Surprise! Ahoj Slovakia!

Well dear friends, for many reasons I have decided to leave Slovakia this holiday season and not return in the new year. No, I didn't get fired from my job- in fact I was able to leave on great terms with them. And there were other reasons we won't go into here- all I will say is that living abroad alone and having to create an entirely new life is tough! After a year of adventures, some good and some not good, I was ready to come home...at least for now.

My little secret keeper self kept it on the down low for about a month while I said goodbye to everyone in Slovakia, my class, my little city, my precious roomie, and everything else. It wasn't an easy decision, but I am so glad I made it! To make it more fun I decided to surprise my parents on Christmas with the news in a big box that I wouldn't be going back to Bratislava after the holiday.

And OH were they surprised!

*please note my mums new birthday gloves I got her that she refused to take off and my parents kooky Christmas hats they wore all day. Try not to be TOO jealous of my family.

Then mom cried her little eyes out!

Christmas in Slovakia: The Carp

More to come on Christmas in Slovakia, but for now something AMAZING you would never know unless you were here during the holidays. You're welcome!

Well, was walking home from the store the other night and saw this just along the street like it's normal...

What's happening you ask? WELL These lovely gentleman caught a bunch of carp in the river, then bring it over and fill up these buckets with water and let them swim around in there. When you buy one, you keep it alive and take it home to do this:

Yeah thats right, to swim in your bathtub for a few days to "get the toxins out" since they're bottom feeders. Then you kill it and eat it for Christmas dinner.

I AM NOT LYING!!!

All of this verified by my Slovak colleges! Amazing!

Merry Christmas from Slovakia!

Some Weekends.

Some weekends are just full of running errands or staying in pajamas watching movies because the kids wore me out too much to actually be social.

But some weekends are full of...

Saturday:
...walking downstairs to the store to get fresh cheese, prosciutto, pepperoni, and bread for dinner. Then snuggling on the couch with Su-Mei, talking, having a glass of wine, and eating our home made cheese plate.

Sunday:
...walking to the department store to get some new things (and lets be honest, stuff for my class too) then relaxing in the cafe downstairs with school work, a cup of hot tea, and one of the pretty home made cakes from the window.

Oh, and although there isn't any snow in the forecast just yet- it sure is cold enough for it! Although it makes my commute miserable, still excited for my first "first snow"! Especially since the cold seems rather pointless unless theres pretty snow around too.

Love from Slovakia!

Vienna and Prague with Cammie

Cammie arrived and we headed off to Vienna for the weekend!

Friday night we went back to my favorite wine bar to drink delicious wine and eat amazing cheese and bread...mmmmmm

Sunday we went to Belvedere Palace to see the Klimt exhibits, no photos allowed in the exhibits but we got some of the beautiful gardens and property...

Monday through Thursday we headed off to Prague!

The beautiful square!

Baroque churches on every corner

Jewish quarter with my favorite Jew!

Oh, St. Charles bridge!

View from on top of the castle district from the vineyard

Kafka statue in the Jewish quarter and my zoolander face

Lovely time in Prague! We were supposed to go to Budapest too but we're low on funds and I've been sick and exhausted so I've been home recovering and getting some work done while I sent Cammie back to Vienna and Budapest for some more sightseeing. Prague was definitely one of my favorite cities. Perfectly preserved little Medieval city filled with churches on every corner, an incredible Jewish Quarter, the most amazing European square I've ever seen, and such an interesting and diverse history. I can't believe I missed it on Cassie and my original Euro tour, such a lovely place!

It's All Happening!

NOW THIS IS HAPPENING! My amazing Cammie is coming to visit me for 15 glorious days at the end of October! We're going to Vienna for the weekend, Prague for 4 days, and then Budapest for 3 days! Just booked our apartment in Prague and Hilton (thanks cammies job!) in Budapest. IM SO EXCITED!!!

Not only do I get to spend time with one of my favorites, but I get to tourist it up in my favorite city Vienna and see Prague and Budapest, which I haven't been to yet, too! I love my life!

Get ready Europe. Now this is happening. 

Minus Ficah and Kitty though sadly:( 

Wine Festival- Pezinok

Since I moved to Bratislava I've been looking forward to September when apparently there are all these wine festivals taking place. And its finally here! We've tried a lot of the regular red and white Slovak wine normally, but September is the ONLY time and place where you can try "Burčiak" or "young wine" that hasn't finished fermenting yet. SO these little local wineries bring their wine for you to taste and buy in these ghetto plastic bottles, and it tastes like juice! We each took a turn buying and drinking a bottle and let it ferment in our tummies until we felt so lovely! AND every weekend there is another festival in another district for more young wine!

We had to take the packed train out to the next village called Pezinok. This was the pretty church in the square.

Enjoying drinks with Christina and Jackie, my co-teachers and old roomies...

Su-Mei, Shimmy, Danko, Jackie, Christina, and I with our first bottle.

The busy festival!

This dirty ghetto old mascot for O2 (major phone company here) was there banging me every time he moved his tail and getting chased by little kids...aka HIlarious.

Wine Festival!

We finally found seats and didn't move for the duration of the festival. Except to pay 1 euro for the toilet...or 4 euro for another bottle...obviously.

The left is the "burčak" wine aka juice. The right is their normal local red wine. 

The platform for the last 11:00 train ride home

Which means standing squished in between cars the entire time along with the rest of Bratislava passing around leftover bottles of wine!

The last tram from the train station to home didn't come for another 20 minutes so we walked/ skipped and sang the walk home.

I wanted to document how I felt :) Such an amazing day!!!

Next weekend, another district? Another wine festival? 

On The First Day Of School I Felt...

I had my students write journal entries the first day of school finishing questions such as "This morning I woke up and felt...". I didn't even THINK they would write about me! I will keep their spelling and grammar errors to try and get the cuteness level fully across...

I hope this year will be better than last year, because we weill learn more and harder things. My mother said that year 6 is pretty hard. I am also excited to mett new students. We have also a new teacher and I like her more then our teacher from last year.


THE END
--


This morning getting ready for school I felt sleepy. I don't wanted to go to shool but, I must. Then I woke up and then I Dress up and goed with mom to school! Then I was exited Who will be our teacher. And our teacher was Miss Kerr. I was very happy. Because she is so fun! And then we made fun things with her. 


THE END


--


Miss Kerr is better then Miss ------. With Miss. Kerr is more fun then with Miss ____. And year 6 is more fun then year 5. We have new students super! And Miss Kerr is more creature then Miss ------. The dollar things what she did I like it.


---


I know right, how much do you want to KNOW my students?! They are THE BEST! I am already exhausted which is mostly attributed to adjusting to the schedule and last minute changes to my schedule which have left me with a ton of extra classes to prep for. BUT I am so happy! I love my class so much and can tell they like me but also respect me. So far we have such a positive attitude in my class, I just love them so much. Our 3 class rules we came up with are:
1) Be respectful to classmates and teachers
2) Speak English during class times
3) ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST!

Thats it. Because really, what else do you need?

And now to go home for a fun filled weekend of working on curriculum from home...but first, drinking.

xoxo

New Classroom!

Well as you know I am teaching a brand spanking new class this year, AND from the beginning of the year so its my job to get my room in proper order (every teachers dream).

I arrived and it was pretty bad...horrible ugly orange paint and curtains, all the desks were separate and facing the front where the teachers desk sat, I have a BLACKBOARD, etc. But enough talk, take a look at the before and after! I worked on that room for like 9 hours!

The view is from the door, from left to right.

On the plus side, my room gets a lot of light which will be nice in the winter, and I have a piano in my room!

 The teacher desk used to be in the front and center (I'd moved it already before remembering to take photos) and I just had those little cupboards and cubbies spread around the room.

Bleh. Boring.

AFTER!

And voila! table groups, book shelf, and the little cabinet by the window is our student store!

My awesome bulletin boards!

So yeah, it's still 1960 with the bright orange paint and old blackboards. But I am trying to embrace them by channeling my inner Joan Holloway via Mad Men, instead of hating them like I am so tempted to do. Only 3 rooms in the entire school still have blackboards, I'm just one of the lucky ones. BUT you can't beat the feeling you get after 6 years of hating school, when you get to write "Miss Kerr" on the top of the blackboard before the first day of school. Seriously, I got teary eyed. 

My new and improved teachers corner with proper storage

- thanks to Christina for giving me the tall cupboard she wasn't using from her room.

It's "fun" teaching in Slovakia because their walls are made of concrete so nothing sticks to them so you can't hang anything up if its not on one of the bulletin boards. They also don't sell the big rolls of butcher paper teachers at home typically use to cover their boards so you have to find odd things to use. Everything is different here my friends!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I can't believe it! Everything is ready to go and I am excited to officially meet my kids and get going on another great year. Plus, some of my precious babies from Kinder last year will be at my campus in year 1 so I get to see them! I can't wait!

Love from Slovakia,

E

My Welcome Home.

My friend sweet D offered to pick me up from the airport since he has a car and I had 2 GIANT and HEAVY bags plus a carry-on. These are the following stories.

1) While pulling giant bag #2 off the carousel (all by myself because I AM WOMAN) I definitely scraped/dropped it on my toe and literally ripped half of my toe nail off. Sweet D is calling me at the same time trying to figure out where I am and where to pick me up, so I am leaving a trail of blood with my push cart of giant luggage through baggage claim out to the pick up area. While waiting for him to pull in, this kind woman offers me a band aid (they call them plaster here fyi) because "I saw you bleeding everywhere".
"Welcome back!" My toe whispered to me as I hobbled into the car.

2) Since I live on a pedestrian only street and your car has to have a permit to drive on it (I know, my Euro life is awesome!) Sweet D couldn't drop me off right at my flat. So I took one bag in right after the airport, and he came by the next evening, parked, and had me wait in the car while he took my other bag to my flat for me. Unfortunately, he parked a little too close to the tram track so when the tram came it sat and honked at me to move the car so it could get by. Thats right, a tram full of passengers at rush hour honking at ME to move a stick shift car I have no idea how to drive. So I panicked and tried to move it, but couldn't even figure out how to start it...so the tram continues to honk and I continue to freak out...the tram driver gets out to try and tell me I NEED TO MOVE NOW...and Sweet D is still taking my bag to my flat...and OMG EVERYONE HATES ME! Finally a car full of shirtless guys drinking beer pulls up and I ask them "HEY! Do you speak English? Can you move this car for me?". They said "yes, I can move it...hold my beer..." So I held fat shirtless mans beer while he moved the car for me and the tram was able to get by.

This is my life my friends!

But otherwise, being back has been wonderful! Nothing here feels foreign anymore, it's just normal and home-like for me. I missed my flat, roomie, city, cafes, cheap food and drinks, friends, everything! Went by the school today to drop off my entire suitcase full of books and supplies from the states in my new classroom. All I can say is, I have a lot of work to do. But it's SO HOT and HUMID today and tomorrow and those rooms have minimal ventilation and no AC so I might wait until next week when it cools down a bit and just keep unpacking and working from home in my air conditioned apartment until then.

Love from Bratislava!

Summer Vacation Comes to an End.

Sadly had to say good bye to San Diego on Monday. It was so wonderful being home and seeing everyone! I missed you all very much! Not to mention getting to eat fatty American food, hearing and speaking English all the time, snuggling with my doggies, beach, amazing weather: it was a fantastic holiday.

Here are a few more pictures from being home for holiday if you'd like to see. To view all of them click here.

SO exhausted after the long trip but am trying to stay awake today to get used to the time change asap...not sure if its going to happen...

Had a BBQ with these crazy characters in Normal Heights...

these fine gentleman burnt BBQed for us

And these crazy ladies provided the entertainment...

Spent as much time as possible at the beautiful San Diego beaches I missed so much!!!

And got to hit up 4 museums on the free days at Balboa Park! My favorite place.

Got engaged at Heather and Nicks engagement fiesta (SO FUN)

Momma cooked us some good ol fashioned rice and beans and Spanish hamburgers for my last night in town. YEAH, they were AMAZING.

But most of the trip was spent snuggling or working in bed with these guys. My little snuggle muffins.