we saw slivovica tasting, then traditional songs and dances from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, ... They also did the part they had to cancel the previous day, it was a performance where they demonstrated crafts - how shoes and other things were made and sold in the past. 

There were all kinds of other activities and performances and a ton of great home-made food! Yummy. All in all, it was fun, I hope next year the weather is better ;)

pajštún

Last weekend we wanted to go backpacking but it rained on Friday and we were a bit lazy, too, so we decided to do just a one-day hike. We - that is Juro, Tinka, her brother Maco, his girlfriend Iva, and I - went from Bratislava to a ruin called Pajštún and then to Stupava. It was some 20 km (about 12 miles). We took it easy and stopped at two pubs on the way up so it took us a bit longer ;) I also learned about geocaching, which sounds like fun to me. It was a nice hike and a good day.  

beh pre život

Today, I did "beh pre život", Race for Life, with some of my colleagues and students.   It's a 4-kilometer run/walk and there were about 1300 people altogether. It was fun. Then I went for lunch and coffee with my friend Alenka and since I didn't feel like going home I took a walk :) I met Mišo and Silvia so I got to see Linda, she's adorable! She can roll over now and laughs a lot. So cute. 

Vysoké Tatry

Last week I went on a field trip to the High Tatras. Our colleague Ľuba, and Mišo and I spent a week with 25 yelling twelve-year-olds in the mountains. It was fun though. The weather wasn't perfect, it rained the first two days, but we saw quite a bit and managed to get a few hikes in, too. On Monday, we went to Štrbské pleso, a mountain lake, but it was so foggy that we couldn't even see to hotels on the other side. It looked a bit creepy but really cool in the fog. Then we went to check out the nearby ski jumps but it started pouring so we headed back and cancelled the hike to another lake that we had planned. Oh well. On Tuesday, the weather was looking a bit better so we went on a hike. On Wednesday, we went to an observatory but the kids were whining because they were tired so we went back and they rested and played games in the afternoon. 

Thursday, we went to Skalnaté pleso, which is an alpine lake. We took a cable car up there. There was snow and it snowed on us a little bit, too, the kids were pretty excited about that :) Mišo and I and some of the kids hiked back down, Luba and the rest of them rode down. It was a nice hike. In summary, there was a sprained ankle, a head hit on a bunk bed, a few blisters, sore legs and lost voices, and a lot of sore throats, some whining, some rain and some sun, a few hikes and a lot of fun. All in all, it was a good week. :) 

backpacking in male karpaty

Last weekend I went backpacking! Finally, it was about time to sleep outside again ;) On Friday, my friend Flexo, his girlfriend Dominika, their friend Biba and I started out in Pezinok, took a bus to Zochova chata and started up the hill :) We stopped at Biba's friends' cabin and tried to persuade them to join us. They have three kids - Jurko (7), Miško (3) and Táňa (2). We made a tentative plan to meet later that day. Then we continued our hike, taking it easy and stopping /for various reasons and periods of time/ quite often. I had to get used to that kind of pace ;) In the evening we met up with Juro, Terka and their kids and camped on a beautiful meadow. We sat by campfire and cooked dinner. On Saturday we stared pretty late but made it to where we planned on camping the second night. The views were gorgeous and the kids were awesome - they (except for little Táňa who had to be carried now and then) walked the whole thing! 

On Sunday, Juro went back to where they had parked the car and the rest of us continued to where he was supposed to pick us up. The whole weekend was fun, the kids did great, the weather was wonderful, we walked through forests and meadows and enjoyed beautiful views. 

miška's b-day

This weekend we started off with a good-bye dinner for the Norwegians, they were leaving on Saturday morning. It was on Friday May 1st, which is a day off because it's Labor Day in Slovakia. I remember that last year on May 1st we got snowed on in Denver :) The weather was way different here this year, I even went rollerblading. There's also bad news - we were humiliated in a hockey game today - we lost badly to the Czechs, ouch! 

Most importantly though, Miška had her birthday party. We had yummy grilled chicken wings and cake :) She absolutely loves the game of Trouble she got from us ;) and we all had to take turns to play it with her, most of us ended up losing... Good times. 

Hope you all are having fun!

springtime

I haven't written anything for a long time... well, I wasn't anywhere too exciting and I don't know if anyone's even reading this anymore :) Anyway, here's the latest. April's been really nice, as for the weather, so I took quite a few walks :) 

Easter was fun; Hana came home and, seeing all this empty space in the garden and a pile of stones waiting to be used, she immediately thought of a project for us to do so we built an 'herb spiral' in the garden. That means Mom can grow oregano, basil, rosemary, chives and whatnot there. It looks pretty good, too. We also decorated eggs with the kids. 

Then for Earth Day, the 'Dreams+Teams' students (that's the project we do with British Council) organized a fun day for their younger schoolmates. They played games, sports and had competitions. It was fun. 

Last weekend, Juro and I drove some Norwegians, who are visiting mom's school, to and from the airport so we also took a trip to Červený Kameň, a castle in western Slovakia. We showed the teacher, Anne Marie, around and went on a tour of the castle. It was a beautiful day and she liked the castle - they don't have anything like that in Norway :)