Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia

Margerete Hurn's book, A Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia, is one of the current books that I'm reading. The link I'm including is to her website which also has a great blog posting good up to date information about the area. I've added her blog to my Slovak links on the right. This might be the best site for information on the area yet.

Tommy's Advice

I am loving this website. So much great information. Tommy's Advice

Bratislava Coronation

This weekend is a coronation ceremony for a Hungarian king. This reenactment is from the 16th-18th centuries when the Ottoman empire was in Hungary, so the Kingdom of Hungaria moved to Bratislava. Lots of traditional costumes, crafts, music and other old town market stuff. I'll take some pics this weekend.

Visit this link for more info:
http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1624&p1=6804

additional link with lots of photos, scroll to the bottom (its in slovak): http://www.bratislava.sk/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700000&id=11025478

Here are some more pics

They pay me well but its all in US dollars. I guess this is what they mean by tax free? Looks like I'll be flying back every couple of months to the U.S. to make deposits. I've always wanted to travel with a briefcase of cash.

This was about $20,000 in $100 bills. The school accepts cash for tuition. I went with the business guy to deposit the cash. Pretty cool.

These slugs were in Lugano too! They make the transition nice. How did evolution allow for such a vulnerable species. Every morning they crawl out to the most heavily trafficked areas and get stepped on. What a life.

Cinska (chinese) restaurant, called Jasmine, on my walk home from the tram. delicious and only 3 euros for this plate and soup.

This dog is politely waiting for someone to activate the automatic doors so that he can wreck havoc on the grocery store. I played my role and opened the door for him. Is that bad?

Disgusting, yet strangely delicious, Chicken burger from McD's. Yes, that is red sweet and sour sour (and slightly spicy) sauce on it. This comes with it. It is on the Euro menu (like our dollar menu).

I finally did some of those dishes. I think I've washed over 50 pieces now. There are still 8 cabinets of untouched items. I don't know that I'll ever get to all of them.

I learned a new word when I made this soup: žalúdka polievka

The soup is good, very savory. I bought a variety at the store just wanting to try various local soups. After I ate half of it I decided to look it up. It is tripe soup. Yea! Guess what those little bits are poking out, yep, stomach! Yummy!

Classroom and first day

This was me pretending to teach. No really, I mean, I know I always pretend to teach, but this time there were no kids. Maybe that is obvious by the picture. But don't you feel like you're learning?

I rock the tie thanks to TASIS.

Sigg bottle making a cameo.

that's not a chalkboard behind my desk, its an undecorated bulletin board. I promise I've decorated it since this photo. I'll post a new photo if you don't believe me.

This is the view from my window. It was rainy that day.