The beginning of this week marks one full month I've been living in Slovakia! Before I right about my week, I want to write about my progress here in the country. At the very beginning, I was kind of annoyed at myself, thinking I was learning everything so slowly, worrying I'd never learn Slovak or that I'd never feel comfortable here. As this month finishes, I've found all my worries to be pointless already! Routine has set in here, and I'm only learning more and more. My ability to speak Slovak is quite good already. I can tell stories and ask for help when I need it. I still cannot understand anything or have long conversations, but I'm getting there! I've completely figured out the bus systems here, but most days chose to walk home on my own! I've made so many friends around the town and am helping to teach English at two schools. Luckily for me, I never had extreme culture shock. Maybe Polish culture is similar enough or maybe I just prepared myself well enough. Of course I miss my friends and family, but who doesn't? It hit me hardest last week when my sister Julia had to evacuate her school in North Carolina cause of the hurricane, and got to fly to Michigan to spend the week with my other sister Kayla. Everyday I'm feeling more and more comfortable and becoming more and more Slovak.
Monday, September 17. Monday started off long and boring as usual but got better immediately when my friends from my old class bought me a pelendrek and came to my class to give it to me. It was so sweet! The boy sitting next to me in class told me about a Chinese restaurant in the nearby shopping center, so immediately after school I was on a bus there. I've missed Asian food more than you can imagine. The menu was definitely different from American Chinese food and the worker spoke no English, so I ordered what looked closest to sweet chicken. I got one order for me, and one order for Valeria, then took a bus back to town to meet Valeria. On the way to the center, I saw two girls I knew from the party on Saturday and they told me to come get crepes with them. Although I didn't eat anything, I went to join them and told them all about Chicago (their favorite city). Once Valeria got there, we had to take another bus to my English school where I would be assisting a teacher for the day. It was my first time in this school and I sat in on the lesson, watching how and what the kids learned. They couldn't speak enough English to talk with me, but I still helped them using my Slovak. After an hour of lessons, I finally finished and could eat my Chinese food. It was kind of cold and soggy, but still Chinese, and I loved it. Me and Valeria walked back to the center for our weekly salsa class. Tuesday, September 18 Tuesday after school my class invited me to a cafe with them. I had to go teach English again but I went with them for as long as I could. At the cafe, I saw Hanka (Valerias sister) and then Valeria and Petra (her friend from school) and quickly got to say hi to them too! Even though Trencin is twice the size of Westport, you see people you know everywhere! I took a bus back to my English school and again, sat on another lesson. These kids where the same age range (9-10) and still were unable to speak English with me, except one boy who knew quite a lot! After the lesson, I caught a bus to town and got picked up by a boy in my class who brought me to another Dukla Trencin hockey game. This game had much fewer people than the last, but was still so exciting and full of crazy fans. Luckily for us, Trencin won again! Wednesday, September 19 Since I'm a third year student in my school, three times a week we have something called "seminars" which are an extra two hour long class that we can sign up to attend to learn more about a subject. Todays seminar I attended was English. Almost my entire class was there to practice their English, and my teacher had me create a presentation about my life in the USA to give to the class. I talked about everything from school, to my town to Rotary! It was the first time I've given a full presentation about my life in USA and it was so cool to do so! After school, me and Valeria went to Laugaricio (the town mall). We first went to Tesco and looked for BBQ chips and gummy strawberries which I've missed so much. They didn't have the strawberries and they only had "BBQ pulled pork" chips but I bought them anyway. Also in Tesco, I visited my classmate who had just gotten a job there! Me and Valeria spent wayyy too much money in the mall haha! We bought more Chinese food, ice cream and spent 4 euros on a photo booth haha! Valeria also bought some clothes as she brought almost no winter clothes to Slovakia. After Laugaricio we went back to town to our Rotary club meeting, then I went after for my second Slovak haircut. When I got home from my haircut, my host family had surprised me with a giant box of my favorite pelendreky. It was the best surprise ever!!! Thursday, September 20 I woke up today quite sick and decided to skip first period of school. Coming in late was fine, and even better cause I got to leave early again! Today was my first day helping out at another school in my nearby village of Kubrica. It's a "homeschooling school" which is basically an elementary school that's independent from the government. The kids in this school ranged from 6 to 12, and also couldn't really speak any English. I wasn't there to necessarily teach English, but to help out and bring new influence to the school. I spent a few hours there then took a bus back to town to meet up with Valeria and our two other Slovak friends from the party. We went to their house across the town river. The house was super beautiful and modern. In the backyard was a beautiful rabbit that was so furry you couldn't even tell what it was. I held it for a long time, making me very happy. Slovak kids are so fun and are always trying to make us happy, it's so nice!
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AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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