Slovakia

coming home

so I was thinking about coming home last night (well… I’ve actually been thinking about it since we got here, but anywho…) and while I was thinking about coming home and seeing all our friends, it out of nowhere felt like we weren’t the ones who were gone, but they were. I don’t know why, but it felt like we were the ones who were home, and everybody else was gone.

we weren’t “coming home” any more… we were “moving”… again.

it was one of those feelings that wasn’t quite right, but wasn’t wrong like I was telling myself it should be. it was, I think, the first time that this place felt like home, really home, not just the place we were living. I have become ~~comfortable~~ used to being here and it’s a strange sensation.

it is definitely going to be a huge change coming back, and not that it is, but it almost feels like a step backwards; moving back into our old place, getting back into our old routine (well, mostly), and returning to the place where we were a year ago.

I’m not saying it’s going to be a bad thing, I’m still more than eagerly awaiting that day we go to Vienna for the last time and get on that plane headed home, but it’s not going to be the big “coming home” that I had imagined, but more like a “moving away” in a sense.

very strange.

Bratislava castle in the fall

Bratislava Castle has been under construction and wrapped with scaffolding before we even got here. We were told it would be under construction until sometime in 2010, but apparently they’ve finished the outside and removed the scaffolding in time for us to see it. So we took a walk down to the castle and snapped some pics while we could. (The Castle is still under construction, but all the work is being done on the inside now.)

Liptovský Mikuláš

We’ve been wanting to see more of Slovakia than just Bratislava for a while. Several weekends ago we went to Liptovský Mikuláš in the lower Tatras about 3 hours east of Bratislava. Wow, this little town had everything outdoorsy one could want. It had a large ski resort, a few caves, a really big lake, and all of the other small activities that go along with those. We stayed at our first B&B (Chalet Slovakia, highly recommended) in Europe and it was perfect and so much fun. The family was from the UK (yay, they spoke English) and they had a small boy a few months older than Skye, which was really fun watching them interact. They drove us around, had a backyard and garden complete with a rabbit. We had our own room and Amber even got her own room which must have been wonderful after our small quarters in BA. It was really, really nice having all of the accommodations of home. They were really nice and provided just enough hovering and freedom. It was one of our better traveling experiences because of all of their personal touches and not having to deal with public transit and hotel rooms.

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T-Mobile… smart? not so much

chelsea wanted a new phone, and was looking at the BlackBerry, and because Verizon has a propensity for handicapping phones, I didn’t want to buy a BlackBerry from them. so we switched to T-Mobile, but this required us to sign a new 2-year contract, which is fine, but then we moved to Slovakia, and they don’t have service here. so we called up T-Mobile after we arrived and they said it’s fine, just get them proof that we are in fact living overseas and they’ll remove the $400 early cancellation fee.

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Billa

This should be on the Slovak flag.

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Billa is a grocery store and you see every other person walking down the street holding at least one of these at all times. One, because people are always at the grocery store. Two, because you have to buy them when you check out, so no one wants to pay for them. Three, because these bags are made of titanium and could hold 5 pointy gallons of milk, I have no doubt. They are worth every penny, er, euro.

SK update

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since we’ve arrived! Time is cruising by but December still seems like a long way away.

We’re slowly moving outside of our bubble, although our day to day routine keeps us within it most of the time (which is why we don’t have many new pics). The process of applying for our visa’s has broadened our scope a bit though. Today we all went to get the required physical exams necessary for temporary stay permit/visa. My colleague had a terrible experience with this, so I was expecting scenes from the movie Hostel; dirty medical equipment in a dark office in the basement of a rundown building. Maybe it was my low expectations, but it wasn’t bad at all. He must have paved the way for us, or maybe having Skye with us forced a more proper establishment from the lady taking us around.

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6 weeks in the grand SK

It’s been almost six weeks since we arrived in Bratislava. Now that we’ve had a chance to settle into our routine and figured out how to get around a bit, the entire maelstrom of getting over here doesn’t seem so dramatic anymore.

I leave the flat around 7–7:30 to go to work. The most stark difference to my daily life back in SLC is, of all things, not having a car and using the public transportation over here. I really can’t complain too much about it; buses and trolley’s and the like run frequent enough that the most I spend waiting is about 15 minutes. Everything is a short bus ride away. However, between walking to the bus stops and waiting for the buses and riding the bus, makes outings with a stroller 3 times as long and difficult as they would be with a car. The only difference I can tell about public transit can also be said about the Slovak people in general: the people are aggressive and there is no such thing as courtesy on the bus. Continue reading “6 weeks in the grand SK”

devín castle

so we went to devín castle the other day. our first trip outside of our little bubble here in Slovakia. it was the strangest thing to actually see things that you only really read about or see on discovery channel. to say this castle was old is an understatement. the things that I’ve seen in salt lake that are old are like mid-1800s at the oldest?… this was orders of magnitude older than that. it was so old… (insert yo mama joke here)

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SK update

Some days are great, when all it takes is figuring out a new bus route to feel elated about living here. Some days are really hard, when all it takes is very soggy shoes to condemn all that is Slovak. Then there are other circumstances beyond my control that whittle their way in to it all. I also very much underestimated the spirit of having Sammie around. When the reality hit that we can’t bring her over, I’ve been really sad ever since. I feel like a terrible owner and the house just isn’t the same without her silent presence in the corner. Also difficult, is the loss of Fede. Every night before I go to bed, I watch Skye sleep and for some reason this brings it all back and I immediately picture our dark living room in SLC once again. I don’t know if I can ever live there again.

Overall though, it is getting better, the more acquainted we become with the city. The cold, snowy weather dampens the explorer inclinations. Without Skye we could probably do a little more, but we’ll get around to it eventually. The weekdays are spent trying to settle in to a routine with work chaos for us both and being home-bound with the weather. I always loved the snow and the freshness it brought with it, but that was before I had to walk in it everyday. I can tell Skye is also eager to be out and about, so it won’t be long now before we are able to venture to the Old City (Stare Mesto) for just a few hours to get away. I really want to see the inside of some of these ancient, impressive cathedrals and castles. I mean, there aren’t any of these anywhere in the states. None. But here they populate the landscape everywhere. I love it! They have these deep, heavy roots that loom all around and it is impossible to ignore their existence. Even when they will start to become part of the background scenery, which they will, they will always serve as a reminder of the past with just a passing eye.

On another note, here is one of our many, many, many, many, many, many moments waiting for the bus. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with my phone.

so now that we’ve been here for a week, I guess we can tell you a bit about what it’s like here and what’s different from home…

we’ll start with the drivers. the drivers here are CRAZY, it’s like nobody looks out for anybody or anything when they get behind the wheel of a car, or anywhere with a lot of people for that matter, we were in the mall today, and were standing in front of the elevator with a stroller, and people would just walk in front of us to get on the elevator until it was so full that we had to wait for the next one. the drivers are the same way, I’ve seen three almost accidents already from people being stupid and not looking when backing up, or pulling into traffic, or turning, or whatever… people are just very aggressive when it comes to getting where they are going.

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