javorina

After a few days of eating, drinking and lying around ;) we decided it's time to move around a bit. Mathias and his cousin, Kevin, arrived yesterday and we planned a hike up Javorina for today. In the end, it was more of a walk than a hike. Well. Anyway, as we got up there, we were genuinely surprised to see snow because, even though it snowed on Christmas Eve a bit, there's no snow down here. It was one of those very pleasant surprises so I jumped around like a small kid :) The weather was gorgeous and we also met a few of our friends up there. We grabbed dinner on the way home and went to the teahouse in the evening. A nice day :) 

bystrica

This week I spent two days in Banská Bystrica. There was a training I went to so I didn't have a lot of time for fun stuff but I at least got to walk around a little bit, checked out the Christmas markets and managed to take a few pics. It's always fun to go back to places you used to walk every day. The only problem was the weather - it's been so warm and there's no snow :( Something went wrong somewhere... I'm still hopeful though, and looking forward to white Christmas ;) Merry Christmas everyone!

zobor & christmas market

On Saturday morning, my colleague Mišo and I went for a little hike up Zobor. It wasn't as muddy as I had thought, even though it had been raining almost all day Thursday and Friday. The view was beautiful because the clouds were really low and there was fog everywhere around Nitra. On Sunday, Mišo, his wife Silvia and I went to see the Christmas markets. I bought only roasted chestnuts because the lines for Christmas punch and trdelník were too long. There were a lot of people and no snow, but the atmosphere was nice. Only two more weeks till Christmas, yay! 

mikuláš

As you know, Mikuláš is coming tonight to bring candy to good kids :) So clean your shoes and put them in the window! Mikuláš came to our school today, too. I have a club at school and we organized some fun activities for kids from a kindergarten. My students were dressed up as Mikuláš, angels and devils and prepared a fun morning for the little ones. They played sports, colored paper Christmas decorations, decorated a Christmas tree, sang carols and in the end got candy from Mikuláš. The most important thing is that we all had fun!

weekends

After checking one of the things that were keeping me freakin' busy off the list, I'm hopefully gonna get to do more fun stuff again and keep this blog updated. Last weekend, I went to Myjava and slept almost all day on Saturday, which felt real good. We worked in the garden a little bit - raking leaves and such, the weather was still nice. I think our neighbor's cat was the one who had the most fun :) After I took an afternoon nap, we went out for dinner for Juro's and my aunt Olga's bdays. Juro's birthday cake was so big that it took us a week to eat it :) I stayed in Nitra this weekend. We got snow yesterday - the winter is here, yay! Therefore, I suggested we should go for a hike ;) Even though at first they thought I was kidding, today, my colleagues Mišo and Tomáš, his little boy Samko and I went up Zobor. There isn't a lot of snow yet, but enough for a small snowman. I went for lunch and coffee with Emily later. That's a little update on my (not extremely exciting at the moment) life.

all saints

Last weekend, we celebrated All Saints day. It is the time when we remember people who are no longer with us but who we have never forgotten. Cemeteries look beautiful at this time - colorful thanks to the flowers on the graves and autumn-colored trees during the day and full of flickering candle lights at night. We brought flowers and lit candles on the graves of the people we have lost to show we are thinking of them. And maybe the gorgeous sunsets were their way of showing us that they are thinking of us :)

just hanging out

Another gorgeous weekend here, the weather's been great, even though it's getting colder. I've been so busy lately but I tried to have some fun during the weekend, too. On Saturday I went to a party and on Sunday hung out with Emily, we grabbed lunch and walked up to the castle. Then we went for coffee and cakes. It was a nice, relaxing day. 

weekend in myjava

This weekend I went to Myjava. The weather was gorgeous so I, of course, didn't get much school work done. Well... at least I had fun :) On Saturday, we went for a walk with my mom, aunt Olga, my cousin Lena and her daughter Miška. We took their lab Benny and a kite 'Smily' with us :) We picked some leaves, flew the kite and climbed trees in a cherry orchard. Then I went to see a dance competition for kids with Igor. On Sunday, I helped dad to 'pick' carrots and went to my granparents' house to pick some apples and walnuts. Hope you all had a great weekend!

kalvária

I've been up to my neck in work lately so I decided I needed to take a break and relax a little bit. And that's what I did this weekend while you guys were rocking Moab! We've been enjoying indian summer and the weather has been beautiful, I had to take advantage of that! On Saturday, I went out for coffee and ice cream with Lucia who came to visit and then for hot chocolate with Lubo. On Sunday, Emily and I went for a walk along the river and up to Kalvaria, where there is a church and stations of the cross. There were a few families enjoying the nice weather and kids flying kites. It was a nice walk and I'm glad I got to show Emily another part of Nitra. 

ps: Emily is here with the Fulbright teacher assistant program and is teaching at the university here in Nitra. 

čachtice

I spent this weekend at my parent's house in Myjava. Juro and I went out for beers with some friends on Friday night, then it was raining all Saturday but before I left for Nitra today, my friend Peter (Flexo), his girlfriend Dominika and I went for a little hike. We went to Čachtice castle, which is a ruin now. It is well known because of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who lived there at the end of 16th and beginning of 17th century. She was accused of torturing and killing young women and girls and imprisoned in the castle. The legend says she bathed in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth and beauty. 

Even though the castle doesn't have a very good reputation :), it was a nice hike and the weather was perfect. The view was beautiful - everything is so colorful. I love the fall! 

hana in nitra

On Friday, Hana came to Nitra to hang out before she leaves for Berlin again. We went downtown to see what was going on because there is an International Theater Festival 'Divadelná Nitra', which means not only a lot of plays but there's other fun stuff going on all around the town - concerts and plays in the square, crafts market, activities for kids and so on. We saw a couple of concerts on Friday night and had hot wine and trdelnik! On Saturday, we walked up to the castle (the fall is really here) and then walked around the square. They played the satire 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' outside so we watched that and bought some gingerbread for Mathias :) In the evening, Hana left for Bratislava and I went to Silvo's b-day and Misa's name day party. Too much fun :) On Sunday, I went for a walk. I went to the park - leaves are already turning yellow - and read by the river till the sun started to set. It was a beautiful sunny fall day.

fam get-together

The impossible finally happened! Our family was able to get together in the same space-time. Under the assumed name of 'Hana's graduation party' we met, ate and drank a lot and had fun. It actually was Hana's graduation party, even though she finished school two months ago. But with half of us being all over the world last year, there were a few events we missed out on so it actually was the first whole-family party in a long time and we kind of included everything that we hadn't celebrated together. It doesn't matter what the reason was anyway, it was really nice to see all those guys again. Altogether it made 18 adults (Tinka didn't make it) and 3 kids. If anyone is interested, I can add the family tree later :) It all took place at this restaurant we call The Flintstones' - it's supposed to look like a cave and all. And they have 'skittles' - kind of bowling- so we played and especially the kids had a blast with that. Then in the evening Hana, Juro and I went to the teahouse in Myjava with some friends. It's a cool place to chill.                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                        

javorina

Today, we went on a hike to Velka Javorina. Tinka and her friend Hanka went backpacking and are spending the night out there to do more hiking tomorrow. Hana, Mathias, Juro and I joined them for just today. The weather was great, it finally cooled down after it was in the 90s for more than a week. The fall is on the way, yay! 

Dnes sme sa vybrali na turistiku na Javorinu. Tinka a jej kamoška Hanka tam aj prespali a zajtra dávajú ďalšiu časť Bielych Karpát. Juro, Hana, Mathias a ja sme sa k nim pridali aspoň po Javorinu. Počasie bolo super, konečne sa ochladilo a už sa zjesenieva :)

trip to bratislava

Since school hasn't started yet, I decided to go see my friends in Bratislava. A lot of them were somewhere on vacation but I saw some of them and I stayed with my friend from college, Lucia. We went to Čunovo, where there was a kayaking competition (as, I'm sure, you know, Slovakia did really well in water sports at the Olympics). And we went to Rusovce, there's lakes you can swim in. I didn't have my swimsuit and even though there's a nude beach, we just took a nice walk, it was a bit chilly for swimming ;) 

Minulý týždeň som sa vybrala do Bratislavy, baby boli väčšinou po dovolenkách, ale bola som s Lu, zašli sme do Čunova, boli tam kajakárske preteky. Potom do Rusoviec, ale keďže nebolo až tak teplo, a ja som aj tak nemala plavky, nekúpali sme sa. Aspoň sme sa poprechádzali. 

beach volleyball

On Saturday, there was a beach volleyball tournament in Myjava. My friends Martin and Eli came, Martin played and Eli and I cheered :) They did very well, they took second place. Then there was a breakdance show, kids from Myjava, they're pretty good. School starts in a week, I'm gonna have a ton of work, that's probably good. 

V sobotu bol na Myjave beach turnaj. Martin hral a my s Eli sme povzbudzovali. Zvládli to super, nakoniec skončili druhí. Potom nastúpili myjavskí breakeri, dobre im to išlo :) 

party on!

Since Carlo came to see us in Nitra (after two years), and I haven't seen my friends for a year, or more, either, it was time for a party :) It was SO much fun. Luckily, I haven't met any of my neighbors in the following few days ;) Here's a few pics - those that can be published. 

Carlo nás prišiel po dvoch rokoch pozrieť z Kanady a ja som kopec ľudí nevidela rok alebo viac - hneď minimálne dva dôvody na párty. Našťastie som pár dní potom nestretla nikoho zo susedov :) Bola to sranda, vďaka, že ste všetci prišli! Tu je pár fotiek - tie, ktoré prešli cenzúrou ;)

reunions

Prvý víkend po návrate domov som strávila na Myjave u našich, prišli všetci! Mišo, Juro a Tinka, Hana a Mathias a aj jeho sestra Madlen. Bolo nás síce dosť, ale to čo mamina navarila by bolo aj pre armádu :) Ale pojedli sme čo sa zmestilo. V sobotu bol na Starej Myjave rodinný beach volejbalový turnaj, Michálkovci sa samozrejme museli zúčastniť. Apo, Juro a Tinka boli tím, ale keďže sa Juro hneď v prvom zápase dokaličil (našťastie bez následkov), ďalší zápas ho nahradil Mathias. Na to, že hral prvýkrát mu to celkom išlo :) A samozrejme rodinná party - večera a potom von (tá druhá časť už bez našich ale zato s Ondríkom - bratranec). Potom som valila do Nitry, bývalý kolega\lektor Carlo nás prišiel pozrieť z Kanady. Postretali sme každého (skoro) a s Ľubom sa vybrali na Zobor. Chodník sme akosi nenašli, tak sme sa tam vyhrabali ako sa dalo. Výhľad bol super. A večera, čo sme s Carlom potom uvarili, tiež. 

I spent my first weekend back in Myjava at my parent's house. It was awesome, everybody was there. Mišo, my brother Juro and his girlfriend Tinka, my sister Hana and her boyfriend Mathias and his sister Madlen. There was a lot of us but the amount of food Mom cooked would have served an army... well, we did our best. I don't have to stress that everything was absolutely delicious. There was a family beach volleyball tournament, and of course the Michalek family had to be there ;) The team consisted of Dad, Juro and Tinka, but since Juro wrecked himself (no permanent effects), he was replaced by Mathias later on. He did pretty well considering it was his first time playing.  And, of course, there had to be a family party. First dinner and then bars - that without my parents, but with our cousin Ondrej instead. Then I went to Nitra, my friend and ex-colleague Carlo came to visit from Canada. We met everybody and hiked up Zobor (a hill in Nitra) with Lubo. We kinda lost the trail (at least it wasn't dark ;)) but we got there anyway and the view was beautiful. And the dinner we cooked with Carlo afterwards was great, too. Good times. 

new blog

I just thought that I should start posting blogs from home on a different blog, since I'm not in the States anymore... it wouldn't really make sense posting them on my US one, would it? Anyway, if you're still interested in my world, here's some news. Thanks for checkin' on me. Love y'all! 

here's the link to my US blog 

Keďže už som doma, tak som si myslela, že začnem nový blog. Zážitky zo Slovenska sa na ten americký až tak nehodia. Takže ak vás to ešte zaujíma, kukajte sem :)

tu je link na ten americký blog